DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Crypto firms call for global consensus instead of "fire hose" of rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Apart from compliance with rules to stop money laundering and terrorist financing, crypto firms are largely unregulated in many parts of the world. "If we built a good regulatory regime, people would come. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by not having a regulatory regime in the U.S.," Peirce said. U.S. Congress needed to decide which regulatory body has authority over crypto, Peirce added. Global standards and harmonisation as much as possible are key, said Sarah Pritchard, executive director for supervision at Britain's Financial Conduct Authority.

Migrants have been amassing in Mexico this week as thousands crossing into the U.S. have strained border cities. The Title 42 restrictions allow U.S. authorities to rapidly expel many non-Mexican migrants to Mexico without the chance to seek U.S. asylum. Biden's new regulation restricting asylum access at the border resembles similar measures implemented under Trump that were blocked by U.S. courts. Some Democrats and immigration advocates have said the regulation undercuts the ability to seek asylum at U.S. borders as required by U.S. law and international agreements. The officials also said they expected Mexico to step up immigration enforcement this week, including in southern Mexico.

The scenes come as Title 42 is set to expire just before midnight on Thursday. But Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council representing U.S. border agents, confirmed that agents distributed the handouts. Judd said border officials were working to process as many migrants as possible before Title 42 ends. The flyer also said migrants must report to border authorities before accessing El Paso shelters, an assertion advocates said was not true. But hours later, after seeing other migrants return with U.S. paperwork, he lined up at a border patrol station.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSell-off hits bitcoin as Binance paused withdrawals amid heavy volumes: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Benedikt Schuppli, the co-founder and co-CEO of blockchain company Obligate, discusses MiCA and the implications for the United States.

WHAT IS TITLE 42? The COVID restrictions, known as Title 42, were first implemented under Republican then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. The Biden administration intends to lift Title 42 next Thursday when the U.S. COVID public health emergency ends. In April, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended some 183,000 migrants, according to preliminary data provided by Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a 13 percent increase from March. U.S. border cities are bracing for a possible rise in migrants when Title 42 ends.

None of the agencies disputed the allegation, and each paid penalties of $5,050, the maximum state levy for a child labor violation. The U.S. and Alabama investigations began after a Reuters report last July first exposed the use of child labor at Hyundai parts makers in the state. The U.S. Department of Labor said in February the number of child labor violations in 2022 had soared by nearly 70% compared with the tally recorded in 2018. They said false documentation, even shoddy credentials like those filed by the boy's employers, makes child labor laws difficult to enforce. An Alabama labor department spokesperson told Reuters the agency is still working to determine who exactly hired the child to work at Hyundai Glovis.

☆ How Russia could spot Ukrainian F-16s before they even got off the ground, according to an air-warfare expert
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Those calls center on the US-made F-16, which proponents say will boost Ukraine's air force. But Russia would notice if Ukraine began modifying its airbases to support F-16s, one expert says. Despite being numerically and technologically outmatched by Russian aircraft and air-to-air missiles, Ukraine's air force has proven remarkably resilient and resourceful. But so far, Russia has chosen to not to use its limited stockpile of long-range missiles against Ukrainian airbases because Ukrainian airpower "doesn't pose a massive threat," Bronk said. US Air National Guard crews replace a part on an F-16 at Ukraine's Mirgorod Air Base in July 2011.

☆ EU lawmakers approve world's first comprehensive framework for crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) is the first attempt at creating comprehensive regulation for digital assets in the EU. Lawmakers in the European Parliament have approved the world's first comprehensive package of rules aimed at regulating the cryptocurrency industry. In a vote Thursday, the EU Parliament voted 517 in favor and 38 against to pass the Markets in Crypto Act, or MiCA. The legislation, which seeks to reduce risks for consumers buying crypto assets, will mean providers can become liable if they lose investors' crypto-assets. The rules will impose a number of requirements on crypto platforms, token issuers and traders around transparency, disclosure, authorization, and supervision of transactions, the EU Parliament said in a statement Thursday.

☆ EU urges others to copy its rules for cryptoassets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - The rest of the world should copy European Union rules for cryptoassets to create a robust global approach that protects consumers and financial stability, the EU's financial services chief said on Wednesday. The crypto sector has been rocked by the failure of crypto exchange FTX and other collapses, sending benchmark bitcoin prices tumbling, though it has begun to recover. "I hope that our rules could become a model for other countries," EU financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness told the parliament. Crypto firms authorised in one EU state would be allowed to offer their services across all 27. McGuinness said the commission will study whether further rules are needed for decentralised finance, and for lending and borrowing in cryptoassets.

