DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Ukrainian refugees: how will the economy recover with a diminished population?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

In previous refugee crises, for example in Syria, refugees' desire to return home has faded with time, UNHCR studies show. Conscription-aged men are restricted from leaving Ukraine, so working-aged women, and children, make up the majority of refugees. Ukraine's population problem goes beyond millions of refugees. A census in 2001 - the country's only so far - recorded a population of 48.5 million. Demographer Libanova estimated the population at between 28 million and 34 million at the start of 2023 in parts of the country controlled by Kyiv.

Persons: Korzh, Volodymyr Kostiuk, Kostiuk, It's, Dmytro Tsygankov, Ella Libanova, Libanova, Ksenia Karpenko, Karpenko, Corina Rodriguez, Catarina Demony, Mike Collett, White, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: United Nations, UNHCR, Kyiv, for Economic Research, Political, for Economic, MEN, National Academy of Science, European Commission's, Research, The, Economic Strategy, Reuters, Thomson Locations: KYIV, Europe, Kyiv, Portugal, Ukraine, Lagoa, Syria, Ukrainian, Moscow, Russia, Crimea, Belarus, Russian, Tarragona, Spain, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon

☆ There's an enormous gravity hole in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Scientists say they've finally worked out what's causing it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's a gravity hole in the Indian Ocean, where ocean levels are about 300 feet lower than surrounding areas. The gravity hole may have been caused by an ancient ocean bed that sank millions of years ago. But a new study suggests researchers should have been looking around, not under, the gravity hole to solve the mystery of how it formed. The blue dot over the Indian Ocean is a gravity 'hole' that has scientists baffled. But scientists have struggled to explain the gravity hole in the Indian Ocean, known as the Indian Ocean geoid low.

Persons: Attreyee Ghosh, Debanjan Pal, Steinberger, Himangshu Paul Organizations: Service, ESA, Research, of Geosciences, NASA, Goddard Space, Indian Institute of Science, National Geophysical Research Institute, New Locations: Bangalore, Africa, Australia, India, Eastern Africa

☆ Spanish researchers aim to 'trick nature' with artificial womb
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Horaci Garcia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BARCELONA, June 29 (Reuters) - Researchers in Barcelona are trying to "trick nature" by creating an artificial womb for extremely premature babies after tests on animals kept foetuses alive for 12 days. Their artificial placenta prototype recreates a protective environment with a translucent container made of biocompatible material inside which the foetus' lungs, intestines and brain can continue to develop. Babies born after six months of pregnancy or less are considered extremely premature with a high risk of death or disability. It's a challenge, it's extremely delicate to achieve this, to trick nature to make this possible," Gratacos said. "Although it is an exciting development, the artificial placenta is not intended to replace a natural placenta," Werner said.

Persons: Eduard Gratacos, Gratacos, Kelly Werner, Werner, Horaci Garcia, Emma Pinedo, David Latona, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: Reuters, Fundacion La Caixa, Caixabank, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Columbia University, Science Media Centre, Thomson Locations: BARCELONA, Barcelona, Spanish

☆ HRT use by younger women linked to dementia, study says. Experts disagree
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

However, experts who treat and study menopause say the study is unable to draw a direct connection to later-life dementia and that the overall benefits of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, far outweigh the risks for many patients. “One finding in the study was a link between dementia and the use of HRT for a very short time span, under a year. Researchers compared people with dementia who had used hormone therapy, even briefly, with those from the larger group who had not. The chance of being diagnosed with dementia went up with years spent on HRT, the study found. When women used 12 or more years of hormone therapy, the association with a diagnosis of dementia rose to 74%, Pourhadi said.

Persons: ”, Nelsan, Pauline Maki, David Curtis, Kejal, Kantarci, Andrea Lenzi, University of Rome La Sapienza, ” Pourhadi, Pourhadi, Maki, ” Maki, Susan Davis, Amanda Heslegrave, ” Heslegrave Organizations: CNN, Danish Dementia Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, University of Illinois, UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, Mayo Clinic, University of Rome La, University of Illinois’s Center for Research, Women’s, Monash University, Dementia Research Locations: Danish, Denmark, Chicago, neuroradiology, Rochester , Minnesota, Taiwan, Melbourne, Australia, London

☆ Fact Check-Altered image shows Titanic tour sub controller on the seabed
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video-game controller was digitally added into an old image of a sandy seabed in social media posts claiming the controller “survived” the June 2023 implosion of the OceanGate Expeditions submersible Titan. The original image without the controller appeared in a 2020 BBC website article about deep-sea mining damage to the ocean floor and is credited to Ocean Research Centre GEOMAR. Prior to the discovery, it was widely reported that the sub’s design, which included an off-the-shelf video-game controller for steering, had been a source of safety concerns ( here ) , ( nL1N38C38Y ), ( nL1N38D22B ) and ( here ). The original image is credited to the GEOMAR/MiningImpact Project, and similar photos can be seen on the Ocean Research Centre GEOMAR website ( here ). An image of the ocean floor was altered, and the original does not show the Titan submersible controller on the seabed.

