DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

OSLO, June 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. will open its northernmost diplomatic station in the Norwegian Arctic town of Tromsoe, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, at a time when cooperation among the Arctic nations has been hit by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "For us, the presence post in Tromsoe is really an ability to have a diplomatic footprint above the Arctic Circle," he said. It comprises the eight Arctic states of Russia, the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Cooperation between the Western Arctic states and Moscow on the Arctic body is frozen since the invasion of Ukraine. "Our entire approach is to make sure that the Arctic remains an area of peaceful cooperation," he said.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Sriraj Kalluvila, Mark Potter Organizations: Arctic Council, Cooperation, Thomson Locations: OSLO, U.S, Norwegian, Tromsoe, Ukraine, United States, American, Oslo, Norway, Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Moscow

Economists expect such examples to become increasingly common in coming years, as a glut of university graduates and a shortage of factory labour due to an ageing workforce deepen China's job market imbalances. The industries most popular among fresh Chinese graduates, such as tech, education, real estate and finance, have all faced regulatory crackdowns in recent years. Reuters Graphics'ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES'It is unclear exactly how many graduates are taking jobs below their skill level, but state media has acknowledged the trend. President Xi Jinping repeatedly exhorted young people to "seek hardships" in a recent state media article emphasising his suffering during the Cultural Revolution. China's education and human resources ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Thomas Peter, Liang Huaxiao, Liang, Keyu Jin, Xi Jinping, today's, Chim Lee, Jobs, Han Zhaoxue, master's, Wang, Laurie Chen, Marius Zaharia Organizations: REUTERS, Economist Intelligence Unit, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, BEIJING, Taiyuan, Shanghai, Jining

☆ Gucci-Owner Kering, Drugmaker GSK and Others Are Developing Global Targets on Nature Loss
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Luxury group Kering and biopharma company GSK are among more than a dozen companies preparing targets to develop a gold standard for how businesses can protect nature. Yet the issues surrounding nature loss are complex and many companies are unsure how to measure it or what to do. The Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures, a business-backed effort to protect biodiversity, is working on a reporting framework, and SBTN is developing standards to evaluate companies’ nature targets. “We expect that the landscapes will be similar [to the ones under the SBTN targets], ” Gonçalves Krebsbach said. In 2020, GSK started to map out stressed water basins in its supply chain.

☆ Fast fashion has spawned a mountain of leftover clothes in the Chilean desert that's so massive it can now be seen clearly from space
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A gigantic heap of unused clothes in Chile is so big that a satellite can easily spot it. High resolution images of the clothing dump was posted on May 10 by satellite photo app SkyFi. Much of the landfill contains clothes that couldn't sell in stores in the US, Europe, and Asia. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on the culture & business of sustainability — delivered weekly to your inbox. At least 39,000 tons of those clothes accumulate in landfills in the Atacama Desert, the outlet found in 2021.

☆ Russian Shelling Knocks Out Power at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Vivek Shankar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Image The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost power early Monday morning, according to Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company. Credit... Andrey Borodulin/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRussian shelling again knocked out power to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which had switched to backup diesel generators to keep critical cooling equipment running, Ukrainian nuclear officials said on Monday. The loss of power raised the threat of a nuclear disaster at the plant, which is occupied by Russian troops and operated by Ukrainian engineers. The generators have enough diesel to power the plant for 10 days. “After the loss of external power, which is vitally necessary to ensure the operation of the pumps for cooling the nuclear material of the power units, all diesel generators of the nuclear power plant were switched on automatically,” Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, said on the Telegram messaging app.

☆ Russia-Ukraine War Zelensky Flying to Japan for G7 Summit, in Search of Military Aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Victoria Kim | Natalia Yermak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Image A photograph released by Saudi Arabian state media showing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine addressing the Arab League Summit on Friday. Mr. Biden said he was also prepared to let other countries give F-16s to Ukraine. In Hiroshima, Mr. Zelensky will almost certainly meet one on one with Mr. Biden. In Saudi Arabia, Mr. Zelensky appealed to Arab leaders meeting there not to bend to Russian influence. In his meetings with the leaders, Mr. Zelensky will have a chance to discuss the war with some of his staunchest backers: the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy.

