Town Hall News

By Byron Kaye and Praveen Menon SYDNEY (Reuters) – When David McMillan stole A$5,000 from his dying father’s small business last year, he knew it was time to kick a gambling habit that had consumed his life since he started emptying paycheques into slot machines at 17. “It wasn’t an intentional thing, but before I knew it there was no money left,” said the 33-year-old air conditioning technician from Sydney, […]

VIENNA (Reuters) – A Vienna museum where climate activists recently attacked the glass screen shielding a Gustav Klimt painting has responded with an exhibit entitled ‘A Few Degrees More’ that tilts works to draw attention to the need for action on climate change. Activists from the group Last Generation smeared the screen in front of Klimt’s “Death and Life” at the Leopold Museum in Vienna and glued one of their […]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A Chinese start-up inspired by lockdown isolation has invented a long-distance kissing machine that transmits users’ kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received.     The MUA – named after the sound people commonly make when blowing a kiss – also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic, said […]

By Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – Florida is looking to expand its ban on teaching young children about sexual orientation and gender identity issues to include all students in its public schools under a new rule set for a vote by the state Board of Education next month. The proposed rule is the latest move by the administration of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to seek his party’s 2024 […]

(Reuters) – President Joe Biden plans to have a brief meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s biggest political rival during an official visit to Canada that begins on Thursday, a senior administration official said. The official said Biden will have a “pull aside” with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who was elected last year to spearhead the party’s bid to oust the Liberals and Trudeau. It’s not uncommon for a […]

(Reuters) – BHP Group on Thursday signed an agreement with an engineering and project management firm Hatch to design an electric smelting furnace pilot plant in Australia in an attempt to slash its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. The facility will help lower carbon dioxide intensity in steel production using iron ore from the global miner’s Pilbara mines. The plant will be able to produce steel from iron […]

By Howard Schneider, Yoruk Bahceli and Akriti Sharma (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs after the recent collapse of two U.S. banks. Fed Chair Jerome Powell sought to reassure investors about the soundness of the banking system, saying that the management of Silicon Valley Bank […]

By Howard Schneider, Yoruk Bahceli and Akriti Sharma (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs after the recent collapse of two U.S. banks. Fed Chair Jerome Powell sought to reassure investors about the soundness of the banking system, saying that the management of Silicon Valley Bank […]

(Corrects Fed policy change in paragraph 6) By Howard Schneider, Yoruk Bahceli and Akriti Sharma (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs after the recent collapse of two U.S. banks. Fed Chair Jerome Powell sought to reassure investors about the soundness of the banking system, saying […]