DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ At what cost? UK PM Sunak to win post-Brexit trade vote in parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sunak has sought to end years of wrangling over Brexit by revisiting one of the trickiest parts of the negotiations - to ensure smooth trade to Northern Ireland without creating a so-called hard border with Britain or the European Union. He agreed with the EU to introduce the "Stormont brake", aimed at offering Northern Ireland more control over whether to accept any new EU laws, as part of the so-called Windsor Framework of measures to soothe post-Brexit tensions. But in Wednesday's vote in the lower house of parliament, those he most wanted to win over - Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and some Conservative eurosceptics in the European Research Group (ERG) - are set to rebel. The brake enables Britain to prevent new EU laws applying to goods in Northern Ireland if asked to do so by a third of lawmakers in the province's devolved legislature. The DUP has for a year boycotted Northern Ireland's power-sharing government over its opposition to the post-Brexit trade rules, which effectively leaves the province in the EU's single market for goods and means it has to follow some of the bloc's rules.

☆ Chinese media is claiming an Instagram post shows the US military stealing aid for earthquake victims in Syria. It's a bogus conspiracy theory.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Chinese state media promoted a conspiracy theory about the US stealing aid for earthquake victims. The false claims were based on US soldiers helping to distribute humanitarian aid in Turkey. That writing, the article states, is "exactly the same" as the writing on the aid "that China sent to earthquake victims in Syria." "The Americans are not only stealing oil from Syria," one user wrote, "but also humanitarian aid." A US soldier helps distribute aid to earthquake victims in Turkey.

☆ More Storms Set to Hit California This Week, Continuing Deluge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The West Coast is bracing for another round of storms beginning Sunday, with wet weather expected in California through the middle of the week and the Sierra Nevada region anticipating more snow. A first storm will roll through the Central and Northern California coast Sunday night, delivering a modest amount of rain as well as more than a foot of snow in the mountains, with little impact in the southern part of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

☆ Magnitude 6.8 earthquake shakes Ecuador, at least four deaths reported
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A damaged car and rubble from a house affected by the earthquake are pictured in Cuenca, Ecuador. REUTERS/Rafa Idrovo EspinozaQUITO, March 18 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook a coastal region of Ecuador and northern Peru midday Saturday, leaving at least four people dead and resulting in some structural damage. In the community of Machala, three people were killed and multiple structures collapsed, including a two-story home and a wharf, while multiple communities lost power. The earthquake also led to structural damage in two other provinces, including a collapsed wall in a supermarket, and was felt in more than half of the country's 24 provinces, the Secretariat said. The initial quake was followed by two weaker aftershocks in the following hour, according to the Geophysics Institute of Ecuador.

☆ Homebuyers, take note: 21 spots across the US where prices may fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Aj Latrace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Real-estate data firm Attom evaluated which counties across the country are most vulnerable. Attom's researchers looked at a number of key indicators to determine the overall health of a region's real-estate market. Home prices that are out of reach for many locals suggests they are overly elevated. One is that the counties around major cities such as Chicago and New York are particularly vulnerable. Out of the 581 counties Attom analyzed, here's a look at the 21 counties that are most vulnerable to a decline.

[1/5] Campaigners who have been protesting in Oslo for over a week against the wind turbines at Fosen, end the campaign with a demonstration in front of the Royal Castle in Oslo, Norway, March 3, 2023. Demonstrators had urged government action after Norway's supreme court ruled in 2021 that 151 turbines erected at Fosen in central Norway violated Sami rights under international conventions, but remained in operation 17 months later. Saying that a transition to green energy should not come at the expense of Indigenous rights, protesters blocked access to several ministries, putting the centre-left minority government in crisis mode. "We have made the government take responsibility for the ongoing violations of human rights and apologise," Sami artist and campaigner Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen told Reuters. "This case is bigger than just Fosen," Christian Rynning-Toennesen, the head of utility Statkraft and the operator of one of the affected wind farms, told reporters on Thursday.

