DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Hungary’s Orban, a long-time Trump ally, rocked by major scandals ahead of European elections
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Sam Meredith | In Samuelmeredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives to attend a European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 21, 2024. Sameer Al-doumy | Afp | Getty ImagesHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has run into political trouble ahead of European parliamentary elections in June, with his ruling party shaken by two political scandals within six weeks. Orban is a long-time ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump and widely seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest supporter in the European Union. The right-wing leader has led the central European country since 2010, making him the EU's longest-serving head of state. Yet two major scandals have recently rocked his dominance of Budapest's political landscape at a sensitive time when Hungary is poised to hold both local and European elections in early June.

Persons: Viktor Orban, Sameer Al, Orban, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin's, Peter Magyar, Janos Kummer, Zsuzsanna Vegh, Vegh, Magyar, Judit Varga —, Katalin Novak, Novak, Varga, William Shakespeare Organizations: Hungary's, EU, Afp, Getty, Hungarian, European Union, Eurasia Group, Fidesz, German Marshall Fund of, CNBC, Facebook, YouTube, Reuters, Lawyer Locations: Brussels, doumy, Hungary, Budapest, United States, Hungarian

After a week of calm, Yousef Hammash woke up in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Friday to the booming sounds of explosions. The truce also allowed for a larger number of deliveries of humanitarian aid and fuel to Gaza than in previous weeks of the war. Israeli and Hamas officials said the deal collapsed because they could not agree on additional exchanges of hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The latest phase of Israel’s campaign against Gaza is expected to target the southern half of the region, where many Palestinians have sought safety. Sameer al-Jarrah, 67, has been living in Al Qarara since the war began on Oct. 7, following the devastating Hamas-led attacks on Israel launched from Gaza.

Persons: Yousef Hammash, Mr, Hammash, pummeled, Khan Younis, Mahmoud el, Carolin, Khaldi, ” Mr, Al Qarara, Sameer al, ”, “, I’ll, Hessi Organizations: Norwegian Refugee Council Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Norwegian, Israel, Oslo, Khan, Egypt, Gaza City, Al Qarara, ”

☆ Some of Ukraine's Western-made vehicles are getting 'killed' on the battlefield, but it's not as much of a win for Russia's forces as it was
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ukraine has lost protected mobility vehicles in its counteroffensive, including some Western-made vehicles. Because Western vehicle design prioritizes survivability, Ukraine's crews are surviving hard hits. Western vehicles are ensuring those troops survive even the brutal front-line combat of the ongoing counteroffensive. AdvertisementAdvertisement"While Western-supplied protected mobility may be doing a good job at enabling their dismounts to survive," Watling and Reynolds wrote, "there is still a high loss rate of platforms." In their new report, Watling and Reynolds argue that "Ukraine's international partners need to ensure that the industrial support is available to make the Ukrainian military sustainable."

Persons: wasn't, Bradley, SAMEER AL, Jack Watling, Nick Reynolds, Watling, Reynolds, Ed Ram, Getty Images Watling Organizations: Service, Vehicles, Getty, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, West, Washington, ABC, —, Getty Images Locations: Ukraine, Soviet, Wall, Silicon, AFP, Russia, Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian

☆ ‘A Trump tribute act’: Meet Suella Braverman, the commander-in-chief of Britain’s culture wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

London CNN —Late last year, after a breakneck ascent of British politics put her in charge of the country’s migration, crime and national security agenda, Suella Braverman revealed her political fantasy. Leon Neal/Getty ImagesAnd she is an equally furious culture warrior, borrowing rhetoric from the American right when lambasting “woke” culture, transgender rights and climate protesters. Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty ImagesIt is a stance that has drawn sharp criticism – including from within the traditional wing of Braverman’s Conservative Party. Should Braverman succeed at her next bid for the party leadership, her critics fear another rightwards shift in British politics. “She’s recognized that in the current political climate, her way of creating an impact… (is) positioning herself as a Trump tribute act.

