Town Hall News

By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s departure from the European Union has accounted for about a third of the increase in food bills for households since 2019, equivalent to about 250 pounds ($316), researchers from the London School of Economics and other universities said. Britain has been battling inflation for over a year, partly driven by its highest rate of food price growth since 1977, with food prices up […]

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) -Microsoft is challenging Britain’s decision to block its $69 billion takeover of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard on the grounds of “fundamental errors” in the assessment of Microsoft’s cloud gaming services. Britain’s anti-trust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), vetoed the deal in April, saying it could hurt competition in the nascent cloud gaming market, sparking a furious row. Microsoft confirmed on Wednesday […]

By Fatos Bytyci ZVECAN, Kosovo (Reuters) -Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic placed the country’s army on full combat alert and ordered army units to move closer to the border with Kosovo on Friday, after protesters and police clashed in a majority Serb town in the neighbouring country. “An urgent movement (of troops) to the Kosovo border has been ordered,” defence minister Milos Vucevic said in a live TV broadcast. “It is […]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday said the government could acquire up to half of the Mexican unit of Citigroup after the U.S. bank announced plans this week to pursue an initial public offering of the business. Citi said Wednesday it was abandoning earlier plans for a sale of its Mexican unit, known as Banamex, for an IPO, prompting Lopez Obrador to announce that […]

By Arathy Somasekhar HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil prices ticked up on Friday as U.S. officials appeared close to striking a debt ceiling deal, and as the market weighed conflicting messages on supply from Russia and Saudi Arabia ahead of the next OPEC+ policy meeting. Brent crude settled 69 cents, or 0.9%, higher at $76.95 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate closed up 84 cents, or 1.2%, to $72.67 a barrel. On […]

By Gabriella Borter and Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – State legislatures are wrestling with how much to restrict or expand abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Here is a snapshot of pending and passed legislation seeking to restrict or protect access in 2023. RESTRICTIONS FLORIDA: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in April signed a six-week abortion ban, which includes exceptions for rape, incest, human trafficking […]

MADRID (Reuters) – Allegations of voter fraud in small towns and an unprecedented case of kidnapping marked the last day of campaigning before local and regional elections in Spain on Sunday. The voting is taking place in 12 regions and 8,000 towns and cities, most of them currently governed by the Socialist Party (PSOE). Opinion polls are predicting gains for the conservative People’s Party (PP), which if replicated in a […]

By Viktoria Lakezina STEPOVA DOLYNA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Hanna Plishchynska, a pensioner, has been using a metal detector to comb her fields for mines and war detritus in the ruins of her village in southwesten Ukraine, so she can put her cow out to pasture and plant vegetables. The 67-year-old returned several weeks ago to her home in Stepova Dolyna, a rural community of 150 people in Mykolaiv region that […]

Although Frank Lampard was unable to turn around Chelsea’s fortunes in a dismal campaign, the manager expressed hopes of ending his second stint in charge of the club on a positive note in their Premier League clash against Newcastle United. Interim manager Lampard was appointed on a short-term deal in April but failed to stop the rot at Chelsea, who are languishing in 12th place in the standings. The London […]