DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Biden to blacklist China's YMTC, crackdown on AI chip sector
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Alexandra Alper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Thursday plans to add Chinese memory chipmaker YMTC and 21 "major" Chinese players in the artificial intelligence chip industry to a trade blacklist, broadening its crackdown on China's chip industry, the Commerce Department said. A total of 35 Chinese entities will be added to the trade blacklist, known as the entity list. The Biden administration plans to remove 26 Chinese entities from the so-called unverified list thanks to successful site visits. Being added to the unverified list forces U.S. suppliers to perform greater due diligence before shipping to the targeted companies. Commerce Department officials have attributed greater cooperation from Beijing in site checks to a new rule announced in October.

WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Biden administration plans to remove some Chinese entities from a red flag trade list, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday amid closer cooperation with Beijing. The plan to remove them soon from the so-called "unverified" list is thanks to greater willingness from the Chinese government to permit U.S. site visits, the person said. The decision, which mean U.S. exporters will no longer have to conduct additional due diligence before sending goods to the Chinese entities, may not herald a broader thaw. Companies are added to the unverified list because the United States cannot complete on-site visits to determine whether they can be trusted to receive sensitive U.S. technology exports. In October, YMTC was added to the unverified list along with dozens of other Chinese entities, fueling widespread speculation that the company would be added to the entity list.

The exemption allowed Alameda to keep borrowing funds from FTX irrespective of the value of the collateral securing those loans. The other was a mechanism whereby FTX customers deposited over $8 billion in traditional currency into bank accounts secretly controlled by Alameda. Indeed, he told investors that Alameda received no preferential treatment from FTX, the SEC complaint said. This would allow Alameda to keep borrowing more FTX funds without the need to provide more collateral. Bankman-Fried's house of cards "began to crumble" in May 2022, the SEC complaint said.

☆ Gun-loving Bolsonaristas challenge Lula's pledge to disarm Brazil
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Gabriel Stargardter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

The president-elect has pledged to "disarm" an increasingly gun-toting country where personal firearms have become a symbol of Bolsonaro's conservative base. Reuters interviewed eight other people working on, or advising, Lula's transition team on bolstering gun controls once he takes office on Jan. 1. The priority will be to reimpose civilian prohibitions on certain high-caliber weapons, including the rifle used by Jefferson, the sources said. The political context is a sharp departure from Lula's 2003-2010 presidency, when he passed sweeping gun laws to combat violent crime. Last week, they charged him with four counts of attempted murder, resisting arrest, and weapons charges.

☆ U.S. lawmakers ease planned curbs on Chinese chips amid corporate pushback
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alexandra Alper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The final version no longer forbids contractors from "using" the targeted chips and pushes the compliance deadline back to five years from the immediate or two-year implementation deadlines included in the first version. Chips made by SMIC are commissioned by companies all over the world and can be found in products as diverse as cell phones and cars. They are difficult to identify because chips are not typically labeled with the names of the companies that manufacture them. Lawmakers released a final version of the NDAA Tuesday night. Schumer's office, SMIC, YMTC, CXMT and the Chamber of Commerce did not respond to requests for comment.

☆ U.S. lawmakers ease proposed curbs on Chinese chips amid corporate pushback
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Alexandra Alper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Chips made by SMIC are commissioned by companies all over the world and can be found in products as diverse as cell phones and cars. They are difficult to identify because chips are not typically labeled with the names of the companies that manufacture them. Lawmakers are expected to announce final language for the final package later this week, which may include the revised measure. SMIC, YMTC and CXMT, the Chinese Embassy in Washington and the Chamber of Commerce did not immediately respond to requests for comment. SMIC was blacklisted by the Trump administration over concerns the company aids the Chinese military.