☆ Fact Check-Video of crowd running from gunshots dates to 2022, not linked to April 2023 Dadeville, Alabama shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A video clip of a panicked crowd after a shooting incident on New Year’s Eve in Mobile, Alabama in 2022 has been circulated online with the claim that it shows the scene of gun violence in Dadeville, Alabama in April 2023. Several users have linked the video to the incident in Dadeville and shared it miscaptioned on Facebook (here) and Twitter (here) archived (here). The video, however, predates the April 16, 2023 incident (here) that took place at a birthday celebration in a dance studio in Dadeville, claiming four lives and leaving at least 28 wounded. The circulating miscaptioned footage is from a Dec. 31, 2022 incident and was originally posted on TikTok (here) by Mica Neal, a witness to the chaos following a New Year’s eve shooting in Mobile, Alabama, according to a local NBC news affiliate report (here). The video was filmed in a different Alabama city during a New Year’s Eve 2022 shooting incident and is unrelated to the April 2023 Dadeville, Alabama shooting.

☆ EU's new crypto asset rules don't go far enough - ECB's McCaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, April 5 (Reuters) - The European Union's proposed regulations for crypto assets do not go far enough, and safeguards need to be strengthened to capture risks adequately, European Central Bank supervisory board member Elizabeth McCaul said on Wednesday. The European Parliament is set to vote on the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) bill later this month, taking a big step in providing oversight of the crypto world after a series of scandals and collapses. "While the new Basel standard and MiCA are important milestones, I am afraid they will not be sufficient on their own," McCaul said in a blog post. Another issues is how the size of crypto-asset service providers is measured because the now-collapsed crypto exchange FTX would not have counted as significant given how the firm was organised. The same goes for conflicts of interest, which must be identified across the group and at affiliated entities, McCaul said.

The bill, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, follows a similar Democrat-led effort proposed this month in the Senate. The Department of Labor has also taken steps to increase enforcement of child labor violations and called on Congress to boost penalties. The Labor Department has seen a nearly 70% increase in child labor violations since 2018, including in hazardous occupations, with 835 companies found to have violated child labor laws in the last fiscal year. Under current federal law, the maximum civil monetary penalty for a child labor violation is $15,138 per child. In February, 33 Democratic lawmakers led by Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee signed a letter to the Labor Secretary urging immediate action to rid Hyundai's supply chain of child labor.

☆ 'Can't get their act together': Crypto firms slam SEC, Washington for lack of clarity on rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Joe Lubin, CEO of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum, told CNBC Thursday that he thought the ecosystem was "generally frustrated." And it's a little bit, you know, sort of a frustrating thing to observe," Nicolas Cary, president of Blockchain.com, told CNBC on Thursday. "I find the talking point that there's a lack of clarity in the securities laws unpersuasive," Gensler said. "Some crypto companies might message that the laws are unclear rather than admitting that their platforms don't have sufficient investor protection." watch nowHe laid out instances where crypto firms come under existing securities laws, such as when a company offers lending products.

☆ Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank show the risks of banks concentrating in one area
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Crypto-focused Silvergate , which announced its plans to liquidate this week, is suffering from woes similar to that of failed Silicon Valley Bank . That is, Silvergate's distress is linked to rising interest rates – rather than the whims of digital assets. There is also an impact from the rising interest rate environment banks now find themselves in. "As the bank of choice for crypto, Silvergate Bank's failure is disappointing, but predictable," she tweeted Wednesday afternoon . Now, customers must be made whole [and] regulators should step up against crypto risk."

☆ Bitcoin, ether fall after go-to crypto bank Silvergate announces liquidation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The slight move lower began late Wednesday, a few hours after Silvergate Capital announced it will wind down operations and liquidate its crypto-friendly bank. Crypto prices fell on Thursday after Silvergate, a bank that has been at the center of the industry's growth, made a decision to shut down. "This likely consolidates crypto exposure to a handful of smaller banks, which means more liquidity risk and more concentration risk. "We've also noticed a drop in liquidity on both USD crypto pairs and U.S. exchanges as liquidity providers are taking a wait-and-see approach. In the short term, lower liquidity will lead to more volatility in markets and bigger price moves up or down."

☆ Op-ed: Offshoring crypto hurts the financial system and America’s geopolitical standing, says Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Brian Armstrong | Coinbase Ceo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The traditional financial system has served us well for centuries, but it's beginning to show its age. While you might be able to bank online, the way in which the traditional financial system operates behind the scenes has largely gone unchanged for at least 40 years. Nearly seven in 10 Americans believe that the financial system needs major changes or a complete overhaul, according to the most recent research from Morning Consult. It's not a replacement of the traditional financial system, it's an update. While the consumer benefits that crypto could bring to the financial system are myriad, it's also important to recognize the geopolitical benefits.

U.S. officials said the Labor Department had seen a nearly 70% increase in child labor violations since 2018, including in hazardous occupations. In the last fiscal year, 835 companies were found to have violated child labor laws. It has created an interagency task force on child labor, and plans to target industries where violations are most likely to occur for investigations. The Hearthside investigation is the latest in an uptick of similar probes. Reuters last year published a series of stories on child labor including revelations about the use of child labor among suppliers to Hyundai, including a direct subsidiary of the Korean auto giant, in the U.S. state of Alabama.

