Town Hall News

By Timothy Gardner ADJUNTAS, Puerto Rico (Reuters) – For U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Graholm, the transformation of Puerto Rico’s power grid to solar and other renewable power, after hurricanes wiped it out in 2017 and 2022, is an imperative that goes beyond addressing climate change. When the lights go out in the U.S. territory, rooftop solar panels backed up with battery storage can provide power to keep medicines like insulin […]

(Reuters) – UK Athletics will apply World Athletics’ rules on exclusion of transgender women from elite female competitions, the governing body said on Friday, adding that it had received the “required assurances” on the legality of the measures. Athletics’ global governing body last week voted to ban competitors who have gone through male puberty from participating in women’s events, citing a “need to protect the female category”. Transgender rights become […]

By David Shepardson and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday unveiled stricter electric vehicle tax rules that will reduce or cut tax credits on some zero-emission models but grant buyers another two weeks before the new requirements take effect. The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and part of President Joe Biden’s effort to […]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican lawmakers on Friday for the first time chose a woman to head the National Electoral Institute (INE), as the electoral authority faces a bruising struggle with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Guadalupe Taddei, 59, will take over from Lorenzo Cordova amid intense political scrutiny of the body, including attempts by the president to slim down the INE’s budget and offices. Taddei, who was selected via […]

By Jacqueline Thomsen (Reuters) -Representing Donald Trump, who is now under indictment in New York, is no easy job. Just ask the former president himself. “I say sometimes to a lawyer, ‘Are you sure you want to represent me? I think you’re making a mistake. What do you need it for?'” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday, discussing the legal troubles some of his own attorneys have faced. […]

By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia will cut off water supplies to citizens for seven hours a night in response to the country’s worst drought on record, state water distribution company SONEDE said in a statement on Friday. The country’s agriculture ministry earlier introduced a quota system for potable water and banned its use in agriculture until Sept. 30, as the country battles with a drought that is now […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The executive board of the International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a four-year $15.6 billion financing package for Ukraine to help the country meet urgent funding needs as it continues to defend against Russia’s invasion, a source told Reuters. The loan is Ukraine’s biggest since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, and the first major package approved by the IMF to a country involved in an […]

(Reuters) -New York prosecutors took a historic step on Thursday by filing criminal charges against Donald Trump, the first time this has happened to a former U.S. president. The decision by the Manhattan District Attorney to charge Trump for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, during his 2016 campaign, is just one of the many probes facing the Republican as he makes another run at the White House. […]

By Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Oscar Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs, was denied parole on Friday after he sought early release from prison where he is serving a 13-year sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, a South African, went from public hero as a Paralympic champion to a convicted murderer in hearings that drew worldwide attention nearly a […]