DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Taylor Swift makes Grammy history with fourth album of the year win for ‘Midnights’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Taylor Swift won the album of the year Grammy on Sunday for her 2022 album “Midnights,” becoming the artist with the most wins in the coveted category with four. Prior to her win of the coveted award, Swift was tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, who along with her all previously won album of the year three times. She also thanked singer Lana Del Rey, who collaborated with Swift on “Snow on the Beach” off the album. Swift’s six Grammy nominations this year included album of the year, song of the year, record of the year, pop solo performance, pop duo/group performance and pop vocal album. Earlier in the night, she won best pop vocal album for “Midnights” as well.

Persons: CNN — Taylor Swift, ”, Swift, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Celine Dion, “, ” Swift, Jack Antonoff, Lana Del Rey, Del, Barbra Streisand, “ Midnights ”, Swift’s, Midnights ” Organizations: CNN, “, Department Locations: Del Rey

☆ Celine Dion, Coping with Neurological Disorder, Presents the Final Grammy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Julia Jacobs | More About Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Celine Dion, the Canadian pop superstar who announced in 2022 that she has a rare neurological disease that makes it difficult for her to sing, appeared at the Grammy Awards to present the final award of the night, album of the year. Walking out to “The Power of Love,” Dion looked moved by the standing ovation, saying, “When I say that I’m happy to be here I really mean it from my heart.”“Those who have been blessed enough to be here,” she went on, “must never take for granted the tremendous love and joy that music brings to our lives and to people all around the world.”Dion, 55, first announced over a year ago that she has a condition called stiff person syndrome, which causes progressive stiffness in the body and severe muscle spasms, leading her to cancel a scheduled world tour. A five-time Grammy winner — including album of the year in 1997 — Dion has maintained a legion of fans around the world, and before the diagnosis, she was an active performer, delivering soaring hits such as “Because You Loved Me” and “My Heart Will Go On” alongside her newer music.

Persons: Celine Dion, ” Dion, “, ” “, ”, — Dion Locations: Canadian

☆ Celine Dion says new doc will ‘document’ her life with stiff person syndrome and her road back to performing
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —While Celine Dion’s performing career remains on hold as she lives with stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, she is chronicling her journey in a new documentary titled “I Am: Celine Dion” and remains optimistic that she’ll one day be able to take the stage again. “This last couple of years has been such a challenge for me, the journey from discovering my condition to learning how to live with and manage it, but not to let it define me,” she wrote on her Instagram page on Tuesday. “She’s doing everything to recover,” Dion’s older sister Claudette told Hello! Canada in September. “She’s a strong woman.”According to an official synopsis, “I Am: Celine Dion” will give viewers an intimate look inside her life “as she reveals her battle with Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS) and the lengths she has gone to continue performing for her beloved and loyal fans.”Capturing over a year’s worth of Dion’s life, including “never-before-seen” private moments, the doc will showcase the legendary singer navigating “her journey toward living an open and authentic life amidst illness.”“I Am: Celine Dion” will be directed by Oscar-winning director Irene Taylor and will stream on Prime Video, according to the news release.

Persons: Celine Dion’s, Celine Dion ”, ”, ” Dion, Priyanka Chopra, Dion, “, Claudette, Oscar, Irene Taylor Organizations: CNN, “, National Institute of Neurological Disorders Locations: Canada

☆ Real Madrid secures controversial 3-2 comeback victory that left opponent Almería feeling ‘robbed’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Then, Hernández Maeso ruled out what appeared to be a legitimate Almería goal after Bellingham went down clutching his face in agony in another VAR intervention. All three of the major VAR incidents left Almería – rock bottom of La Liga and without a win all season – feeling aggrieved at the full-time result. Isabel Infantes/Reuters“We leave with the feeling that the match was robbed today, it’s that clear,” midfielder Gonzalo Melero told reporters after the match. “The penalty, the goal with [Vinícius’] hand that makes a motion, the disallowed goal for a duel. The title race continues next weekend when Real Madrid travels to Las Palmas and Girona faces Celta Vigo.

