DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

[1/3] U.S. President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks during a virtual Summit for Democracy, which he is hosting from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, U.S., March 29, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden announced new funding to bolster democracies around the world at a meeting on Wednesday, although dozens of countries were holding back on a summit declaration laying out commitments to democratic principles. "To meet the rising challenges to democracy worldwide, we commit to strengthen democratic institutions and processes and build resilience," the declaration said. A senior administration official said the declaration remained open and additional countries could still endorse it. Biden announced over $400 million for similar programs in 2021 when he last held such an event.

DeSantis' muddled messaging on Ukraine and the multiple legal investigations into Trump mean that this year’s primary race “is a vast sea of uncertainty,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist and former DeSantis pollster. Metals magnate and donor Andy Sabin backed Trump in 2016 and 2020 but is now planning to spend money in the Republican primary on “anybody but Trump." Enthusiastic crowds of Trump supporters were mostly quiet when he mocked DeSantis at two recent rallies. For now, despite the volatility, Trump and DeSantis remain the two leading contenders, said David Tamasi, a Republican donor and lobbyist. "You have two candidates getting 75-80% of the vote," said Tamasi, who previously backed Trump but is not this time.

Biden's 2024 race will be different, aides and Democratic party officials say. The race to host the party convention is now down to two cities, sources say: Chicago and Atlanta. Chicago's pull is rooted in tradition, deep-pocketed donors and union ties, while Atlanta's appeal reflects the power of Georgia's grassroots networks and the importance to the party of Black voters and a racially diverse electorate. Top Democratic political officials in eight Midwestern states wrote Biden last week to push for a Chicago convention. CHICAGO, UNION TOWNHolding the convention in Chicago would put Biden in a Democratic powerhouse, where the party controls the legislature and executive branches.

☆ DeSantis to travel to Israel ahead of likely 2024 White House bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The trip, which is being billed by DeSantis’ office as a trade mission, follows a longstanding tradition for Republicans seeking the White House but comes at a particularly volatile moment. “At a time of unnecessarily strained relations between Jerusalem and Washington, Florida serves as a bridge between the American and Israeli people,” DeSantis said in the release. As Florida's governor, DeSantis has vowed to be a staunch ally of Israel and led a trade delegation there in 2019. The White House said it had no comment on DeSantis’ plans, while maintaining administration officials have been regularly in touch with the Israeli government during the crisis. DeSantis is widely expected to enter the 2024 race once the Florida Legislature concludes its current session in early May.

The decision propelled Israel into a national crisis with massive protests that forced Netanyahu to delay the move on Monday. "We haven't taken a hands-off approach," said a senior administration official. Dennis Ross, a veteran U.S. peace negotiator between Israelis and Arabs, said the Biden administration had expressed its misgivings about Israel’s judicial proposals but had done so privately where possible. Halie Soifer, chief executive officer of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said the way the Biden administration has handled this crisis thus far is in keeping with Biden's commitment to the U.S.-Israel partnership. But, keeping a distance from Netanyahu, Biden has yet to invite him to visit the White House since the Israeli began his sixth term as prime minister in December.

☆ Russia fails at UN to get Nord Stream blast inquiry
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

UNITED NATIONS, March 27 (Reuters) - Russia failed on Monday to get the U.N. Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into explosions in September on the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany that spewed gas into the Baltic Sea. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, the United States or Britain to pass. They said in a joint letter to the Security Council that the damage was caused by "powerful explosions due to sabotage." The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have also called the incident "an act of sabotage." Russia has complained that it has not been kept informed about the ongoing national investigations.

☆ Three children, 2 adults killed in Nashville school shooting, suspect dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 27 (Reuters) - At least three children and two adults were killed in a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday morning. Police "engaged" the suspected attacker, leaving the suspect dead, local officials said. The shooting happened at The Covenant School, where the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a statement that the suspect was dead but did not specify what led to the death. Three children were pronounced dead after arriving at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt with gunshot wounds, John Howser, a hospital spokesperson, said in a statement. The Covenant School, founded in 2001, is a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville with about 200 students, according to the school's website.

JERUSALEM, March 24 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers flocked to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan for noon prayers, which passed peacefully amid tight security imposed after months of escalating tension and violence. "I cannot describe to you how happy I am to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque. I'm 50 years old and they only recently removed the security ban that had prevented me from coming here," said Nasser Abu Saleh, a resident of the West Bank city of Hebron. The Muslim Waqf, custodians who manage the site which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said around 100,000 people had visited for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan. [1/5] Palestinians make their way through an Israeli checkpoint to attend the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 24, 2023.

