Town Hall News

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s acting deputy prime minister went to Brussels on Monday to meet exiled Catalan politician Carles Puigdemont, seeking support from a separatist fugitive from Spanish justice to keep Pedro Sanchez’s left-leaning coalition in power. An inconclusive election on July 23 resulted in a hung parliament, making Puigdemont, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since leading Catalonia’s failed push for secession from Spain in 2017, […]

By Francois Murphy VIENNA (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Monday reported no progress in talks with Iran on sensitive issues such as reinstalling surveillance cameras and explaining uranium traces at undeclared sites, according to two quarterly reports seen by Reuters. At the same time, Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, continued to grow compared with the previous quarter albeit at […]

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian railways have partially restricted cargo shipments to Ukraine’s major Danube River port Izmail, which has been the target of Russian drone attacks in recent weeks, the railways said on Monday. The restrictions began on Sunday, the railways said in a statement. Russia has attacked Ukrainian ports on the Danube River with drones two nights in a row. The latest attack on the Danube River port of […]

PARIS (Reuters) – The European Space Agency said it plans to set a target period for the first launch of the delayed Ariane 6 after completing a series of engine tests in early October. In an online news conference, Director General Josef Aschbacher declined to commit to a debut in the first half of next year for Europe’s new launcher, but added things were on track for a launch “not […]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Leaders of the world’s richest and most powerful countries will attend the two-day G20 Summit in India’s capital New Delhi starting September 9. This is the first time India will host such a powerful group of world leaders. The capital has been adorned with ornamental flowers and fountains at traffic roundabouts while public buildings and sidewalks have been given a fresh coat of paint. Security is […]

(This Sept. 3 story has been officially corrected to clarify that comment refers to battery costs, not production costs as a whole, in paragraph 7) MUNICH (Reuters) – The variable costs for producing electric vehicles will remain higher compared to combustion engine models for the foreseeable future, the chief executive of Mercedes-Benz said on Sunday, adding this would continue to fuel intense competition. Ola Kaellenius’s comments come as Mercedes-Benz disclosed […]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Leaders of the world’s richest and most powerful countries will attend the two-day G20 Summit in India’s capital New Delhi starting September 9. This is the first time India will host such a powerful group of world leaders. The capital has been adorned with ornamental flowers and fountains at traffic roundabouts while public buildings and sidewalks have been given a fresh coat of paint. Security is […]

MANILA (Reuters) – Naval vessels from the Philippines and United States conducted a joint sail through parts of the South China Sea lying within the Southeast Asian nation’s exclusive economic zone, Manila’s military said on Monday. It was the first time the Philippines and Washington have carried out a joint sail in waters west of Palawan island, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Command said. The display of cooperation […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – Premier Li Qiang will lead China’s delegation at a G20 summit in New Delhi this weekend, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday, indicating President Xi Jinping would not attend and scuppering chances of a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden there. The Sept. 9-10 summit had been seen as a venue for a possible meeting between Xi and Biden, who has confirmed his attendance in New Delhi, […]