Persons: Largie, Edgar González’s, Francisco Hernández Maeso, Kaiky Fernandes Melo, Jude Bellingham, halve, Hernández Maeso, Bellingham, Dion Lopy, Vinícius Jr, ’, Dani Carvajal, Largie Ramazani, Isabel Infantes, Gonzalo Melero, “, Carlo Ancelotti, ”, Almería, ” Vinicius, Pierre, Philippe Marcou Organizations: CNN, Real, La Liga, Reuters, ” Real Madrid, Girona, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Celta Vigo Locations: Vinícius, AFP, Las Palmas

☆ U.S. Searches for Missing Navy SEALs, Launches Fresh Strikes on Houthis
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Dion Nissenbaum | Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An undated photograph shows what the U.S. military described as a vessel carrying Iranian-made missile components bound for Yemen. Photo: U.S. Central Command/Associated PressThe U.S. military was searching for two Navy SEALs lost at sea during an operation that seized Iranian-made missile parts bound for Houthi rebels in Yemen, as the U.S. launched another series of strikes against the group. The waters off the Yemen coastline have become a zone of increasing geopolitical turbulence since the repercussions of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel spread into the wider region, drawing in Washington and Iran-backed groups such as the Houthis.

Organizations: ., . Central Command, Associated Press, Navy Locations: Yemen, U.S, Israel, Washington, Iran

☆ Inside a Plan to Save Homeowners Hundreds of Dollars Closing Their Mortgages
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Andrew Ackerman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

November’s existing home sales increased for the first time in six months and prices rose for the fifth straight month. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin digs into the details of the November sales report. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—A government-controlled mortgage giant has a plan that could help more Americans save around $1,000 on closing a mortgage, the latest attempt to chip away at high costs that officials say discourage home buying. Fannie Mae last month said it would expand the types of mortgages it will purchase that rely on a cheaper alternative to title insurance, which is one of the biggest fixed costs tied to closing a mortgage.

Persons: WSJ’s Dion Rabouin, Joe Raedle, Fannie Mae Organizations: Getty, WASHINGTON

☆ U.S. Searches for Missing Navy SEALs as Attacks Reverberate in Red Sea
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Dion Nissenbaum | Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This undated photograph shows what the U.S. military described as a vessel carrying Iranian-made missile components bound for Yemen that two Navy SEALs tried to board last week. Photo: U.S. Central Command/Associated PressThe U.S. military is searching for two Navy SEALs lost at sea during an operation to intercept suspected Iranian military supplies bound for Houthi rebels in Yemen, as shipping in the nearby Red Sea came under renewed attack Tuesday. The waters off the Yemen coastline have become a zone of increasing geopolitical turbulence since the repercussions of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel spread into the wider region, drawing in Washington and Iran-backed groups such as the Houthis.

Organizations: ., Navy, . Central Command, Associated Press Locations: Yemen, Israel, Washington, Iran

☆ Divisions in Israel’s War Cabinet Emerge as Gaza Conflict Enters Pivotal Stage
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Rory Jones | Dion Nissenbaum | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rifts among Israel’s war cabinet are spilling into public view, threatening to undermine the country’s military strategy in Gaza at a crucial stage in the conflict. The small collection of wartime decision makers—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former head of the Israeli military, Benny Gantz —is diverging publicly on the two biggest dilemmas they face: whether Israel should negotiate to end the conflict and free the hostages, and who should govern the bombed-out strip once the war is over.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Benny Gantz — Organizations: — Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ A suspected Bay Area Christmas tree thief was filmed casually pinching a new tree from a couple's SUV and loading it onto their own car
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Bay Area couple who tied their Christmas tree to the roof of their car had it stolen on Friday. Security footage shows a person casually cutting the ropes and loading the tree into their own car. The couple was eventually given another Christmas tree by a local business, KGO-TV reported. The San Mateo Police Department told KGO-TV that the Christmas tree case was "unique" and that the theft suspect hadn't been identified yet. AdvertisementPolice added that a local Christmas tree lot gave Jesus and his wife a new tree.

