Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump was indicted in New York City on Thursday on criminal charges arising from alleged hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to avoid a scandal ahead of the 2016 U.S. election. Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, the year after he married his third wife Melania and more than a decade before the businessman-turned-politician – at […]

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Walmart Inc was sued on Thursday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency’s second lawsuit this week accusing the largest U.S. retailer of discrimination against workers with disabilities. The EEOC said Walmart illegally demoted Calvin Hagan for missing too much work at a Raleigh, North Carolina store because of seizures caused by his generalized convulsive epilepsy, and then illegally fired him for […]

By Mike Scarcella (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc that alleged its Facebook social media business drove a now-defunct photo software application startup out of business in violation of federal antitrust law. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn, New York, federal court said in her 67-page order that Phhhoto Inc had failed to timely bring its claims under relevant U.S. antitrust […]

By Aidan Lewis CAIRO (Reuters) – A fund to deliver financing to places affected by climate-fuelled disasters should be created by the annual U.N. climate summit that opens at the end of November, the lead host negotiator at last year’s summit said on Thursday. Agreement to establish a “loss and damage” fund was secured at COP27 in Egypt last November, but the deal did not spell out who would pay […]

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s parliament approved a bill on Thursday to allow Finland to join NATO, clearing the way for Helsinki to join the Western defence alliance as war rages in Ukraine. The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland’s membership after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill earlier this week. (Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Mert Ozkan; Editing by Chris Reese) […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House’s plan to strengthen the U.S. banking system announced on Thursday makes new demands on a small group of midsized banks. The plan asks regulators to demand banks with between $100 billion and $250 billion in assets increase liquidity and capital, and submit to extra stress tests, among other changes. Here is the banks that would be impacted, based on the Federal Reserve’s last bank […]

By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as technology-related shares extended their recent strong run, while regional U.S. bank shares fell as the Biden administration proposed stronger measures to help reduce risk. The S&P 500 technology index was up 1.1% and gave the S&P 500 its biggest boost, while the Philadelphia semiconductor index hit its highest level in nearly a year. Wednesday’s strong gains grew […]

By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) -European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday that she is optimistic that an electric vehicle battery minerals trade agreement can soon be reached with the U.S. that is similar in substance to Washington’s deal this week with Japan. Vestager told reporters in Washington that European Union and U.S. negotiators are working on legal frameworks that would be different from the Japan deal. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Efforts to build guardrails and a floor under U.S.-China relations have yet to be successful, and coming months will determine whether it is possible to reestablish constructive diplomacy with Beijing, a top White House official said on Thursday. Speaking at a time of heightened tensions with China over a U.S. stopover by Taiwan’s president, U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said Washington had made clear to China that it […]