DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Muscovites unfazed by rising nuclear rhetoric
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. "I don’t think anything will happen, if you mean a nuclear threat," said Andrey, 47, who declined to give his surname, standing under one of the billboards, at the entrance to Moscow's Gorky Park on Tuesday. "No, those warnings don’t scare me and don’t change my attitude towards the world, people and our president," said Yulia Gorodnyanskaya, 38. Our potential is very high and I'm more than confident in our army and the weaponry our country has. No country in the world has as many weapons as us, and such well-made weapons."

"It is not clear whether some citizens are alive or dead in the earthquake zone. Erdogan's AK Party has said it is committed to a free and fair election that respects the will of the people. BALLOT BOX SECURITYOpposition parties and non-governmental organisations say the exodus of more than 3 million people from the disaster zone poses extra concerns. While some 300,000 to 500,000 of them were thought to have changed addresses, many of those who had left the disaster zone had not, added Tiryaki. For Yigit, the earthquake and what he sees as the government's slow response to the disaster weighs on him as he decides how to vote.

☆ Factbox: Why Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi may lose his parliament seat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Arpan Chaturvedi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A formal disqualification order will, however, have to be passed by the secretariat of the lower house of parliament of which Gandhi is a member. CAN GANDHI CONTEST ELECTIONS? The law also mandates that a convicted lawmaker cannot contest elections for six years after the end of their jail sentence. To avoid disqualification, a convicted lawmaker has to secure an order from a higher court suspending the conviction, lawyers said. He can secure bail extensions during the appeal period but cannot contest elections until the conviction is stayed or he is acquitted in the case.

Depleted uranium is a dense by-product left over when uranium is enriched for use in nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. The United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Pakistan produce uranium weapons, which are not classified as nuclear weapons, according to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons. Ingesting or inhaling quantities of uranium - even depleted uranium - is dangerous: it depresses renal function and raises the risk of developing a range of cancers. "It's worth making sure everyone understands that just because the word uranium is in the title of depleted uranium munitions, they are not nuclear munitions, they are purely conventional munitions," Cleverly said. A spokesperson from Britain's defence ministry said: "The British Army has used depleted uranium in its armour piercing shells for decades."

☆ Netanyahu summons Israeli defence minister as judicial overhaul strains coalition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, March 23 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned his defence chief on Thursday after local media reported the minister had called for a halt to a planned judicial overhaul that has set off unprecedented protests, including within the military. Netanyahu's office did not elaborate on the reasons for the summons of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, a senior member of his conservative Likud party, but said the prime minister would deliver televised remarks at 8:40 p.m. (1840 GMT). Israeli media had earlier reported that Gallant, a former deputy chief of the armed forces, would convene his own news conference. Protesters heckled a Cabinet minister and unfurled a massive replica of the country's Declaration of Independence on a wall of Jerusalem's Old City. [1/7] Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant attends a news conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, Israel, March 9, 2023.

☆ Jack Daniel’s Tangles With Dog Toy at Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Jess Bravin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey next to a ‘Bad Spaniels’ dog toy. WASHINGTON—A trademark case put the Supreme Court’s humor to the test Wednesday, as the justices heard a distillery’s plea to stop a novelty company from selling a dog toy shaped like a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Phoenix-based VIP Products LLC markets squeaky toys that mimic beverage bottles, including a 10-inch-tall item with a black label reading “Bad Spaniels: The Old No. Among those unamused was Brown-Forman Corp.’s Jack Daniel’s Properties unit, which produces Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Brand Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey.

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear a trademark clash between Jack Daniel's and a dog accessory company behind a parody chew toy resembling the distiller's widely recognized black-label whiskey bottle. The dispute pits the whiskey brand's trademark rights against legal protections for creative expression - in this case a send-up by Phoenix-based VIP Products LLC of Jack Daniel's Old No. A 2,300-strong group of authors took the opposite view, saying a win for Jack Daniel's could lead to a "catastrophic chilling effect" over worries that creative expression might spark litigation. The 9th Circuit said the Bad Spaniels toy was an "expressive work" and thus potentially shielded under the First Amendment from Jack Daniel's trademark infringement claim. President Joe Biden's administration supports Jack Daniel's appeal.

Jack Daniel's Properties Inc is owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman Corp (BFb.N). "I'm concerned about the First Amendment implications of your position," conservative Justice Samuel Alito told an attorney for Jack Daniel's, referring to the constitutional provision enshrining free-speech protections. "Could any reasonable person think that Jack Daniel's had approved this use of the mark?" Jack Daniel's also contested a finding by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. "This is a standard commercial product," Kagan told a lawyer for VIP Products, Bennett Cooper.

