Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Myanmar’s junta has imposed a curfew in the western city of Sittwe, according to a government document and media reports, amid a surge in fighting on several fronts between the military and ethnic minority insurgent groups. Residents of Sittwe in the western state of Rakhine have been ordered not to leave their homes after 9pm and businesses must close by 8.30pm or face legal action, according to a […]

By Steve Gorman and Daniel Trotta LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A weekend fire that heavily damaged an elevated stretch of a downtown Los Angeles freeway, forcing an indefinite closure of the structure, was found by investigators to have been deliberately set, state officials said on Monday. The arson ruling in the blaze that engulfed a portion of the Santa Monica Freeway early on Saturday was revealed by California Governor Gavin […]

By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – A new Australian law will toughen restrictions on how industries and universities share defence technology with foreigners, while exempting AUKUS partners Britain and the United States from such controls, a draft of the measure shows. The law is meant to replicate U.S. export controls to defence technology, seen as a key step to beginning the AUKUS plan to build a new class of nuclear-powered […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic Senator Joe Manchin urged the U.S. Treasury on Monday to adopt the “strictest possible standards” to prevent Chinese-produced minerals or Chinese battery companies from winning electric vehicle tax credits. Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, raised concerns in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about reports Chinese battery companies are actively pursuing business opportunities to take advantage of the credits, adding […]

By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian shares inched up on Tuesday in cautious trading ahead of a crucial U.S. inflation report that could heavily influence the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook, while the fragile yen flirted with one-year lows, putting it back in the intervention zone. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.49% higher, while Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.36%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.61%. The […]

By Michael Martina SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Top business leaders in the United States are expected to dine with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco on Wednesday as he seeks to court American companies and counter his country’s recent struggles to entice foreign investment. The dinner on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will follow a day of talks between Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden, […]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that finance ministers from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries on Monday affirmed their desire to expand their economies’ potential output in a sustainable manner. “APEC members have affirmed a shared interest in pursuing policies that expand the productive capacity of our economies while also achieving outcomes like reducing inequality and protecting the environment,” Yellen said in prepared remarks following a meeting […]

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Leaders from the United States and Indonesia held discussions on Monday that will set the stage for U.S. President Joe Biden’s first in person meeting in a year with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week. Biden greeted Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the White House as the two leaders prepare for a Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, where […]

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea criticised the Group of Seven countries as a “remnant of the Cold War” that causes conflicts for their own interests and violates other countries’ sovereignty, its state media KCNA said on Tuesday. Jo Chol Su, director general of the Department of International Organisations at Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, condemned G7 foreign ministers for “slandering” the country’s exercise of “self-defensive and legitimate sovereignty” in a joint statement […]