Town Hall News

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TikTok’s chief executive will face 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 will also cap a week of actions by the Chinese company aimed at convincing Americans and their lawmakers that the app creates economic value […]

(Reuters) – Turkey’s only listed e-commerce platform Hepsiburada will prioritise profitability over rapid growth and step up efforts to retain customers who are being hit by soaring inflation. Inflation in Turkey hit a 24-year high of 85.5% in October, sharpening consumers’ focus on costs with increasing numbers turning to loans or credit cards to pay for more expensive goods. Investor appetite for fast, and costly, growth has also waned as […]

By Allison Lampert and Abhijith Ganapavaram MONTREAL (Reuters) -Business jet maker Bombardier Inc on Thursday raised 2025 revenue and free cash flow targets at its investor day, and said it would produce more corporate planes, sending shares up 4.9% in morning trade. Corporate jet makers have reported swelling order backlogs on persistent strong demand for private flying in the U.S. But flatter global traffic, supply chain snags and fears of […]

(Refiles to add dropped words ‘to be’ in final paragraph) BEIJING (Reuters) – China and the Philippines should manage their differences properly, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday, after the first in-person meeting between senior diplomats from the countries since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Bilateral tensions have risen recently over naval disputes in contested areas of the South China Sea and the increasing U.S. military presence in the Philippines. […]

By Sumit Khanna and Arpan Chaturvedi AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) -A lower court in India sentenced opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday to two years in jail on charges of defamation for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi. Gandhi will appeal against the order in a higher court, but any jailing for him or his disqualification from parliament would be a blow to […]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -A Chinese start-up inspired by lockdown isolation has invented a long-distance kissing machine that transmits users’ kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received.     The MUA – named after the sound people commonly make when blowing a kiss – also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic, said Beijing-based […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits edged down last week, showing no signs yet that the recent financial market turbulence following the failure of two regional banks was having an impact on the economy. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 191,000 for the week ended March 18, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters […]

By John Revill and Aniruddha Ghosh (Reuters) -The Bank of England on Thursday followed the Federal Reserve and the Swiss National Bank in hiking interest rates, as policymakers ploughed on with their fight against inflation in the face of the instability that rippled through the global banking system this month. Investors had questioned whether the central banks could press on with tightening policy after the collapse of two U.S. lenders […]

By Lucien Libert and Stephane Mahe PARIS (Reuters) -French workers angry with President Emmanuel Macron and his plan to raise the pension age blocked access to a terminal at Paris’ main airport on Thursday as part of a nationwide day of protests, forcing some travellers to get there on foot. At Roissy-Charles De Gaulle airport and across the country, wildcat actions by small groups of protesters blocked roads and access […]