☆ Russia's military has been preparing for a drone-filled battlefield, and even its cooks are being trained to shoot them down
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Counter-drone training has also become common throughout the Russian military. Having used drones and seen drones used with increasing frequency, the Russian military has also expanded its counter-drone training. The threat is now considered so widespread that most Russian troops, regardless of military specialty, are getting instruction in spotting and dealing with drones. Ukraine's military has been bolstering its drone defenses throughout the war, as shown in the Western military aid being sent to Kyiv. Despite having kinetic and electronic-warfare countermeasures to take out Russian drones, Ukraine still faces a difficult challenge.

☆ 'Let's bring France to a halt': Oil refineries blocked and trains halted by pension reform protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Christophe Archambault | Afp | Getty ImagesStrike action over plans to raise the pension age in France caused widespread disruption on Tuesday, as trains came to a near-standstill, many schools were shut and fuel deliveries were blocked from refineries. Lou Benoist | Afp | Getty ImagesEric Sellini, a representative from the CGT union at TotalEnergies, told Reuters that a strike blocking the Gonfreville refinery in Normandy would run until Thursday. Another at the Donges refinery in western France is set to run until Friday, he added. Sameer Al-doumy | Afp | Getty ImagesThe strikes come as French workers grapple with red-hot inflation, which accelerated unexpectedly in February to hit 6.2% year-on-year. Around two thirds of the public support protests against the pension reforms, according to an Elabe survey.

☆ Losses in Ukraine are 'out of proportion' to what NATO has been planning for, the alliance's top general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

NATO leaders have been worried by the heavy casualties and massive ammunition usage in Ukraine. "The scale of this war is out of proportion with all of our recent thinking," NATO's top general said in January. Now the scale and intensity of the fighting in Ukraine has raised questions about the alliance's ability to fight a big-unit war against Russia. "Scale, scale, scale," US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told a Swedish defense conference in January. That Moscow is buying artillery shells from North Korea suggests that Russia's military is no shape to fight NATO and Ukraine.

☆ Ukraine's battlefields look like World War I but with a new and terrifying addition that leaves troops with almost nowhere to hide
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The conflict in Ukraine has emerged as the first major war involving drone use on both sides. By the late 1990s, Predator drones were being used by the US and NATO for reconnaissance missions in the Kosovo War. Ukraine has in many ways emerged as a guinea pig for drone warfare. Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesLater in the war, Russia began launching swarms of Iranian-made Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones, striking targets across Ukraine. Drones have significantly shortened the so-called kill chain, Cancian explained, helping troops swiftly locate targets and provide coordinates for artillery.

Zelenskyy has called the Russian attacks on infrastructure “energy terrorism” and vowed the assault won’t change the course of the war. People sit in a dark cafe during a blackout after Russian strikes Dec. 29 in Lviv, Ukraine. Company officials believe Russian engineers who know the vulnerable points in Ukraine’s electricity system most likely advised the Russian military on its targeting. Water and cellphonesThe attack on the country’s electricity grid has had a knock-on effect for other infrastructure, including water supplies and mobile phone service. Although the assault on Ukraine’s infrastructure hasn’t damaged Ukraine’s position on the battlefield or broken the country’s will to fight, it has inflicted “huge damage” on the economy, he said.

☆ The US is scrambling to find what experts say may be the 'most important' hardware Ukraine needs to hold off Russia in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine and Russia have relied heavily on artillery to batter each other's forces. The US has vowed to ramp its munitions production. The US is buying 100,000 155 mm shells from South Korea that will be sent to Ukraine. Years after post-Cold War defense cutbacks, Europe is striving to supply Ukraine despite limited stockpiles and production capability. Ukraine's shopping list includes 152 mm and 122 mm howitzers, 122 mm rockets, and ammunition for tank cannons.

☆ Ukraine has repeatedly pleaded for tanks to fight Russia — its Western allies could now be ready to provide them
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesUkraine has repeatedly asked its Western allies to provide it with battle tanks to help it fight Russia but up until now, its Western allies appeared reluctant to do so, fearing the provision of offensive weapons could provoke Moscow further. Last week, the White House again declined to say whether the U.S. would specifically provide Ukraine with main battle tanks. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesThe impasse over tanks seemed to break when the U.K. announced at the weekend that it would be sending 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. Poland's President Andrzej Duda reiterated his calls for Ukraine to receive more Western tanks when he appeared on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Ukrainian armed forces' soldiers drive a T-72 tank on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine on December 21, 2022.

Search resuls for: "Sameer al"

11 mentions found