DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ European Union threatens sanctions over Twitter's ban of journalists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Elon Musk’s decision to suddenly ban prominent tech journalists from Twitter is fanning a fierce backlash in Europe. Germany warned of the impact on press freedom, while a senior EU official said Twitter must comply with the bloc’s rules or face possible sanctions. “The EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. European leaders previously said they were watching how Musk’s takeover of Twitter would affect the platform. Thierry Breton, a top EU official, warned Musk in late November that the social media platform must take significant steps to comply with the bloc’s content moderation laws.

☆ A top European official seemed to threaten Elon Musk with sanctions over his 'arbitrary suspension' of journalists amid the jet-tracking saga
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Věra Jourová, a European Union vice president, criticized Elon Musk's "arbitrary" bans on journalists. She said that Twitter could face sanctions, citing the union's laws on free speech. After Musk's laid off thousands of staff, Twitter closed its Brussels office responsible for complying with EU laws. Věra Jourová, the EU vice president for values and transparency, tweeted on Friday morning: "News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying." Musk was also condemned by the German foreign office for suspending the journalists, while a senior government official threatened to leave the platform.

☆ Factbox: Germany's energy prices bill - what are the details?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Here are some details of legislation passed by Germany's lower house of parliament on Thursday to cap gas and power prices for consumers up to April 2024 and in return tax utility profits deemed to be excessive. POWER PRICE BRAKEA brake on power prices will be implemented in March but applied retroactively to January and February, capping 80% of the previous year's bill at 40 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). GAS PRICESA brake on gas prices is also backdated and caps the equivalent of 80% of the prior year bill at 12 cents per kWh. The argument is they benefitted from higher revenues inadvertently due to spillover especially from gas prices, since gas plants' costs act as wholesale market price setters. The final version bore account of the need to avoid hurting new investments and upsetting wholesale market dynamics.

☆ Henry Cavill says he will not return as Superman
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Amir Vera | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —DC fans across the globe collectively mourned Wednesday as British actor Henry Cavill said he will no longer be donning the red cape as Superman in the DC Comics extended cinematic universe. Cavill even made a cameo as Superman in a mid-credits scene at the end of “Black Adam,” the DC film starring Dwayne Johnson. “I will, after all, not be returning as Superman,” Cavill wrote. In the initial stages, our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman's life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill. In the initial stages, our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill,” Gunn said.

☆ History-making nonbinary government official is out of a job after theft accusations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Brinton is no longer the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition but would not elaborate. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters,” the spokesperson said in an email. NBC News has requested a copy of the warrant from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department but has not received it yet. If convicted, Brinton could face five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both, according to the complaint. Prior to joining the Energy Department, Brinton served as the vice president of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project, a national LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization.

☆ At least 5 tornadoes confirmed in Texas as storms roll through southwestern US and blizzard conditions mount in the northern Plains
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Amir Vera Jason Hanna Monica Garrett | Amir Vera | Jason Hanna | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

More than 18 million people from Texas to Mississippi are under threat of severe storms Tuesday, including tornadoes. In Mississippi, the Meridian Public School District – which serves over 4,900 students – announced they will be closed Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather. The Lawrence County and McComb School Districts also announced they were closing Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency also noted the severe weather expected in the state and asked residents to prepare. “With severe weather expected throughout Mississippi tonight and tomorrow, please review your severe weather preparedness checklist to make sure you are ready for the storms,” the agency said in a message on Twitter.

