DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Weird and wonderful trains that break the rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ben Jones | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

Here’s a selection of unusual railways that break the rules in order to reach the places other trains can’t roll. The single rails carrying the trains are supported by a series of 486 steel portals weighing almost 20,000 tonnes in total. It is the oldest continuously operating pier railway in the world. Six miles of the route are along a rural railway line, with the rest in bus mode. Katoomba Scenic Railway, AustraliaNot far from the wonderful city of Sydney is a railway experience unlike anything else in the world.

☆ Chile Elects Right-Wing Council to Draft New Constitution
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ryan Dubé | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Gabriel Boric preparing to cast his vote for the constitutional council over the weekend. Photo: Andres Poblete/Associated PressChilean stocks gained and the peso strengthened on Monday after voters elected a right-wing council that is expected to draft a constitution that will maintain the country’s market-based economic model. The results were a major blow to leftist President Gabriel Boric by voters scared off by an earlier left-wing constituent assembly that proposed a sweeping overhaul to Chile’s political and economic system. Mr. Boric’s popularity has also declined over his government’s handling of crime, immigration and a weak economy. Chile’s economy is expected to contract 1% this year, the only South American nation projected to post an economic decline, according to the International Monetary Fund.

"This is the right's best chance for people to pick a Pinochet constitution without Pinochet's signature," said Patricio Navia a political scientist at New York University. "The political climate in Chile isn't the same as in 2019 or 2020," said political analyst Cristobal Bellolio. An estimated 3,200 Chileans were murdered and another 28,000 tortured by the state during Pinochet's rule. Many of the victims were affiliated with the socialist government of Salvador Allende, who was deposed in a 1973 coup. "The issue is that if it's more right then Pinochet's constitution, people are going to reject it," Navia added, who added the loss for Boric left the leader who once promised to bury Chile's market-led model sorely wounded.

☆ Colombia's Gustavo Petro finds his opening in Washington
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

So what was the most solid common ground President Biden, as host, could find for his guest? Leaders from the region tend to see the climate issue as their platform in international summits. Like many countries in Latin America, Colombia has received considerable investments from Chinese companies in recent years, mostly in the transport and mining sectors. “Petro has the aspiration of leading the new phase of Latin America’s geopolitics. And Biden can also tout a considerable concession from his meeting with Petro, who had always refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine – until now.

☆ Goalkeeper scores last-second diving header in dramatic finale
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Just weeks after Leandro Requena scored what could be the longest range goal in history, Deportes Temuco goalkeeper Yerko Urra also got himself on the scoresheet. “A goalkeeper always goes [up for a corner] with the intention of helping or bothering [the opposition] so a teammate can score,” Urra told AS Chile. 🤯⚽⚪🟢 ¡TUVIMOS GOL DE ARQUERO EN EL ASCENSO BETSSON! Yerko Urra fue el héroe de Deportes Temuco en el choque ante San Marcos de Arica, al anotar de cabeza el empate 1-1 con que terminó el encuentro en los minutos finales. “Otherwise I would have stayed in goal, since if I went up then they could write me down in a counterattack,” Urra said.

☆ Chile’s plan for state control in lithium dismays business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A lithium mining machine moves a salt by-product at the mine in the Atacama Desert in Salar de Atacama, Chile on October 25, 2022. Under the plan, all companies wanting to work in Chile's lithium sector will have to take on the yet-to-be created National Lithium Company as a partner and the "state will have control," Boric said Thursday. But Chile's business sector expressed concern. Mewes said business leaders had expected there would be a "great private sector participation" in the lithium sector and now the "state will be the one that will control" the industry. She worries about what message this sends to others in the region that are trying to build up nascent industries, considering Mexico already nationalized its lithium sector.

☆ Copper Shortage Threatens Green Transition
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

In 2021, refined copper demand stood at 25.3 million tons, according to the International Copper Study Group. Mined output globally in 2022 was 21.8 million tons according to the International Copper Study Group, rising only 1 million tons over the previous three years. According to Congo’s Ministry of Mines, copper metal exports totaled 2.3 million metric tons in 2022, up from 1.8 million metric tons in 2021, less than half of Chile’s output. According to analysts it is more of a “when” not an “if” copper demand is likely to surge. Changes in technology should ease some copper demand pressures.

☆ Fact Check-Fox News did not air a story about a chicken sandwich instead of reporting on the Louisville shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An altered picture circulating online (here), (tinyurl.com/bdf8zseh), (tinyurl.com/ymkrs66w) shows a purported screenshot of a Fox News report with the following banner: “CHICKEN SANDWICH WARS. POPEYES ANNOUNCES NEW SANDWICH.”It was shared alongside claims the story was broadcast while the events in Louisville took place, accusing the channel of ignoring the shooting. A Fox News spokesperson told Reuters via email that the sandwich story did not air amidst the shooting. Multiple stories about Popeyes and chicken sandwich wars show up on Fox News’ website, but none in the past week (here). Fox News did not air a story about a chicken sandwich while ignoring the Louisville shooting.

☆ In Peru, protesters were tear-gassed after president called for truce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

LIMA, Peru — Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Peru’s capital and were met with volleys of tear gas and pellets amid clashes with security forces just hours after President Dina Boluarte called for a “truce” in almost two months of protests. “We can’t have a truce when she doesn’t tell the truth,” Blanca España Mesa, 48, said of Peru’s president. Even though her eyes were watering from the tear gas, España Mesa said she was “happy because a lot of people came today. On Tuesday, police fired round after round of tear gas as they blocked the passage of protesters, who seemed more organized than before. “Peru has managed to fly under the radar,” said Marina Navarro, executive director of Amnesty International Peru.

☆ Chile's artisanal fishermen fear die-out as trawling, climate bite
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Rodrigo Garrido | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The current fishing law, which came into effect in 2013, has faced criticism from lawmakers and fishermen who say it only benefits large fisheries. "Having a new fisheries Law means regaining the confidence of the actors in the sector and the country in the regulation," said Julio Salas, undersecretary of fisheries and aquaculture. Chile has more than 99,557 artisanal fishermen registered in official records, government data show. It could include elements to improve the sustainability of fishing stocks and give larger fishing quotas to small-scale businesses. Rodrigo Gallardo, an artisanal fisherman from the port of Valparaiso, said the practice of trawling needed to end in Chile.

☆ Fact Check-Video claiming to show a ‘reptilian’ person on television is digitally altered
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video showing Chile’s Minister of Social Development and Family, Karla Rubilar Barahona, standing next to former president of Chile Sebastian Pinera has been digitally altered. The text in one post reads: “Reptilian caught on camera or total hoax? Screenshots comparing the same moments in both the edited and original videos can be seen (ibb.co/album/rkqk7r), (ibb.co/album/0Vzr5N). Throughout the original video, Barahona’s eyes do not appear as they do in the clip being shared on social media. There is an overlap between the QAnon and reptilian conspiracy theories, with both citing the global elite controlling the world through prominent positions in government, Hollywood, and secret societies.

Search resuls for: "Chile’s"

11 mentions found