☆ Russia-Ukraine War Zelensky to Attend G7 Summit in Japan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( David E. Sanger | Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Image President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Paris on Sunday. The officials did not say when Mr. Zelensky would arrive, hoping to keep details of his travels vague for security reasons. So far, there have been no public announcements about Mr. Zelensky’s plans, and the Ukrainian news media has suggested that he will join the summit virtually. If Mr. Zelensky arrives in Hiroshima, he will almost certainly have a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Biden. “We have a task to maintain the momentum of international support and communication for Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly address on Thursday.

Several foreign missions in China raised the Ukrainian flag, or displayed its image in posters and lights, following the February 2022 invasion that sparked international condemnation of Russia, a close ally of China. "Do not use the building facilities' exterior walls to display politicised propaganda to avoid inciting disputes between countries," China's foreign ministry said in a notification dated May 10. The notice, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, was addressed to "all embassies, and international organisations' China representative offices". The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has called for a peace in Ukraine but has refrained from condemning Russia, leading to criticism from Western countries.

☆ Former SVB, Signature Bank Executives to Face Senate Panel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Gina Heeb | Andrew Ackerman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker plans to apologize to a Senate panel and say that no bank could have survived the deposit run that SVB saw in March. Photo: patrick t. fallon/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesFormer Silicon Valley Bank Chief Executive Greg Becker and two ex-executives from Signature Bank will appear in front of a Senate committee Tuesday, where the chairman is expected to blame senior management for the pair of failures in March. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) said the banks grew too fast and repeatedly ignored warnings from federal and state officials in the face of “glaring risks” from customer and industry concentration, according to prepared remarks released ahead of the hearing.

☆ Retail Sales to Show Americans’ Appetite to Spend in April
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Gwynn Guilford | Sarah Nassauer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This week’s U.S. retail-sales data will provide the latest update on inflation and the economy. New data on existing home sales, the housing-market index and housing starts will also be released. Photo: Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesApril’s retail-sales report will show consumers’ willingness to spend at stores and restaurants and online as easing inflation returns some spending power to shoppers. Consumers cut retail spending for the second straight month in March, pulling back on purchases of furniture, appliances and gasoline. But a solid labor market last month kept wage growth elevated while inflation cooled to its slowest pace in two years—which could in turn help boost consumer spending, the primary driver of economic growth.

☆ Businesses Seek Out ChatGPT-Tech for Searching and Analyzing Their Own Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the recent Google I/O keynote session. Photo: josh edelson/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe hope that searching workplace documents could match the ease and efficiency of a consumer search engine has been largely unrealized. But now generative artificial intelligence may offer potential to help businesses do just that. So far, companies “have been unable to find and [deliver] an enterprise search that came even within an order of magnitude as good as Google search is outside,” said Brian McClendon, senior vice president of engineering at software development and gaming company Niantic.

G-7 leaders are expected to visit Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park during their meeting that starts Friday. Photo: richard a. brooks/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesNearly 78 years ago, around a Hiroshima bridge not far from where President Biden is scheduled to meet world leaders this week, a 4-year-old boy named Eiji Kishida was walking with his mother. The U.S. atomic bomb dropped by the Enola Gay exploded above them, less than a mile away. An aunt of the boy who was also in Hiroshima that day recounted what she saw when she found Eiji soon afterward. He kept begging for water in a faint voice until his death released him from agony.”