☆ Peru's president Boluarte names Cabinet following Castillo ouster
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Marco Aquino | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Peru's President Dina Boluarte, who took office after her predecessor Pedro Castillo was ousted, poses along with her new Cabinet in Lima, Peru December 10, 2022. REUTERS/Sebastian CastanedaLIMA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Saturday named her Cabinet, tapping former deputy finance minister Alex Contreras as economy minister and chemical engineer Oscar Vera as energy and mines minister, following the ouster of ex-President Pedro Castillo. Boluarte took office on Wednesday after Castillo was ousted from office and arrested following his failed attempt to dissolve Congress as lawmakers were preparing to impeach him. read moreShe also named former state prosecutor Pedro Angulo as prime minister and diplomat Ana Cecilia Cervantes as foreign minister. Reporting by Marco Aquino in Lima, Writing by Brian Ellsworth in Miami Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Lignite contains several times more sulphur and ash, and five times more mercury, than black coal, and provides three times less energy. It also loosened restrictions on selling coal waste, which can be highly polluting, taking Poland back to the days before 2018, when the rules for coal were tightened to fight smog. In September, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski even told residents of Nowy Targ, the town with the lowest air quality in Poland in 2020, to burn pretty much whatever they wanted. Smog has been intense over the past days and we have a lot of children in need of intensive treatment," she said. COAL RUSHAbout 80% of the coal used by European Union citizens to heat homes is burned in Poland.

☆ Pictures of the year: Environment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jeremy Schultz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

A sheep looks for something to graze during a severe drought in the Cijara reservoir, in Villarta de los Montes, Spain, August 6. A prolonged dry spell and extreme heat that made July the hottest month in Spain since at least 1961, left Spanish...moreA sheep looks for something to graze during a severe drought in the Cijara reservoir, in Villarta de los Montes, Spain, August 6. A prolonged dry spell and extreme heat that made July the hottest month in Spain since at least 1961, left Spanish reservoirs at just 40% of capacity on average in early August. REUTERS/Susana VeraClose

CNN —Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a visit to the Kerch Bridge, a key link between the annexed Crimean peninsula and mainland Russia which was partially destroyed by an explosion in October, according to Russian state media. In another video Putin is seen walking along a section of the bridge. The Kerch Bridge pictured after the explosion on October 8. The 11-mile Kerch Bridge is the longest in Europe and carries both road and rail traffic. In 2018, Putin symbolically drove a truck across the Kerch Bridge to mark its opening, which was greeted with great fanfare on Russian state TV.

☆ Markets looking for the next catalyst might latch on to worries about 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Markets could be volatile and in search of a catalyst in the week ahead, as investors consider year-end trades in the lull before the Federal Reserve's December 13-14 policy meeting. Stocks were higher in the past week, with the year's worst performing sectors, communications services and consumer discretionary companies, leading the gains. On the geopolitical front, Arone said investors will watch the Dec. 6 runoff election in Georgia's senate race . Week ahead calendar Monday Earnings: Sumo Logic , Gitlab 9:45 a.m. Services PMI 10:00 a.m. ISM services 10:00 a.m. Initial jobless claims 10:00 a.m. Quarterly services survey Friday 8:30 a.m. PPI 10:00 a.m. Consumer sentiment 10:00 a.m. Wholesale trade

CNN —Severe storms and tornadoes swept through parts of the South from Tuesday into Wednesday morning, killing at least two people in Alabama and damaging homes, other buildings and downing trees in several states, officials said. Tornadoes decimate parts of AlabamaThe tornado that killed two in the Flatwood area near Montgomery had winds estimated at 110 mph, the National Weather Service said. The storm, which might have included a tornado, sounded “like a train coming through,” Perkins told CNN on Wednesday. “We were successful in getting (to) some people that had to hunker down in their homes that were messed up,” Austin told CNN on Wednesday. Some parts of the South, including between Huntsville and Birmingham in Alabama, saw between 2 and 4 inches of rain Tuesday.

☆ Deshaun Watson will return to play for the Cleveland Browns Sunday after serving 11-game suspension
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Amir Vera | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —For the first time in two years, embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson returns to the field for the Cleveland Browns Sunday after serving an 11-game suspension. Watson has previously settled all but one of the sexual misconduct civil lawsuits against him. In October, a new civil suit was filed against Watson but the NFL said his status remains unchanged. The Browns will be playing Watson’s former team, the Houston Texans, Sunday. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday that Watson has the support of his teammates and the support of the Browns organization.

