Town Hall News

(Reuters) – In a further attempt to rein in increasing numbers of women defying the compulsory dress code, Iranian authorities are installing cameras in public places and thoroughfares to identify and penalise unveiled women, the police announced on Saturday. After they have been identified, violators will receive “warning text messages as to the consequences”, police said in a statement. The move is aimed at “preventing resistance against the hijab law,” […]

HANOI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Vietnam next week, Senator Jeff Merkley told a news conference in Hanoi on Saturday, as part of Washington’s efforts to move diplomatic relations with Hanoi on to a higher level this year. Blinken’s visit, which has not yet been officially announced, would come after U.S. President Joe Biden had a phone call last week with the chief of Vietnam’s […]

By Cheney Orr NASHVILLE (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Nashville on Friday in a show of support for Tennessee state lawmakers expelled for staging a rule-breaking demonstration for gun control on the statehouse floor after a recent school shooting. Republicans who control the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday expelled two young Black lawmakers who last week led protesters into the well of the House floor, while […]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese search engine giant Baidu has filed lawsuits against “relevant” app developers and Apple Inc over fake copies of its Ernie bot app available on Apple’s app store. The company’s artificial intelligence powered Ernie bot, launched last month, has been touted as China’s closest answer to the U.S.-developed chatbot ChatGPT. Baidu said it had lodged lawsuits in Beijing Haidian People’s Court against the developers behind the counterfeit […]

By Ardo Hazzad BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Gunmen abducted at least 80 people, mostly women and children, in Nigeria’s Zamfara state, a hotspot for kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs targeting remote villages, residents said on Saturday. Gangs of armed men have attacked hundreds of local communities across northwestern Nigeria in recent years, while Islamist militants continue to stage attacks in the northeast. The latest kidnapping took place on Friday […]

N’DJAMENA (Reuters) – Chad’s government ordered the German ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours, it said in a statement, a decision sources said was motivated by his comments about Chad’s delayed transition to civilian rule after a 2021 coup. “This decision of the government is motivated by the discourteous attitude and the non-respect of diplomatic customs,” the country’s Communication Ministry said on Twitter late on Friday. Two Chadian […]

By Joey Roulette and Kevin Krolicki (Reuters) – As the fortunes of Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit were crashing to Earth last month, a little-known investor called Matthew Brown appeared offering a $200 million rescue.     Within two days of being contacted by Brown, Virgin Orbit Chief Executive Dan Hart had secured board backing for a preliminary agreement with the 33-year-old Texas-based investor, according to related documents and email exchanges reviewed by […]

By Josh Arslan, Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard FUZHOU, China/TAIPEI (Reuters) -Seventy-one Chinese military aircraft crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday as China began drills around Taiwan in anger at President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The three-day drills, announced the day after Tsai returned from the United States, had been widely expected after China condemned her Wednesday […]

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said he had canceled his trip to Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on the orders of the prime minister due to the political situation in the country. Dar said he would attend important attend bilateral and multilateral meetings virtually and a Pakistani delegation would be present in Washington. The minister played […]