☆ Exclusive: IAEA confirms almost all missing uranium in Libya now accounted for
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Francois Murphy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

VIENNA, March 24 (Reuters) - Most of the roughly 2.5 tons of natural uranium ore concentrate (UOC) recently declared missing from a site in Libya have been found at that site, the U.N. nuclear watchdog told member states on Friday in a statement seen by Reuters. The International Atomic Energy Agency informed member states in a similar confidential statement on March 15 first reported by Reuters that 10 drums containing the UOC had gone missing from a Libyan site not under government control. "During the (inspection), Agency inspectors observed that drums that had not been present at the declared location at the time of the previous (inspection) had since been brought back and left in close proximity to the declared location," it said. "Agency inspectors confirmed that these drums contained UOC and witnessed their transfer back to within the declared location for storage," the statement added. Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ No Trump bump in New Hampshire as possible criminal charges loom
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

LACONIA, New Hampshire, March 24 (Reuters) - Longtime Donald Trump supporter Doug Lambert agrees with the former president that the potential criminal charges he faces in New York are being cooked up by his enemies on the left. But, Lambert worries about the "messiness" of a Trump presidential candidacy and is leaning towards voting for someone else. In a University of New Hampshire poll in January, likely Republican voters preferred DeSantis over Trump by a 12-point margin, 42% to 30%, with Sununu at 4%. "The more indictments, the more points of leverage a DeSantis or whoever can use to make the case against Trump." Reporting by Nathan Layne in Laconia, New Hampshire Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"This is not a good moment for American diplomacy," said William Kirby, a professor of Chinese studies at Harvard University. A source familiar with that conversation called it the most antagonistic U.S.-China engagement since contentious talks in Alaska early in the Biden administration. Name me one," Biden said in his speech, evidently referring to a host of domestic and foreign policy challenges facing China. However, Biden is likely to find Xi emboldened in any call after a Chinese-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran and his meetings with Putin. Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina Editing by Don Durfee and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The hiring of a major national campaign figure represents a key step by DeSantis's allies to prepare for a formal launch of his 2024 campaign. In recent weeks, DeSantis has toured states including Iowa and Nevada, which are key stops in the Republican nominating contest. Advisers have also begun identifying potential operatives in those states and have begun collecting resumes for a national campaign staff, sources close to the governor said. Roe is a close advisor to Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who is also seen as a potential contender for the Republican nomination. Representatives for Never Back Down, Roe and Youngkin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

[1/3] U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stand on stage together after delivering remarks at the DNC 2023 Winter Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., February 3, 2023. Biden could lose crucial votes if he were to drop Harris, who is both the first Black and Asian-American U.S. vice president. While the vice president has disappointed some inside her party, Democrats see opportunity in the 2024 race. He leans on her a lot," said Cedric Richmond, a former congressman and former senior adviser in Biden's White House. "That was not her assignment," said the third former White House official, referring to reducing migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border broadly.

☆ Facing spying claims, Mexico president says activist's phone call was recorded
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, March 23 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday confirmed for the first time that the government monitored the phone of a human rights activist, saying it was part of a probe into a suspected gang member. Lopez Obrador has repeatedly denied allegations that his government has spied on activists, journalists and opponents, while saying it does intelligence work to fight crime. On Thursday, he said the government had access to Ramos' phone because officials were investigating a suspected criminal that he said the activist had spoken to. "This citizen ... was speaking on the phone to a suspected drug trafficker," Lopez Obrador said in a regular news conference. Lopez Obrador has said the government doesn't use Pegasus.

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's team is leaning toward basing his 2024 re-election campaign in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, and is considering at least three people to serve as his campaign manager, Democratic sources familiar with the matters said. Philadelphia, home to Biden's 2020 campaign operations, has also been under consideration, the sources said. The president is considering at least three people for the role of campaign manager, according to Democratic sources familiar with the deliberations. Jen O'Malley Dillon, who served as Biden's campaign manager in 2020, has ruled out returning to the role in 2024, two sources said. Now deputy chief of staff at the White House, she will be influential in selecting who takes the reins for the 2024 race, one source said.

☆ Scranton to Biden: Love ya, Joe. But a 2024 run?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/6] A photograph of Jim Connors, 76, former Mayor of Scranton, with U.S. President Joe Biden hangs in his home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S., March 10, 2023. Despite those strong ties, interviews with about two dozen Scranton voters show many harbor deep concerns about Biden running again. Many Scranton residents say they might back Biden again in 2024, albeit without much enthusiasm. Biden is also supporting a plan to build a new rail line from Scranton to New York City. “So, when I think about President Biden, I don't just think about President Biden being our hometown son," Cognetti said.

A case would be a historic first as no current or former U.S. president has ever been criminally charged. Officials are meeting at New York Police Department headquarters to plan for the indictment, according to an unnamed person involved in the planning, Politico reported. "We’ll be discussing how we bring Trump in," the person involved in the planning was quoted as saying. Trump has denied the affair happened and called the investigation by Bragg, a Democrat, a witch hunt. The New York probe is one of several legal inquiries Trump faces.

