Town Hall News

By Evan Garcia and Dan Fastenberg MCCAMEY, Texas (Reuters) – Cryptocurrency bankruptcies and worries over electric power consumption have failed to dent the industry’s growth in Texas, according to a top trade group, citing the rise in the miners’ power demands. Bitcoin miners consume about 2,100 megawatts of the state’s power supplies, said Lee Bratcher, president of industry group Texas Blockchain Council. That power usage rose 75% last year and […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TikTok’s chief executive faced tough questions on Thursday from lawmakers who are convinced the Chinese-owned short video app should be barred for being a potential national security threat to the United States. CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before Congress capped a week of actions by the Chinese company aimed at convincing Americans and their lawmakers that the app creates economic value and supports free speech. TikTok, which […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TikTok’s chief executive faced tough questions on Thursday from lawmakers who are convinced the Chinese-owned short video app should be barred for being a potential national security threat to the United States. CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before Congress capped a week of actions by the Chinese company aimed at convincing Americans and their lawmakers that the app creates economic value and supports free speech. TikTok, which […]

By Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria is aiming to release money from foreign airlines’ ticket sales, held up by dollar shortages in the country, and has already started making some payments, Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika said on Thursday. Nigeria is facing severe dollar shortages, forcing many citizens and businesses to seek foreign exchange on the black market, where its naira currency has progressively weakened. The dollar shortages have made it […]

By Humphrey Malalo NAIROBI (Reuters) -Four Kenyan members of parliament were charged on Thursday with unlawful assembly for taking part this week in protests against President William Ruto’s government over the high cost of living, their lawyer said. One person was killed and more than 200 were arrested during Monday’s nationwide demonstrations called by opposition leader Raila Odinga. The lawmakers, who included the leaders of Odinga’s faction in both houses […]

By Julia Harte (Reuters) – The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that it could not compel the state’s governor to carry out authorized executions, enabling new Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs to pause them while her administration probes the state’s death penalty protocols. In its decision, the court said the warrants it issued could only authorize the state corrections department to carry out executions, not force a state official to […]

By Julia Harte (Reuters) – The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that it could not compel the state’s governor to carry out authorized executions, enabling new Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs to pause them while her administration probes the state’s death penalty protocols. In its decision, the court said the warrants it issued could only authorize the state corrections department to carry out executions, not force a state official to […]

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s parliament will block TikTok on all devices on its network following a similar ban on government devices, becoming the latest Western institution to bar the Chinese-owned video app over security concerns. A TikTok spokesperson called the action “misguided”, saying it was based on fundamental misconceptions about the company. “Following the government’s decision to ban TikTok from government devices, the commissions of both the House of Commons and […]

By Sheila Dang and Rami Ayyub (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Thursday accused TikTok of serving harmful content and inflicting “emotional distress” on young users, grilling the Chinese-owned app’s CEO on the company’s outsized influence on teens. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, kicked off the hearing with TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew saying that within minutes of creating an account on TikTok, […]