U.S. officials said the Labor Department had seen a nearly 70% increase in child labor violations since 2018, including in hazardous occupations. In the last fiscal year, 835 companies were found to have violated child labor laws. It has created an interagency task force on child labor, and plans to target industries where violations are most likely to occur for investigations. The Hearthside investigation is the latest in a rise in similar probes. Reuters last year published a series of stories on child labor including revelations about the use of child labor among suppliers to Hyundai, including a direct subsidiary of the Korean auto giant, in the U.S. state of Alabama.

One of the plants where children worked, SMART Alabama LLC in rural Luverne, Alabama, is a direct Hyundai subsidiary. STATE AND FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONSFollowing Reuters' first story on child labor at SMART last July, as many as 10 Hyundai suppliers in Alabama have been under investigation by state or federal authorities for child labor violations, Reuters reported in December. In the shareholder letter, Chang reiterated that Hyundai was "discouraging" suppliers from relying on such staffing agencies in the future. He wrote that staffing firms who hired children to work at Hyundai supplier plants had provided false employee documentation. Earlier this month, thirty-three members of Congress urged DOL to seek strong and swift penalties against those responsible for child labor in the Hyundai supply chain.

☆ Biden to roll out new asylum restrictions at U.S.-Mexico border -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Migrants queue near the border fence, after crossing the Rio Bravo river, to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Luis GonzalezWASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Biden administration could bar tens of thousands of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border from claiming asylum if they passed through another country en route to the United States without seeking protection, according to a proposed regulation rolling out on Tuesday, five sources told Reuters. The proposed restrictions, which seek to deter people from crossing the border without authorization, will be subject to a 30-day public comment period and then reviewed before final publication, two of the sources said. While Biden initially pledged to restore asylum access that was curtailed under Republican former President Donald Trump, he has increasingly embraced Trump-style restrictions. Biden's plan to ban certain asylum seekers mirrors similar efforts under Trump that were blocked by federal courts.

☆ Reuters wins George Polk Award for uncovering child labor in Hyundai supply chain
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Cheney OrrNew York, Feb 20 (Reuters) - A team of Reuters reporters on Monday won a George Polk Award for reports that revealed the widespread use of child labor among suppliers to Hyundai Motor Co in the U.S. state of Alabama. The Polk jury, awarding the prize in its "state reporting" category, said Reuters "sparked increased scrutiny from federal and state agencies and led Hyundai to demand more accountability from its suppliers." Also in February, Hyundai itself said it was in discussions with the Labor Department to resolve concerns about the child labor. After discovering that staffing agencies hired child workers for employment in Alabama poultry plants, they learned that migrant minors were also building parts for Hyundai and Kia (000270.KS). Both companies have said they don't tolerate child labor and are taking measures to ensure underage workers don't find their way back into their supply chains.

In a letter addressed to Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, the group of Democratic lawmakers, led by Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee, pressed the department "to take immediate action to rid Hyundai's supply chain of child labor." The news agency reported that state and federal authorities were investigating as many as ten suppliers for potential child labor violations there. In their letter to Walsh, the lawmakers commended the Labor Department for its enforcement actions in the matter so far. After Reuters' first story about child labor at SMART last July, the department and Alabama state authorities launched a probe into the supplier. The lawmakers said they want the Labor Department to take further action because "additional automotive parts suppliers for Hyundai, mainly in Alabama, are also suspected of child labor violations."

☆ U.S. officials prepping legislation to revamp asylum system
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"It's a total rethink of the approach and is not constrained by current laws," one of the DHS officials said. Blas Nunez-Neto, a top DHS policy official, is one of the people leading the legislative effort, according to one of the DHS officials and another person familiar with the matter. The new Biden asylum bill could also potentially incorporate a requirement that migrants seek asylum in countries they pass through if protections are available elsewhere, the third person familiar with the effort said. The Biden administration has said it wants to end Title 42 and replace it with a more established rapid deportation process known as "expedited removal." U.S. officials since last year have pressed Mexico to accept non-Mexicans via expedited removal once Title 42 terminates, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

"We share Congresswoman Sewell's view that the use of child labor is unacceptable," Hyundai said. Sewell's comments are the first from a high-ranking Alabama official on child labor problems in Hyundai's supply chain. The new actions by Hyundai and its discussions with regulators and lawmakers come after Reuters documented child labor in various Alabama auto plants making parts for Hyundai or Kia. The child labor reports have put a spotlight on Hyundai's growing operations in the United States. Regulatory fines for child labor, by contrast, can be relatively small.

☆ U.S. VP Harris highlights $4.2 bln private sector investment in Central America
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Private companies have committed to invest $4.2 billion in northern Central America as part of an effort by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to reduce migration by targeting economic development, the White House said on Monday. In her remarks on Monday, Harris said migrants come to the United States to flee harm or because they cannot meet basic economic needs. Before a meeting with U.S. officials and private sector representatives, Harris announced a new phase of the effort called Central America Forward, which will focus on broader economic development, corruption and labor rights. Arrivals from northern Central America have steadily declined following a sharp rise in 2021 after Biden took office. Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mica Rosenberg, Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "Mică"

25 mentions found