Town Hall News

(Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Thursday it welcomed anything that could bring the end of the Ukraine conflict closer when asked what it thought of a phone call a day earlier between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. But it said it still needed to achieve the aims of its “special military operation” in Ukraine. DIPLOMACY * Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he had invited […]

(Reuters) – Meta Platforms has merged its advertising product, business messaging and commerce departments into one division, The Information reported on Thursday, citing an internal message by company executive John Hegeman. The move comes as part of a broader effort by the social media company to reduce the ranks of middle management across the company, the report said. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The […]

By Ted Hesson and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will ramp up deportations while also expanding legal pathways for would-be migrants as it braces for a possible spike in illegal border crossings when COVID-19 restrictions are set to end in May, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The U.S. will double or triple the number of deportation flights to some countries and aim to process migrants crossing the […]

(Reuters) – Meta Platforms has merged its advertising product, business messaging and commerce departments into one division, The Information reported on Thursday, citing an internal message by company executive John Hegeman. The move comes as part of a broader effort by the social media company to reduce the ranks of middle management across the company, the report said. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The […]

By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke BERLIN (Reuters) – Berlin appointed its first conservative mayor in more than two decades on Thursday after the Christian Democrats (CDU) beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) in a repeat election in February, dislodging its centre-left coalition. Kai Wegner, 50, a former insurance salesman, was sworn in as mayor after a vote in local parliament, succeeding the SPD’s Franziska Giffey who had been […]

GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) -The U.N. human rights chief called on the British government on Thursday to reverse legislation that would clamp down on protests by giving police in England and Wales more powers to act to prevent serious disruption. Britain’s Conservative government said the new powers are needed to prevent a small minority, who have been protesting mainly over environmental issues, disrupting the lives of the wider public. In recent years, […]

By Stephen Culp NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rallied and Treasury yields resumed their climb on Thursday as market participants digested solid earnings amid signs of a dampening economy. All three major U.S. stock indexes were sharply higher, with megacap tech and tech-related companies putting the Nasdaq on track for its biggest one-day percentage gain since mid-March. The S&P 500 and the Dow have set a course for their […]

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter as an acceleration in consumer spending was offset by businesses liquidating inventories in anticipation of weaker demand later this year amid higher borrowing costs. The first decline in private inventories in 1-1/2 years reported by the Commerce Department in its snapshot of first-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday is potentially good news for […]

(Reuters) – State legislatures are wrestling with how much to restrict or expand abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Here is a snapshot of pending and passed legislation seeking to restrict or protect access in 2023, including details on a law that took effect in North Dakota this week broadly banning abortion. RESTRICTIONS FLORIDA: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban […]