Town Hall News

By Walter Bianchi and Jorge Otaola BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s slow-and-steady currency devaluation plan is coming under rising pressure as a historic drought pummels exports of cash crops soy and corn, draining the country’s reserves of dollars needed to prop up the embattled peso. The South American country controls its official peso-dollar exchange rate with regular currency interventions, but the cost of doing so is rising, with $1.2 billion […]

By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear a trademark clash between Jack Daniel’s and a dog accessory company behind a parody chew toy resembling the distiller’s widely recognized black-label whiskey bottle.  The dispute pits the whiskey brand’s trademark rights against legal protections for creative expression – in this case a send-up by Phoenix-based VIP Products LLC of Jack […]

By Sergiy Karazy RZHYSHCHIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -At least four people were killed early on Wednesday in a Russian drone strike near Kyiv which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said showed Moscow was not interested in peace. The State Emergency Service said on the Telegram messaging app that two dormitories and an educational facility in Rzhyshchiv, 40 miles (64 km) south of the capital, had been partially destroyed in the overnight attack. […]

By David Ljunggren and Andrea Shalal OTTAWA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will make a long-delayed visit to close ally Canada this week to express unity on Ukraine and the environment, but is unlikely to make much progress on tougher trade disputes, sources said on Tuesday. Biden will be in the capital Ottawa on Thursday and Friday to address Parliament and meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. U.S. presidents traditionally […]

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Wednesday there was no nuclear escalation in the Ukraine war after Russian President Vladimir Putin criticised Britain for supplying depleted uranium tank munitions to Ukrainian forces. Britain had on Monday confirmed it was supplying Ukraine with ammunition which contained depleted uranium. The heavy metal is used in weapons because it can penetrate tanks and armour more easily due to its density, […]

By Khalil Ashawi and Timour Azhari JANDARIS, Syria (Reuters) – Hussein Mankawi has little hope he will ever rebuild his home and food distribution businesses in the north-west Syrian city of Jandaris after they were reduced to rubble by last month’s deadly earthquake, wiping out his life’s work. “What can we do? We’ll put up a tent instead. There is nothing but tents,” he said, standing by the mangled ruins […]

By Josh Ye (Reuters) -Tencent Holdings reported a drop in annual revenue for the first time ever, as China’s economic slowdown due to the pandemic and a long-running regulatory crackdown took a toll.  The world’s largest video game company and the operator of the WeChat messaging platform posted a revenue of 554.55 billion yuan ($81 billion) for 2022, down 1% from a year earlier. Analysts on an average had expected […]

By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Wearing a buttoned-up polo shirt and diligently answering media questions, the modern-day Jason Cummings seems a world away from the wayward footballing talent who left Dundee in acrimony just over a year ago. In many ways, he is. The 27-year-old striker, now based in Australia’s sleepy Central Coast, has become a cult hero for the local Mariners side which has managed to extract his […]

By Akiko Okamoto and Chris Gallagher TOKYO (Reuters) -With cherry blossoms reaching full bloom in Tokyo, Japanese sports fans erupted in jubilation on Wednesday after their countrymen defeated Team USA to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Over a hundred people gathered near Shimbashi Station in the city centre to get special newspaper editions celebrating the victory. The scene quickly turned chaotic, with police officers jumping in to help hand […]