Town Hall News

By Aidan Lewis CAIRO (Reuters) – A fund to deliver financing to places affected by climate-fuelled disasters should be created by the annual U.N. climate summit that opens at the end of November, the lead host negotiator at last year’s summit said on Thursday. Agreement to establish a “loss and damage” fund was secured at COP27 in Egypt last November, but the deal did not spell out who would pay […]

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s parliament approved a bill on Thursday to allow Finland to join NATO, clearing the way for Helsinki to join the Western defence alliance as war rages in Ukraine. The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland’s membership after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill earlier this week. (Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Mert Ozkan; Editing by Chris Reese) […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House’s plan to strengthen the U.S. banking system announced on Thursday makes new demands on a small group of midsized banks. The plan asks regulators to demand banks with between $100 billion and $250 billion in assets increase liquidity and capital, and submit to extra stress tests, among other changes. Here is the banks that would be impacted, based on the Federal Reserve’s last bank […]

By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as technology-related shares extended their recent strong run, while regional U.S. bank shares fell as the Biden administration proposed stronger measures to help reduce risk. The S&P 500 technology index was up 1.1% and gave the S&P 500 its biggest boost, while the Philadelphia semiconductor index hit its highest level in nearly a year. Wednesday’s strong gains grew […]

By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) -European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday that she is optimistic that an electric vehicle battery minerals trade agreement can soon be reached with the U.S. that is similar in substance to Washington’s deal this week with Japan. Vestager told reporters in Washington that European Union and U.S. negotiators are working on legal frameworks that would be different from the Japan deal. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Efforts to build guardrails and a floor under U.S.-China relations have yet to be successful, and coming months will determine whether it is possible to reestablish constructive diplomacy with Beijing, a top White House official said on Thursday. Speaking at a time of heightened tensions with China over a U.S. stopover by Taiwan’s president, U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said Washington had made clear to China that it […]

By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Prince Harry returned to the High Court in London on Thursday where his lawyer fought an attempt by a newspaper publisher to throw out his and other high-profile figures’ lawsuit that alleged widespread unlawful acts by journalists. Harry, the singer Elton John and five other high-profile people are suing publisher Associated Newspapers, alleging they were the victims of phone-hacking and other serious privacy breaches […]

By David Shepardson and Rich McKay (Reuters) -Authorities have lifted an evacuation order and said no environmental safety issues were detected after a freight train carrying ethanol derailed near a small town in Minnesota early on Thursday. The BNSF Railway-operated train derailed at 1:02 a.m. CDT (0602 GMT) and caught fire, forcing some residents to evacuate in the town of Raymond, Minnesota, about 110 miles (180 km) west of Minneapolis. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Efforts to build guardrails and a floor under U.S.-China relations have yet to be successful, and coming months will determine whether it is possible to reestablish constructive diplomacy with Beijing, a top White House official said on Thursday. Speaking at a time of heightened tensions with China over a U.S. stopover by Taiwan’s president, U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said Washington had made clear to China that it […]