☆ Exclusive: U.S. weighs sending 100-mile strike weapon to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

U.S. and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons as the war drags on. GLSDB could be delivered as early as spring 2023, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and three people familiar with the plan. It combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in U.S. inventories. The invasion of Ukraine drove up demand for American-made weapons and ammunition, while U.S. allies in Eastern Europe are "putting a lot of orders," in for a range of arms as they supply Ukraine, Bush added. Any arrangement would also require at least six suppliers to expedite shipments of their parts and services to produce the weapon quickly.

The licenses gave FTX access to U.S. commodities derivatives markets as a regulated exchange. FTX also saw its regulatory status as a way of luring new capital from major investors, the documents show. “FTX has the cleanest brand in crypto,” the exchange proclaimed in a June document presented to investors. According to the document, FTX told the regulator it did not have the same issues as products from other providers that the agency had investigated. "We confirmed these were solely rewards based and do not involve lending (or other use) of the deposited crypto," FTX wrote.

☆ First TVs, now tortillas: U.S. companies set minimum prices to halt discounting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jessica Dinapoli | Thomson Reuters | New York-Based Reporter Covering U.S. Consumer Products Spanning Paper Towels To Packaged Food | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

read moreFor many years manufacturers set the lowest price at which retailers could advertise certain big-ticket items like TVs. read more As a result, consumers have struggled to find a lower advertised price anywhere else. This compels brands that sell huge volumes of goods on Amazon to set, and then enforce, a minimum price. "We have no role in creating them or in their continued adoption," the Amazon spokesperson said when asked about minimum advertised pricing policies. Amazon said in response that it does not prevent sellers from offering lower prices elsewhere.

After learning about its Russian roots from Reuters, it removed Pushwoosh software from seven public-facing apps, citing security concerns. The U.S. Army said it had removed an app containing Pushwoosh code in March because of the same concerns. Pushwoosh code has been embedded into almost 8,000 apps in the Google and Apple app stores, according to Appfigures, an app intelligence website. "We haven't found any clear sign of deceptive or malicious intent in Pushwoosh's activity, which certainly doesn't diminish the risk of having app data leaking to Russia," he added. The CDC apps that contained Pushwoosh code included the agency's main app and others set up to share information on a wide range of health concerns.

It culminated on Wednesday, with Binance pulling out of its deal and throwing FTX's future into uncertainty. Bankman-Fried told Reuters on Tuesday that "I'll probably be too swamped" to do interviews. Voyager filed for bankruptcy protection the following month, with FTX's U.S. arm paying $1.4 billion for its assets in a September auction. Daily withdrawals normally totaled tens of millions of dollars, Bankman-Fried told his employees. Bankman-Fried signed a non-binding letter of intent for Binance to buy FTX’s non-U.S. assets.

But the door knockers didn't explain where to vote or promote a candidate, the usual work of canvassers ahead of a big election. At another, they listed names of registered voters and demanded to know if they still lived at the address. In at least one state, Michigan, they plan to use their list of alleged irregularities to challenge voters in the Nov. 8 election. Reuters identified at least 23 state-wide or local efforts where canvassers may have crossed the line into intimidation, according to election officials and voting rights lawyers. This August, people affiliated with USEIP were also canvassing in La Plata County, according to the county clerk.

More than three-quarters of the deliveries list the supplier as Gap Europe Ltd, a London-based unit of Gap Inc. The Russian customs records are drawn from several commercial providers of trade data and go through Sept. 30. The Gap shipments included everything from "knitted children’s socks" and "children’s pajamas" to "textile blouses for women" and "textile shorts for men." Some items are missing.”Russian customs records show more than 1,200 shipments of Gap clothing to Russia between March 11 – the day after Gap Inc’s announcement that it was halting shipments – and June 21. After July 16, the customs records show no shipments to Gap Retail in Moscow, indicating that the apparel flow to Russia had stopped.

