DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Pakistan govt lifts petrol, diesel prices by 35 rupees a litre
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 29 (Reuters) - Pakistan's ministry of finance announced on Sunday petrol and diesel prices would rise by 35 rupees ($0.1400) a litre after the country's currency value plummeted this week when price caps were removed. "We will have to take the rise in international oil prices and the devaluation of the rupee into account," he said. The day before, Reuters witnesses reported some petrol stations had long lines outside as residents filled their tanks due to speculation that prices would soon rise. Pakistan is in the midst of a balance of payments crisis and the plummeting value of the Pakistani rupee will push up the price of imported goods. ($1 = 250.0000 Pakistani rupees)Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield and Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Muralikumar AnantharamanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ At least 10 children killed in Pakistan as boat capsizes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PESHAWAR, Jan 29 (Reuters) - At least 10 children were killed on Sunday when a boat carrying religious school students capsized in northwest Pakistan, officials said. Around eight students were still missing while seven injured had been taken to hospital, according to local officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the accident took place. Kohat's district commissioner Mahmood Aslam said around 50 students from a local religious school, had gathered near Tanda lake for a picnic. Twenty-five had ventured out on the water - which was closed by authorities for recreational trips - on a boat that capsized, he said. The accident came the same day as a bus accident in southern Pakistan that killed more than 40 people.

☆ Bus crash in southern Pakistan kills at least 41
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 29 (Reuters) - More than 40 people were killed after a bus fell into a ravine and caught fire in the southern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Sunday, officials said. Forty-one bodies had been recovered from the wreckage, some burned beyond recognition, district police officer Israr Umrani told Reuters. The bus carrying around 48 people crashed on the way from Balochistan's capital of Quetta to the southern city of Karachi, officials said. Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads in many rural areas are in poor condition. At least 22 people were killed in June, including nine members of one family when a passenger van fell into deep ravine in Balochistan.

☆ U.S. Seeks Security Council Allies Against Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Michael M. Phillips | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Members of Mozambique’s delegation at the U.N. celebrate last June after the nation is elected to one of five nonpermanent seats on the Security Council. MAPUTO, Mozambique—The U.S. is trying to persuade Mozambique, an African country long friendly to Moscow, to use its new seat on the United Nations Security Council to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The American ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield , visited the southern African country this week, telling the government that neutrality wasn’t an option when a big power invades a smaller neighbor in violation of a U.N. Charter that Security Council members are bound to uphold.

☆ Eritrea troops still on Ethiopian soil - U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Eritrean troops fought alongside the Ethiopian military and allied militias in the two-year conflict that pitted the Ethiopian government against rebellious forces in the northern region of Tigray. In November, however, the Ethiopia government and the Tigray forces signed an agreement to end the hostilities. The possible continuing presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray thus has been seen as a key obstacle to effective implementation of the deal. A senior Ethiopia military officer briefing foreign officials on Saturday denied there were any Eritrean troops in the country. A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces, Getachew Reda,dismissed claims that the Eritrean troops had left Tigray and said "thousands" were still there.

☆ Afghan female students not allowed to sit university entrance exam
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education ordered private universities in Afghanistan not to allow female students to sit university entrance exams next month, underscoring its policy to restrict women from tertiary education. A letter from the ministry was addressed to institutions in Afghanistan's northern provinces, including Kabul, where exams are due to take place from the end of February. The letter said those institutions that did not observe the rules would face legal action. The Higher Education Ministry in December told universities not to allow female students "until further notice". Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield, Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ More than 160 Afghans die in bitterly cold weather
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"162 people have died due to cold weather since January 10 until now," said Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Minister of Disaster Management. Nearby, 30-year-old shopkeeper Ashour Ali lives with his family in a concrete basement, where his five children shiver from cold. "This year, the weather is extremely cold and we couldn't buy coal for ourselves," he said, adding the small amount he makes from his shop was no longer enough for fuel. "The children wake up from the cold and cry at night until the morning. Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Gulf investors bid for India's Adani Enterprises' $2.5 bln FPO - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Mubadala Investment Co PJSC and BNP Paribas SA (BNPP.PA) have also bid for shares, the report said, adding that the anchor book was oversubscribed about two times. Adani Enterprises last week set the floor price for India's largest FPO at 3,112 rupees per share with a price cap of 3,276 rupees apiece. While bidding for anchor investors began on Wednesday, bidding for retail investors will commence from Friday, with the offer closing for both sets of investors on Jan. 31. Spokespersons for Adani Enterprises, LIC and SBI Life did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Adani has said it will use 108.69 billion rupees from the FPO to fund green hydrogen projects, airports facilities and greenfield expressways.

