Town Hall News

By Joseph White and Stephen Nellis DETROIT (Reuters) – Germany’s Bosch Group has agreed to buy key assets of California chip manufacturer TSI Semiconductors and invest $1.5 billion to expand U.S. production of silicon carbide chips for electric vehicles. Bosch and TSI did not disclose a purchase price. Bosch said it plans to invest $1.5 billion to retool TSI’s chip production facilities in Roseville, California to start producing silicon carbide […]

By Leah Douglas WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration said on Wednesday the plan from U.S. Republican lawmakers to cut federal spending for a decade in exchange for raising the debt ceiling would cost rural communities thousands of jobs and billions of dollars. The House of Representatives could vote as soon as Wednesday on the plan proposed last week by Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Spending cuts in the McCarthy plan would […]

By Richa Naidu and Dominique Vidalon LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) -The world’s top consumer goods companies, making everything from instant noodles to soap and ice cream, are paying less for their raw materials and energy, but it may take time before shoppers see significantly lower price tags for household goods. Rising expenses for everything from sunflower oil to milk and grain have hit the packaged goods industry hard over the past two […]

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – ASML’s CEO Peter Wennink said on Wednesday it was “logical” that China would seek to develop its own semiconductor equipment when it is restricted from purchasing tech products made abroad. ASML Holding NV is Europe’s largest technology firm by market capitalization and dominates the market for lithography tools – important equipment needed to make computer chips. Last week, the company reported strong first quarter earnings and said […]

New Books, a New Coin, and a First in the Gulf: Israel Celebrates 75 By: Felice Friedson/The Media Line Israel celebrated the 75th anniversary of its independence on Tuesday night and Wednesday. Many celebrations in Israel were marked by reflections on the challenges Israel faces, while some celebrations outside of Israel were possible only because of diplomatic advances that would have been unimaginable at Israel’s founding. The Media Line spoke […]

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co plans to exit Russia and sell its manufacturing plants there to a Kazakh company, South Korean media reported on Wednesday. South Korean TV network MBC reported that negotiations to sell Hyundai’s factories in Russia are in the final stage, adding that the automaker has been waiting for a final approval from the Russian government. “It is true that there are ongoing discussions […]

(Reuters) – Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard has been blocked by Britain over concerns it would hinder competition in cloud gaming, dealing an unexpected blow to the biggest-ever deal in gaming. Here is a list of some mergers that recently faced strong antitrust scrutiny around the world: DEALS UNDER SCRUTINY DEAL DEAL VALUE CONTEXT Broadcom – $61 billion The European Commission has VMware informed […]

By Dan Peleschuk and Ethan Wang KYIV/BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy by telephone on Wednesday for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fulfilling a longstanding goal of Kyiv which had publicly sought such talks for months. Zelenskiy immediately signalled the importance of the chance to open closer relations with Russia’s most powerful friend, naming a former cabinet minister as Ukraine’s new ambassador […]

US-led Task Force Reports Significant Decline in IS Attacks US troops in the multinational task force fighting IS have transitioned into an advisory role, which officials say has been effective at preventing terrorism By Clint Van Winkle/The Media Line The multinational task force working on dismantling the Islamic State (IS) group announced on Monday that IS attacks have declined as US forces transition away from combat and into an advisory […]