☆ Donald Trump could be charged any day - what happens next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Trump has denied the affair, and his lawyer has accused Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, of extortion. Were he charged, Trump would become the first former U.S. president to face criminal prosecution. While serving as president, Trump reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payments, and federal prosecutors who charged Cohen said in court papers that the payments were falsely recorded as for legal services. Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told CNBC on Friday that Trump would surrender if charged. If Trump refused to come in voluntarily, prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida, where he currently resides.

Trump did not say he had been formally notified of forthcoming charges and provided no evidence of leaks from the district attorney's office. A Trump spokesperson said in a statement to reporters that, “There has been no notification," beyond leaks to the media. Bragg's office earlier this month invited Trump to testify before the grand jury probing the payment, which legal experts said was a sign that an indictment was close. Cohen, who served time in prison after pleading guilty, testified before the grand jury this week. Grand jury proceedings are not public.

But unspent COVID aid is a small target, with less than $80 billion unspent as of January, White House budget figures show. CARPENTERS, VETERANS AND MEDICAL RESEARCHReclaiming unspent COVID funds would have real-world repercussions. A clawback could also affect veterans' healthcare, as the Department of Veterans Affairs has yet to spend $4.6 billion of the money it received for COVID-19 related care. Republican governors of Nebraska and Arkansas last year rejected a second round of aid for people behind on their rent. Republican Senator Rick Scott in January urged governors and mayors to voluntarily return that money to help pay down federal debt.

[1/2] A backyard pool is left hanging on a cliffside after torrential rain brought havoc on the beachfront town of San Clemente, California, U.S. March 16, 2023. REUTERS/Mike BlakeSAN CLEMENTE, California, March 16 (Reuters) - As heavy rains soaked into already sodden ground in California, mudslides in the beachfront community of San Clemente forced evacuations of blufftop homes this week and in one case left a swimming pool dangling partway off the cliff edge. This week, the 11th atmospheric river of the season dumped more torrential rain, causing power outages and risking flooding from the already saturated soils and swollen streams. Although the rain had finally tapered off in the area by Thursday, forecasters have warned that another storm could be incoming next week. Reporting by Mike Blake, Writing by Rosalba O'Brien Editing by Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: Trump, DeSantis offer stark contrast in first Iowa forays
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on education as he holds a campaign rally with supporters, in Davenport, Iowa, U.S. March 13, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstDAVENPORT, Iowa, March 14 (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis descended upon the same Iowa town in recent days, putting the differences between the potential Republican presidential rivals in stark relief. "I don't think you're going to do so well here," Trump said of DeSantis, "but we're going to find out." Leaving Trump's event, Iowa City voter John Schneider, 69, said he has supported Trump in the past but now will be eyeing DeSantis and other potential contenders as they barnstorm the state in the coming months. Reporting by James Oliphant in Davenport, Iowa Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ DeSantis makes Iowa debut as Trump waits in wings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Iowa could be particularly crucial for DeSantis, who is expected to jump into the 2024 White House race later in the spring. Addressing a welcoming crowd at a casino in Davenport, Iowa, DeSantis boasted about his policy record in Florida and blasted the Democratic Biden administration on issues such as crime and immigration. Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party, believes Iowa voters are eager to hear from DeSantis, who polls show to be Trump's biggest rival for the nomination. Randy Yaddof, 71, of Davenport described himself as a Trump supporter but said after listening to DeSantis he was considering backing the Florida governor. A Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released on Friday showed declining favorability ratings for Trump among Iowa Republicans.

The disclosure by the Friends of DeSantis group, which was formed to back DeSantis' campaigns in Florida's 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial elections, points to it having about $80 million in the bank at the end of last month. read moreFriends of DeSantis' bank account puts DeSantis on a similar financial footing as Trump, who unlike DeSantis has formally launched a 2024 presidential campaign. Trump and an allied Super PAC he has financed reported having close to $80 million across several fundraising accounts at the end of 2022. The Friends of DeSantis group, which is registered in Florida to support DeSantis' gubernatorial campaigns, would also be unable to legally finance a presidential run by DeSantis. Friends of DeSantis said in its disclosure that it has raised $222 million since its founding, including $9.9 million in February, and has spent $140 million.

Overall, the budget would increase federal spending in the twelve months starting in October to $6.8 trillion from the $6.2 trillion expected to be spent in the current fiscal year. Biden's budget proposal faces stiff opposition from Republican lawmakers emboldened by winning control of the House of Representatives in November's midterm elections. Biden, asked for areas of possible compromise with Republicans, told reporters at the White House: "We'll see what their budget is." Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget advocacy group, said the budget did not go nearly far enough to rein in dangerous debt levels. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan Washington think tank, said Biden deserved credit for for putting forward $3 trillion in deficit reduction.

Search resuls for: "Alistair Bell"

25 mentions found