Town Hall News

By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) – Wildfires are increasingly causing destruction and illness around the world, but the smoke drifting southward from eastern Canada this week is a new experience for the tens of millions who live in the U.S. Northeast. Many in those states are wondering what they need to know about a first-time wildfire smoke event. Are health risks lower during a first-time wildfire smoke event? People in the […]

By Jason Xue and Joe Cash SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – China is open for investment, the country’s top financial regulators told foreign financiers at a high-profile forum in Shanghai on Thursday, as concerns mount among foreign firms that they may no longer be welcome. The world’s second-largest economy, keen for foreign investment to support its reopening after three years of COVID-19 restrictions, has played host in recent months to high-profile overseas […]

By Raghav Mahobe and Mariam Sunny (Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers on Thursday backed the use of Sanofi and partner AstraZeneca’s experimental antibody to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in infants. The advisers voted unanimously in favor of using the antibody, nirsevimab, in newborns and infants to prevent infections in their first RSV season. In a separate 19-2 vote, the panel backed the therapy’s use in […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators said on Thursday they had proposed barring the Federal Aviation Administration from buying or using Chinese-made drones. Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, and Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat who chairs the Intelligence Committee, proposed legislation that would also prohibit the FAA from providing federal funds to foreign drone companies from China and several other countries. She said the FAA operates more […]

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Andrea Shalal and Kate Holton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday agreed to deepen close economic ties between their countries, pledging to accelerate the clean energy transition and strengthen critical mineral supply chains. The two leaders also discussed their “unwavering support for the people in Ukraine,” Biden told reporters at a joint news conference with Sunak, an opportunity […]

By Karen Freifeld and Jacqueline Thomsen (Reuters) – U.S. courthouse activity in Miami suggests that federal prosecutors might bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump in his home state of Florida rather than in Washington. Special Counsel Jack Smith has convened grand juries in both places to hear evidence in his investigation into whether the former president mishandled classified information after leaving the White House in January 2021. Taylor […]

By Nia Williams and Ismail Shakil OTTAWA (Reuters) -Allies around the world have promised to increase their help to Canada in its fight against hundreds of blazes that have swept through the country in its worst-ever start to wildfire season. Forest fires that have gathered strength over the last month have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and sent a smoky haze billowing over a large swath […]

By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union ministers agreed on Thursday on how to share out the responsibility for looking after migrants and refugees, after 12 hours of negotiations got Italy and Greece to sign up to a deal that has eluded the bloc for nearly a decade. Home affairs ministers from the 27-member bloc sealed the deal, hoping to end years of division dating back to 2015 when more […]

By Nandita Bose and Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden warned Thursday about “ugly” attacks from “hysterical” people who are targeting LGBTQ+ Americans, as he announced new measures intended to curb book bans and rising hate crimes. “We have some hysterical and, I would argue, prejudiced, people” engaged in targeting LGBTQ people, Biden said. “It’s an appeal to fear and it’s an appeal that is totally, thoroughly unjustified, ugly,” […]