Town Hall News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The SAG-AFTRA actors union and the group representing major Hollywood studios agreed not to talk to the media during contract talks that started on Wednesday. The actors’ union is seeking pay increases and protections around the use of artificial intelligence in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Walt Disney Co, Netflix Inc, Comcast Corp and other companies. “SAG-AFTRA and […]

(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is bringing the powerful language-producing models from OpenAI to U.S. federal agencies using its Azure cloud service, it said in a blog post on Wednesday. The Redmond, Washington-based company has added support for large language models (LLMs) powering GPT-4 and GPT-3 the latest and most-sophisticated of the LLMs from OpenAI, and GPT-3, to Azure Government cloud computing service. Use of LLMs have boomed since the launch […]

By Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada on Wednesday hiked its overnight rate to a 22-year high of 4.75%, and markets and analysts immediately forecast yet another increase next month to ratchet down an overheating economy and stubbornly high inflation. The central bank had been on hold since January to assess the impact of previous hikes after raising borrowing costs eight times since March […]

By Tim Reid (Reuters) – Former Vice President Mike Pence, who once served Donald Trump loyally, on Wednesday announced he would challenge his former boss for the Republican presidential nomination and blasted Trump for his role in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year, Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s part in […]

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) – The stunning announcement on Tuesday of a merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf could generate higher viewership, and loftier costs, for advertisers and sponsors to reach golf audiences, marketing experts said. The move ends a bitter legal battle between the organizations that has split the golf world and its top players. “It’s good for the game,” said Neal Pilson, […]

By Frank Pingue (Reuters) – The announcement that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf will merge under common ownership will go down as one of the most consequential moments in the sport’s history but there is plenty of uncertainty about how it will impact the game. After over a year of discord, the rival circuits announced a shock truce on Tuesday that will see the Saudi Arabia […]

BERLIN (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed shock at what he said was the failure of the United Nations and the Red Cross to help after the destruction of the massive Kakhovka dam as his prime minister called for aid from international agencies. Although the catastrophe happened many hours ago, “they aren’t here”, Zelenskiy told German newspapers Bild and Die Welt and also Politico. “We have had no response. […]

By Viktoriia Lakezina and Max Hunder KHERSON, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainians abandoned inundated homes as floods crested across a swathe of the south on Wednesday after the destruction of a huge hydro-electric dam on front lines between Russian and Ukrainian forces, with their presidents trading blame for the disaster. Residents slogged through flooded streets carrying children on their shoulders, dogs in their arms and belongings in plastic bags while rescuers […]

By Shrivathsa Sridhar PARIS (Reuters) – A resurgent Alexander Zverev shrugged off a mid-match wobble to battle his way into a third consecutive French Open semi-final with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Wednesday. The German exited Roland Garros in agony last year after tearing ankle ligaments in his semi-final against Rafa Nadal, but will hope for a better outcome when he plays sixth […]