Town Hall News

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Ukraine of destroying the Kakhovka dam at the suggestion of the West, in what he called a “barbaric” war crime that escalated the conflict with Moscow. The vast Soviet-era Kakhovka dam, under Russian control, was breached in the early hours of Tuesday, unleashing floodwaters across a swathe of the battleground in southern Ukraine. Ukraine blamed Russia for […]

By Shrivathsa Sridhar PARIS (Reuters) – Iga Swiatek’s laser focus at Grand Slams means she barely gets to celebrate her wins, but the French Open top seed said she is learning to mix business with pleasure after reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros on Wednesday. The Polish world number one overcame an early test on a windy centre court to move past sixth seed Coco Gauff 6-4 6-2 and celebrated […]

(Reuters) – BT Group’s CEO Philip Jansen is to freeze his 1.1 million pounds ($1.4 million) salary until he retires from the company, Sky News reported on Wednesday. ($1 = 0.8030 pounds) (Reporting by Shreyaa Narayanan in Bengaluru) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – El Salvador’s Congress passed an electoral reform in the early hours of Wednesday to reduce the lawmaking body’s size by nearly a third, a move the ruling party says will reduce spending and critics say consolidates power ahead of elections. The reform, announced last week by President Nayib Bukele in an address marking four years in government, cuts the unicameral Congress’ size from […]

By Doyinsola Oladipo NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hotel room rates in the U.S. and Europe are rising and may get even more expensive as supply has failed to keep up with demand, industry executives said. U.S. hotel room supply is barely growing as tighter lending standards from regional banks make it harder for developers to secure funding, even as travel demand has grown after the COVID-19 pandemic. This helps to […]

(This June 6 story has been corrected to say Arrival reduced its headcount by 50% in the first quarter, in paragraph 4) (Reuters) – Arrival said on Tuesday it will convert shareholder hedge fund Antara Capital Master Fund LP’s $20 million loan into equity, a move that would help the British electric-vehicle startup lower its debt load. According to the deal, Antara will not be allowed to sell more than […]

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch privacy watchdog DPA said on Wednesday it is “concerned” about the use of personal data by software makers developing artificial intelligence (AI) and it has sent a letter to Microsoft-backed OpenAI seeking more information. Governments including the European Union are considering how to regulate the technology after OpenAI’s ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history. “The DPA is concerned about how organizations that make use […]

By Max Hunder KHERSON, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukraine warned of the danger of floating mines unearthed by flooding and the spread of disease and hazardous chemicals on Wednesday as senior officials inspected damage caused by the collapse of the vast Kakhovka hydro-electric dam. Visiting the city of Kherson on the Dnipro river that bisects the country, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said that over 80 settlements had been affected in a […]

By Pavel Polityuk KYIV (Reuters) -The destruction of the Kakhovka dam will flood tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in southern Ukraine and could turn at least 500,000 hectares of land left without irrigation into “deserts”, the agriculture ministry said. Ukraine, a major global producer and exporter of grain, has accused Moscow of committing a war crime by blowing up the Soviet-era dam, which powered a hydroelectric station […]