Town Hall News

By Marine Strauss and Charlotte Van Campenhout BRUSSELS/DUBAI (Reuters) -A Belgian aid worker arrived back in Belgium on Friday night from Iran, where he had been accused of spying and jailed until being freed in a prisoner swap with an Iranian diplomat who had been imprisoned in Belgium in connection with a failed bomb plot. Aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, 42, was arrested on a visit to Iran in February 2022 […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday extended the deadline for raising the federal debt limit, saying the government would default on its obligations if Congress does not increase the country’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling by June 5. Yellen had previously said a default could happen potentially as early as June 1. The extension buys White House and congressional negotiators more time to strike a deal to […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday extended the deadline for raising the federal debt limit, saying the government would default on its obligations if Congress does not increase the country’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling by June 5. Yellen had previously said a default could happen potentially as early as June 1. The extension buys White House and congressional negotiators more time to strike a deal to […]

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Tens of thousands gathered in the center of Belgrade on Friday in support of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in a show of power following big anti-government protests over two mass shootings that killed 18 people earlier this month. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and secessionist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik were among the speakers at the “Serbia of Hope” rally which drew busloads of people from around […]

By Noel Randewich and Shristi Achar A (Reuters) – U.S. stocks finished sharply higher on Friday as talks on raising the U.S. debt ceiling progressed, while chip stocks surged for a second straight day on optimism about artificial intelligence. After several rounds of talks, U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy appeared to be nearing a deal to increase the government’s $31.4 trillion debt limit for two […]

By David Lawder DETROIT (Reuters) -U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai raised complaints about China’s state-led economic policies during a meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Friday, but emphasized the need for the two countries to continue engagement, her office said. “Ambassador Tai highlighted the need to address the critical imbalances caused by China’s state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade policy,” USTR said in a statement released […]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican authorities found 175 migrants, mostly from Guatemala, crowded into a truck trailer in the southern state of Chiapas, the National Migration Institute (INM) said on Friday, in the latest mass human smuggling incident to be detected in the country. Immigration agents heard yells and banging coming from inside the vehicle when it was stopped at a checkpoint in Chiapas, INM said in a statement. Although […]

MADRID (Reuters) – Killer whales severely damaged a sailing boat off the coast of southern Spain, the local maritime rescue service said on Thursday, adding to dozens of orca attacks on vessels recorded so far this year on Spanish and Portuguese coasts. In the early hours of Thursday, a group of orcas broke the rudder and pierced the hull after ramming into the Mustique on its way to Gibraltar, prompting […]

(Reuters) – U.S. energy company Equitrans Midstream Corp’s long-delayed $6.6 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia received another negative court ruling on Friday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) “inadequately explained its decision not to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement.” The statement would address “unexpectedly severe erosion and sedimentation along the […]