Town Hall News

By Soo-hyang Choi SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday morning, South Korea’s military said, the latest in a series of launches amid military drills by the U.S. and South Korea. The missiles were fired from North Hwanghae province at 7:47 a.m. (2247 GMT on Sunday) and flew about 370 kilometres (230 miles), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of […]

By Charlotte Greenfield and Mohammad Yunus Yawar KABUL (Reuters) – Sofia logs in to class on a laptop in Kabul for an online English course run by one of a growing number of educational institutes trying to reach Afghanistan’s girls and women digitally in their homes. But when the teacher calls on Sofia to read a passage her computer screen freezes. “Can you hear me?” she asks repeatedly, checking her […]

By Charlotte Greenfield and Mohammad Yunus Yawar KABUL (Reuters) – Sofia logs in to class on a laptop in Kabul for an online English course run by one of a growing number of educational institutes trying to reach Afghanistan’s girls and women digitally in their homes. But when the teacher calls on Sofia to read a passage her computer screen freezes. “Can you hear me?” she asks repeatedly, checking her […]

By Wayne Cole SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Asian shares followed U.S. stock futures higher on Monday on hopes authorities were working to ring fence stress in the global banking system, even as the cost of insuring against default neared dangerous levels. Helping nerves were reports First Citizens BancShares Inc was in advanced talks to acquire Silicon Valley Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. S&P 500 futures firmed 0.5% in early […]

By Florence Tan SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices climbed in early trade on Monday as concerns over turmoil in the banking sector eased, while comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend ratcheted up geopolitical tensions in Europe. Brent crude futures gained 33 cents, or 0.4%, to $75.32 a barrel at 0040 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $69.65 a barrel, up 39 cents, or 0.6%. Brent […]

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Tom Latham will captain an inexperienced New Zealand team in next month’s home Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka and the five-match series in Pakistan that follows, returning to the shortest format for the first time in nearly two years.With Kane Williamson and Tim Southee playing in the Indian Premier League and unavailable, the wicketkeeper-batsman will return to the leadership role he held in Bangladesh in 2021. “We […]

(Reuters) -First Citizens BancShares Inc was in advanced talks to acquire Silicon Valley Bank, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday. First Citizens could reach a deal as soon as Sunday to acquire Silicon Valley Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the development. First Citizens has around $109 billion in assets and total deposits of $89.4 billion. The […]

(Reuters) – Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, have agreed to meet during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Saudi state news agency SPA said early on Monday. Both ministers spoke by phone for the second time in a few days, SPA said. “During the call, a number of common issues were discussed in light of the tripartite agreement that […]

By Florence Tan SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices climbed in early trade on Monday as concerns over turmoil in the banking sector eased, while comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend ratcheted up geopolitical tensions in Europe. Brent crude futures gained 33 cents, or 0.4%, to $75.32 a barrel at 0040 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $69.65 a barrel, up 39 cents, or 0.6%. Brent […]