Town Hall News

ROME/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -OpenAI plans to present measures to Italian authorities on Thursday to remedy concerns that led to a ban of its ChatGPT chatbot in Italy last week, the country’s data protection authorities said. The Italian agency, also known as Garante, accused Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI of failing to check the age of ChatGPT users and the “absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is to investigate Amazon.com’s anticipated takeover of robot vacuum maker iRobot Corp, the country’s competition regulator said on Thursday. The e-commerce giant’s planned $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, aimed at expanding its stable of smart home devices, is already being reviewed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said it is also now considering whether the deal could reduce competition in the […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – There is no such thing as illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico, China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, responding to a letter from the Mexican president asking Beijing to help limit illicit flows of the deadly drug. China has not been notified by Mexico about any seizure of fentanyl from China, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular briefing. “U.S. needs to face up […]

By Rami Ayyub WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on his fellow Republicans in Congress to slash funding for the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI, one day after pleading not guilty in New York to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump, who is seeking to regain the presidency in 2024, took aim at federal law enforcement authorities even though the criminal charges against him […]

By Marine Strauss and Silvia Aloisi PARIS (Reuters) -France faced a new round of nationwide protests and strikes on Thursday after a meeting between the prime minister and labour unions failed to break a political stalemate over a deeply unpopular pension bill making people work for longer. Protests against the reform – which lifts the retirement age by two years to 64 – have drawn crowds of hundreds of thousands […]

By Joseph White DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co unveiled a new electric Courier van aimed at winning business customers in Europe, and boxing out electric van startups such as Arrival SA. The electric Courier is part of a revamped lineup of smaller, commercial vans for the European market that will also include gasoline and diesel models, Ford said. The new Courier vans are 25% larger than the current model, […]

By Michel Rose and Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen began a series of meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing on Thursday, talks that could set a new course for the bloc’s relations with China after years of strained ties. Macron held talks with Premier Li Qiang before meeting President Xi Jinping for an elaborate ceremony outside the Great Hall of […]

By Joseph White DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co unveiled a new electric Courier van aimed at winning business customers in Europe, and boxing out electric van startups such as Arrival SA. The electric Courier is part of a revamped lineup of smaller, commercial vans for the European market that will also include gasoline and diesel models, Ford said. The new Courier vans are 25% larger than the current model, […]

By Ben Blanchard and Liz Lee TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) -Taiwan is keeping watch on a Chinese aircraft carrier but does not expect a large escalation in tensions, the government said on Thursday, after China denounced a meeting between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy – the third highest ranking official in the U.S. leadership hierarchy – and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers met Tsai on Wednesday […]