Persons: Read Organizations: OceanGate, BBC, Ocean Research, U.S . Coast Guard, Titan, Titanic, Facebook, Logitech, NASA, Twitter, Reuters

[1/2] German parliamentary group leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel speaks during budget debate in the plenary hall of German lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany November 23, 2022. Asked by broadcaster ntv if the AfD would name a chancellor candidate, party co-chief Alice Weidel said "of course, we would also nominate (one) without these polling numbers", side-stepping a question about whether she would present herself. The likelihood of an AfD candidate becoming Germany's chancellor is very low currently given the party would need to be able to form a government and currently all other parties have ruled out working with it. The AfD is currently on track to winning the vote in all three east German states holding elections next year. Reporting by Sarah Marsh; additional Reporting by Friederike Heine; editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Alice Weidel, Christian Mang, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's, Thomas Haldenwang, Haldenwang, Hans Vorlaender, Sarah Marsh, Friederike Heine, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, Scholz's Social Democrats, ntv, Thomson Locations: Germany, Berlin, BERLIN, Dresden

☆ Exclusive: Xi Jinping tells Bill Gates he welcomes U.S. AI tech in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates delivers his speech at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, August 16, 2022. Xi also discussed Microsoft's (MSFT.O) business development in China during their meeting in Beijing, one of the sources said. When asked for comment, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation directed Reuters to the post. His meeting with Gates comes as U.S.-China relations are at their lowest point in decades, with AI a key flashpoint. Microsoft is a backer of OpenAI, whose chatbot ChatGPT ignited a global AI buzz last year that has spread to China.

Persons: Bill Gates, Kim Hong, Xi Jinping, Xi, Gates, Melinda Gates, Jason Neely, Jan Harvey Organizations: Microsoft Corp, National Assembly, REUTERS, U.S, Microsoft, Melinda Gates Foundation, Reuters, Information Office, chipmaker Micron, LinkedIn China, Thomson Locations: Seoul, South Korea, HONG KONG, China, Beijing, China's, U.S, Hong Kong

☆ Spain's PLD Space calls off test rocket launch citing high altitude winds
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PLD Space's test is set to be its first step in the race to put small satellites into space and capture a slice of a potential trillion-dollar market. The launch from a military aerospace research centre in Huelva, southern Spain, would have been the first in Western Europe by a private company. Europe's efforts to develop capabilities to send small satellites into space are in focus after a failed orbital rocket launch by Virgin Orbit from Britain in January. PLD Space's "Miura 1" rocket, named after a breed of fighting bulls, is as tall as a three-storey building and has a 100-kg (220-lb) cargo capacity. Reporting by Jon Nazca and Inti Landauro Editing by Emma Pinedo and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Miura, Read, Jon Nazca, Emma Pinedo, Mark Potter Organizations: Virgin Orbit, Inti, Thomson Locations: Spanish, El, Almonte, Huelva, Spain, HUELVA, Western Europe, Britain, French Guiana

☆ Melbourne rocked by largest earthquake in over 120 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Tara Subramaniam | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Melbourne was shaken Sunday by a rare and shallow earthquake – the largest earthquake to hit the Australian city in over a century – swaying buildings but ultimately causing very little damage. Adam Pascale, chief scientist at the Victoria-based Seismology Research Centre, said the earthquake was the largest within 40 kilometers of Melbourne since a magnitude 4.5 quake hit in 1902. “Felt like a plane crashed next to my house or something,” one resident said, according to CNN affiliate 7News. Earthquakes are not as common in Australia though the continent does experience seismic activity due to tectonic plate movement. In 2021, Victoria experienced a magnitude 5.9 earthquake that caused some minor structural damage in Melbourne despite hitting nearly 200 kilometers away.

☆ Japan arranging subsidies for Samsung chip facility -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Maki Shiraki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) - Japan is arranging subsidies that could be worth around 15 billion yen ($110 million) to South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS) for a chip facility it is considering setting up near Tokyo, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, would construct the facility including its first chip packaging test line in Japan near its existing research and development centre in Yokohama, Reuters reported in late March. The facility could cost around 40 billion yen to set up, of which about a third would be subsidised by the Japanese government, said the source, who declined to be named because the information is not public. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday plans to meet with executives from leading chip firms including Samsung to strengthen multilateral cooperation. Japan said last month it would give 260 billion yen in subsidies to domestic chipmaker Rapidus, which is building a factory on the northern island of Hokkaido, in addition to 70 billion yen of government funding secured earlier.

