Town Hall News

By Leika Kihara and Kentaro Sugiyama TOKYO (Reuters) -A meeting of the government’s top economic council on Monday focused on whether recent rises in inflation and wage growth suggest Japan was approaching a sustained exit from deflation. With inflation accelerating globally and wage growth picking up in Japan, discussions also touched on the desirable timing to end the Bank of Japan’s ultra-loose monetary policy, a government official told reporters. “While […]

(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday Kyiv and its Western supporters could make a Russian defeat in the war in Ukraine “irreversible” as early as this year and thanked Germany for being a “true friend” during a visit to Berlin. France said it will send dozens of armoured vehicles and light tanks, including the AMX-10RCs fighting vehicles, to Ukraine in the coming weeks. It made the announcement […]

ROME (Reuters) – Iga Swiatek said she feels most comfortable on clay but the world number one hopes to emulate her idol Rafa Nadal and win titles on all surfaces to become one of the game’s greats. The 21-year-old won the French Open in 2020 and 2022 and has also proven herself on hard surfaces, winning the U.S. Open last year. Grasscourts are a different story, however, the Pole failing […]

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon believes the ‘Bazball’ style of play only works if the opposition panics and has urged his team mates to remain calm in the face of England’s aggressive batting in the upcoming Ashes series. England have won 10 of their last 12 tests since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum took over and introduced the high-risk, high-reward style of play. “You look […]

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s opposition Move Forward and Pheu Thai parties won the most seats in Sunday’s election, paving the way for a challenge to a military status quo after nearly a decade of government led or backed by the army. Parliamentary seats are distributed based on 400 open constituency seats and 100 ‘party-list’ seats – or seats won by parties based on their share of national votes. Below are […]

(Reuters) – Former world number one Jason Day said he had considered giving up on golf a couple of years ago after he ended his five-year title drought with a one-stroke victory at the Byron Nelson in Texas on Sunday. It was the Australian’s first win on the PGA Tour since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship and his 13th in all since he won his maiden title, also at the […]

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Kevin Buckland. Politics has the spotlight at the start of a new week, falling chiefly – still – on the U.S. debt ceiling standoff. Talks between President Joe Biden and lawmakers look likely to resume on Tuesday, after getting postponed on Friday. Despite that setback, and deep partisan rifts, both Biden and analysts say there are signs of […]

(Reuters) – One of the strongest storms to hit Myanmar in recent years severely disrupted communications in the impoverished state of Rakhine, a major ethnic armed group and an aid worker said on Monday, making it hard to ascertain the scale of its impact.      Cyclone Mocha barrelled into the western coast of Myanmar from the Bay of Bengal on Sunday afternoon, largely sparing over a million refugees in vulnerable […]

By Chayut Setboonsarng BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s political heavyweights were set for an intense round of deal-making on Monday after an election that delivered big gains for the opposition over parties allied to the military but with no clear indication of alliances taking shape. Sunday’s election showcased an extraordinary surge by the progressive Move Forward party that almost had a clean sweep of the capital Bangkok, followed closely by the […]