Town Hall News

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 […]

By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Solomon Islands has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, an official of the island nation said on Wednesday. The China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) was the only company to submit a bid in the competitive tender, Mike Qaqara of the infrastructure development ministry told […]

By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit plans to return on Thursday a small group of employees from a near company-wide furlough to work on rocket upgrades, three people familiar with the matter said, with the company confirming it had recalled some team members. The number of employees due to return to work at the cash-strapped company was not immediately clear. The furlough of nearly all of Virgin […]

By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Solomon Islands has awarded a Chinese state company a multi-million dollar contract to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, an official from the island nation said on Wednesday. The China Civil Engineering Construction Company was the only company to submit a bid in the competitive tender, Mike Qaqara, from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, […]

By Tim Hepher, Aditi Shah and Tanvi Mehta NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Tensions over plans to transform Air India into a global airline with hundreds of new jets rippled across the aviation sector on Tuesday as foreign carriers clamoured for more access to the world’s fastest-growing economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government faces growing demands to ease a near-freeze on capacity that can be deployed on many routes to and from […]

By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Solomon Islands has awarded a Chinese state company a multi-million dollar contract to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, an official from the island nation said on Wednesday. The China Civil Engineering Construction Company was the only company to submit a bid in the competitive tender, Mike Qaqara, from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew 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 […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China Evergrande Group is set to unveil on Wednesday a restructuring proposal for its $22.7 billion offshore debt that could set the template for distressed peers and shape investor sentiment towards the country’s embattled property sector. Two people with knowledge of the proposal said it would give creditors a basket of options to swap their debt into new bonds with extended maturity and equity in Evergrande’s […]

(Reuters) -First Republic Bank’s efforts to secure a capital infusion continued without success on Tuesday, as the troubled regional lender started to plan for the possibility it may need to downsize or get a government backstop. Major banks and private equity firms have so far balked at offering First Republic the capital infusion it craves for fear of releasing losses on the bank’s loan book and investment portfolio amid a […]