DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Four dead in New Caledonia riots as France declares state of emergency
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

France declared a state of emergency on the Pacific island of New Caledonia on Wednesday after three young indigenous Kanak and a police official were killed in riots over electoral reform. The state of emergency, which entered into force at 5 a.m. local time (1800 GMT), gives authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and forbid people from moving around the French-ruled island. Police reinforcements adding 500 officers to the 1,800 usually present on the island, have been sent after rioters torched vehicles and businesses and looted stores. "No violence will be tolerated," said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, adding that the state of emergency "will allow us to roll out massive means to restore order." He later signed a decree declaring a state of emergency that will last for 12 days and announced that French soldiers would be used to secure New Caledonia's main port and airport.

Persons: Gabriel Attal Organizations: French Gendarmerie, Police, Authorities Locations: French, Tir, Noumea, New Caledonia, France, Kanak, Paris

☆ Warren Buffett compares AI to nuclear weapons in stark warning
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

At his annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, the 93 year-old co-founder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway issued a stark warning about the potential dangers of the technology. “We let a genie out of the bottle when we developed nuclear weapons,” he said Saturday. JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest bank by market capitalization, is also exploring the potential of generative AI within its own ecosystem, Dimon said. Dozens of AI industry leaders, academics and even some celebrities have signed a statement warning of an “extinction” risk from AI. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the statement said.

Persons: New York CNN — Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, ”, Greg Abel, Buffett, “, Abel, isn’t, Buffett Buffett, JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, Dimon, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Sonnenfeld, Doug McMillion, James Quincy, Sam Altman, Geoffrey Hinton Organizations: New, New York CNN, Berkshire, International Monetary Fund, Industries, Nvidia, Microsoft, scamming, JPMorgan, JPMorgan Chase, Software, Yale, Summit, CNN, Walmart, Xerox, Google Locations: New York, Omaha , Nebraska, Omaha, scamming

☆ Israel Plans Risky Mission to Seize Last Gaza Border it Doesn’t Control
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Jared Malsin | Summer Said | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Since it pulled out of the Gaza Strip nearly two decades ago, Israel has controlled all of the Palestinian enclave’s borders except one. Now it is pushing to retake control of the southern frontier with Egypt. Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , say Israel must have a grip on the border area, which the Israeli military calls the Philadelphi Corridor, to block Hamas from smuggling weapons into the strip. It is part of Israel’s strategy to defeat the Palestinian militant group and to prevent a repeat of its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that officials there say killed more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Palestinian Locations: Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Egypt

Israeli officials say they believe several women and children still held hostage in Gaza aren’t held by Hamas, potentially complicating efforts to revive a truce in the Palestinian enclave where the Israeli military is expanding its attacks. Israeli bombardment of the southern Gaza Strip ramped up over the weekend after a seven-day pause in fighting collapsed, with strikes on a packed residential district in the north on Saturday killing a large number of people, according to health authorities in the Hamas-controlled territory. Residents in the south said Israeli tanks there advanced westward.

Organizations: Residents Locations: Gaza

Talks between Israel and Hamas to hand over hostages held in Gaza in return for a pause in fighting there have stalled, a senior U.S. official said Sunday, while Israeli forces step up attacks and direct Palestinians in the enclave to move into a narrower strip of land. “The negotiations have stopped. That said, what hasn’t stopped is our own involvement, trying to get those back on track. …We would like that to happen today,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told NBC. He blamed Hamas for failing to provide a fresh list of civilian women and children to be released.

Persons: hasn’t, John Kirby Organizations: National Security, NBC Locations: Israel, Gaza, U.S

TEL AVIV—Negotiators scrambled to reinstate a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas that expired Friday, as both sides resumed fighting a nearly two-month-old war that has left large parts of Gaza in ruins and more than a hundred hostages still in captivity. Israel launched new bombing attacks and warned Palestinians of imminent combat in parts of southern Gaza, endangering more than a million people, including hundreds of thousands who fled there after weeks of fighting in the northern part of the enclave.

Organizations: TEL AVIV — Locations: TEL AVIV, Israel, Gaza

☆ OPEC+ Agrees to Significant Oil-Production Cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Summer Said | Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna. Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg NewsOPEC+ agreed to a significant production cut of another million barrels a day, delegates said, in a move that will likely send prices higher amid the continuing conflict in the Middle East. As part of the deal reached Thursday, Saudi Arabia also agreed to extend its cut of 1 million barrels a day that it announced in June.

