Town Hall News

LONDON (Reuters) – London’s Westminster Abbey said visitors will get the chance this summer to follow King Charles’ coronation footsteps, getting access for the first time in living memory to an area sealed off to the public. Charles will be crowned on May 6 at the church where coronations for English and British monarchs have been held for the past 1,000 years. As part of special tours to be run […]

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Anirban Sen NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Some of the most prominent rainmakers in the world of corporate mergers struck a note of optimism about dealmaking on Thursday, even as they acknowledged a volatile economic backdrop had significantly impacted M&A activity. The banking crisis that has emerged in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure has shaken boardroom confidence already dented by fears over an economic slowdown, […]

(Reuters) – Australian aged-care provider Estia Health Ltd said on Friday it received a non-binding buyout proposal from U.S. private investment firm Bain Capital for A$775.1 million ($517.77 million). The A$3.00 cash per share proposal, which is at a 28.2% premium to Estia’s last close, is among the latest proposals by a private equity firm since last year amid increasing merger and acquisition activity in Australia. The board of Estia […]

By Takahiko Wada and Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s core consumer inflation slowed sharply in February from a 41-year high in the previous month, government data showed on Friday, as the effect of government subsidies to curb utility bills rolled in. But inflation remained well above the Bank of Japan’s 2% target as companies continued to pass on rising costs to consumers, keeping alive market expectations of a near-term […]

By Takahiko Wada and Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s core consumer inflation slowed sharply in February from a 41-year high in the previous month, government data showed on Friday, as the effect of government subsidies to curb utility bills rolled in. But inflation remained well above the Bank of Japan’s 2% target as companies continued to pass on rising costs to consumers, keeping alive market expectations of a near-term […]

By David Shepardson, Rami Ayyub WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. lawmakers on Thursday battered TikTok’s chief executive about potential Chinese influence over the platform and said its short videos were damaging children’s mental health, reflecting bipartisan concerns over the app’s power over Americans. CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before Congress did little to assuage U.S. worries over TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance and added fresh momentum to lawmakers’ calls to ban the […]

By Lori Ewing MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -World Athletics has banned transgender women from competing in elite female competitions and tightened testosterone restrictions for other athletes, the governing body said on Thursday. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said that the decision to exclude transgender women who had gone through male puberty was based “on the overarching need to protect the female category”. The tighter measures around one of the most contentious […]

By David French and Saeed Azhar NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citizens Financial Group Inc is working on a bid to acquire the private banking business of failed Silicon Valley Bank, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Citizens, one of the largest U.S. regional banks, is preparing to submit an offer in the auction of the business, which is called SVB Private, the sources said. The auction is […]

By James Mackenzie JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned his defence chief on Thursday after reports the minister wanted to halt the government’s judicial overhaul plans, as cracks opened in the ruling coalition over the bitterly disputed project. A planned statement by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, whom Israeli media said wanted to call for a stop to the plans in the name of maintaining order in military ranks, […]