Town Hall News

By Lisa Richwine and Dawn Chmielewski LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Thousands of film and television writers will go on strike starting Tuesday, throwing Hollywood into turmoil as the entertainment business grapples with seismic changes triggered by the global streaming TV boom. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) called its first work stoppage in 15 years after failing to reach an agreement for higher pay from studios such as Walt Disney […]

(Reuters) – A pioneer of artificial intelligence said he quit Google to speak freely about the technology’s dangers, after realising that computers could become smarter than people far sooner than he and other experts had expected. “I left so that I could talk about the dangers of AI without considering how this impacts Google,” Geoffrey Hinton wrote on Twitter. In an interview with the New York Times, Hinton said he […]

By Lisa Richwine and Dawn Chmielewski LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Thousands of film and television writers will go on strike starting Tuesday, throwing Hollywood into turmoil as the entertainment business grapples with seismic changes triggered by the global streaming TV boom. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) called its first work stoppage in 15 years after failing to reach an agreement for higher pay from studios such as Walt Disney […]

By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) – The yen continued its steep descent on Tuesday, reaching a 15-year low to the euro, as the implications of a steadfastly dovish Bank of Japan continued to reverberate days after the decision. Meanwhile, the Aussie dollar leapt to a one-week high after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) surprised with a rate hike and signalled more tightening may come. The central bank lifted the […]

By Noemie Olive and Lucien Libert EAUBONNE, France (Reuters) – At 83, Barbara Humbert dreams of taking part in next year’s Paris Olympic Games ‘Marathon For All’, a race opening the Olympic route to non-elite competitors for the first time – and she’s got the pedigree to beat some runners half her age. Not your typical great-grandmother, the German-born Frenchwoman runs 50 km (30 miles) a week, has competed in […]

By Leika Kihara and Jihoon Lee INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) -Japan and South Korea held their first finance leaders’ meeting in seven years on Tuesday and agreed to resume regular dialogue as tensions in the wider region and slowing growth prod them to increase co-operation and mend strained relations. The resumption of bilateral financial discussions comes ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s planned visit to South Korea on Sunday […]

(Reuters) -Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed over the terms of an emergency deal to save Swiss lender Credit Suisse by selling it to its bigger rival UBS, a Swiss court has said. The 3 billion Swiss franc ($3.35 billion) rescue, hammered out over a March weekend amid turmoil in the global banking sector, upended a long-established practice of giving bondholders priority over shareholders in a debt recovery. Around 16 […]

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian police have charged a man with armed robbery and accused him of threatening Nick Kyrgios’ mother at gunpoint before stealing the Australian tennis player’s car, local media reported on Tuesday. The 32-year-old Canberra suspect appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday to face five charges, including failure to stop for police and driving while suspended, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said, citing court documents. He […]

LONDON (Reuters) – British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he expected to meet China’s Vice President Han Zheng when senior Chinese figures visit London for King Charles’ coronation later this week. “I suspect that I will,” Cleverly told BBC Radio when asked if he would be meeting the Chinese vice president. “And when I do, I will discuss a whole range of things just as I do when I meet […]