Town Hall News

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – German business software maker SAP and German engineering company Siemens have joined U.S. tech giants in criticising draft EU laws on the use of data generated by smart gadgets and other consumer goods. EU countries and EU lawmakers are working on the details of the Data Act, proposed by the European Commission last year before it can be adopted as legislation. The draft […]

By Sudarshan Varadhan SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose slightly in early Asian trade on Monday as fears of a recession in the U.S., which drove prices down for three straight weeks for the first time since November, began to recede. Brent crude futures were up 6 cents at $75.36 a barrel at 0022 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 8 cents at $71.42. Concerns that […]

By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares crept higher on Monday as investors braced for a week where U.S. inflation data will test wagers the next move in interest rates will be down, while worries about a possible credit crunch weighed on the dollar. Friday’s robust U.S. payrolls report has already delivered a setback to easing hopes and any upside surprise on consumer prices would challenge bets for a […]

By Sudarshan Varadhan SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose slightly in early Asian trade on Monday as fears of a recession in the U.S., which drove prices down for three straight weeks for the first time since November, began to recede. Brent crude futures were up 6 cents at $75.36 a barrel at 0022 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 8 cents at $71.42. Concerns that […]

By Luc Cohen and Hannah Lang (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump will not testify at a civil trial to challenge claims made by writer E. Jean Carroll that he raped her in the 1990s and later defamed her, after letting a Sunday deadline pass without asking the court to appear. Trump’s attorney Joseph Tacopina told the judge on Thursday that Trump had waived his right to testify in […]

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan on Sunday ended laws enacted at the start of COVID-19 that gave the authorities powers to enforce a state of emergency that rights groups said were used as an excuse to suppress civic and political liberties. A royal decree approved a cabinet decision to annul the state of emergency passed nearly three years ago at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 […]

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) – Biotechnology company Exelixis said on Sunday that Lance Willsey was leaving its board and that it would not contest the election of a dissident director candidate amid a proxy battle with investor Farallon Capital Management. “The board supports Dr. Willsey’s decision, which will end the need for Farallon to continue its proxy campaign,” Exelixis, which develops cancer therapies, said in a statement late on […]

KYIV (Reuters) – At least five people were wounded due to Russian strikes on Kyiv, city officials said early on Monday, as Moscow launched another large-scale attack on Ukraine. Three people were injured in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and two others were injured when drone wreckage fell onto the Sviatoshyn district, both west of the capital’s centre, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram messaging channel. Klitschko said drone […]

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s centre-left Labor government said on Monday it would include A$14.6 billion ($9.84 billion) over four years in the federal budget for cost of living relief for families and businesses, which it promised would not stoke inflation. The plan is designed to directly ease price pressures and inflation, the federal government said, which has eased in the first quarter but still sits near 30-year highs of 7.0%. […]