☆ India to get heat waves this year after hottest February on record
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Rajendra Jadhav | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Enhanced probability of occurrence of heat wave during March to May season is likely over many regions of Central and adjoining Northwest India," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement. In March, the crucial month for the maturity of winter-sown crops, above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of the country except peninsular India, it said. India grows only one wheat crop in a year, with planting in October and November, and harvesting from March. A heat wave curtailed India's wheat production in 2022 and forced the world's second largest producer to ban exports. Average maximum temperature in February was 29.54 degrees Celsius, the highest since 1901, when the IMD started keeping weather records.

☆ British supermarkets are rationing fruit and vegetables as shortages bite
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON — Britain's biggest supermarkets are limiting purchases of certain fruit and vegetables as supply shortages lead to empty shelves. It said the move was due to poor weather conditions overseas and was working with suppliers to "get things back to normal." The U.K. government has not stated Brexit as a factor, blaming weather conditions. EU member Ireland is also experiencing fruit and vegetable shortages. U.K. Food Minister Mark Spencer said Monday he had spoken to retailers about how they are responding to shortages and asked them to build preparedness for future incidents.

☆ Brexit slammed the UK economy. The Northern Ireland deal gives it hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It delivers “long-lasting solutions” that will work for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland, she added. It also allows the UK government to determine sales tax rates for businesses in Northern Ireland and gives the Northern Ireland government emergency powers to oppose new EU rules on some goods. A boost to BritainBeyond its importance to Northern Ireland, the deal eases the uncertainty Brexit created for Britain. The new Northern Ireland deal opens the door to closer UK-EU cooperation on financial services, energy, immigration and scientific research, according to experts. “You need to address the Protocol before you do anything else,” said Anna Jerzewska, the founder of international trade consultancy Trade & Borders.

☆ UK begins long and uncertain road back from Brexit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Britain is beginning the long and uncertain road back from Brexit. Changes to the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol were inevitable. There’s still scope to improve Johnson’s trade deal, struck in 2019. The route back is uncertain, but the symbolic importance of the Northern Ireland deal is not. The agreement marks a “new chapter” in relations between the UK and European Union, Sunak said in a press conference.

☆ Magnitude 5.6 quake hits Turkey; more buildings collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey on Monday — three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region — causing some already damaged buildings to collapse, an official said. A father and daughter were reported trapped beneath the rubble of one building. Malatya was among 11 Turkish provinces hit by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6. That quake led to more than 48,000 deaths in both countries as well as the collapse or serious damage of 173,000 buildings in Turkey. AFAD, Turkey's disaster management agency, said that close to 10,000 aftershocks have hit the region affected by the quake since Feb. 6.

☆ Turks protest over government's quake response in stadiums, on streets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

At a separate demonstration in Istanbul, riot police moved swiftly to detain protesters, who were handcuffed and dragged into police buses. Following the Besiktas fans' protest, Bahceli cancelled his membership of the club, his party announced in a statement. Fans from Istanbul team Fenerbahce chanted similar anti-government slogans during Saturday's match against Konyaspor. "Twenty years of lies and cheating, resign," Fenerbahce fans shouted during their 4-0 win over Konyaspor. Dozens of members and supporters of the far-left opposition party Workers' Party of Turkey were detained in central Istanbul on Sunday at an anti-government protest, the party said.

☆ Britain and EU close in on crucial Brexit deal for Northern Ireland
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.K. may have left the European Union on Jan. 31, 2020, but the Northern Ireland Protocol has sparked persistent disagreement ever since. This part of the Brexit deal mandates checks on some goods that travel to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. — with the new negotiations aimed at easing these rules. Unionist parties in Northern Ireland — which is part of the U.K, unlike its neighbor Ireland, which is part of the EU — have argued that the checks place an effective border in the Irish Sea. The Protocol has also been criticized for jeopardizing the Good Friday Agreement — a long-standing peace deal that brought an end to three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since Feb. 2022 after the Democratic Unionist Party resigned in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol.

