Town Hall News

By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday voted to propose a plan to bolster the resiliency of clearing houses during times of significant market stress, such as the 2021 “meme stock” trading frenzy. Clearing agencies and their infrastructure are often referred to as the plumbing of the market, and stand between buyers and sellers of every trade, taking on the risk if […]

By Brendan Pierson, Tom Hals and Andrew Goudsward (Reuters) -U.S. appeals court judges began hearing arguments on Wednesday in a legal battle over the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, with potentially far-reaching consequences for abortion access across the United States. Lawyers for the federal government are urging a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn last month’s unprecedented ruling by U.S. […]

By Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu, Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday underscored their determination to reach a deal soon to raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and avoid an economically catastrophic default. After a monthslong standoff, the Democratic president and the speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday agreed to negotiate directly on a deal. An agreement […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -At least four Nigerians were killed in an attack on a convoy of two U.S. government vehicles in Nigeria on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, adding that the attack did not appear to be directed at the U.S. mission there. In a statement on Wednesday, Blinken said the U.S. mission and its Nigerian counterparts were working to ascertain the location and condition of those unaccounted […]

By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” involving paparazzi photographers after they attended an awards ceremony in New York, a spokesperson for the prince said on Wednesday. The incident involved half a dozen cars with blacked out windows, driving dangerously and putting the lives of the couple, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Meghan’s […]

By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Rachael Rollins, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, improperly used her U.S. Justice Department position to meddle in a local district attorney election by leaking to newspapers dirt about a political rival – one of many ethics violations cited in two reports by government investigators on Wednesday. The reports by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz and the independent U.S. Office of Special Counsel […]

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Dubai court has rejected an appeal by a British citizen charged with defrauding Danish tax authorities and ordered him to pay more than $1 billion to Denmark, according to a court document dated Tuesday and seen by Reuters. A ruling issued by the Dubai Court of Cassation, its highest court, says Sanjay Shah must repay 4.643 billion dirhams ($1.3 billion) plus 5% interest to Denmark. Shah’s […]

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,” Monica Missio, the mother of victim Nicholas Cleves, […]

By Muvija M LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s King Charles greeted celebrity ambassadors of his youth charity, including veteran musician Nile Rodgers, along with the charity’s award winners on Wednesday in the first reception at Buckingham Palace since his coronation. Dressed in a crisp, navy blue suit, Charles, who was crowned on May 6 in one of the country’s biggest ceremonial events in decades, received the winners at the circular Bow […]