Persons: —, Jesus, Dion Lim, Scrooge isn't, Lim, hadn't Organizations: Area, KGO, Service, ABC, NBC, NBC Bay Area, San Mateo Police Department, Police Locations: San Mateo, NBC Bay

☆ Opinion: How Taylor Swift conquered capitalism
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-02 | by ( Opinion Jeff Yang | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —There’s a whole cottage industry in pop culture essay writing dedicated to trying to unpack why Taylor Swift is so successful. Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs onstage during Taylor Swift The 1989 World Tour Live In Los Angeles at Staples Center on August 25, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. Taylor Swift performs onstage during night one of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour at Nissan Stadium on May 05, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. Already a billionaire, Swift stands to personally make as much as $4.1 billion from the “Eras” tour, according to estimates cited by the Post. Keep an eye out: “The Tao of Tay: The Swift Path to Success,” coming soon to better airport bookstores everywhere.

Persons: Jeff Yang, Bruce, “, CNN —, Taylor Swift, Jeff Yang CNN, Kim Kardashian, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, aplomb, Swift, Ariana Grande, Tay, bestie, she’s, Celine Dion, She’s, Christopher Polk, Scooter Braun, ” It’s, Joan of Arc, John Shearer, “ Taylor Swift, Swift’s, Merrill Lynch, ” Organizations: CNN, Singer, Los, Staples Center, Republic Records, Universal Music Group, Universal, Washington Post, Nissan, Machine Records Locations: Asian America, America, Los Angeles, Los Angeles , California, Nashville , Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Nashville, Tay

☆ Inflation’s Cooldown Gives the Fed Leeway
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Justin Lahart | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The personal-consumption expenditures price index is one of the Fed’s most closely watched gauges of inflation. Markets are betting the new data puts the Fed on pace to cut rates in 2024. That was its slimmest year-over-year gain since March 2021. Core prices, which exclude food and energy items in an effort to better track inflation’s underlying trend, rose 0.2% from September. That put them 3.5% above their year-earlier level for the smallest gain since April 2021.

Persons: Dion Rabouin, Rucosky Sit Organizations: The Commerce Department

☆ Israel Plans to Kill Hamas Leaders Around the World After War
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Dion Nissenbaum | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TEL AVIV—Israel’s intelligence services are preparing to kill Hamas leaders around the world when the nation’s war in the Gaza Strip winds down, setting the stage for a yearslong campaign to hunt down militants responsible for the Oct. 7 massacres, Israeli officials said. With orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , Israel’s top spy agencies are working on plans to hunt down Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar, the small Gulf nation that has allowed the group to run a political office in Doha for a decade, the officials said.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Locations: TEL AVIV, Gaza, Lebanon, Turkey, Qatar, Doha

☆ Consumers Pulled Back on Spending, Inflation Eased in October
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Gwynn Guilford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Markets are betting new data from the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index, one of the most closely-watched gauges of inflation, will put the Fed on pace to cut rates in 2024. Illustration: John RucoskyAmericans slowed their spending in October and inflation continued cooling as the economy downshifted into fall after a fast-paced summer. Consumer spending rose 0.2% in October, down sharply from a 0.7% rise in September, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The October reading marked the slowest increase since May. The combination of ebbing income growth, high interest rates and prices, dwindling pandemic savings and the resumption of student-loan payments is eroding Americans’ ability to keep boosting their spending as briskly as they did through the summer, economists say.

Persons: Dion Rabouin, John Rucosky Organizations: Commerce Department

☆ China’s Economy Faces a Sour End to the Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Jason Douglas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

China’s slowing economy could soon become a major talking point for U.S. companies as they begin to report third-quarter earnings. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains. Illustration: Elizabeth Smelov<br>SINGAPORE—A brief rebound in China’s struggling economy showed worrying new signs of flickering out, heaping pressure on Beijing to take bolder steps to rev up growth. Factory activity slid deeper into contraction in November as domestic and foreign orders dried up, while, in an ominous sign for consumer spending, activity in the services sector shrank for the first time this year, according to business surveys released Thursday. Only construction registered any expansion compared with the previous month as government spending on infrastructure increased.

Persons: WSJ’s Dion Rabouin, Elizabeth Smelov Organizations: SINGAPORE Locations: Beijing

☆ Israel Considers How to Remove Threat of Hamas Fighters in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Dion Nissenbaum | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TEL AVIV—As Israeli forces prepare for a renewed offensive targeting Hamas’s top leaders in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military and political leaders are confronting the challenge of what to do about the thousands of fighters that represent the group’s power base. To address that challenge, some Israeli and U.S. officials are discussing the idea of expelling thousands of lower-level militants from the Palestinian enclave as a way to shorten the war. The idea is reminiscent of the U.S.-brokered deal that allowed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and thousands of fighters to flee Beirut during Israel’s 1982 siege of the Lebanese capital.