☆ To stay or go? The dilemma Ukrainians near front face every day
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Mike Collett-White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

KALYNIVKA, Ukraine, March 21 (Reuters) - It was finally time for Vasyl Kurlyshchuk to leave. She was going to stay in the settlement and wanted to know if Kurlyshchuk was taking his solar powered battery with him. What is now ordinary for the hundreds who remain in Chasiv Yar out of a pre-war population of some 13,000 would be extraordinary elsewhere. "Vera was evacuated to Poltava but a lot of people have stayed," said the 67-year-old, pointing to pictures on her smartphone of her friend, who had left Chasiv Yar for a safer place. That meant three fewer familiar faces for Olena and her friends as they carried on in Chasiv Yar.

☆ Analysis: Sudan paramilitary leader jostles for role ahead of civilian handover
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Khalid Abdelaziz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo commands tens of thousands of fighters in the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and has amassed considerable mineral wealth. He is also deputy leader of Sudan's ruling council, which took power in a coup more than a year ago. Hemedti and other military men are unlikely to be able to stand for election in the short term. The main signatories to the outline agreement are Burhan's military and Hemedti's RSF on one side and the civilian Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition on the other. Any final transition agreement would likely bar Hemedti and Burhan from standing in the first post-deal elections, one international diplomat said.

☆ Supreme Court to hear trademark dispute case over Jack Daniel's whiskey and poop-themed dog toy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case over a dog toy modeled after a Jack Daniel's bottle. Lower courts have differed on whether the toy harms Jack Daniel's brand or is protected expression. "But VIP's profit-motivated 'joke' confuses consumers by taking advantage of Jack Daniel's hard-earned goodwill." "The Bad Spaniels dog toy, although surely not the equivalent of the Mona Lisa, is an expressive work," Judge Andrew Hurwitz wrote in the ruling. Jack Daniel's did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Some companies have expressed concern that a ruling against Jack Daniel's would weaken their control over their brands and reputations. The toy mimics Lynchburg, Tennessee-based Jack Daniel's famous whiskey bottles with humorous dog-themed alterations - replacing "Old No. "Jack Daniel's loves dogs and appreciates a good joke as much as anyone," the company told the justices in a brief. "But Jack Daniel's likes its customers even more, and doesn't want them confused or associating its fine whiskey with dog poop." VIP Products has said a ruling favoring Jack Daniel's would make it easier for trademark owners to stifle free speech.

☆ Reactions to ICC's arrest warrant for Putin citing Ukraine war crimes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Roman Baluk/File PhotoMarch 17 (Reuters) - Following are reactions to the news on Friday that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes." RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN MARIA ZAKHAROVA"The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view. Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it." I welcome the decision of the International Criminal Court."

☆ ICC judges issue arrest warrant for Putin over war crimes in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMSTERDAM, March 17 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Friday against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine. She added that Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty underpinning the world's permanent war crimes tribunal. In its first warrant for Ukraine, the ICC called for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago. The ICC said in a statement Putin stands accused of the war crime of unlawful deportation from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

☆ Why American whiskey is the real winner of St. Patrick’s Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —On St. Patrick’s Day, it might seem appropriate to knock back a shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey. “Spirits consumers appreciate the rich heritage, tradition and authenticity of American whiskey,” Lisa Hawkins, senior vice president for public affairs for DISCUS, told CNN. Another factor in the growth of the American whiskey market is small distilleries that are becoming attractions themselves, where people can sample the whiskey and see how it is made. “These unique experiences have helped to introduce more consumers to American whiskey and build excitement for both legacy and newer brands in the category,” Hawkins said. American whiskey is the most popular top spirit to be exported, with the European Union being its biggest market.

☆ Son of Uganda's president says to stand for leadership in 2026
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Uganda's opposition has long accused Museveni of seeking to impose a monarchy on Uganda and claimed he was grooming his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba to take over from him. Currently a special presidential advisor for special operations, the 48 year-old general is known for firing off controversial tweets that have earned him reprimands from his father. "The Prime Minister of UK is 42 years old, the Prime Minister of Finland is 37 years. Museveni not yet said whether he intends to stand again in 2026, although his supporters have encouraged him to do so. Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hereward Holland; Sofia Christensen and Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ukraine says allies' concerns hamper talks on war compensation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine says receiving compensation from Russia is vital for its future. If it doesn't do it voluntarily, (let's) fill a (compensation) fund with Russian money, foreign exchange reserves, Russian assets," Mudra told Reuters in an interview this week. She did not identify the countries that had expressed such concerns but said Ukraine was trying to allay their fears. Despite the obstacles ahead, Mudra said Ukraine hoped that an international mechanism for compensating Ukraine would be established within a year. "This is the first - and an extremely important - step in the creation of this compensation mechanism," Mudra said.