☆ Musk plans to relaunch Twitter premium service, again
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

LONDON — Elon Musk said Friday that Twitter plans to relaunch its premium service that will offer different colored check marks to accounts next week, in a fresh move to revamp the service after a previous attempt backfired. Twitter previously suspended the premium service, which under Musk granted blue-check labels to anyone paying $8 a month, because of a wave of imposter accounts. Originally, the blue check was given to government entities, corporations, celebrities and journalists verified by the platform to prevent impersonation. In the latest version, companies will get a gold check, governments will get a gray check, and individuals who pay for the service, whether or not they’re celebrities, will get a blue check, Musk said Friday. It’s also likely to put the company on a crash course with European regulators seeking to clamp down on harmful online content with tough new rules.

☆ 27+ Best beauty and wellness deals on Black Friday 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Gabriella Depinho | Gabriella Depinho Is A Production Coordinator For Select On Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

SKIP AHEAD Best Black Friday beauty and wellness deals | Best Black Friday beauty and wellness salesTo help you make the most of the shopping holiday, we compiled some of the best Black Friday deals and sales on beauty and wellness essentials that we think you’ll want to know about. Best Black Friday 2022 beauty and wellness dealsBelow, we’re sharing the best Black Friday beauty and wellness deals based on our previous coverage and reporting. 4.2 star average rating from 4,398 reviews at Sephora. 4.7-star average rating from 601 reviews at ParachuteThis down duvet insert from Parachute is filled with 85% down and 15% down and feather fiber blend. Best Black Friday 2022 beauty and wellness salesHere are the best Black Friday beauty and wellnesssales that we think you’ll want to know about.

☆ German regulator: gas stocks below 40% on Feb. 1 would be critical
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

FRANKFURT, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Germany's energy regulator chief Klaus Mueller on Friday said a filling level below 40% of the country's underground storage caverns would be considered a critical indicator making mitigating measures necessary to ensure gas supply in winter. Currently, German inventories are 99% full, in excess of a Nov. 1 target for 95%, as Europe's leading economy has managed to offset a sizeable amount of delivery shortfalls after the near decline of Russian exports. "Tense we would say is between 40% and 55% by the first of February, and should we be below that, this indicator would jump to critical," said Mueller, speaking to reporters in a web-cast press conference. Reporting by Vera Eckert and Christoph Steitz, editing by Miranda MurrayOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The secrets behind these Christmas movie classics
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Aj Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ was supposed to be a flop"A Charlie Brown Christmas" is a beloved special, but those involved in its production worried that they'd created a dud. Classic songs were reused, rewritten and dubbed for ‘White Christmas’"White Christmas" is a movie that has a lot of behind-the-scenes lore. Paramount/Kobal/ShutterstockThe 1954 film “White Christmas” is brimming with behind-the-scenes lore, especially when it comes to the music. The animators behind 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” used about 400 different hand-sculpted heads to bring Jack Skellington to life. Michael Caine did a literal balancing act during ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’The Ghost of Christmas Present, left, and Michael Caine, right, in 1992's "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

☆ Twitter is removing less hate speech and taking longer to review it, fresh data on social media disinformation shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The EU has published its latest data on social media platforms reviewing hate speech. It sent over 3,600 notifications of hate speech to six companies, which also included Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. Facebook received the most at 1,558, while Twitter was the only other company to see more than 1,000 hate speech reports. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and the French gaming site Jeuxvideo also reviewed less hate speech reports within 24 hours this year. YouTube was the only platform to improve its removal rate of hate speech this year, going from 58.8% to 90.4%.