Persons: Yasser Arafat Organizations: TEL AVIV — Locations: TEL AVIV, Gaza, U.S, Beirut, Israel’s

☆ The Weakest U.S. Housing Report in 13 Years: Existing Home Sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Weakest U.S. Housing Report in 13 Years: Existing Home SalesOctober's existing home sales report details the current state of the all-important U.S. housing market and how Americans reacted to mortgage rates that have declined, but still remain much higher than they have been in more than a decade. WSJ's Dion Rabouin breaks it down.

Persons: WSJ's Dion Rabouin Organizations: Weakest, Housing

☆ The Price Is Wrong for Housing
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Justin Lahart | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

October’s existing home sales report details the current state of the all-important U.S. housing market and how Americans reacted to mortgage rates that have declined, but still remain much higher than they have been in more than a decade. Photo:Lower rates would make U.S. houses more affordable, just not affordable enough. The pandemic set off a flurry of demand for housing. Americans’ newfound desire for space, the padding of U.S. household finances from government relief checks, and sub-3% mortgage rates were a potent mix that sent home prices skyward. Now the buying frenzy has passed and, with mortgage rates at their highest levels in over 20 years, not many homes are getting sold at all.

Persons: WSJ’s Dion Rabouin

LEHAVOT HABASHAN, Israel—In the days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, Orna Rayn searched frantically for someone to build a wooden barricade to secure the door of a safe room in her house about 6 miles from the Lebanon border. Rayn’s sister, Einat Rothem-Nechushtan, moved into the safe room on Oct. 10, even before the Israeli government ordered the evacuation of her own small farming community in northern Israel because of fears of all-out war with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed army in Lebanon.

Persons: LEHAVOT HABASHAN, Israel —, Orna Rayn, Einat Locations: Israel, Lebanon, Iran

☆ Why the Dollar's Comeback Could Be Bad News for the Stock Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Why the Dollar's Comeback Could Be Bad News for the Stock MarketAfter weakening earlier this year, the U.S. dollar is pushing higher and could be headed back toward the 20-year high it touched in 2022. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains why this could be bad news for investors. Photo illustration: Noah Friedman

Persons: WSJ’s Dion Rabouin, Noah Friedman Organizations: Stock, U.S .

☆ Argentina’s New President Wants to Adopt the U.S. Dollar as the National Currency
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Ryan Dubé | Santiago Pérez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

After weakening earlier this year, the U.S. dollar is pushing higher and could be headed back toward the 20-year high it touched in 2022. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains why this could be bad news for investors. Photo illustration: Noah FriedmanBUENOS AIRES—The self-styled anarcho-capitalist who won Argentina’s presidency on Sunday plans to ditch his nation’s peso and adopt the U.S. dollar as the national currency. President-elect Javier Milei ’s top campaign proposal was aimed at eradicating rampant inflation that has for decades ravaged Latin America’s third-biggest economy by removing the battered national currency from circulation and stripping the central bank of its power to print money. Uncontrolled money-printing to cover public expenditures, economists say, has fueled 143% inflation, one of the world’s highest.

Persons: WSJ’s Dion Rabouin, Noah Friedman BUENOS, Argentina’s, Javier Milei ’ Organizations: U.S ., Noah Friedman BUENOS AIRES, U.S

☆ What’s the Best Gift You Ever Received? Here’s 6 Replies.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Kathleen Beckett | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Best gift ever On his departure from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, staff members, friends and board members presented him with a textile sculpture by the French artist Simone Pheulpin, who was the subject of an exhibition there in late 2021. “This sculpture is, for me, a talisman,” Mr. Gabet wrote, “both a remembrance of nine years of my professional and personal life, a wonderful and powerful art work, but also the objet d’art which will accompany me for the forthcoming years of my life.”Image The textile sculpture by the French artist Simone Pheulpin that was given to Olivier Gabet. Best gift ever “When I was in elementary school, after moving to Paris from Niger, I was gifted with Amadou Hampâté Bâ’s memoir, ‘Amkoullel, L’Enfant Peul,’ by my father. Like the author, I have Peul (or Fulani) heritage and roots in the Sahel region of West Africa. I felt a deep pull while reading, like a multitude of secrets I had yet to unfold.”