Persons: Andrey Rudakov Organizations: Organization of, Petroleum, Bloomberg, OPEC Locations: Vienna, Saudi Arabia

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli leaders to extend a pause in their combat operations against Hamas militants in Gaza, which is teetering after a one-day extension was clinched after all-night negotiations. As the temporary truce was set to expire Thursday morning, Qatari mediators announced that the parties had agreed to extend it by one more day, following the release of 16 hostages held by militants in Gaza. Negotiations are continuing for a further extension, but Egyptian officials also involved in the talks said they faced an uphill battle.

Persons: Antony Blinken Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza

☆ Israeli Leaders Resist Calls for Longer Cease-Fire With Hamas
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Jared Malsin | Summer Said | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Key leaders in Israel’s government pushed back against proposals for a long-term cease-fire with Hamas, as negotiators in Qatar tried Wednesday to extend the pause in fighting and the U.S. tempered its support for a drawn-out war in Gaza. In a slew of public comments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , along with members of his cabinet and coalition partners, laid down a firm marker that talks brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar were only about releasing hostages taken during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks. Once that process is over, Israeli leaders said, they would go back to war with the goals of removing Hamas from power and ending a security threat from Gaza.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu Locations: Qatar, U.S, Gaza, Egypt

☆ OPEC+ Mulls New Oil Production Cuts Amid Middle East Conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Summer Said | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Any extra cuts, if approved, would likely draw a rebuke from the U.S. Photo: henry chirinos/ShutterstockOPEC and its Russia-led allies are considering new oil production cuts of as much as 1 million barrels a day, delegates said Wednesday, despite tensions in oil markets amid the conflict in the Middle East. The move, which would likely send oil prices higher, could be announced Thursday at a virtual meeting of the cartel. The meeting, originally scheduled for last week, was postponed over disagreements about production.

Persons: henry chirinos Organizations: U.S, OPEC Locations: Russia

DOHA, Qatar—The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides for a long-term cease-fire that would prolong the truce in Gaza beyond the current two-day extension and start talks that would end the war altogether, said Egyptian and Qatari officials. A long-term cease-fire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make hard-to-swallow concessions, such as trading Israeli soldiers for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the officials said. And it would require Israel to hold back on an offensive in southern Gaza intended to capture the strip and kill Hamas’s top leadership, the officials said. Hamas could also have to accept demilitarization, they added.

Locations: DOHA, Qatar, Israel, Gaza

DOHA, Qatar—The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides to prolong the cease-fire in Gaza through the end of the week and start talks on a permanent truce that would end the war altogether, said Egyptian and Qatari officials. A long-term cease-fire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make hard-to-swallow concessions, such as trading Israeli soldiers for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the officials said. And it would require Israel to hold back on an offensive in southern Gaza intended to capture the strip and kill Hamas’s top leadership, the officials said.

Locations: DOHA, Qatar, Israel, Gaza

DOHA, Qatar—The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides to prolong the truce in Gaza beyond the current two-day extension and start talks that would end the war, Egyptian and Qatari officials said. On Tuesday, Hamas released 12 hostages, including 10 Israelis, as part of the current extension of the truce with Israel. The hostages have arrived in Israel, according to Israeli and Egyptian officials.

Locations: DOHA, Qatar, Israel, Gaza

☆ Israel, Hamas Agree to Extend Truce by Two Days
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Summer Said | Dov Lieber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Israel and Hamas agreed on Monday to a two-day extension of their truce in Gaza to allow for the release of more Israeli hostages as part of a fragile agreement that has brought respite from seven weeks of war, according to Egyptian, Qatari and Hamas negotiators. Hamas released another 11 Israeli hostages Monday night as part of the initial deal. The latest group, which included no Americans, were in Israel, Egyptian officials said. The 11 included six citizens of Argentina, three French citizens and two German citizens, according to Qatari officials.

Organizations: Qatari Locations: Israel, Gaza, Argentina

Hamas released 17 Israeli and foreign hostages on Sunday, including a 4-year-old-girl with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, as negotiators remained locked in talks over a possible extension to the four-day deal that halted fighting. Israeli authorities said that 14 Israelis were freed Sunday afternoon and left the Gaza Strip. Egyptian and Qatari officials involved in the negotiations to free the hostages said that three Thai citizens were also released. Among them is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, four-year-old Abigail Mor Idan, whose parents were killed on Oct. 7.

