DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Police allege a substitute teacher encouraged middle school students to fight during class and filmed it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Police say an Idaho middle school substitute teacher encouraged students to fight and filmed it. They allege the teacher set a timer for students to fight and then shared videos of it to social media. Police said in a Facebook statement that Ettson Arreola, who was teaching at Syringa Middle School, set a timer and encouraged students to fight for ten seconds while he recorded videos. Two physical fights took place in his classroom on Thursday, police said, one between two male students and another between two female students. The Superintendent of the Caldwell School District, Dr. French, said: "The Caldwell School District has zero tolerance for this type of behavior.

☆ Crimea is shaping up to be the battleground that will decide the Russia-Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Crimea is poised to be the next big battlefield, and one that could decide the Ukraine war. "The decisive terrain for this war is Crimea," Ben Hodges, a former commander of US Army Europe, told Insider. Ukraine will "never be safe or secure" if Russia retains control of Crimea, Hodges siad. The fight to retake Crimea could be extremely bloody, in a war that's already led to massive casualties for both sides. President of UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pledged to expel Russian forces out of all occupied territory, including Crimea.

☆ FA to investigate alleged racial abuse of Birmingham keeper
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Football Association said it would investigate alleged racist abuse aimed at Birmingham City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge as a matter of urgency following an incident in their FA Cup game at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. Birmingham manager John Eustace said Etheridge was abused by fans after he celebrated his side's stoppage time equaliser in the 2-2 draw in the fourth round. After the goal Etheridge went to referee Keith Stroud on the halfway line to complain about comments directed to him. The FA said: "We are aware of an alleged incident of racial abuse that was reported to the match official. "We take allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and we will be investigating as a matter of urgency."

☆ Abuses Proliferate in Police Squads Like Memphis's Scorpion Unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

Street Crime Unit. Jon Naso/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesMemphis police chief Davis also has prior experience with special street crime units. Street crime squads are popular among politicians who say only aggressive policing will reduce violent crime. In the late 1990s, the Street Crime Unit tripled in size, amid a panic over a rising number of homicides. In a city grappling with violent crime, authorities touted the Street Crime Unit as a bright spot.

☆ A Portland woman said a gas station employee told her 'I don't serve Black people.' 3 years later, a jury awarded her $1 million in damages.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Taylor Ardrey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Portland, Oregon, woman was awarded $1 million following a racist incident in 2020, KGW reported. Rose Wakefield said a gas station employee told her, "I don't serve Black people." While there, she said a gas station employee on site, identified as Nigel Powers, ignored her multiple times, KGW reported citing court documents. Before Wakefield left, she said the gas attendant scoffed at her saying, "I don't serve Black people," the outlet reported. "I went to a gas station to get gas and service, and I wasn't served," Wakefield, 63, told KGW.

☆ Jury awards $1M to Oregon woman who was told ‘I don’t serve Black people’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

PORTLAND, Ore. — A jury has awarded an Oregon woman $1 million in damages after finding she was discriminated against by a gas station employee who told her, “I don’t serve Black people.”The Multnomah County jury’s award this week to Portland resident Rose Wakefield, 63, included punitive damages of $550,000. When she tried to ask for assistance, he said, “I’ll get to you when I feel like it,” according to Kafoury. Kafoury said as she was leaving, Wakefield asked Powers why he refused to help her and that he said, “I don’t serve Black people.”Rose Wakefield. KGW“I was like, ‘What world am I living in?’ ” Wakefield told KGW. It was a terrible, terrible confrontation between me and this guy.”During the following week, Wakefield complained twice to managers, but her phone calls were largely disregarded, Kafoury said.

“The Scorpion unit was involved,” Shelby County, Tennessee, District Attorney Steve Mulroy said Thursday at a news conference where he announced murder charges against five officers. Davis has called “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” has increased scrutiny of the city’s reliance on specialized units to suppress violent crime. This week, Davis announced a review of all of the police department’s specialized units, including Scorpion, in response to Nichols’ death. Memphis’ Scorpion unit was created in October 2021 under the police department’s Organized Crime Unit. Mayor Jim Strickland promoted the new Scorpion unit as part of the solution in his January 2022 State of the City speech.

☆ 1 dead in Spanish church machete attacks, terror link probed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The assailant then went to a second church, Nuestra Señora de La Palma, a five-minute walk away, where he attacked the sexton. Police gather outside the Church of San Isidro, in Algeciras, Spain on Jan. 25, 2023. Nono Rico / Europa Press via APThe Algeciras town hall said the sexton was named Diego Valencia and identified the wounded priest as Antonio Rodríguez. The town hall said he was hospitalized and in stable condition. The town hall declared a day of mourning when flags will fly at half-staff.

