Town Hall News

By Rupam Jain and Shivam Patel NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s parliament on Friday disqualified the leader of the main opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, a day after a court jailed him for two years in a defamation case loosely linked to the prime minister, parliament said in a statement. Gandhi “stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha”, parliament said, referring to the lower house of parliament. Congress members held […]

SHANGHAI – Chinese food delivery giant Meituan posted a bigger-than-expected 21.4% rise in quarterly revenue on Friday as it fended off competition from powerful rivals such as Alibaba-backed Ele.me. Meituan – whose so-called super app provides services ranging from bike-sharing, movie ticketing, mapping, to food delivery and restaurant bookings – said its total revenue rose to 60.13 billion yuan ($8.76 billion) for the three months ended December, from 49.52 billion […]

By Sruthi Shankar and Amanda Cooper (Reuters) – Banking stocks fell again on Friday after a tumultuous week with investors worried that the worst problems in the sector since the 2008 financial crisis were not yet contained. The index of top European banks fell 2.2% in early trade with shares in Swiss bank UBS Group AG down 6.4%. Deutsche Bank was down 5.4% after a sharp jump in the cost […]

By Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) -British industrial technology company Smiths Group has upgraded its annual forecasts after a 27% increase in first-half profit as demand for its products soars on decarbonisation trends and from airport upgrades. The FTSE 100 group makes precision scanners used at airports, venues and borders, as well as valves, connectors and specialist tubing used in the oil and gas, construction and defence sectors, but are also […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s violated the law by saying he would get personally involved in a judicial overhaul plan, the attorney-general said on Friday. In the face of intensifying protests against the proposed changes, Netanyahu said on Thursday that he was putting aside all other considerations and would do “anything it takes” to reach a solution. Netanyahu added that his hands had been tied, but a […]

By Rupam Jain NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Members of India’s main opposition Congress party held protests in some parts of the country on Friday against leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction for defamation, a day after a magistrate’s court sentenced Gandhi to a two-year jail term. Congress party officials have described the judgment as politically motivated and blamed the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “The […]

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union’s securities watchdog has fined S&P Global Ratings Europe 1.1 million euros ($1.19 million), it said on Friday after finding that S&P published credit ratings before the relevant securities had been issued. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) also issued a public notice for breaches of credit rating agencies regulations. S&P can appeal against the decision, ESMA said. ($1 = 0.9234 euros) (Reporting by […]

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. military carried out multiple air strikes in Syria on Thursday night against Iran-aligned groups whom it blamed for a drone attack that killed an American contractor, wounded another and also hurt five U.S. troops, the Pentagon said. Both the attack on U.S. personnel and the retaliation were disclosed by the Pentagon at the same time late on Thursday. The attack […]

(Reuters) – Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, on Friday denied a media report from earlier this week that said investors from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were planning to invest in a multi-billion dollar funding round in the company. A unit of Saudi Arabia’s investment fund and an Abu Dhabi-based company are planning to invest in a multi-billion dollar funding round for SpaceX, the Information had […]