Town Hall News

A strong quarter at Build-A-Bear Workshop in a bounce back year for the retailer was overshadowed by the growing weight of tariffs in an ongoing trade war waged by President Donald Trump. The mall staple was able to get ahead of tariff impacts during the first half of the year through preemptive actions, Chief Financial Officer Voin Todorovic said in a statement Thursday, but the levies caught up to the […]

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s government on Thursday retracted a terror designation for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, just weeks after imposing the measure it now says was a mistake. The government’s retraction came hours after reports first circulated about the designation, which was an error made “before reviewing,” according to a statement. The initial decision, published in the official Iraqi gazette on Nov. 17, had placed the […]

ROME (AP) — Creative director Dario Vitale is leaving Italian fashion brand Versace only eight months after he was appointed, the company said in a statement Thursday. Vitale’s exit comes just two days after Prada Group finalized its $1.375 billion cash acquisition of Versace, starting a new era for the brand. “We would like to sincerely thank Dario for his outstanding contribution to the development of the brand’s creative strategy […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. troops at risk by sharing sensitive plans about an upcoming military strike in Yemen on his personal phone, according to a Pentagon inspector general’s report made public Thursday that criticized the use of unapproved messaging apps and devices across the Defense Department. Hegseth had the authority to declassify the material he shared with others in a Signal chat, the watchdog found. […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — An effort to regulate college sports backed by the NCAA, the U.S. Olympic organization and the White House has faltered in Congress, with opponents raising concerns over the wide-reaching power it gives the NCAA and its most powerful programs. House Republican leaders had planned to push the bill, known as the SCORE Act, to a final vote this week. But those plans were abruptly scrapped after a […]

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh signed a three-year, $12.3 million contract extension Thursday. McDonagh, 36, has six points (three goals, three assists) in 15 games this season while playing in the final campaign of a seven-year, $47.25 million contract. He currently is on injured reserve. McDonagh is one season removed from leading the NHL with a plus-43 rating. “Mac is one of a kind,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said […]

By Daniel Wiessner Dec 4 (Reuters) – Unions representing U.S. State Department employees have asked a federal judge to block the agency from laying off more than 1,300 workers on Friday, the latest legal battle over mass job cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration. The unions in a filing in San Francisco federal court late Wednesday said the looming cuts, which include 1,100 civil service jobs and nearly 250 U.S. […]

Dec 4 (Reuters) – The United States Geological Survey said on Thursday that its automatic earthquake detection system had erroneously sent out a report earlier in the day that a 5.9 magnitude earthquake had struck near Dayton, Nevada. A spokesperson for the USGS said there was no such temblor in the region, about 12 miles northeast of the state capital Carson City, saying the report was “a bogus event.”  The […]

MONS, Belgium, Dec 4 (Reuters) – NATO must be ready to respond to increasing hybrid threats in order to defend its member states’ territory, the alliance’s top military commander said on Thursday. Hybrid threats refer to both military and non-military tactics designed to undermine an adversary’s security and typically include cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, sabotage of key infrastructure and use of drones or irregular armed groups. “Hybrid threats are a real […]