Town Hall News

By Shariq Khan BENGALURU (Reuters) – Oil prices dropped by a dollar a barrel on Monday after weak economic data from China and expectations of another U.S. interest rate hike outweighed support from OPEC+ supply cuts that take effect this month. Brent crude fell $1.02, or 1.3%, to settle at $78.45 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slid $1.12, or 1.5%, to settle at $75.66. China’s manufacturing […]

By Lisa Richwine and Dawn Chmielewski LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Negotiators for Hollywood writers and film and television studios engaged in 11th-hour contract talks on Monday to try and avert a strike that would disrupt TV production across an industry grappling with seismic changes. The Writers Guild of America could call a work stoppage as early as Tuesday if it cannot reach a deal with companies such as Walt Disney […]

By Lawrence Delevingne (Reuters) – The focus of the U.S. regional banking crisis turned on First Republic Bank in late March after the wealthy clients it courted to fuel its breakneck growth began pulling their deposits. With no let-up in pressure on First Republic, the biggest U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase & Co, said on Monday it will buy most of the San-Francisco lender’s assets after regulators seized the troubled lender […]

By Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday urged House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to take the potential for an unprecedented U.S. debt default off the table, warning that it would result in skyrocketing credit card and mortgage rates. “America is not a deadbeat nation. We have never, ever failed to meet the debt,” Biden told a small business event at the White […]

(Reuters) – Lyft Inc’s revenue growth is likely to lag bigger rival Uber Technologies Inc for the sixth straight quarter, with Wall Street eagerly looking forward to a turnaround plan from its new CEO David Risher. He took charge last month and has already moved to cut more than 1,000 jobs to kick-start a company that has struggled to rebound from pandemic lows and fallen behind its more global and […]

By Dawn Chmielewski (Reuters) -A district board appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to oversee development in and around Walt Disney Co’s Florida theme parks on Monday said it would file a countersuit against Disney in state court, according to prepared remarks seen by Reuters. The decision, which escalates tensions between Disney and the state of Florida, comes in response to a lawsuit Disney filed last week in federal district […]

By Nia Williams (Reuters) – Canada’s main oil-producing province Alberta will hold its election on May 29, a vote expected to be a tight race between Premier Danielle Smith’s ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) and Rachel Notley’s left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP). Alberta’s chief electoral officer Glen Resler said writs were issued on Monday to administer elections across the province. Smith launched the UCP’s election campaign at a news conference […]

By Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday urged House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to take the potential for an unprecedented U.S. debt default off the table, warning that it would result in skyrocketing credit card and mortgage rates. “America is not a deadbeat nation. We have never, ever failed to meet the debt,” Biden told a small business event at the White […]

By George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) – The bodies of several children exhumed in eastern Kenya showed signs of starvation and in some cases asphyxiation, a government pathologist said on Monday, as investigators began the first autopsies on over 100 people linked to a doomsday cult. On Monday investigators said they had completed 10 autopsies, comprising nine children aged between 18 months and 10 years, and one female adult, from the […]