Town Hall News

By Uditha Jayasinghe COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka has received the first tranche of an IMF bailout programme, President Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament on Wednesday. The crisis-ridden island nation was scheduled to receive a $330 million tranche, the first part of a nearly $3 billion bailout approved by the International Monetary Fund on Monday. “This sets the stage for Sri Lanka to have better fiscal discipline and improved governance,” Wickremesinghe […]

PESHAWAR/KABUL (Reuters) -At least 13 people were killed and more than 90 injured in Pakistan and Afghanistan after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck late on Tuesday, government officials said. At least nine people were killed and 44 injured in northwest Pakistan, a Pakistani government official said, and hospitals in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were put into a state of emergency overnight. At least four people were killed and 50 injured […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Facing the possibility of criminal charges, Donald Trump waited it out in Florida on Tuesday as New York braced for disruptions that could follow an indictment. Republican contenders in the 2024 race sized up the impact a prosecution could have on a campaign in which the former president is a leading contender. Trump over the weekend claimed without evidence that he would be arrested on Tuesday, […]

(Reuters) – Novak Djokovic said he had no regrets about missing tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami due to his COVID-19 vaccination status but hoped that he would be allowed into the United States later this year for the U.S. Open Grand Slam. The U.S. currently bars unvaccinated foreigners from entering the country, though the policy is expected to be lifted when the government ends its COVID emergency declarations in […]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday signed a law prohibiting transgender people at public schools from using the restroom that matches their gender identity, the first of several states expected to enact such bans this year amid a flood of bills nationwide targeting the trans community. The bill signed by the Republican governor makes Arkansas the fourth state to place such restrictions at public […]

By Stanley Widianto JAKARTA (Reuters) – The United States will announce further sanctions against entities inside Myanmar in the coming days, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet said the sanctions will make it more difficult for Myanmar’s junta to generate revenue to buy weapons. “We’re committed to ratchet up the pressure on the junta and make it […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -TikTok’s chief executive will tell lawmakers the Chinese-owned short video app with more than 150 million American users has never, and would never, share U.S. user data with the Chinese government amid growing U.S. national security concerns. “TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever […]

By Deisy Buitrago CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday named the head of state oil company PDVSA, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, as the new oil minister, a day after his predecessor resigned amid an extensive corruption investigation focused on the company. Former minister Tareck El Aissami resigned on Monday after the arrest of several government officials and judges in connection with graft investigations. Sources with knowledge of the […]

(Reuters) – Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout in a showdown between two of the game’s best players to seal Japan’s 3-2 victory over the United States in a riveting World Baseball Classic (WBC) final at Miami’s LoanDepot Park on Tuesday. Baseball is the United States’ national pastime but Japan’s win over the defending WBC champions means they have won three of five editions of the global showcase. The contest […]