Town Hall News

By Carman Chew SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Chilean President Gabriel Boric said on Thursday he would nationalise the country’s lithium industry and create a state-owned company to produce the metal that is a key component of electric vehicle batteries. Boric said future lithium contracts would only be issued as public-private partnerships with state control. Chile holds the world’s largest lithium reserves and is the world’s second-largest producer. Following are key details […]

By Mark Trevelyan LONDON (Reuters) – With virtually all the Kremlin’s opponents already jailed or in exile, and liberal press outlets and human rights groups forced to shut down, it might have appeared that years of repression in Russia had achieved their objective. But in the space of just three weeks, Russia’s security services and courts have crossed several new thresholds in their campaign to destroy perceived enemies, spies and […]

By Alexander Villegas and Ernest Scheyder SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile has moved to boost state control over its lithium industry as it seeks to diversify from mining into batteries and other areas, spooking investors in the country’s dominant miners of the white metal, SQM and Albemarle Corp. Chile’s progressive President Gabriel Boric late on Thursday announced the move that would see the world’s second largest lithium producer shift to a model […]

By Marco Aquino and Brendan O’Brien LIMA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo surrendered to U.S. authorities on Friday, a U.S. Marshals Service official told Reuters, a day after his last-ditch bid to block his extradition to Peru over corruption charges was denied. The former leader’s lawyer expressed dismay at the turn of events later on Friday. Toledo, who has taught classes at Stanford University, is set to make history […]

(Reuters) – Golfers have risen to the varied challenges that the new home of the Chevron Championship in Carlton Woods Texas brought after moving from its longtime home at Mission Country Club in Palm Springs. Playing in Woodlands near Houston has meant adapting to an unfamiliar course as well to the changing weather, something that was not a concern in the California desert, but golfers capitalized on the conditions after […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co bankers continued to have meetings with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein even after the bank decided to close his accounts in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The banker Justin Nelson had about a half-dozen meetings at Epstein’s townhouse between 2014 and 2017, the newspaper said. Bank employees also met with Epstein after his […]

By Andrew Chung and John Kruzel WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked new restrictions set by lower courts on a widely used abortion pill, a decision welcomed by President Joe Biden as his administration defends broad access to the drug in the latest fierce legal battle over reproductive rights in the United States. The justices, in a brief order, granted emergency requests by the Justice Department and […]

By Steve Scherer and Victoria Waldersee OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada and Volkswagen on Friday together committed more than C$20 billion ($14.8 billion) for a battery gigafactory in St. Thomas, Ontario, the biggest single investment ever in the country’s electric-vehicle supply chain. Europe’s largest carmaker is investing up to C$7 billion to build the plant, Volkswagen said in a statement. Canada’s federal government will provide up to C$13.2 billion in manufacturing tax […]

By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Sporadic shelling rang out late on Friday in Sudan’s capital even though warring factions announced a truce, while one force said it was willing to allow airports to reopen for the evacuation of foreign nationals. The United Nations, U.S., UK, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea, Sweden and Spain have said they were making preparations or attempting to remove their personnel after almost a […]