Town Hall News

By Sarah N. Lynch and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) – British American Tobacco Plc has agreed to pay more than $635 million to U.S. authorities after a subsidiary pleaded guilty to charges that it conspired to violate U.S. sanctions by selling tobacco products to North Korea and commit bank fraud, a U.S. court filing and the company said on Tuesday. The tobacco sales at the heart of Tuesday’s settlement took […]

By Luc Cohen, Jack Queen and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -The judge in former President Donald Trump’s rape case ordered lawyers at the start of a civil trial on Tuesday to keep their clients and witnesses from making public statements that could lead to violence. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan admonished them before seating nine jurors who will weigh whether Trump raped former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean […]

By David Morgan and Katharine Jackson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives predicted on Tuesday his party will muster the votes needed to adopt a plan to slash spending and raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, despite signs of growing opposition within Republican ranks. “This will pass. I’m telling you right now, it will pass the House floor,” Representative Tom Emmer, the No. 3 […]

By Sriparna Roy and Bhanvi Satija (Reuters) – Biogen Inc said on Tuesday it will pause or discontinue at least four studies of experimental drugs to focus on more potentially lucrative options including its second Alzheimer’s treatment, Leqembi, in the latest attempt by the new CEO to trim costs. “We made good progress on the previous program that it amounts $1 billion of cost savings,” Chief Executive Christopher Viehbacker said […]

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday warned that failure by Congress to raise the government’s debt ceiling – and the resulting default – would trigger an “economic catastrophe” that would send interest rates higher for years to come. Yellen, in remarks prepared for a Washington event with business executives from California, said a default on U.S. debt would result in job losses, while […]

By Tatiana Bautzer NEW YORK (Reuters) -Citigroup Inc’s chairman John Dugan defended the company’s efforts to fix its regulatory problems and bolster its stock at the bank’s annual meeting on Tuesday. “We completely understand” shareholders’ frustration with the share price, he said, after fielding several questions from shareholders on the topic. Investor dissatisfaction is likely to persist for some time, said Mike Mayo, an analyst at Wells Fargo who attended […]

By Sriparna Roy and Bhanvi Satija (Reuters) -Biogen Inc said on Tuesday it will pause or discontinue at least four studies of experimental drugs to focus on more potentially lucrative options including its second Alzheimer’s treatment, Leqembi, in the latest attempt by the new CEO to trim costs. “We made good progress on the previous program that it amounts $1 billion of cost savings,” Chief Executive Christopher Viehbacker said on […]

By Dina Kartit (Reuters) – Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM International on Tuesday reported a drop in first-quarter orders, citing softening market conditions, despite revenue beating estimate.    The Amsterdam-listed company registered orders totalling 647.4 million euros ($710.20 million), down 20% at constant currencies from the previous quarter and well below the 705.7 million euros in the same period last year. “Demand in the memory market further weakened in Q1 and […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of nine Republican senators on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Huawei Cloud and other Chinese cloud service providers, citing national security concerns, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The previously unreported letter led by Senator Bill Hagerty to the Commerce, State and Treasury departments said Chinese cloud computing companies “are increasingly engaging with foreign entities – in […]