Town Hall News

By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday she is optimistic China will agree on certain technical aspects of debt restructuring for poor countries during the first full-fledged meeting of a sovereign debt roundtable of creditor and debtor countries. “I’ve been encouraged by China’s willingness to provide specific assurances with respect to Sri Lanka. I regard that as a positive sign,” […]

By Hyunsu Yim and Heekyong Yang SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s antitrust regulator has fined Alphabet Inc’s Google 42.1 billion won ($31.88 million) for blocking the release of mobile video games on a competitor’s platform. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Tuesday that Google bolstered its market dominance, and hurt local app market One Store’s revenue and value as a platform, by requiring video game makers to exclusively release […]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The 40 migrants who died in a fire at a detention center in Mexico last month were unable to escape because the person with the key to their locked cell was absent, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday. Mexican authorities have said the blaze began when one or more migrants lit alight their mattresses in protest at their imminent deportation, but have provided […]

By Nichola Groom (Reuters) – U.S. officials on Tuesday gave final approval for a company owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz to begin building a massive transmission line that will deliver wind energy from blustery Wyoming to power-hungry California. The “notice to proceed” from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management allows TransWest Express LLC to break ground on its $3 billion line after more than 15 years of development. About two-thirds […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed new health protections to reduce exposure of U.S. workers and communities to ethylene oxide, a toxic, colorless gas mainly used to sterilize medical equipment and spices. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed rule with new requirements at 86 sterilizer facilities across the country, that if finalized, aims to reduce ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions by 80%. Long-term exposure to EtO can […]

By Anirban Sen and Mehnaz Yasmin (Reuters) – Mark Shafir, one of Citigroup Inc’s top dealmakers, is retiring after a career spanning over three decades during which he advised some of the world’s largest corporations on several landmark deals. Shafir, who has led Citi’s global mergers and acquisitions unit since joining the bank in 2008, will stay on till mid-May to help with the transition, according to an internal memo […]

(Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had “violated Russian law” and been caught “red-handed,” one day after the U.S. State Department officially designated him as having been “wrongfully detained.” Russia’s federal security service arrested Gershkovich last month on espionage charges widely decried as bogus by the White House, other Western countries, the Wall Street Journal, dozens of media organisations and human rights groups. […]

(Reuters) – OpenAI, the firm behind chatbot sensation ChatGPT, said on Tuesday that it would offer up to $20,000 to users reporting vulnerabilities in its artificial intelligence systems. OpenAI Bug Bounty program, which went live on Tuesday, will offer rewards to people based on the severity of the bugs they report, with rewards starting from $200 per vulnerability. Technology companies often use bug bounty programs to encourage programmers and ethical […]

(Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had “violated Russian law” and been caught “red-handed,” one day after the U.S. State Department officially designated him as having been “wrongfully detained.” Russia’s federal security service arrested Gershkovich last month on espionage charges widely decried as bogus by the White House, other Western countries, the Wall Street Journal, dozens of media organisations and human rights groups. […]