Town Hall News

By Luc Cohen and Brendan O’Brien NEW YORK (Reuters) -The mother of a New Yorker killed in 2017 when a man driving a truck mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a crowded Manhattan bike path told a hushed courtroom on Wednesday that no punishment meted out to the attacker could compare to her pain. “This evil murderer has destroyed so many lives,” said Monica Missio, the mother of victim Nicholas […]

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose sharply on Wednesday, fueled by optimism over a potential deal on the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and as a rebound in regional bank shares eased concerns about an escalation in the sector’s troubles. President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday reiterated their determination to strike a deal soon to raise the federal debt ceiling and […]

(Reuters) – The former chief executive of the First Republic Bank Michael Roffler blamed the bank’s collapse on the contagion from the failures of other regional banks and said regulators did not express concerns regarding the bank’s strategy, liquidity, or management performance. A total of over $100 billion in deposits were withdrawn from the bank over the course of weeks in response to an industry-wide panic about the soundness of […]

By Niket Nishant and Chibuike Oguh (Reuters) -Shares of U.S. regional lenders jumped on Wednesday on growing investor confidence that the worst of the banking crisis was likely over, following news of strong deposit growth at Western Alliance Bancorp. Deposits at Western Alliance grew by more than $2 billion in the three months to May 12, the bank said on Tuesday, suggesting customers remained confident on its financial health despite […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to bar automakers from eliminating AM broadcast radio in their new vehicles, citing safety concerns. Democratic Senator Edward Markey, one of the sponsors of the bill, said at least eight automakers have removed AM broadcast radio from their electric vehicles, including Tesla BMW, Ford and Volkswagen. The bill would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration […]

By Michael Holden and Jonathan Allen LONDON/ NEW YORK (Reuters) -Britain’s Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase with press photographers after they attended an awards ceremony in New York, Harry’s spokesperson said on Wednesday. The incident involved “a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi” in half a dozen cars with blacked out windows, driving dangerously and putting the lives of the […]

By Claudia Greco and Crispian Balmer BOLOGNA, Italy (Reuters) -Nine people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes as torrential rain battered Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region, triggering floods and landslides, officials said on Wednesday. Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said some areas had received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks, sending water cascading through towns and submerging thousands of acres […]

By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand is set to deliver what it calls a “no frills” budget on Thursday as falling tax revenues squeeze coffers and inflation risks cap cyclone reconstruction efforts, constraining stimulus as the Labour government in an election year. Finance minister Grant Robertson has said the budget will focus on fiscal sustainability as they cut NZ$4 billion ($2.54 billion) in spending to fund programmes viewed […]

By Michael Holden and Jonathan Allen LONDON/ NEW YORK (Reuters) -Britain’s Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase with press photographers after they attended an awards ceremony in New York, Harry’s spokesperson said on Wednesday. The incident involved “a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi” in half a dozen cars with blacked out windows, driving dangerously and putting the lives of the […]