Town Hall News

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 Blake Brittain (Reuters) – Jury selection is set to begin on Monday in Manhattan federal court for a trial over claims that British pop superstar Ed Sheeran owes a share of profits from his hit “Thinking Out Loud” for copying Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” Heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend sued Sheeran, his label Warner Music Group and music publisher Sony Music Publishing for allegedly ripping off Gaye’s […]

By Chris Prentice (Reuters) – U.S. officials on Tuesday warned financial firms and others that use of artificial intelligence (AI) can heighten the risk of bias and civil rights violations, and signaled they are policing marketplaces for such discrimination. Increased reliance on automated systems in sectors including lending, employment and housing threatens to exacerbate discrimination based on race, disabilities and other factors, the heads of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, […]

By Helen Reid and Corina Pons BARCELONA (Reuters) -Europe’s cost of living crisis has benefited discount retailers but mid-market names are being squeezed as shoppers watch their spending, executives and analysts at an industry conference said on Tuesday. Luxury is also continuing to perform well, with hopes that China’s reopening will give fresh impetus as a months-long post-pandemic splurge by Americans starts to end. But “if you are not really […]

By Helen Reid and Corina Pons BARCELONA (Reuters) -Europe’s cost of living crisis has benefited discount retailers but mid-market names are being squeezed as shoppers watch their spending, executives and analysts at an industry conference said on Tuesday. Luxury is also continuing to perform well, with hopes that China’s reopening will give fresh impetus as a months-long post-pandemic splurge by Americans starts to end. But “if you are not really […]

By Nichola Groom (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday said it had finalized an area of nearly 10 million acres in the Gulf of Maine for potential offshore wind development, a major step toward expanding the industry into northern New England. The announcement was the latest milestone in the government’s plan to put wind turbines along every U.S. coastline to help displace fossil fuel for power generation and […]

BOGOTA (Reuters) -Former Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido arrived in Miami on Tuesday following a surprise visit to Colombia the previous day, where he had hoped to meet with participants at an international summit. Guaido unexpectedly arrived in Colombia on the eve of the summit, organized by the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro with the aim of restarting stalled negotiations between Venezuela’s government and opposition politicians. He boarded a […]

By Jeffrey Dastin and Anna Tong (Reuters) – OpenAI is introducing what one employee called an “incognito mode” for its hit chatbot ChatGPT that does not save users’ conversation history or use it to improve its artificial intelligence, the company said Tuesday. The San Francisco-based startup also said it planned a “ChatGPT Business” subscription with additional data controls. The move comes as scrutiny has grown over how ChatGPT and other […]

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A research rocket launched by Sweden Space Corp early on Monday from Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden malfunctioned and landed 15 km (9.32 miles) inside neighbouring Norway. The rocket reached an altitude of 250 km where experiments were carried out in zero gravity, the agency said in a statement. “It landed in the mountains at 1,000 meters altitude, and 10 kilometers from the closest settlement,” Philip […]