Town Hall News

By Davide Barbuscia NEW YORK (Reuters) – While a U.S. default on its debt has been averted, the possibility of another credit rating downgrade still remains, as eleventh-hour debt ceiling negotiations have become an almost regular feature in recent U.S. history. The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation backed by President Joe Biden that lifts the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, following months of bickering between Democrats and Republicans. […]

(Reuters) -The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said that two people were killed and four others injured on Friday after Ukraine shelled a town near the border, while officials in nearby regions reported overnight drone attacks. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that shelling had struck a section of road in the town of Maslova Pristan, some 15 kilometres (9 miles) from Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region, and that shell fragments […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. auto safety regulator routinely fails to meet its internal timelines for completing auto safety defect investigations, a government report released on Thursday found, hindering its ability to quickly respond to severe safety risks. The Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General said that 26 of 27 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigations in its 2018 to 2019 sample did not meet the agency’s […]

PARIS (Reuters) – Renault could face prosecution in France over faulty engines as a group of customers plans to lodge a criminal complaint against the carmaker next week, the group’s lawyer said on Friday. “We are going to file a complaint on Monday on behalf of at least several dozen people,” Christophe Leguevaques told Reuters, adding many more owners of Renault vehicles – as well as those of its Dacia […]

(Removes extraneous word in headline) WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation into former Vice President Mike Pence without filing any charges related to classified documents found in his Indiana home, a department official said on Friday. The department notified Pence through a letter, the official added. Representatives for Pence, who served under former Republican President Donald Trump, did not immediately respond to a request for […]

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – London-based Arch Insurance International has authorized cryptocurrency insurer Evertas to increase the coverage limit for a single policy to $420 million for custodians or exchanges in what the U.S firm said is the highest in the industry. The move is a big boost for a crypto sector tainted by the collapse of major market players such as FTX and should help ease concerns […]

(Reuters) -Illumina Inc on Friday said it had expanded its board, adding two C-suite executives a week after shareholders voted to replace the gene sequencing company’s chairman with activist investor Carl Icahn’s nominee. The San Diego-headquartered company, valued at $31.6 billion, had long planned to increase the size of the board to 11 by adding directors with experience as a healthcare CEO and as a chief financial officer (CFO) with […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said scrapping the sale of its Mexican retail business, known as Banamex, and pursuing an initial public offering was in the best interest of shareholders. “We acted decisively, we acted very swiftly and we said okay, we’re gonna go down the IPO path”, Fraser said in an investor conference in New York. Fraser added that the other Citigroup divestitures are proceeding well, […]

By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank’s new president Ajay Banga on Friday asked the lender’s 16,000 staff to “double down” on development and climate efforts as he seeks to accelerate the bank’s evolution to tackle the most pressing global problems. On his first day in the job, the former Mastercard CEO told staff in a memo that he would seek to recruit each of them to work […]