☆ A risk taken, UK's Sunak announces the Windsor Framework
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Elizabeth Piper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But it was secrecy that fostered suspicion among two big hitters in the years-long Brexit debate - the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's biggest unionist party, and the pro-Brexit Conservative European Research Group (ERG). "I am pleased to report that we have now made a decisive breakthrough, together we have changed the original protocol and are today announcing the new Windsor framework," Sunak told a news conference. Then both former leaders had threatened to rip up the Northern Ireland protocol with legislation in parliament and their administrations had regularly criticised the EU for being overly legalistic and inflexible. Pressing pause on the Northern Ireland Protocol bill which would all but rip up the earlier agreement, he saw solving the Northern Ireland standoff as a concrete "win" for his administration which has struggled to establish itself. But Sunak still has to win over not only some of his lawmakers in the ERG, but more importantly the DUP.

☆ EU's von der Leyen to travel to UK for Northern Ireland Brexit talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The leaders of Britain and the European Union will hold face-to-face talks in London on Monday as they seek to finalise a new deal for Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trading arrangements, the two sides said on Sunday. "President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak agreed to continue their work in person towards shared, practical solutions for the range of complex challenges around the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland," the joint statement said. "President von der Leyen will therefore meet with the prime minister in the UK tomorrow." London and Brussels have been engaged in talks for months to ease trading frictions in the British province but the test will be whether the changes will satisfy some Brexit supporters in the governing Conservative Party or the biggest unionist party in Northern Ireland. Reporting by William James; writing by Kate Holton, editing by Elizabeth PiperOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nineteen athletes wounded after blasts at race in Cameroon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Amindeh Blaise Atabong | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

YAOUNDE, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Nineteen athletes were being treated for blast injuries on Saturday after multiple small explosions during a running race in part of western Cameroon where English-speaking separatists are fighting government forces, a local doctor said. There was no immediate comment from authorities in the town of Buea in South-West Region, where 529 athletes were running up the highest mountain in West and Central Africa as they competed in the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope. "Our primary target was the Cameroon elite forces ... that were providing security for the athletes. Another video showed a different explosion going off near a pack of runners elsewhere on the route. Participants in the race included athletes from East, Central and Northern Africa and France.

☆ UK, EU inching towards Northern Ireland deal, Irish prime minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Momentum has been building for weeks towards a deal to ease checks on trade that were introduced under the Northern Ireland Protocol - the arrangements agreed to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland when Britain exited the EU in 2020. Lawmakers in British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative party have been told to be in parliament on Monday, in a sign that a deal could be imminent. Certainly the deal isn't done yet, but I do think we are inching towards a conclusion," Leo Varadkar told reporters. While an agreement would mark an end to a two-year standoff between Britain and the EU, Sunak could face a battle with pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers and pro-British Northern Irish politicians to make the deal work. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the region's largest pro-British party, has said it will not end its boycott of the assembly unless all checks on goods bound for Northern Ireland from Britain are removed.

☆ Here are the U.S. cities most vulnerable to climate change, according to Moody's
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

People look at the Golden Gate Bridge at a vista point during a rainfall on January 15, 2023 in Sausalito, California. Climate change poses a significant threat to the economies of U.S. cities, with metro areas like San Francisco, New York City and Phoenix among the most at risk of sea-level rise, extreme heat and water stress, according to a new report by Moody's Analytics. The report, which assesses which cities are most vulnerable or resilient to climate change, calculates its forecasts based on two different risk categories — the long-term exposure to drought, extreme heat and sea-level rise, and the short-term exposure to hurricanes, wildfires and floods. "Absent policy changes, large coastal states like California, Florida and New York are especially vulnerable, while more inland northern economies will emerge only slightly worse off, with a handful of small metro areas possibly benefiting slightly," wrote Adam Kamins, senior director at Moody's and author of the report. Among the metro areas that are the worst off are San Francisco, California; Cape Coral, Florida; New York City, New York; Long Island, New York; Oakland, California; and Phoenix, Arizona, the report found.