☆ Stocks Close Higher With Debt-Ceiling Talks in Focus
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hannah Miao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This week’s U.S. retail-sales data will provide the latest update on inflation and the economy. New data on existing home sales, the housing market index and housing starts will also be released. Photo: Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesU.S. stocks edged higher Monday as investors monitored debt-ceiling negotiations, coming off two consecutive losing weeks for the S&P 500. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1%, or nearly 50 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7%.

It is in these poorly constructed camps that aid agencies fear Cyclone Mocha has hit the hardest. A man walks past destroyed buildings in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 15, 2023, after Cyclone Mocha made landfall. Residents ride motorcycles past broken utility poles in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 15, 2023, after Cyclone Mocha made landfall. At one point Cyclone Mocha had been predicted to hit the camp but it was spared a direct hit with the storm making landfall further down the coast. According to the UN, roughly 15,000 homes were destroyed in Rakhine state during that storm.

☆ IRS Weighs Creating a Government-Run Tax-Prep Option
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Richard Rubin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Companies worry about a scenario in which the IRS creates first drafts of taxpayers’ returns. Photo: stefani reynolds/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The Biden administration is considering creating a government-run alternative to TurboTax and H&R Block , drawing resistance from Republicans and companies fearing a loss of business. Democrats and consumer advocates have been pushing for the Internal Revenue Service to offer free online tax filing on its website, particularly for people with straightforward returns. Their core argument: Tax-preparation companies charge middle-income Americans for what advocates think should be a free public service.

☆ Former SVB CEO Greg Becker to Apologize for Bank Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Gina Heeb | Andrew Ackerman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former Silicon Valley Bank Chief Executive Greg Becker Photo: patrick t. fallon/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesFormer Silicon Valley Bank chief executive Greg Becker plans to tell a Senate committee on Tuesday that no bank could have survived the unprecedented deposit run that led to his institution’s failure in March. Mr. Becker hasn’t spoken publicly since regulators seized SVB two months ago, after a failed capital raise and historic deposit run doomed the startup- and technology-focused California bank. Two former executives at New York-based Signature Bank , which failed shortly after, are also set to appear before the Senate Banking Committee.

☆ Regional Banks Can’t Catch a Break
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Telis Demos | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Western Alliance said its deposits recently rose. Photo: patrick t. fallon/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesRegional bank stocks were further discounted this past week. It isn’t hard to find some positive indicators for regional banks’ business right now. For one, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Thursday said that its plan to make up for losses in the deposit insurance fund would charge banks based on their amount of uninsured deposits above $5 billion at the end of last year—which tilts the cost toward larger banks. That could help smaller banks offer more-competitive deposit rates.

☆ Thai Voters Back Pro-Democracy Parties in Blow to Military
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Feliz Solomon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat said Sunday the party’s success surpassed his expectations. Photo: jack taylor/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThailand’s pro-democracy parties emerged as the biggest winners in nationwide elections held on Sunday—a repudiation of the pro-military establishment that has kept a grip on power since a coup in 2014. Move Forward, a relatively new party popular among progressive young voters, won 151 seats out of 500 in the Lower House of Parliament. Pheu Thai, a party linked to a political movement that has long been the army’s chief rival, came in second with 141 seats. Despite its weak showing, the military could still have a say in who forms the next government.

☆ Indian Tech’s Promise of Rivaling China Is Falling Apart
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Megha Mandavia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Technology-education company Byju’s is the most highly valued Indian startup—on paper. Photo: manjunath kiran/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe Indian edtech company Byju’s was the poster child of the Asian country’s startup boom, attracting a lofty valuation while meeting the needs of millions of students across the country as the pandemic hurt their access to schools and education. It is now turning out to be a symbol of everything that went wrong with India’s promise of creating internet companies to rival such Chinese titans as Alibaba and Tencent. The country’s hot startup ecosystem, which lured such investors as SoftBank and Tiger Global, is facing questions on financial accountability and discipline, expensive acquisitions, heady valuations and whether investors overestimated India’s total addressable market, or TAM. Public listings have been delayed, and layoffs are now almost a daily occurrence.