☆ Cyclone Mocha tears into Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Cyclone Mocha barrels into Myanmar The powerful storm unleashes its fury, disrupting communications in the regionAround midday on Sunday, Cyclone Mocha pummelled western Myanmar and southern Bangladesh. Map shows the path of Cyclone Mocha. It originated in the Bay of Bengal three days before it hit the coast of Myanmar on May 14. Satellite images show Sittwe before and after landfall of Cyclone Mocha, in Myanmar. Myanmar’s coast bore the brunt of the storm surge from Mocha, according to data from the EU’s Joint Research Centre.

☆ More women describe having forced abortions in Nigerian Army programme
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +20 min

And both lost their pregnancies after they were taken into custody by Nigerian soldiers and given unidentified pills and injections. Nigerian military leaders previously have adamantly denied the existence of the abortion programme and the deliberate killing of unarmed children. We respect every living soul.”Asked about the military’s comments on the programme, Yau replied: “This happened to me, and they are denying it. After she was put into a room with three other pregnant women, Yau said, army personnel gave her pills and more injections. Reuters was unable to determine if this tally overlapped with others cited in its December story about the abortion programme.

☆ Uganda’s anti-gay bill is the latest and worst to target LGBTQ Africans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Aditi Bhandari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +14 min

Same-sex activity in Africa is punishable by … Map of the 32 African countries where same-sex activity is illegal. Same-sex activity in Africa … Map of the 22 African countries where same-sex activity is legal. In 1993, Guinea-Bissau became the first African country to legalise LGBTQ activity when it adopted a new Penal Code that didn’t include any laws criminalising it. Country Constitutional protection Broad protections Employment Hate crime Incitement Marriage or civil union Adoption Angola No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Botswana No No Yes No No No No Cape Verde No No Yes Yes No No No Gabon No No No No No No No Guinea-Bissau No No No No No No No Lesotho No No No No No No No Mozambique No No Yes No No No No Sao Tome and Principe No No Yes Yes No No No Seychelles No No Yes No No No No South Africa Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes YesNote: Broad protections include laws protecting against discrimination in at least 3 of 4 categories: the provision of goods and services, housing, healthcare and education. Namibia and Mauritius criminalise same-sex activity, but around 35% of respondents said they would dislike having a gay neighbour.

☆ Deepest-ever fish caught and filmed off Japan by scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, April 3 (Reuters) - Fish have been caught more than 5 miles (8 kilometres) under the surface of the ocean for the first time ever - and filmed even deeper - by a joint Japanese-Australian scientific expedition. The snailfish, of the Pseudoliparis belyaevi species, are the first to be caught below 8,000 metres, the expedition said. It wasn't immediately clear how big the fish were, but the species has been recorded as reaching a length of close to 11 centimetres (4.3 inches). "The Japanese trenches were incredible places to explore; they are so rich in life, even all the way at the bottom," said Jamieson, founder of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre. "We tell people from the very early ages, as young as two or three, that the deep sea is a horrible scary place that you shouldn't go and that grows with you with time," said Jamieson.

We view it as more important to get back raw materials from cars and other products," Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said in an interview. Some, such as Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), are betting big on expanding their own battery production and investing in mines to secure control down the supply chain. Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) said on Thursday it had made a "fundamental decision" to allocate capital to mining and had set up a raw material office in Canada, where it signed a raw materials agreement last year. "With our business development, we are creating the motivation to invest - but we do not need to develop big recycling facilities for battery cells ourselves." Investing in technologies requiring fewer critical raw minerals, including hydrogen-powered cars, is another way BMW plans to bring down costs.

We view it as more important to get back raw materials from cars and other products," finance chief Nicolas Peter said in an interview. BMW has its own battery cell research centre in Germany, but has left large-scale development to partners, placing multi-billion-euro orders with CATL (300750.SZ) and EVE Energy (300014.SZ) to produce battery cells in China and Europe. Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday it had made a "fundamental decision" to allocate capital to mining and had set up a raw material office in Canada, where it signed a raw materials agreement last year. Investing in technologies requiring less raw critical minerals, including hydrogen-powered cars, was another way to bring down costs, Peter said. The carmaker has a battery cell recycling facility via its joint venture in China, but does also not see the need to develop large cell recycling facilities of its own, Peter said.

REUTERS/Nacho DoceTOKYO/SEOUL, March 31 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) is considering setting up a chip test line in Japan, five people said, to bolster its advanced packaging business and forge closer ties with Japanese makers of semiconductor equipment and materials. It would be the first such test line in Japan for Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips. Companies are racing to develop advanced packaging techniques, which involve placing chips with different functions into a single package, to enhance overall capabilities and limit the added cost of more advanced chips. The test line would involve the so-called back-end process of chipmaking, according to the five people, which refers to a process in which semiconductors are cut and assembled into products. Samsung last year set up an advanced packaging team in South Korea.

