Town Hall News

By Katherine Masters NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocking shelves with low-priced notebooks and slashing prices on sneakers and uniforms, major retailers including Walmart, Foot Locker and Marks & Spencer are preparing for a challenging back-to-school shopping season this year. U.S. shoppers’ spending in the summer ahead of the college and K-12 school year has grown steadily since 2015, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group. NRF hasn’t yet […]

By Andrea Shalal and Daphne Psaledakis WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Monday recent dangerous encounters between U.S. and Chinese forces in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea reflect a growing aggressiveness by Beijing’s military that raises the risk of an error in which “somebody gets hurt.” Washington’s sharply worded warning followed the U.S. Navy’s release on Sunday of a video of what it called an “unsafe […]

By Laurie Chen and Ryan Woo BEIJING (Reuters) – Meetings between senior U.S. and Chinese officials in China this week struck an upbeat chord, with both sides agreeing to maintain communication lines, even as Beijing remains leery of more “provocative” U.S. moves and open clashes are still a risk. Statements from Washington and Beijing on meetings between Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and […]

By Katherine Masters NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocking shelves with low-priced notebooks and slashing prices on sneakers and uniforms, major retailers including Walmart, Foot Locker and Marks & Spencer are preparing for a challenging back-to-school shopping season this year. U.S. shoppers’ spending in the summer ahead of the college and K-12 school year has grown steadily since 2015, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group. NRF hasn’t yet […]

(Reuters) – One of the most notable happenings at Apple’s event for developers on Monday is likely the iPhone maker’s tweak that will keep its autocorrect feature from annoyingly correcting one of the most common expletives to “ducking.” “In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief. The iPhone keyboard autocorrect feature has always […]

By Arathy Somasekhar (Reuters) – Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday, giving up most of the prior session’s gains that followed an announcement by the world’s top exporter, Saudi Arabia, that it would further cut output. Brent crude futures were down 23 cents, or 0.3%, at $76.48 a barrel at 0020 GMT. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude eased 25 cents, or 0.4%, to $71.90 a barrel. Brent had gained […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on Monday on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow’s efforts to destabilize democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury Department said. The new sanctions target seven Russian individuals, some of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said in a statement. They include the group’s leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organized the plot to […]

(Reuters) – Apple Inc unveiled its first augmented-reality (AR) headset, as well as a series of upgrades to its devices and software, at the company’s annual developers conference on Monday. Apple’s Vision Pro, pitted against Meta Platforms Inc’s Quest line and PlayStation VR from Sony Group, marks the iPhone maker’s foray into a new product category since the Apple Watch was launched nine years ago. Here are the major launches […]

By Stephen Nellis CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) -Apple on Monday unveiled a costly augmented-reality headset called the Vision Pro in its riskiest bet since the introduction of the iPhone more than a decade ago, barging into a market dominated by Meta. At its annual developer conference, Apple also introduced a raft of new products and features, including a 15-inch MacBook Air, a powerful chip called M2 Ultra, improvements to its iOS […]