☆ War with Russia rages as Ukraine’s government confronts an old enemy: Corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Raf Sanchez | Raf Sanchez Is A Foreign Correspondent For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

He is now one of around a dozen officials who resigned, were fired, or were put under investigation this week as Ukraine’s government confronts an old enemy: corruption. On Monday, Zelenskyy banned public officials from traveling abroad for anything other than work. “It demonstrates what President Zelenskyy has told us, that there will be zero tolerance for fraud or waste,” he said. Ukraine is currently ranked 132 out of 180 countries on a corruption index compiled by Transparency International, a good-governance nongovernmental organization. “I think that after the war, we will have a better Ukraine than we had before the war,” he said.

I'm careful to track my business expenses and don't shy away from spending money on valuable things. Working with my financial advisor and accountant helped me create a structure to make tax season a breeze. Be smart about business expensesOne of my biggest takeaways from the 2021 tax season was that eligible business expenses help grow your business and shrink your tax bill. One is for my invoices and business expenses and the other is for my personal expenses, bills, and contributions to savings. In my personal expense tracker, I cross-reference my bank accounts and credit cards with my bills and auto-deposits to savings accounts and investments.

☆ Bank of Japan showed no sign of making a hawkish shift in its January meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Nationwide core inflation in Japan reached 4% in December, the highest annualized print since December 1981, according to data released last week. Yuichi Yamazaki | Afp | Getty ImagesThe Bank of Japan emphasized that it wants to maintain its current monetary policy, including leaving its yield curve control unchanged, according to the Summary of Opinions from its last meeting published Thursday. The "yield curve control" refers to a policy of the Japanese central bank that's designed to keep the 10-year yield on Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) within 0.5 percentage points of zero. The central bank continued its operations to purchase Japanese government bonds in response to upward pressure on yields. I think a lot will depend on, for instance, the inflation data in the coming months," he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia."

☆ Why do people buy crackpot conspiracy theories?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

When it comes to the spread of cockamamie conspiracy theories, Twitter was a maximum viable product long before Elon Musk paid $44 billion for the keys. The more you think you're right all the time, a new study suggests, the more likely you are to buy conspiracy theories, regardless of the evidence. It'd be better, or at least more reassuring, if conspiracy theories were fueled by dumb yahoos rather than self-centered monsters. Still, most scientists thought conspiracy theories weren't worth their time, the province of weirdos connecting JFK's death to lizard aliens. Pennycook's findings also suggest an explanation for why conspiracy theories have become so widely accepted.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is angling to be Donald Trump's running mate in 2024, according to two people who have spoken to the firebrand second-term congresswoman about her ambitions. "She sees herself on the short list for Trump's VP. A second source who has advised Greene said her "whole vision is to be vice president." The source, who has ties to Trump but spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said he also believes Greene would be on Trump's short list. McCarthy stood by Greene at the time, facilitating the development of a political alliance.

The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), said a "system issue" prevented the opening auctions in a subset of its listed securities. The stocks began trading without an opening print, causing erroneous prices that the exchange said will be declared null and void. NYSE ended the day with a normal market close and expected a regular open on Wednesday, Blaugrund added. The NYSE-listed stocks trade on all 16 U.S. stock exchanges, which use the NYSE's prices. In March 2018, the NYSE was the first exchange fined under Reg SCI.

☆ Zelenskyy fired 9 top officials after reports that members of his government went on vacation to Spain and France and took bribes during the war
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired a slew of senior officials on Tuesday. In December, Symonenko went on holiday to Spain using a Mercedes owned by a prominent Ukrainian businessman, The Guardian reported. "Of course, now the main focus is the issue of defense, this is the issue of foreign policy, this is the issue of war," he said. On Monday, Zelenskyy banned officials from traveling abroad until the end of the war, except for when performing government duties. Zelenskyy's press office and Ukraine's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

The infusions at the ketamine clinic in his West Texas hometown were a Christmas gift from his grandmother. About five years ago, more and more of my friends started using ketamine recreationally. IV ketamine treatment centers charging $400 to $2,000 an infusion popped up all over the country. "Ketamine used as directed in an appropriate clinical setting very rarely leads to any dependence," Mindbloom says on its website. Like Nadia, most of the people I interviewed said when they started using ketamine, they didn't think it was possible to become dependent on it.

