Town Hall News

KENNER, La. (AP) — The doors of Carmela Diaz’s taco joint are locked, the tables are devoid of customers and no one is working in the kitchen. It’s one of many once-thriving Hispanic businesses, from Nicaraguan eateries to Honduran restaurants, emptied out in recent weeks in neighborhoods with lots of signs in Spanish but increasingly fewer people on the streets. In the city of Kenner, which has the highest concentration […]

He said it four times in seven seconds: Somali immigrants in the United States are “garbage.” It was no mistake. In fact, President Donald Trump’s rhetorical attacks on immigrants have been building since he said Mexico was sending “rapists” across the border during his presidential campaign announcement a decade ago. He’s also echoed rhetoric once used by Adolf Hitler and called the 54 nations of Africa “s—-hole countries.” But with […]

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a Tokyo-born actor known for his roles in the film “Mortal Kombat” and TV series “The Man in the High Castle” has died. He was 75. Tagawa died surrounded by his family in Santa Barbara from complications due to a stroke, his manager, Margie Weiner, confirmed on Thursday. “Cary was a rare soul: generous, thoughtful, and endlessly committed to his craft,” she said […]

By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – When the U.S. military carried out its first strike against a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on September 2, the attack began with an airburst munition exploding above the 11-member crew like an umbrella of shrapnel. A video of the attack, shown to U.S. lawmakers on Thursday and described to Reuters by two sources familiar with the imagery, showed smoke clearing […]

SYDNEY, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles will travel to Japan on Saturday to meet his counterpart, Koizumi Shinjiro, and discuss deepening defence ties, his office said on Friday. Australia wanted to engage early with the new government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Australian officials said, noting the two countries had a “shared vision for our region” and were working to respond to increasingly complex global challenges. […]

SHANGHAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) – China’s Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical (6990.HK) said Thursday night it would license an experimental cancer treatment out to U.S. drugmaker Crescent Biopharma, receiving $80 million upfront, up to another $1.25 billion if milestones are met, and tiered royalties on net sales.  The licensed drug candidate, SKB105, is being evaluated for usage against solid tumours. It is expected that clinical trials will begin in the first quarter of 2026.  […]

TOKYO, Dec 5 (Reuters) – The Japanese embassy in China issued a safety advisory on Friday ahead of next week’s anniversary of “the Nanjing Incident”, or the Nanjing Massacre, which it said is considered particularly sensitive. Tensions have intensified since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament last month that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically governed Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo. “Anti-Japanese sentiment tends to rise […]

(Corrects spelling of acquire in paragraph 1) Dec 4 (Reuters) – Netflix has entered exclusive talks with Warner Bros Discovery to acquire its studio and streaming service, a Bloomberg News reporter said in a post on X. Netflix has emerged as the top bidder for Warner Bros Discovery, Reuters reported on Thursday, raising the stakes in a potential deal that could reshape the media landscape. (Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in […]

BEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping accompanied his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to Chengdu on Friday, a rare gesture seemingly reserved for the head of Europe’s second-largest economy that highlights Beijing’s focus on Paris in its dealings with the European Union. The French president began his day by surprising fellow joggers in the city’s Jincheng Lake Park, videos circulating Chinese social media showed, before joining Xi at […]