Town Hall News

A New Jersey mayor who was blocked from attending a White House celebration this week with President Joe Biden to belatedly mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan called Tuesday for the administration to end the federal “watch list” that he said illegally targets Muslims and others. During a news conference held Tuesday in South Plainfield by the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations […]

By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – A lawyer for a Florida prosecutor on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to reinstate his client after the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, indefinitely suspended him over his pledge not to prosecute people seeking or providing abortions. “This governor punishes dissenting voices,” David A. O’Neil, a lawyer for suspended prosecutor Andrew Warren, told a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is on track to open a new embassy in Tonga this month, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Tuesday, part of efforts to step up its diplomatic presence in the Pacific region to counter China. Daniel Kritenbrink told a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States was also continuing to engage with Vanuatu and Kiribati about opening […]

PRISTINA (Reuters) -Leaders of Kosovo and Serbia failed to agree on how to lower tensions in Serb-majority areas in north Kosovo, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday, warning that any further escalation could undermine the EU-backed deal on normalising ties. In March, Pristina and Belgrade verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan aimed at improving ties but little progress has been seen since. Some 50,000 Serbs who […]

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Carolina Mandl BEVERLY HILLS (Reuters) – Prominent investors including hedge fund and private equity managers at a major industry conference say they are shying away from stocks and real estate amid uncertainty over interest rates, fears of a recession and threat of a U.S. debt default. Instead, fixed income, which was unpopular when rates were low, is back in favor and seeing strong capital flows into […]

(Reuters) – TikTok said on Tuesday its head of U.S. data security trust and safety, Eric Han, will leave the company. The news comes as TikTok faces calls from U.S. lawmakers to ban the popular short-form video app from the country over concerns about its Chinese ownership and protection of U.S. user data. (Reporting by Sheila Dang in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By Isla Binnie and Ross Kerber (Reuters) – Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed into law on Tuesday a bill barring state officials from investing public money to promote environmental, social and governance goals, and prohibiting ESG bond sales. The bill is one of the furthest-reaching efforts yet by U.S. Republicans against sustainable investing efforts, and a clear political message from DeSantis, a likely presidential candidate. Republicans, including some from energy-producing […]

By Dietrich Knauth (Reuters) – Bankrupt movie theater chain Cineworld received U.S. court approval on Tuesday to raise $2.26 billion as part of its exit from bankruptcy, after reaching a settlement with a minority faction of lenders that had opposed parts of the exit financing. Cineworld is aiming to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the first half of 2023, with a proposal to cut $4.53 billion in debt, wipe […]

By Jamie McGeever (Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. Maybe the U.S. banking turmoil of March 2023 wasn’t boxed up, tied with a bow, and neatly shelved for posterity after all. Shares in regional U.S. banks got clobbered on Tuesday – PacWest BanCorp lost a quarter of its market cap – setting a gloomy and defensive tone for Asian markets on Wednesday […]