☆ Europe drought: This once-thriving lake has all but dried up -- a story repeated across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

While in the United States, the snow and rain that have pummeled California have helped fill reservoirs and ease unrelenting drought, winter has been far from kind to many parts of Europe. A buoy is seen on the banks of the partially dry Lake Montbel as France faces a record winter dry spell. “Lake Montbel remains at an abnormally low level,” Franck Solacroup, the regional director of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, which covers the area that includes Lake Montbel, told CNN. Farmers like Rouquet, who rely on the lake, are having to make tough decisions on what to grow. “This is the most extreme winter in terms of low snow cover,” she told CNN.

☆ China tackles chip talent shortage with new courses, higher pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

China faces a shortage of an estimated 200,000 industry workers this year, according to a white paper jointly published by the China Center for Information Industry Development, a government think tank, and the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), a trade group. A 2022 survey from Chinese research firm ICWise found more than 60% of students studying chip engineering in China graduate with no internship experience in the field. In Taiwan, top chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW) has established research centres at four universities. Its largest chip foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) (0981.HK), in 2021 announced a jointly-established School of Integrated Circuits at Shenzhen Technology University. "If I didn't switch to chip engineering, I would probably have to find a job in a traditional manufacturing industry like cars or machinery," he said.

"The reality is that China has more coal power capacity than it needs," said Zhang Shuwei, director at Draworld Energy Research Centre. That's equivalent to about a hundred large coal-fired plants and enough to supply the whole of Britain. China's big jump in coal power approvals has sparked fears that there will be backsliding on its climate goals. Share of coal in China's energy mixAnalysts note existing coal plants could provide sufficient backup for renewables if they were plugged into a nationwide market, but China's power sector remains fragmented. "It would be far cheaper... to incentivise provincial trading than incentivising new loss-making coal," he said.

☆ BioNTech to develop, produce cancer drugs and vaccines in Jerusalem -Israel Fin Min
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Companies BioNTech SE FollowJERUSALEM, March 21 (Reuters) - Germany's BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) signed a preliminary deal to set up a facility to produce cancer-related drugs and vaccines in Jerusalem, Israel's Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. Under the memorandum of understanding, BioNTech will develop the drugs and vaccines using mRNA technology in the Har Hotzvim technology park. It will also set up a research centre at the Weizmann Institute in central Israel. Reporting by Steven Scheer Editing by Ari RabinovitchOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Imran Khan says to attend court hearing in bid to end Pakistan clashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Mubasher Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Former Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses a news conference after he was wounded following a shooting incident during a long march in Wazirabad, at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in Lahore, Pakistan November 4, 2022. "We have asked the police to wait until the court decision on the matter," added Chaudhry, a former information minister. Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan's demands, saying the election would be held as scheduled later this year. "If anything happens to me, or I go to prison, or they kill me, you have to prove that this nation will continue to struggle even without Imran Khan," he said. "Instead of cooperating with law enforcement officials, Imran Khan is breaking the law, defying court orders and using his party workers... as human shields to evade arrest and stoke unrest," she added.

☆ Silk-FAW drops plan to build Italian plant for electric sports cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The facility was part of a wider plan to invest more than a 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to build electric cars in Italy under the Hongqi brand. The document includes acknowledgement by the Emilia-Romagna region of Silk-FAW's decision. Silk-FAW did not respond to a request for comment via the company's website. Two sources close to the matter said Italian prosecutors were investigating the Silk-FAW project. Silk-FAW did not respond to a separate request for comment on the matter via the company's website.

[1/2] Police officers stand amid the rubble of a damaged building at the site of a rocket attack in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood of central Damascus, Syria, February 19, 2023. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran's extraterritorial military power. A source close to the Syrian government with knowledge of Sunday's strike and its target said it hit a gathering of Syrian and Iranian technical experts in drone manufacturing, though he said no top-level Iranian was killed. "The strike hit the centre where they were meeting as well as an apartment in a residential building. On Sunday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as attacks on "residential buildings in Damascus which killed and maimed innocent Syrian citizens".

☆ Japan says it has 'legal right' to destroy any foreign balloon in its airspace
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Julian Ryall | South China Morning Post | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Japan's defence minister says it would have the legal right to destroy any balloon that enters its domestic airspace. Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said on Tuesday under existing laws, Japan would have the legal right to destroy any balloon that intrudes into its domestic airspace. "Intrusions into Japan's territorial airspace constitute a violation, even if it is a balloon," the Yomiuri newspaper quoted Isozaki as saying. In the future, it may be possible to use lasers or other technology to bring a balloon to earth, he suggested. Japan uses balloons for weather observations, but the prevailing winds mean that they typically travel east, over the Pacific, rather than over mainland Asia.

Search resuls for: "Research Centre"

25 mentions found