Town Hall News

By Nelson Banya, Nyasha Chingono and Frank Phiri HARARE (Reuters) – Helplessly watching her maize turn yellow as she waited for free fertilizer from the government, Zimbabwean farmer Marian Kanenungo had nothing but makeshift compost from an anthill to help save her crop – and she had low hopes of that. Kanenungo, a smallholder farmer in Mudzi, 230 km north-west of the capital Harare, is one of many who struggled […]

KAMPALA (Reuters) -Uganda’s parliament passed a law on Tuesday making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target gay Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence. More than 30 African countries, including Uganda, already ban same-sex relations. The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), according to rights group Human Rights […]

By Supantha Mukherjee and Martin Coulter STOCKHOLM/LONDON (Reuters) – Rapid technological advances such as the ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence (AI) app are complicating efforts by European Union lawmakers to agree on landmark AI laws, sources with direct knowledge of the matter have told Reuters. The European Commission proposed the draft rules nearly two years ago in a bid to protect citizens from the dangers of the emerging technology, which has […]

By Hannah Lang WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The speed at which depositors fled Silicon Valley Bank this month – withdrawing $42 billion in 24 hours – has left authorities confronting a new risk: the social media-driven bank run. Gone are the days when lines of people outside banks served as the defining image of a lender on the brink. In today’s turbocharged digital age, customers can withdraw cash through a few taps […]

(Reuters) – Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka said she struggled to understand the “hate” she encountered in the locker room amid strained relations between some players following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The world number two has previously said she has nothing against Ukrainian people and felt bad for them as Moscow’s action rages on. Belarus has been a staging area for the invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”. “It was […]

By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Billionaire Richard Branson’s cash-strapped Virgin Orbit is near a deal for a $200 million investment from Texas-based venture capital investor Matthew Brown via a private share placement, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. A successful deal would be a major boost of confidence in the company that saw its market capitalization slump to a record low of $150 million on Tuesday from […]

On a night he was honored for passing one NHL legend, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin made history by eclipsing another. However, the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets stole the show with a stunning 7-6 overtime win over the Capitals on Tuesday night. Jack Roslovic took advantage of a T.J. Oshie turnover and scored his second goal of the night 2:43 into overtime, giving the Blue Jackets (22-41-7, 51 points) the win on […]

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s trade ministry said on Wednesday that the United States’ proposed rules to prevent $52 billion in chip funding from being used by “countries of concern” will not force recipients to shut down their China factories. The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday proposed limits for recipients of U.S. chip manufacturing and research funding, including limits on investing in expansion in countries such as China and Russia. The […]

CAIRO (Reuters) -An Israeli air strike targeted Syria’s Aleppo airport causing some “material damage” to it, the Syrian defense ministry said in a statement on Facebook early on Wednesday. The Israeli military declined to comment. Israel has for years been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran’s influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that […]