Town Hall News

By Steve Gorman and Brendan O’Brien LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -The latest bout of harsh, wintry weather to lash California drifted into neighboring states of the Desert Southwest on Wednesday as authorities reported at least five storm-related deaths in and around San Francisco, all from fallen trees. As California’s onslaught of rain, wind and mountain snow subsided, downed power lines from Tuesday’s storm left more than 92,000 homes and businesses without […]

Jordan’s Parliament Votes To Expel Israeli Envoy Amid Tension The vote continues the fallout from far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s speech in Paris while standing behind a podium with a map showing ‘Greater Israel,’ with borders including the Hashemite Kingdom and West Bank land By Mohammad Al-Kassim/The Media Line Fallout from a speech by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at an event in Paris this week while standing behind […]

Disengagement Law Rollback is Political Maneuver, Not Policy Change, Expert Says Vote by Israel’s government to repeal evacuation of four West Bank Jewish settlements, along with other recent moves, may signal that some coalition members believe elections will be held sooner than expected By Debbie Mohnblatt/The Media Line Israel’s Knesset passed a repeal of clauses in the 2005 Disengagement Law which ordered the evacuation of four Jewish settlements in the […]

Parliamentarians From 143 Countries Meet in Manama, Agree To Combat Intolerance Lawmakers at the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 146th Assembly pledge to promote peaceful coexistence By Hudhaifa Ebrahim/The Media Line Representatives of the world’s parliaments agreed to enact more legislation criminalizing hate speech and violence at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Manama, Bahrain last week. The 146th general assembly of the organization brought together around 1,700 representatives from 143 countries’ parliaments. […]

Sydney (Reuters) – Credit Suisse said on Thursday it has hired private banker Kwong Kin Mun as its new vice chairman for Southeast Asia wealth management. The embattled bank is being bought by rival UBS Group for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.27 billion) in a deal engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid more market-shaking turmoil in global banking. Swiss regulators said it was necessary authorities took action as there was […]

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan sees China’s involvement in Honduras’ decision to seek to end relations with the island as very obvious and the situation does not look good with Honduras demanding a “high price”, the island’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Honduras denied on Wednesday it had demanded $2.5 billion in aid from Taiwan before its announcement to seek to open relations with China, instead saying the country had repeatedly requested […]

By Byron Kaye and Praveen Menon SYDNEY (Reuters) – When David McMillan stole A$5,000 from his dying father’s small business last year, he knew it was time to kick a gambling habit that had consumed his life since he started emptying paycheques into slot machines at 17. “It wasn’t an intentional thing, but before I knew it there was no money left,” said the 33-year-old air conditioning technician from Sydney, […]

By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian shares inched higher on Thursday after the Federal Reserve hinted it could pause interest rate hikes following turmoil in the banking sector, though it also reiterated its commitment to fighting sticky inflation. In a widely expected move, the Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points but recast its outlook to a more cautious stance as a result of the banking stress. MSCI’s […]

(Reuters) -Canada’s Bianca Andreescu beat Britain’s Emma Raducanu 6-3 3-6 6-2 at the Miami Open on Wednesday in a first-round clash of former U.S. Open champions looking to recapture top form after a spate of injuries. Andreescu, coming off a third-round loss to world number one Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells, served seven aces and saved 11 of the 12 break points she faced against Raducanu to set up a […]