DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Paris CNN —Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla will finally arrive in France for a state visit Wednesday, six months later than initially planned. The packed royal itinerary for the rescheduled three-day visit to Paris and Bordeaux, ending Friday, is largely unchanged save for a few additions. One new engagement will see Charles and Camilla rub shoulders with top athletes at an event highlighting the advantages of sports for young people. France's President Emmanuel Macron was forced to postpone the original royal state visit back in March. Ronny Hartmann/AFP/Getty ImagesFurssedonn-Wood agreed that the public can expect “a bit of substance” from the royal visit in France.

Persons: Paris CNN — Britain’s King Charles, Queen Camilla, Emmanuel Macron, Charles, Camilla, Brigitte Macron, Macron, ”, Queen Elizabeth II, French King Louis XIV, Ludovic Marin, reigniting, Christine Ockrent, Charles ’, ” Charles, Camilla’s, French –, Rishi Sunak, Sunak, ” Sunak, Nathan Laine, Chris Fitzgerald, Elizabeth II, Christian Poncelet, Eric Fefeberg, Scott Furssedonn, Wood, Craig Prescott, Prescott, Frank, Walter Steinmeier, Elke Budenbender, Ronny Hartmann, it’s, they’re, “, They’ll Organizations: Paris CNN, Rugby, Bibliotheque Nationale de, Mirrors, France, Getty, CNN, UK, ’, European Union, Bloomberg, French, Getty Images, British, Royal Holloway, University of London, “, CNN’s Royal Locations: France, British, Germany, Paris, Bordeaux, Franco, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Ukraine, Sahel, Elysee, of Versailles, Versailles, “, AFP, French, New Delhi, Berlin, Salle, United Kingdom, Barbados, Eastern Caribbean, Europe, Royal

☆ Germany is finally focusing on defending NATO, but its military 'lacks almost everything' it needs to do it, a former German general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

That's the warning from a former German general who argues that Germany must refurbish its badly neglected armed forces — though this will take years to accomplish. Today, the German military is just 183,000-strong, and it can't meet its recruiting goals. In 2020, German defense spending was only 1.4% of GDP, well short of 2% goal that NATO members have pledged to hit by 2024. "Armament procurement concentrated on armored transport vehicles rather than on battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles," Vad writes. RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty ImagesDespite years of calls by France for pan-European defense, coordinating German defense procurement with other EU states — each with distinct military needs and political priorities – is difficult.

☆ Courts Side With Big Companies Including Amazon and Experian in Privacy Appeals
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Big companies are winning appeals to overturn regulatory decisions that allege they violated European privacy rules, potentially carving out a path for more businesses to challenge similar sanctions. Courts in the U.K., Spain, Italy and Germany sided with companies including Experian PLC, Amazon. The court rejected the regulator’s argument that collecting personal data to create profiles for marketing purposes intrudes on privacy rights. The court said the regulator had “fundamentally misunderstood” the implications of how Experian used data, and that there were no negative effects for individuals. These recent wins will likely embolden other companies to appeal GDPR violations, said Mr. Machin of Ropes & Gray.

☆ Volkswagen to invest $193 billion to hit EV target, picks Canada for battery cell plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Volkswagen plans to invest 180 billion euros ($193 billion) over five years in areas including battery production and the sourcing of raw materials in a bid to cut electric vehicle costs and protect its market share, it said Tuesday. Over two-thirds of the company’s five-year investment budget is allocated to electrification and digitalization, including up to 15 billion ($16 billion) for batteries and raw materials. Volkswagen board member Thomas Schmall Ronny Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images/FileOn Monday, board member Thomas Schmall also announced that Volkswagen’s first North American battery cell factory would be in Canada, with production starting in 2027. The carmaker is still aiming to bring an affordable EV — costing around 25,000 euros ($26,795) at today’s prices — to market by 2025. The most likely actual stock market candidate is battery unit PowerCo.

“There have been about 1,300 Russian tank losses … so the actual numbers of new tanks [for Ukraine] in a military sense are not that significant. There’s a lot of Ukraine and 20, 30, 40 tanks does not go that far,” said Ronald Ti, an expert in military logistics at King’s College, London. Nevertheless, the move to create a new “tank coalition,” as some officials called it, has been widely welcomed in Ukraine. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine requires around 300 tanks in order to successfully defend its territory from an expected Russian spring offensive, and to begin winning back territory ceded to Moscow since the invasion began last February. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, seen in Berlin on Wednesday, has faced prolonged criticism for a reluctance to send military equipment to Ukraine.

☆ Biden's climate plan strains trade ties with Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The European Union and United States — together responsible for one third of global trade — have been at loggerheads in recent weeks over US President Joe Biden’s landmark $370 billion climate plan. While a trade war is unlikely, the plan is testing the transatlantic alliance and pushing Europe to consider mobilizing its own package of subsidies. The IRA is now law, and there is little appetite to bring it back to Congress to make substantive changes, he told CNN Business. The European Union has a couple of options at its disposal, analysts told CNN Business. On Monday, Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said that the bloc should create its own “European IRA plan,” according to a Reuters report.

☆ Logistics Operators Find Robots Are Helping Recruit Tech-Savvy Workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The impact of robots on logistics operations is growing more complicated as companies weigh how automation affects recruiting both management leaders and staffers for the warehouse floor. Manufacturers and retailers such as snack-food giant Mondelez International Inc. and department store chain Nordstrom Inc. say the investments are also changing their supply-chain workforces. Newsletter Sign-up The Logistics Report Top news and in-depth analysis on the world of logistics, from supply chain to transport and technology. The buy jump-started the company’s rollout of greater automation in its growing logistics network and expanded the pipeline of engineers and other technology workers into the business. Lee Beard, senior vice president of transportation at Seattle-based Nordstrom, said the retailer has been highlighting its technology investments to job recruits.

☆ France enters 'white gold' rush as top producer aims to supply Europe with lithium
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The EU is looking to increase the number of electric vehicles on its roads in the coming years. Alongside its use in cell phones, computers, tablets and a host of other gadgets synonymous with modern life, lithium — which some have dubbed "white gold" — is crucial to the batteries that power electric vehicles. "So we will identify strategic projects all along the supply chain, from extracting to refining, from processing to recycling," she added. The construction capital expenditure of the proposed lithium project is estimated to be around 1 billion euros (roughly $980 million), Imerys added. "In May 2022, lithium prices were over seven times higher than at the start of 2021," it added.

Search resuls for: "Ronny Hartmann"

8 mentions found