☆ Brazil's rural boomtowns ensure Bolsonarismo's future
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Gabriel Stargardter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

REUTERS/Gabriel StargardterCATANDUVA, Brazil, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The small city of Catanduva in the rural farm belt of Sao Paulo state has been ahead of the political curve in Brazil. The residents of Catanduva, who have benefited from robust Chinese demand for Brazilian commodities, are now fully behind Bolsonaro. Since Sahao stepped down in 2005, the PT has spent nearly two decades locked out of power at Catanduva's city hall. Across Sao Paulo, countless PSDB mayors and state lawmakers have, like Father Oliveira of Catanduva, thrown in their lot with Bolsonaro. Bassitt, the farmer, said the conservative values of rural, small-town Brazil were now the driving force in national politics.

☆ U.S. alleges Seagate broke export rules to sell Huawei hard drives -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Karen Freifeld | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Seagate, a Dublin-based company that also operates in California, said it was cooperating with the Commerce Department and attempting to resolve the matter. The company paused its shipments to Huawei a year ago, the person said. The company hopes to make its case in an upcoming meeting with the Commerce Department, the source said. At issue is a U.S. regulation that governs the way certain foreign-made items destined for Huawei become subject to U.S. export regulations. The hard disk drives are made in China and Thailand and also do not have enough U.S. content to make them subject to U.S. export rules, the person said.

Four local chapters of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International told Reuters they are assessing their options for lobbying and coordinated action against the deal, including potential strikes. Bryan Doherty, a spokesperson for the UFCW International, told Reuters it plans to request more information from the retailers about possible store closures and layoffs. On Monday afternoon, representatives of UFCW International met with nearly 100 local UFCW chapters on Zoom to discuss the merger and their collective response to it. Workers told Reuters that Kroger has not yet held conversations with the union to discuss the merger. Albertsons reached out to the union, offering to "keep lines of communication open," Mark Federici, president of UFCW local 400, told Reuters.

☆ Analysis: Falling demand for COVID boosters puts price hikes on the table
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Michael Erman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Last year, many on Wall Street were estimating the number of COVID-19 shots would be in line with the annual flu vaccine, which is the vaccine market leader with more than 160 million shots per year in the United States and 600 million shots globally. A recent poll by Kaiser Family Foundation found that two-thirds of American adults do not plan on getting a COVID vaccine soon. He added that instances of COVID infections in those who have been vaccinated has left many to question the effectiveness of the vaccine. The companies could make up for some of the weaker demand with price increases. That would mean annual revenue of $3 billion to $5 billion over the long-term for a company like Moderna, he added.

REUTERS/Lindsey WassonWASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - When a Washington state beauty salon charged Simran Bal $1,900 for training after she quit, she was shocked. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterNearly 10% of American workers surveyed in 2020 were covered by a training repayment agreement, said the Cornell Survey Research Institute. The practice, which critics call Training Repayment Agreement Provisions, or TRAPs, is drawing scrutiny from U.S. regulators and lawmakers. While waiting to complete the training, Bal worked at the front desk, which paid less. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in comments that training repayment demands were "particularly egregious" in commercial trucking.

The widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election as alleged by Trump and his supporters was never proven. Election officials in three other states -- North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada -- reported similar incidents. In 16 North Carolina counties alone, officials noted unusually aggressive observers during May's primary elections, according to a state election board survey. When told to stop, they said they were following guidance from a Republican Party lawyer, said Henderson County Election Director Karen Hebb. As head of the Election Integrity Network, Mitchell is training election observers and is trying to build grassroots networks of conservatives ahead of the midterms.

Companies are added to the unverified list because the United States could not complete on-site visits to determine whether they can be trusted to receive sensitive technology exports from the United States. U.S. inspections of Chinese companies require the approval of China's commerce ministry. Under the Biden administration's new policy, if a government prevents U.S. officials from conducting site checks at companies placed the unverified list, Washington will start the process for adding them to the entity list after 60 days. The United States removed a unit of Wuxi Biologics, maker of ingredients for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, from the unverified list. The company looks forward to scheduling an inspection of its Shanghai subsidiary, which also was placed on the unverified list in February, she added.

Search resuls for: "Chris Sanders"

22 mentions found