Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Canada on Friday gave the final approval for Rogers Communications Inc’s C$20 billion ($15 billion) buyout of Shaw Communications Inc, clearing the deal that will create the country’s No. 2 telecoms company. The green light came as Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne agreed to the transfer of wireless licenses held by Shaw’s Freedom Mobile unit to Quebecor Inc under some conditions. Here is the snapshot […]

(Reuters) – At least eight civilians including children were killed in an air strike on a village in northwest Myanmar, according to a human rights group, ethnic minority rebels and media, the latest violence as the ruling military battles to consolidate power. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a coup two years ago, with attacks by ethnic minority armies and a resistance fighters challenging the rule of the military, which […]

By Johann M Cherian (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index edged up on Friday as investor sentiment gained steam after data showed the domestic economy grew more than expected in January. Rogers Communications reversed earlier gains and fell 1.0% after its C$20 billion ($15 billion) bid for Shaw Communications Inc was cleared by the Canadian government, making it the country’s No. 2 telecoms firm. Shares of Shaw communications advanced 3.2% […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nissan and Renault are working well together to sign a final agreement about the reshaping of their alliance and are confident that a deal will be reached soon, Nissan said in a statement on Friday. The company was responding to an earlier report by Japanese news agency Jiji which said that the final contract on the reboot of the alliance may be delayed until after April due […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge slowed sharply last month, an encouraging sign in the Fed’s yearlong effort to cool price pressures through steadily higher interest rates. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices rose 0.3% from January to February, down from a 0.6% increase from December to January. Measured year-over-year, prices rose 5%, slower than the 5.3% annual increase in January. The report […]

WARSAW (Reuters) – Tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural imports may need to be reintroduced if an influx of products that is pushing down prices in European Union markets cannot be stopped by other means, the prime ministers of five eastern states said on Friday. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen published on a Polish government website, the prime ministers of Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia […]

By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) – Four artificial intelligence experts have expressed concern after their work was cited in an open letter – co-signed by Elon Musk – demanding an urgent pause in research. The letter, dated March 22 and with more than 1,800 signatures by Friday, called for a six-month circuit-breaker in the development of systems “more powerful” than Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s new GPT-4, which can hold human-like conversation, compose […]

By Joseph White DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors plans to phase out widely-used Apple CarPlay and Android Auto technologies that allow drivers to bypass a vehicle’s infotainment systems, shifting instead to built-in infotainment systems developed with Google for future electric vehicles. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto systems allow users to mirror their smartphone screens in a vehicle’s dashboard display. GM’s decision to stop offering those systems in future electric vehicles, […]

(Reuters) – U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research said on Friday Block Inc’s response to its allegations confirmed it had reported inflated user counts on its Cash App to investors for years. The payments firm led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said on Thursday that 44 million of its more than 51 million monthly active customers on Cash App were verified through its identity program as of Dec. 31. “Block’s newly […]