Town Hall News

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – The European Union’s top court will hear a case brought by a British-Romanian transgender man against Romanian authorities over their refusal to recognize his gender identity, Romanian LGBTQ rights organisation ACCEPT said on Friday. The case, which raises questions about free movement and citizenship rights under EU law, was first raised in a Romanian court in 2021 and has now been referred to the European Union Court […]

WARSAW (Reuters) – An opposition-linked Polish mayor had his phone hacked using Pegasus spyware, Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported on Friday, amid allegations that the country’s special services have used the technology against government opponents. Reports in 2021 by the Associated Press that the software, developed by Israel-based NSO Group was used to hack the phones of government critics, including a senator for the largest opposition party, have drawn accusations that […]

By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Tassilo Hummel PARIS (Reuters) – Arianespace’s failed satellite launch in December was likely to have been caused by a faulty carbon component, which Italian aerospace group Avio had purchased from a supplier in Ukraine, the company said, as it published findings of an enquiry on Friday. An Arianespace mission on Dec. 20 carrying two Airbus Defence & Space satellites failed around two and a half minutes […]

(Reuters) – Here are some of the events in Belarus leading up to the trial of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and his sentencing on Friday to 10 years in prison. Bialiatski denied the charges against him, and he and some human rights groups say the case against him was politically motivated. 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Belarus holds a presidential election on Aug. 9, 2020, in which veteran leader Alexander […]

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) -Arm, the chip designer owned by Japan’s SoftBank, said on Friday it would pursue a U.S.-only listing this year, dashing the British government’s hopes that the tech giant would return to the London stock market. The company did not completely rule out an eventual London listing, saying it intended to consider a subsequent IPO there in due course, without providing further details. But the decision […]

PARIS (Reuters) – Paris Saint Germain player Achraf Hakimi is facing a criminal investigation in France after an allegation of rape was made against him, said an official from the Nanterre prosecution office close to Paris on Friday. Hakimi, a Morocco international, could not immediately be reached for comment. PSG did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. Hakimi has been placed under police monitoring and was banned […]

By Milana Vinn NEW YORK (Reuters) -OneSpan Inc, a U.S. cybersecurity tools vendor that has become the target of activist hedge funds such as Legion Partners Asset Management, is exploring options that include a sale of the company, people familiar with the matter said. OneSpan is working with investment bank Evercore Inc on a sale process that could attract interest from other companies and private equity firms, the sources said, […]

By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration said on Thursday it is offering $1.2 billion in aid to extend the life of distressed nuclear power plants which, for the first time, could offer funding to a plant that has recently closed. President Joe Biden’s climate team believes nuclear power is a crucial source of virtually carbon-free electricity needed to be maintained and expanded to reach his pledge of […]

By Akash Sriram (Reuters) – Apple Inc has blocked an update to email app BlueMail, which uses a customized version of OpenAI’s GPT-3 language model, the co-founder of the app developer told Reuters on Thursday. “Apple has blocked the BlueMail update and continues to treat BlueMail unfairly and to discriminate against us,” Blix’s Ben Volach said. “Other GPT-powered apps seem not to be restricted,” he added. Apple, which rejected the […]