Ukraine's long-running struggle with graft has taken on added significance as Kyiv battles for survival while also pursuing a bid to join the European Union. But tackling graft has become more urgent since the European Union offered Kyiv candidate member status last June, months after Russia's invasion. The Ukrainian public, exhausted by 11 months of war, was also clearly a key intended audience for the sackings and resignations. But the same poll, which included nearly a thousand respondents across government-controlled Ukraine, found that 84% trusted Zelenskiy - up from 27% a year earlier. Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Mike Collett-WhiteOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), said it was still investigating and that traders may want to consider filing for erroneous trade claims. "Obviously, there were a lot of stocks that had major issues," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. Saluzzi said there was "zero failure tolerance" among traders for glitches at the key open and close of trading. The NYSE-listed stocks trade on all 16 U.S. stock exchanges, which use the NYSE's prices. In March 2018, the NYSE was the first exchange fined under Reg SCI.

☆ U.S. lawmakers praise Zelenskiy for fighting corruption, back continued aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers praised Ukraine's government on Tuesday for taking swift action against corruption and insisted that U.S. military and humanitarian aid to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government should continue. We expect that President Zelenskiy will follow through with a promise he made that Ukraine is going to change on the corruption front," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told a news conference days after returning from Kyiv. "We're confident this is a first step in a long journey to change the way business is done," Graham said. "It demonstrates what President Zelenskiy has told us, that there will be zero tolerance for fraud or waste," he said. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who was also on the Kyiv trip, praised the Ukrainian military for keeping track of equipment provided by Washington.

☆ Bank of Japan's policy tweak drew rare request from government for a break
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Government representatives who attended the Bank of Japan's policy meeting in December were granted a half-hour adjournment to contact their ministries, minutes showed, a sign the decision to tweak its yield control policy may have been hastily arranged. At the Dec. 19-20 meeting, the BOJ kept its ultra-easy monetary policy but shocked markets with a surprise tweak to its yield curve control (YCC) policy that allowed long-term interest rates to rise. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda approved the request as chair of the BOJ meeting, according to the minutes. The two representatives did not voice opposition to the yield control tweak nor any other elements of the BOJ's discussion, the minutes showed. Two government representatives - one from the MOF and another from the Cabinet Office - are legally entitled to attend BOJ policy meetings and voice the government's views on policy decisions, though they cannot cast votes.

☆ Are jerks more likely to get ahead at work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Even worse, all the cutthroat role models we're surrounded by at work make us hesitant about being nice ourselves. In the social sciences, the technical term for jerks — those who are combative, selfish, and manipulative — is "disagreeable." Call this the jerk way. All in all, being a jerk doesn't help you get ahead — but it also doesn't hurt. Sutton's no-asshole rule has become widely adopted, and businesses like Atlassian have overhauled their performance reviews in part to ensure that "brilliant jerks" can't get ahead.

Separately, a newspaper investigation published on Saturday accused the Defence Ministry of overpaying suppliers for food for its soldiers. If the humane approach doesn't work, we'll do it in line with martial law," he said. Before last year's invasion, fighting corruption was the principal theme for Zelenskiy, a political novice swept into power in a landslide in 2019 on a promise to clean up Ukraine's notoriously crooked institutions. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said measures would be announced this week. Several Ukrainian media outlets have reported that a number of cabinet ministers and senior officials could be sacked imminently as Zelenskiy tries to make the government more effective and streamlined.

[1/2] Chris Hipkins speaks to members of the media, after being confirmed as the only nomination to replace Jacinda Ardern as leader of the Labour Party, outside New Zealand's parliament in Wellington, New Zealand January 21, 2023. We are different people though, and I'm sure that people will see that," Hipkins told a news conference on Saturday after emerging as the only candidate to lead the ruling Labour Party. First elected to parliament in 2008, Hipkins became a household name fronting the government's response to the pandemic. He was appointed health minister in July 2020 before becoming the COVID response minister at the end of the year. Hipkins is known around parliament for his sense of humour - including an ability to laugh at himself.

☆ Protests in Stockholm, including Koran-burning, draw condemnation from Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. The Turkish ministry urged Sweden to take necessary actions against the perpetrators and invited all countries to take concrete steps against Islamophobia. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that Islamophobic provocations were appalling. "Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We will continue our opposition to the Swedish NATO application," Thomas Pettersson, spokesperson for Alliance Against NATO and one of organizers of the demonstration, told Reuters.

☆ Lagarde Says China’s Economic Rebound Revives Inflation Worries
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Paul Hannon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A market in Lianyungang, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. China lifted many of its zero-tolerance pandemic controls in early December. China’s abandonment of its zero-Covid policy is good news for global economic growth but it could give a fresh boost to inflation in Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Friday“The change of this Covid policy will revive the economy,“ said Ms. Lagarde. “That is positive for the rest of the world, but there will be more inflationary pressure.“

Search resuls for: "Tolerance"

25 mentions found