Under current guidelines, single women are barred from freezing their eggs, with assisted reproductive technologies only available to married women with fertility issues. In recent months, some provinces have extended childbirth benefits for unmarried women, and in the southwestern province of Sichuan province single women are increasingly undergoing IVF treatments in private clinics. SOCIAL STIGMALike many Chinese women, Xu spent her twenties and early thirties focused on career development, but was constantly reminded of women's fertility decline with age. "I think society should stop this stigma and recognise the diverse circumstances of single women, as well as their courage and independence." "I hope that all single women can achieve bodily autonomy and reproductive autonomy, and that everyone is allowed to have the space for making independent choices," she said.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: EU to discuss sanctions on Chinese and Iranian firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

May 10 (Reuters) - European Union states hold a first discussion on Wednesday on proposed new sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine that would target Chinese and Iranian firms and allow export curbs on third countries for busting existing trade restrictions. GRAIN EXPORTS* The United Nations said inspections resumed on Tuesday of outbound vessels under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, which Moscow has threatened to quit on May 18 over obstacles to its own grain and fertilizer exports. CONFLICT* The governor of Russia's Voronezh region said on Wednesday that two drones attempted to attack a military facility in his region, but failed. * Russia's air defence forces shot down an "enemy" drone in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, its governor said, adding that falling debris damaged a gas pipeline and a house. * Arman Soldin, a 32-year-old video journalist for Agence France Presse (AFP) in Ukraine, was killed on Tuesday by Grad rocket fire near Chasiv Yar, in eastern Ukraine, AFP said on Twitter, citing AFP colleagues who witnessed the incident.

☆ FBI Disables Malware Russia Allegedly Used to Steal Documents from NATO Allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Washington. Photo: mandel ngan/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesU.S. authorities said they disabled a piece of malware Russia’s intelligence agency has allegedly used for two decades to steal documents from NATO-allied governments and others, in an operation that highlights the FBI’s increasing efforts to go beyond arresting hackers and find new ways to disrupt cyberattacks. In an affidavit filed in federal court in Brooklyn unsealed Tuesday, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent said the bureau had identified a long-running cyber espionage campaign by officers in a unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, to take documents from other governments’ defense and foreign ministries, journalists and others, and route them through infected computers in the U.S. to cover their tracks.

☆ Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Is Coming Back, This Time as a Film Without the Angels
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Photo: timothy a. clary/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesVictoria’s Secret is reinventing its lingerie-clad fashion show as a feature-length film with more diverse models, years after the company had been criticized for glorifying skinny body types. The lingerie seller is reviving its famous fashion spectacle for the first time since 2018, but this time there will be no “Angel” models in wings. Victoria’s Secret said Tuesday that it will present its new show as a pretaped film available on streaming services this fall.

☆ UBS Refreshes Management Team to Integrate Credit Suisse
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Margot Patrick | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Körner will take charge of operational continuity and client focus. Photo: fabrice coffrini/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesUBS said it would integrate Credit Suisse with a freshly composed executive team that includes Credit Suisse’s chief executive and a new chief financial officer. The Swiss banking giant said it is evaluating all options for Credit Suisse’s Swiss business, which some politicians in the country want to be spun off into a separate unit or divested. The merger of the two banks is one of the largest ever by assets.

☆ California May Bill You for Slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

California Governor Gavin Newsom Photo: patrick t. fallon/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesNo progressive idea is too wild to be adopted these days, especially in California. The latest example is the Golden State’s new plan to redistribute hundreds of billions of dollars as racial “reparations.”A nine-member committee created by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democratic Legislature voted Saturday to recommend that the state make cash payments to black Americans who claim to be descendants of slaves. Although California’s 1849 Constitution banned slavery, the committee claims the state government was complicit in the enslavement of blacks in southern states.

Search resuls for: "AGENCE FRANCE"

25 mentions found