Persons: Abigail Mor Idan Locations: Gaza, U.S

Weeks of secret hostage negotiations with Hamas were hanging by a thread when President Biden phoned the emir of Qatar, a key emissary to the militant group, to deliver an urgent message. Yahya Sinwar , the Hamas leader in Gaza, had gone dark after the Israeli military seized control of Al-Shifa hospital, a facility Israel said Hamas used as a command-and-control center. Now that the fighting at the hospital was over, Sinwar had re-emerged from the shadows, and he was ready to negotiate.

Persons: Biden, Yahya Sinwar, Sinwar Locations: Qatar, Gaza, Israel

☆ Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire Hangs on 11th-Hour Talks Over Hostages
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Jared Malsin | Summer Said | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Negotiators were racing Thursday to hash out the final details of a deal to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas and pause the war, after last-minute issues delayed an agreement weeks in the making. The handover of the first group of hostages, planned for Thursday, now won’t happen until Friday at the earliest, Israeli and regional officials said. Senior Egyptian officials blamed the setback on Hamas’s failure to hand over a complete list of the first group of hostages it planned to release.

Organizations: Senior

☆ Release of Gaza Hostages Is Delayed Until Friday
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Jared Malsin Summer Said | Gordon Lubold | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A planned release of 50 hostages held in Gaza along with 150 Palestinian prisoners and a pause in fighting has been delayed hours before it was set to begin on Thursday, Israeli, U.S. and regional officials said. “The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday,” Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Wednesday. Hanegbi said contacts toward the release of the hostages continued.

Persons: “, ”, Tzachi Hanegbi, Hanegbi Locations: Gaza

Israel intensified its offensive in northern Gaza ahead of a potential deal with Hamas that would see the Palestinian militant group release dozens of hostages in return for a partial pause in fighting. A possible agreement comes amid growing domestic pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to secure the release of more than 200 Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas and other militants during the group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Persons: Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Palestinian, Israel

Israel and Hamas on Tuesday were on the cusp of a deal for the militant group to release dozens of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a partial pause in fighting, in what would be the first major diplomatic achievement since the war began on Oct. 7. The deal involves 50 Israeli hostages held by militants in Gaza being released in exchange for some 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, according to officials familiar with the negotiations. The exchange involves only women and children on both sides.

Locations: Israel, Gaza

Israel and Hamas agreed to free 50 civilian hostages held by militants in Gaza in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and a series of pauses in fighting. The Israeli cabinet approved the deal after a long deliberation that started Tuesday and went into the early morning hours of Wednesday in Jerusalem. It capped weeks of painstaking negotiations brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., marking the first major diplomatic breakthrough since the war began on Oct. 7. Hamas confirmed the deal in a statement.

Organizations: Hamas Locations: Israel, Gaza, Jerusalem, Qatar, Egypt, U.S

Israel intensified its offensive in northern Gaza ahead of a potential deal with Hamas that would see the militant group free dozens of hostages in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners and a partial pause in fighting. A possible agreement comes amid growing domestic pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to secure the release of more than 200 Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas and other militants during the group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Persons: Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel

RAMALLAH, West Bank—As Western and Arab leaders look beyond Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, most agree they want some form of Palestinian government running the enclave, but they can’t agree on who it should include. One emerging point of consensus is that the Palestinian Authority—as it now operates and oversees the West Bank—isn’t up to the job. But there is no easy alternative.

Organizations: West Bank, Palestinian Authority, West Bank — Locations: RAMALLAH, West, Gaza

Qatar has become a key negotiator for the release of hostages held by Hamas. In recent years, the tiny Emirate has led mediation efforts in Afghanistan, Iran and Ukraine. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains how Qatar became a diplomatic power broker. Photo illustration: Marina CostaIsrael and Hamas are closing in on an internationally brokered deal to pause fighting and free some of the roughly 240 hostages taken by the militant group, officials close to the talks said, amid heightened scrutiny of the civilian toll of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. The hostage talks—brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S.—have moved in fits and starts for weeks and could break down again.

Persons: WSJ’s Shelby Holliday, Marina, Marina Costa Israel, — Organizations: Marina Costa, U.S Locations: Qatar, Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, Gaza, Egypt

TEL AVIV—With fears rising about the safety of hostages held in Gaza, the White House sent its top Middle East adviser to the region on Wednesday to push for the captives’ release. Brett McGurk , National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, met with Israeli leaders at the start of a regional visit that is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to prevent the conflict in Gaza from spiraling into a broader regional war. McGurk, who is also a deputy assistant to Biden, will next meet with Palestinian, Jordanian and Persian Gulf officials.

Persons: Brett McGurk, Biden, McGurk Organizations: White House, National Security Locations: TEL AVIV, Gaza, East, North Africa, Persian

Search resuls for: "Summer Said"

25 mentions found