Town Hall News

By Satoshi Sugiyama TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday said it has suspended operations at all 14 of its assembly plants in Japan due to a production system malfunction, bringing domestic output to a standstill at the world’s biggest-selling automaker. The glitch is preventing Toyota from ordering components and its cause is under investigation, though it is “likely not due to a cyberattack”, a spokesperson said. Toyota suspended 12 […]

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -A magnitude 5.4 earthquake hit Panama some 37 miles (59 km) from the Caribbean island of Nargana, the United States Geological Survey said on Monday. Shaking was briefly felt in the capital Panama City. The Central American country’s IGC Geoscience Institute had issued a preliminary report estimating a magnitude of 6.2. There were no immediate reports of damages. (Reporting by Elida Moreno; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing […]

Israel Approves Increased Natural Gas Exports to Egypt From Tamar Reservoir The decision aims to strengthen Israel-Egypt relations and boost both nations’ revenues By Debbie Mohnblatt/The Media Line Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz announced last week that Israel has approved an increase in natural gas exports to Egypt from the Tamar offshore gas reservoir, located west of Haifa in northern Israel. The additional gas supply from Israel is expected to […]

Palestinian Authority Accused of Suppressing Media Freedoms With New Legislation The law could undermine international treaties the Palestinian Authority is obligated to uphold and violate constitutional protections for press rights By Mohammad Al-Kassim/The Media Line Palestinian civil society organizations sounded the alarm over proposed Palestinian Authority (PA) legislation regulating publishing, press, and media. Over 20 NGOs published a statement saying the proposed law, “drafted and prepared in secrecy,” represents “a […]

By Noele Illien ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS will publish on Aug. 31 its first earnings report since a hastily arranged takeover of its Swiss rival Credit Suisse, shedding new light on the deal’s impact and the inner workings of the new banking giant. Besides its second quarter figures – delayed by over a monthbecause of the deal’s complexities – investors will be poring over any additional information for clues on […]

By Pete Schroeder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top U.S. banking regulator is set on Tuesday to propose heightened rules to ensure regional banks can be safely dissolved in times of stress. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will vote on five separate proposals at a meeting, all aimed at ensuring banks with over $100 billion in assets are prepared for their own potential failures, and can be taken apart smoothly […]

By Patrick Werr CAIRO (Reuters) -Egypt hopes its imminent inclusion in the BRICS bloc of developing nations will help ease its shortage of foreign currency and attract new investment, but analysts say it may take time before any benefits appear. The bloc, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, on Thursday invited Egypt and five other countries to join, and Egypt immediately welcomed the offer. “I appreciate Egypt […]

By Tom Westbrook SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China stocks led Asian shares higher on Tuesday with investors welcoming Beijing’s efforts at supporting markets, while bonds rallied and the dollar dipped on possibly softening U.S. data. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1%, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong up more than 2% and mainland China blue chips up 1.5%. China has halved stock trading stamp duty, loosened […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – Typhoon Saola, hundreds of miles from China’s coastline, forced provinces to enact emergency response measures on Tuesday and call fishing boats back to ports along the southeastern coast as gale force winds and gusts whipped across the South China Sea. Guangdong province issued a heightened emergency warning for strong winds coming from the bands of Typhoon Saola, and Fujian province maintained a Level IV emergency response warning, […]