[1/2] Police officers stand amid the rubble of a damaged building at the site of a rocket attack in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood of central Damascus, Syria, February 19, 2023. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran's extraterritorial military power. A source close to the Syrian government with knowledge of Sunday's strike and its target said it hit a gathering of Syrian and Iranian technical experts in drone manufacturing, though he said no top-level Iranian was killed. "The strike hit the centre where they were meeting as well as an apartment in a residential building. On Sunday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as attacks on "residential buildings in Damascus which killed and maimed innocent Syrian citizens".

☆ Massive snowstorm closes schools, grounds flights in U.S. heartland
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Brendan O'Brien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The storm hit California on Tuesday and was expected to continue through the end of the week. In Central California, the weather iced over roadways, the weather service reported. More than 100,000 homes and businesses were without power, largely in Central California, according to the tracking site Poweroutage.us. Among the hardest-hit cities was Minneapolis, where some 20 inches (50 cm) of snow and 45-mph (72-kph) winds were expected to create whiteouts. The storm wreaked havoc on morning air travel as hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled across the nation.

☆ Amazon employees push CEO Andy Jassy to drop return-to-office mandate
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A group of Amazon employees is urging CEO Andy Jassy to reconsider a recent return-to-office mandate. Last week, Jassy announced Amazon would require corporate staffers to spent at least three days a week in the office beginning May 1. Staffers on Friday created a Slack channel to advocate for remote work and share their concerns about the new return to work policy, according to screenshots viewed by CNBC. Amazon hasn't addressed whether remote employees will be asked to relocate, beyond Jassy noting that there will be "a small minority" of exceptions to the new policy. WATCH: Andy Jassy on the benefits of remote work

☆ Northern Ireland post-Brexit talks nearly done, EU says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Johanna GeronDUBLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The European Union's Brexit chief said on Tuesday that the finishing line was in sight for talks on easing post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland ahead of a second successive day of discussions with his British counterparts. After weeks of intense London-Brussels talks, momentum has been building towards a deal to revise the Northern Ireland Protocol - the arrangements agreed to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland when Britain exited the EU in 2020. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his cabinet that intensive talks continued, his spokesman said, as his foreign and Northern Irish ministers prepared to speak to European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic later on Tuesday. But in such a negotiation, being close doesn't mean being done", Sefcovic told a press conference, declining to say when exactly an agreement might be reached. The DUP, Northern Ireland's largest pro-British party, has boycotted the region's devolved power-sharing parliament for the last year in protest at the protocol.

☆ Explainer: What is the Northern Ireland protocol?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] A truck parked beside a 'money changed' sign is seen on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland near Jonesborough, Northern Ireland, October 13, 2021. WHAT IS THE NORTHERN IRELAND PROTOCOL? Northern Ireland also remains part of the UK's customs territory, effectively creating a customs border in the sea between Britain and Northern Ireland. The protocol specifies those EU regulations and directives with which Northern Ireland must remain aligned, and means new EU acts may be added to those that apply in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Protocol bill, if passed by parliament, would give the British government the power to unilaterally decide to all but renege on the agreement.

☆ Explainer: Talks on post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade edge closer to deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

WHAT IS THE NORTHERN IRELAND PROTOCOL? Northern Ireland also remains part of the UK's customs territory. That effectively created a customs border in the sea between Britain and Northern Ireland, which pro-British communities say erodes their place within the UK. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's biggest unionist party, also says the province should not have to follow laws without having a say. According to so-called dynamic alignment, this also means that any new EU acts may also be added to those that apply in Northern Ireland.

☆ Britain facing tomatoes shortage after overseas harvests disrupted
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Britons are facing a shortage of tomatoes after supermarket supplies, including at market leader Tesco (TSCO.L) and No. 2 Sainsbury's (SBRY.L), were impacted by disrupted harvests in southern Europe and North Africa. "However, supermarkets are adept at managing supply chain issues and are working with farmers to ensure that customers are able to access a wide range of fresh produce," he said. Last year Britain's grocers suffered supply chain disruptions due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine but availability was much improved in the run-up to Christmas, with an exception being eggs. In winter, Britain has typically imported around 90% of crops like cucumbers and tomatoes, but has been nearly self-sufficient in the summer.

Search resuls for: "and Northern"

25 mentions found