Town Hall News

By Tom Westbrook SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The dollar was firm on Wednesday, supported by a safety bid as the U.S. hurtled toward its borrowing limit and boosted after solid economic data had traders trimming bets on imminent rate cuts. The dollar hit a two-week peak of 136.69 yen overnight and hovered just below that at 136.35 early in the Asia session. It also broke above its 50-day moving average against […]

By Julia Harte (Reuters) – South Carolina’s state House on Tuesday began a days-long debate over a bill to ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, while state lawmakers in North Carolina and Nebraska took up separate legislation to restrict abortion in those states. In North Carolina, the Republican-controlled state legislature voted to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks, allowing […]

By Eduardo Baptista and Yuvraj Malik BEIJING (Reuters) – Baidu Inc’s experience in tailoring its search engine to Chinese regulatory requirements makes it confident its AI-driven chatbot won’t make mistakes on “important and sensitive topics”, the company said on Tuesday. On a call with analysts, Baidu CEO Robin Li said the company was waiting for government approval before launching its ChatGPT-like Ernie bot, which Reuters tests have found refuses to […]

By Blake Brittain (Reuters) – British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran on Tuesday defeated a second copyright lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan over similarities between his hit “Thinking Out Loud” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton dismissed the case brought by Structured Asset Sales LLC, ruling that the parts of “Let’s Get It On” Sheeran was accused of infringing were too common for copyright protection. […]

By Julia Harte (Reuters) -North Carolina Republican lawmakers overrode a veto by the state’s Democratic governor to enact a law on Tuesday that cuts the window for most abortions in the southern state from 20 to 12 weeks. The law bans elective abortions after the first trimester, except in cases of rape, incest, life-limiting fetal anomalies and medical emergencies. It will curtail access to the procedure for millions of women […]

(Corrects CEO quote in paragraph 4 to “not trivial at all”,from “no trouble at all”) By Eduardo Baptista and Yuvraj Malik BEIJING (Reuters) -Baidu Inc’s experience in tailoring its search engine to Chinese regulatory requirements makes it confident its AI-driven chatbot won’t make mistakes on “important and sensitive topics”, the company said on Tuesday. On a call with analysts, Baidu CEO Robin Li said the company was waiting for government […]

(Reuters) -Credit Suisse Group AG faces certain restrictions in its ability to do business until its acquisition by rival UBS Group AG is completed, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. In certain cases, without prior UBS approval, Credit Suisse cannot grant a new credit facility or credit line in an amount exceeding 100 million Swiss francs ($113 million) to investment grade borrowers or more than 50 million francs to […]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A Canadian tourist was killed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca this week, local authorities said on Tuesday, a day after another tourist was killed in an attack in the popular holiday region. Oaxacan authorities said a male Canadian was killed in Puerto Escondido, a relaxed beach town popular with surfers, adding that they were investigating his death. They gave no indication of the motivation for […]

By Tassilo Hummel PARIS (Reuters) – The Paris Court of Appeals will on Wednesday rule on Nicolas Sarkozy’s bid to overturn a conviction for bribery and influence-peddling, one of several legal battles the former French president has been fighting over the past decade. A lower court in 2021 found Sarkozy guilty of trying to bribe a judge after leaving office, and of peddling influence in exchange for confidential information about […]