Town Hall News

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. clean technology subsidies are sucking capital from Europe, making it more urgent to improve London as a global financial centre, business bosses told UK lawmakers on Wednesday. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offers $369 billion of tax credits, research loans and grants for clean technology investments in the United States, is making it harder to persuade companies to list in London, they […]

By Valerie Insinna and Abhijith Ganapavaram (Reuters) – Boeing Co said on Wednesday that it planned to ramp up production of its 737 MAX jets to 38 per month by year-end and keep its annual cash-flow goal, offering some relief to investors after a new manufacturing snafu threatened to derail deliveries. Boeing shares rose 2.5% in early afternoon trade after the company reaffirmed its plans to generate $3 billion to […]

By Alexander Marrow, Gleb Stolyarov and Anne Kauranen (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Wednesday it could seize more Western assets in retaliation for foreign moves against Russian companies, after taking temporary control of assets belonging to two European state-owned utilities. President Vladimir Putin late on Tuesday signed a decree placing the Russian assets of Finland’s Fortum and Germany’s Uniper, which both operate power plants in Russia, under Moscow’s control. Russia […]

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for key U.S.-manufactured capital goods fell more than expected in March and shipments declined, suggesting that business spending on equipment likely remained a drag on economic growth in the first quarter. But the economy appears to have stayed on a solid growth path last quarter, with other data from the Commerce Department on Wednesday showing the goods trade deficit narrowed sharply due […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday urged CEOs of several artificial intelligence (AI) companies to prioritize security measures, combat bias, and responsibly roll out new technologies. Democratic Senator Mark Warner raised concerns about potential risks posed by AI technology. “Beyond industry commitments, however, it is also clear that some level of regulation is necessary in this field,” said Warner, who sent letters […]

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol held White House talks on Wednesday to deepen collaboration on deterring North Korean nuclear escalation amid anxiety about its growing arsenal of missiles and bombs. “Today we celebrate the ironclad alliance, the shared vision of our future and a deep friendship — the Republic of Korea and the […]

KYIV/BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy by telephone on Wednesday for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fulfilling a longstanding goal of Kyiv which had publicly sought such talks for months. Zelenskiy immediately signalled the importance of the chance to open closer relations with Russia’s most powerful friend, naming a former cabinet minister as Ukraine’s new ambassador to Beijing. Describing the hour-long […]

By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nadine Awadalla KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Sudan’s army and a paramilitary force battled on the outskirts of the capital on Wednesday, undermining a truce in an 11-day conflict that civilian groups fear could revive the influence of ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his loyalists. Fuelling concerns about a possible rehabilitation of Bashir’s standing, the army confirmed his transfer from Khartoum’s Kober prison to a military hospital, along with […]

By Dina Kartit (Reuters) -ASM International sees more business coming from China this year compared with previous years, the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker said on Wednesday.  When asked by analysts about how much growth the company would see in its domestic China business in the current year, Chief Financial Officer Paul Verhagen said: “I think you know we will see probably more business coming in from China compared to, you […]