Persons: Simone Pheulpin, Mr, Gabet, “, Olivier Gabet, ‘ Les, Anne Dion, ” Tatiana Kombo Ms, Kombo, Amadou Hampâté Bâ’s, ‘, L’Enfant Organizations: Arts Locations: French, Paris, ’, Niger, Sahel, West Africa

TEL AVIV—With fears rising about the safety of hostages held in Gaza, the White House sent its top Middle East adviser to the region on Wednesday to push for the captives’ release. Brett McGurk , National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, met with Israeli leaders at the start of a regional visit that is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to prevent the conflict in Gaza from spiraling into a broader regional war. McGurk, who is also a deputy assistant to Biden, will next meet with Palestinian, Jordanian and Persian Gulf officials.

Persons: Brett McGurk, Biden, McGurk Organizations: White House, National Security Locations: TEL AVIV, Gaza, East, North Africa, Persian

☆ As Rent Rises Cool, So Will Inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Justin Lahart | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Will the strong U.S. economic data we’ve seen push the Fed to change policy this year? What comes next depends on how the Fed will interpret the data. Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg NewsInflation has been cooling, and a big part of why is that rent increases have as well. That is also why inflation is likely to keep going lower in the months ahead. Tuesday’s inflation report from the Labor Department showed that overall consumer prices were up 3.2% from a year earlier in October, while core prices, which exclude food and energy prices in an effort to better track inflation’s underlying trend, were up 4%.

Persons: WSJ’s Dion Rabouin, Sarah Silbiger Organizations: Bloomberg, Labor Department

☆ In Paris, Notre-Dame’s Treasures Are on Display
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Tina Isaac-Goizé | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

While Notre-Dame’s sacristy — a separate space, off the choir, which held the cathedral's treasury — was not touched by the blaze that tore through the building on April 15, 2019, the destruction of the site and its security system meant that all the cathedral’s treasures had to be removed immediately, said Anne Dion-Tenenbaum, a co-curator of the exhibition. Most pieces are now being stored in the Louvre’s Department of Decorative Arts, where she is the deputy director. “It gave us an opportunity to really study these objects, whose spiritual dimension makes them very striking,” Ms. Dion-Tenenbaum said in an interview. Over time, she and her fellow curators uncovered a few surprises in the treasury, which led them to look in other repositories around Paris and the rest of the country to unravel the mysteries of what was in the treasury, what wasn’t and what it all meant. And a richly colored prayer book illustration, from around the 15th century, depicted the moment in the early 12th century when what was said to be a fragment of Jesus’s cross arrived at Notre-Dame.

Persons: —, Anne Dion, “, ” Ms, Dion, Tenenbaum, Ermentrude Organizations: Notre, Louvre’s Department, Decorative Arts, Dame Locations: Louvre’s, Paris, Gaul

☆ Insider Today: Financial freedom's reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . In today's big story, I'm exploring something equally mysterious to me: How people who have achieved financial freedom got there, and what their lifestyles are like. The big storyThe work behind financial freedomTyler Le/InsiderPassive income. The concept of financial freedom sounds like a dream come true. The Insider Today Saturday team: Diamond Naga Siu, senior reporter, in San Diego.

Persons: —, Tyler Le, Dion McNeeley, Brian Luebben, they've, Arantza Pena Popo, Heather Johnson, Brandon Timothy, Heather, Brandon, he's, Austria Cassandra De Pecol, who's, Zers, Gen Zers, I'm, Nolan Church, Nicole J, Van, Bean, Dunkin, Krispy, Eduardo Munoz, Samantha Lee, Chelsea Davis Spatchcocking, Naga Siu, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, YouTube, Airbus, Orlando International, Google, Doordash, Riverton, REUTERS Locations: Austria, Pakistan, Tunisia, Riverton , Wyoming, Texas, Van Groningen, San Diego, New York City, London

Search resuls for: "Dion"

25 mentions found