Town Hall News

By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday its budget deficit projections would be reduced by about $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years if the debt ceiling bill now up for a vote in Congress were enacted in its present form. The projection comes following the debt ceiling deal struck last weekend between Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican House of Representatives Speaker […]

By Jason Xue and Tom Westbrook SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The last great hope for China’s faltering post-pandemic rally is fading as the nation’s legion of small-time investors turns bearish on equities to double down instead on safer assets amid a stuttering economic recovery. Brokers and money managers had expected billions of yuan in excess savings would find their way to the stockmarket this year as the economy gathered pace and […]

By Hyonhee Shin and Chang-Ran Kim SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -North Korea attempted to launch what it called a space satellite over the sea to the south on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, as the nuclear-armed North seeks to gain ground in a regional space race. The launch prompted emergency alerts and brief evacuation warnings in parts of South Korea and Japan, which were then withdrawn with no danger or damage reported. […]

By Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) – Wailing air raid sirens and cell phone alerts calling for rare evacuations rattled residents of the South Korean capital, Seoul, early on Wednesday after North Korea launched what it said was a satellite. North Korea launched the rocket toward the south, South Korea’s military said, prompting emergency alerts and evacuation warnings in parts of South Korea and Japan. “I was so panicked. 911 lines […]

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline was bombed by unknown actors, operator Cenit said in a statement on Tuesday, prolonging the suspension of pumping crude between oil fields in the country’s northeast and the Caribbean coast, where the oil is exported. The attack occurred in a rural part of the Saravena municipality, located in Arauca province, and Cenit, a subsidiary of majority-state-owned oil company Ecopetrol, implemented an emergency containment […]

By Elida Moreno PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – The number of child migrants crossing a dangerous stretch of jungle dividing Colombia and Panama has rapidly increased during the first four months of this year, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. The thick jungle terrain of the Darien Gap, which is also home to roving bands of criminals, has become a key transit point for thousands of mostly U.S.-bound […]

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline was bombed by unknown actors, operator Cenit said in a statement on Tuesday, prolonging the suspension of pumping crude between oil fields in the country’s northeast and the Caribbean coast, where the oil is exported. The attack occurred in a rural part of the Saravena municipality, located in Arauca province, and Cenit, a subsidiary of majority-state-owned oil company Ecopetrol, implemented an emergency containment […]

By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The New Zealand government will update the country’s surrogacy law to make the process easier and less discriminatory, New Zealand’s Justice Minister Kiri Allan said late on Tuesday. “Surrogacy has become an established method of forming a family for people unable to carry a child themselves. However, the laws that apply to surrogacy are outdated and need to change,” Allan said in a statement. […]

By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The New Zealand government will update the country’s surrogacy law to make the process easier and less discriminatory, New Zealand’s Justice Minister Kiri Allan said late on Tuesday. “Surrogacy has become an established method of forming a family for people unable to carry a child themselves. However, the laws that apply to surrogacy are outdated and need to change,” Allan said in a statement. […]