☆ Exclusive: Tons of uranium missing from Libyan site, IAEA tells member states
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Francois Murphy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary IAEA inspectors visited site not controlled by govtInspection postponed since 2022 over security situationWatchdog found 10 barrels of natural uranium missingIAEA sees possible radiological risk, security concernsVIENNA, March 15 (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors have found that roughly 2.5 tons of natural uranium have gone missing from a Libyan site that is not under government control, the watchdog told member states in a statement on Wednesday seen by Reuters. IAEA inspectors "found that 10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of UOC (uranium ore concentrate) previously declared by (Libya) ... as being stored at that location were not present at the location," the one-page statement said. "The loss of knowledge about the present location of nuclear material may present a radiological risk, as well as nuclear security concerns," it said, adding that reaching the site required "complex logistics". Since 2014, political control has been split between rival eastern and western factions, with the last major bout of conflict ending in 2020. Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK employers feel the strain of missing skilled workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( William Schomberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

But past attempts to train up more workers have seen the problem get worse by some measures, and any big improvement to the post-16 skills system is likely to take years. TRAINING REVAMPWithout a rapid overhaul of the training system, Britain's pool of highly skilled adults is likely to shrink further relative to other countries, the OECD has warned. Employers groups are calling on Hunt to tackle a key part of how training is funded in his budget speech. Corporate leaders acknowledge employers also need to do more themselves, and prioritize training even in lean times. "You're slowing down really quite a lot to go at the pace of the education system," he said of his company, which began as a print management firm in 1996.

☆ Over a dozen Chinese-based firms say they have minimal exposure to SVB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG, March 13 (Reuters) - Over a dozen Hong Kong-listed companies have stepped forward to say they had little or no exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, the failed U.S. lender which has roiled investors and markets globally. Startup-focussed SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O), which did business as Silicon Valley Bank, collapsed on Friday in the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. China-based drug developer Beigene Ltd (6160.HK) said it has uninsured cash deposits held at the bank representing 3.9% of its last reported total cash and cash equivalents. Six Hong Kong-listed companies, mostly Chinese pharmaceutical firms also over the weekend disclosed cash deposits at Silicon Valley Bank. Broncus Holding Corporation (2216.HK) said it held $11.8 million at SVB, representing around 6.5% of its total cash.

☆ ICC to seek warrants against Russians over alleged Ukraine war crimes - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Anthony Deutsch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It was unclear which Russian individuals the ICC prosecutor would seek warrants for or exactly when, but the warrants could include the crime of genocide, said the source. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago. He highlighted during four trips to Ukraine that he was looking at alleged crimes against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure. A U.S.-backed report by Yale University researchers last month said Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children at sites in Russian-held Crimea. Russia has strongly denied that its forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

[1/2] A notice hangs on the door of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) located in San Francisco, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. "Silicon Valley Bank cannot be allowed to fail given the vital community it serves," Bank of London co-founder and CEO Anthony Watson said. But an executive at a major UK bank said it was unlikely a high street lender would buy SVB UK because its credit products would not be a good fit for a mainstream bank. EXISTENTIAL THREATMore than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday calling for government intervention and warned of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector, a copy seen by Reuters shows. Sunak has said he wants to turn Britain into the "next Silicon Valley".

☆ UK races to minimise SVB fallout amid reports of potential buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Andrew Macaskill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] A notice hangs on the door of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) located in San Francisco, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. SoftBank-owned lender OakNorth Bank is weighing a bid to buy Silicon Valley Bank UK Ltd, a person with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, confirming a Sky News report. EXISTENTIAL THREATMore than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday calling for government intervention and warned of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector, a copy seen by Reuters shows. Hunt reiterated comments by the BoE that overall, Silicon Valley Bank had a limited presence in Britain and did not perform functions critical to the financial system. Sunak has said he wants to turn Britain into the "next Silicon Valley".

☆ Payments firm Wise says it has 'minimal' exposure to Silicon Valley Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - Payments firm Wise became the biggest European company to reveal it held funds in Silicon Valley Bank on Sunday, but a spokesperson said the firm faced "minimal exposure". London-based Wise, formerly known as TransferWise, processes more than 9 billion pounds ($10.83 billion) in cross-border transactions every month. A company spokesperson told Reuters the firm held a small cash balance in a corporate account with SVB. More than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday, calling for government intervention and warning of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector. ($1 = 0.8314 pounds)Reporting by Martin Coulter; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Government vows aid for tech firms but Israel stocks slide on SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Israel's tech sector is the country's main growth engine, and its relationship with the Silicon Valley region is strong. NextVision (NXSN.TA), a maker of micro stabilised cameras, said in a regulatory filing in Tel Aviv that it withdrew on Thursday almost all of the $2.7 million it held in SVB. The Tel Aviv index of the five largest banks (.TELBANK5) was down 4% in afternoon trading, while the index of eight insurers (.TAINS) fell 4.7%. Israel's two largest banks, Leumi (LUMI.TA) and Hapoalim (POLI.TA), said their tech banking arms would issue loans to startups and other tech firms that were without access to credit in the wake of SVB's collapse. Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Frank Jack Daniel and Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "Jack Daniel"

25 mentions found