☆ Artemis 1: NASA's Orion spacecraft snaps a selfie on its journey beyond the far side of the moon
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Amir Vera | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The close-up photos were taken Monday as Orion made its closest approach to the moon, passing about 80 miles (129 kilometers) above the lunar surface. On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion's optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the moon below. The path is meant to “stress test” the Orion capsule, as Michael Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis mission manager, put it last week. According to NASA’s Artemis blog, the agency’s television coverage of the distant retrograde orbit insertion burn is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. After lapping the moon, the Orion capsule is expected to turn back toward Earth and make a gentle splashdown landing in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.

☆ The Twitter office responsible for complying with European misinformation laws has been shut down after Elon Musk's layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter has closed down its office in Brussels, the home of the EU, per the Financial Times. Its digital policy chiefs, who had been working to comply with new misinformation laws, left the company last week. The pair worked on Twitter's compliance with landmark Big Tech laws which came into effect in the EU last week. Vera Jourova, the EU vice-president who's in charge of the disinformation code, told the Financial Times she was concerned about the closing of the Brussels office. But now the Brussels office has closed its doors, Twitter's relationship with the EU will be tested.

☆ Inside a $2.5 million Michigan castle that harkens back to medieval Europe with its secret passageways, wooden drawbridge, and wine cellar
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The LeBlanc Castle is a custom 10,000-square-foot property about 30 minutes north of Detroit. The castle, set on more than 6 acres, has been on the market for three months asking $2.5 million. To this day, he has not spent a single night at the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion a 30-minute drive north of Detroit known to locals as The LeBlanc Castle. It harkens back to the 15th-century Scottish medieval era with its secret passageways, wooden drawbridge, and other classical features like a moat. Since taking possession of the castle, Gatecliff said he has updated several pieces of the home's infrastructure.

At first we thought he might be a lesbian and was afraid to come out, but he wouldn't tell us. He confided to his sister first and a year later he told us he was transgender", Aslan's mother Beatriz Moya says. The bill would allow people to change their gender on identification documents without the need for psychological or other medical appraisals from the age of 14. Anyone aged 14 to 16 would need the agreement of their parents or guardians to change their gender. No scientific evidence has emerged that proves that self-identification laws lead to a higher rate of people seeking medical treatment to alter their bodies.

☆ Spanish short-term rentals boom has tourist sector clamouring for rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Spanish travel industry association Exceltur said that about 300,000 homes are offered for short-term rental in the country's 20 largest cities, with some 389,779 rooms managed by hotels. Exceltur, which groups together major Spanish hotel chains, travel agents, tour operators and airlines, is lobbying for a new law to regulate short-term rental platforms such as such as Airbnb, describing the situation as "out of control". Renting to tourists is twice as profitable as offering long-term rentals to residents, the Exceltur study showed. In Spain, short-term rentals are also cheaper, on average, than hotels. These include forcing platforms to verify that individual hosts are properly registered as tourist accommodation providers, with official permission to operate.

☆ The Fed knows it needs to force a recession to curb inflation, says Kathryn Rooney Vera
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe Fed knows it needs to force a recession to curb inflation, says Kathryn Rooney VeraKathryn Rooney Vera, head of research at Bulltick Capital Markets, joins CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to discuss what she thinks the Federal Reserve needs to do to combat inflation.

☆ Spanish truckers start new strike over freight rules, cost of living
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Truck drivers, who brought Spain to a halt earlier this year, began a new strike on Monday as hundreds marched through the capital Madrid demanding changes to road freight rules and protesting at the cost of living. The month-long strike by truckers in March and April brought Spanish supply chains to a halt, caused food shortages, triggered a bout of inflation and hit quarterly economic growth. The Platform for the Defence of Transport called for another open-ended strike on Monday, seeking changes in road freight regulation to protect margins and keep truckers' costs down. [1/4] Spanish truckers and farmers march to protest over working conditions and fair prices in Madrid, Spain, November 14,2022. ($1 = 0.9668 euros)Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Charlie Devereux, William Maclean and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "Věra"

25 mentions found