Town Hall News

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) on Wednesday urged rail tank car owners and hazmat shippers of flammable liquids to stop using tank cars like some in a Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio and replace them with newer, safer tank cars. USDOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said in an advisory the Ohio incident demonstrated “DOT-111” and “CPC-1232” tank […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) -The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday lifted its base rate charged through the overnight discount window by 25 basis points to 5.25%, hours after the U.S. Federal Reserve delivered a rate rise of the same margin. Hong Kong’s monetary policy moves in lock-step with the U.S. as the city’s currency is pegged to the greenback in a tight range of 7.75-7.85 per dollar. “The Fed’s […]

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan sees China’s involvement in Honduras’ decision to seek to end relations with the island as very obvious and the situation does not look good with Honduras demanding a “high price”, the island’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Honduras denied on Wednesday it had demanded $2.5 billion in aid from Taiwan before its announcement to seek to open relations with China, instead saying the country had repeatedly requested […]

By Steve Gorman and Brendan O’Brien LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -The latest bout of harsh, wintry weather to lash California drifted into neighboring states of the Desert Southwest on Wednesday as authorities reported at least five storm-related deaths in and around San Francisco, all from fallen trees. As California’s onslaught of rain, wind and mountain snow subsided, downed power lines from Tuesday’s storm left more than 92,000 homes and businesses without […]

Jordan’s Parliament Votes To Expel Israeli Envoy Amid Tension The vote continues the fallout from far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s speech in Paris while standing behind a podium with a map showing ‘Greater Israel,’ with borders including the Hashemite Kingdom and West Bank land By Mohammad Al-Kassim/The Media Line Fallout from a speech by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at an event in Paris this week while standing behind […]

Disengagement Law Rollback is Political Maneuver, Not Policy Change, Expert Says Vote by Israel’s government to repeal evacuation of four West Bank Jewish settlements, along with other recent moves, may signal that some coalition members believe elections will be held sooner than expected By Debbie Mohnblatt/The Media Line Israel’s Knesset passed a repeal of clauses in the 2005 Disengagement Law which ordered the evacuation of four Jewish settlements in the […]

Parliamentarians From 143 Countries Meet in Manama, Agree To Combat Intolerance Lawmakers at the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 146th Assembly pledge to promote peaceful coexistence By Hudhaifa Ebrahim/The Media Line Representatives of the world’s parliaments agreed to enact more legislation criminalizing hate speech and violence at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Manama, Bahrain last week. The 146th general assembly of the organization brought together around 1,700 representatives from 143 countries’ parliaments. […]

Sydney (Reuters) – Credit Suisse said on Thursday it has hired private banker Kwong Kin Mun as its new vice chairman for Southeast Asia wealth management. The embattled bank is being bought by rival UBS Group for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.27 billion) in a deal engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid more market-shaking turmoil in global banking. Swiss regulators said it was necessary authorities took action as there was […]

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan sees China’s involvement in Honduras’ decision to seek to end relations with the island as very obvious and the situation does not look good with Honduras demanding a “high price”, the island’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Honduras denied on Wednesday it had demanded $2.5 billion in aid from Taiwan before its announcement to seek to open relations with China, instead saying the country had repeatedly requested […]