Town Hall News

By Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) – Teresa Xu, an unmarried 35-year old Chinese woman, began her final appeal in a Beijing court on Tuesday, where she is suing a public hospital in the Chinese capital for violating her rights by refusing to freeze her eggs because she is unmarried. Xu, a freelance writer, first lodged the claim against the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital in November 2019 in a landmark […]

By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian stocks eased back from more than two-week highs on Tuesday as traders squared positions heading into a key U.S. inflation report, while gloomy Chinese trade data also kept risk sentiment in check. The dollar stabilized against major peers as U.S. yields remained elevated amid increased confidence that the banking sector is not headed for a wider crisis. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares […]

By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) – The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations must condemn any threat to use nuclear weapons and vow “decisive action” against such a move when they hold a summit next week in the city of Hiroshima, Ukraine’s envoy to Japan said. Nuclear tension has surged since the start of the conflict with Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that Russia […]

By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence could pose a “more urgent” threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday.  Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the “godfathers of AI”, recently announced he had quit Alphabet after a decade at the firm, saying he wanted to speak out on the risks of the technology without it affecting his former […]

By Humeyra Pamuk, Gloria Dickie and Gwladys Fouche WASHINGTON/LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) – For nearly three decades, the Arctic Council has been a successful example of post-Cold War cooperation. Its eight members, including Russia and the United States, have cooperated on climate-change research and social development across the ecologically sensitive region. Now, a year after council members stopped working with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and as Norway prepares to assume […]

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam is preparing to make it mandatory for social media users of both local and foreign platforms to verify their identity in a bid to rein in online scams, state media reported on Monday. The measure, part of the Telecommunications Law Amendment to be issued by the end of this year, will enable law enforcement agencies to track down offenders using social media to break the law, […]

(Reuters) – Switzerland coach Inka Grings said she wants her team to play fearless, aggressive football when they make only their second World Cup appearance in Australia and New Zealand. Switzerland, who reached the round of 16 in 2015, begin their Group A campaign against the Philippines before facing Norway and co-hosts New Zealand. The Swiss were eliminated in the group stage of the Women’s Euros last year but enjoyed […]

By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence could pose a “more urgent” threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday.  Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the “godfathers of AI”, recently announced he had quit Alphabet after a decade at the firm, saying he wanted to speak out on the risks of the technology without it affecting his former […]

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s competition regulator said on Thursday it would start examining the impact of artificial intelligence on consumers, businesses and the economy and whether new controls were needed on technologies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While research on AI has been going on for years, the sudden popularity of generative AI applications such as ChatGPT and Midjourney has highlighted a technology that could upend the way businesses […]