☆ U.N. aid chief asks Taliban authorities for more exemptions to female NGO worker ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Charlotte Greenfield | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The U.N. aid chief said on Wednesday the humanitarian community was speaking with Taliban officials to try and gain further exemptions and written guidelines to allow some female aid workers to operate despite a ban on women NGO staff. Taliban authorities ordered NGOs, many of whom carry out operations for the United Nations, to stop most female staff working last month. Griffiths said some exemptions to the ban had been granted in health and education and they were hearing signs of a possible exemption in agriculture. A spokesperson for the Taliban administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans over guidelines. "It's very important to engage with the Taliban movement as a whole, that includes ... Kandahar, and also with Taliban at the provincial levels," he said.

☆ U.N. aid chief raises women's rights concerns with Taliban in Afghan capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations' aid chief visited Kabul on Monday and raised concerns over women's education and work with the Taliban administration's acting minister of foreign affairs, an Afghan ministry statement said. U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths raised the issue of women's education and work and how this affected the U.N.'s operations, according to a ministry of foreign affairs statement. He said Griffiths would "underscore the message that humanitarian aid cannot be delivered without women." No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban administration since it seized power, with some diplomats saying it must change course on women's rights. Enforcement of sanctions and a cut in development aid have contributed to the country falling into an economic crisis which has left more than half the population dependent on humanitarian aid, aimed at meeting urgent needs.

☆ India's Adani Group plans to demerge more business; dismisses debt concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( M. Sriram | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, Jan 21 (Reuters) - India's Adani Group, controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, plans to spin off more businesses by 2028 and dismisses any debt concerns, the group's chief financial officer told Reuters. The Adani group has spun off its power, coal, transmission and green energy business in the last five-seven years. The company plans to use the money to fund green hydrogen projects, airport facilities and Greenfield expressways, besides paring its debt, it earlier said. CreditSights, part of the Fitch Group, described the Adani Group in September 2022, as "overleveraged" and said it had "concerns" over its debt. "Nobody has raised debt concerns to us.

☆ Deputy U.N. chief pushes women's rights during visit to Taliban heartland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed expressed alarm to Taliban officials in Kandahar over violations of women's rights in Afghanistan, the United Nations said on Friday after she made a rare visit to the Taliban's southern heartland. Mohammed finished a four-day visit to Afghanistan on Friday, also meeting Taliban officials in the capital Kabul after the administration banned most female aid workers and stopped women and girls from attending high school and university. The U.N. General Assembly last month postponed for the second time a decision on whether the Taliban administration can send an ambassador to New York. Dozens of Taliban leaders are also subject to U.N. sanctions. No government has formally recognized the Taliban administration since it seized power in August 2021.

"This was my road to Damascus experience, a turning point in my understanding of the role of talent density in organizations," Hastings wrote. Hastings credits the company's culture of internal transparency and innovation, which endows top-performers with unusual autonomy, for Netflix's success. "This is a big psychological change for Netflix," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData. "There's no big strategy shifts or big culture shifts," he said in a post-earnings video interview with an analyst. They'll also need to find new sources of revenue, including in video games -- where Netflix will confront established rivals.

☆ Freezing temperatures kill 78 people in Afghanistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 19 (Reuters) - At least 78 people have died of cold in Afghanistan during the country's worst winter in more than a decade, authorities said on Thursday. The coldest winter in 15 years, which has seen temperatures dip as low as -34 degrees Celsius (-29.2 degrees Fahrenheit), has hit Afghanistan in the middle of a severe economic crisis. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said last week that the restrictions on female workers were hampering efforts to deliver aid. "Humanitarian partners are providing winterization support to families, including heating, cash for fuel and warm clothes, but distributions have been severely impacted by the ... ban on female NGO aid workers," it said. "Lost livelihoods and assets further endanger Afghan families at a time when 21.2 million people urgently need continued food and agricultural support," said UNOCHA on Twitter.

☆ Netflix is back: LightShed's Rich Greenfield on the streaming giant's earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Melissa Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNetflix is back: LightShed's Rich Greenfield on the streaming giant's earningsLightShed Partners' Rich Greenfield weighs in on Netflix earnings. With CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Tim Seymour, Bonawyn Eison, Steve Grasso and Guy Adami.

☆ Deputy U.N. chief has talks in Afghanistan on women's rights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The United Nations deputy secretary-general discussed women's rights with Afghanistan's acting foreign minister on Wednesday after the Taliban authorities banned most female aid workers and stopped women and girls from attending high school and university. Amina Mohammed has also met with U.N. staff, aid groups and Afghan women "to take stock of the situation, convey solidarity, and discuss ways to promote and protect women's and girls rights," deputy U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York. In those talks, Mohammed "stressed the need to uphold human rights, especially for women and girls" and was "encouraged by exemptions" to the ban on female aid workers, Haq said. The Taliban administration on Dec. 24 ordered local and foreign aid organisations to stop female staff from working until further notice, days after it banned women from universities. Many aid groups, some of whom carry out humanitarian work under contracts with the United Nations, stopped operations following the ban.

☆ On King’s holiday, daughter calls for bold action over words
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Bernice King, who leads The King Center in Atlanta, said leaders — especially politicians — too often cheapen her father’s legacy into a “comfortable and convenient King” offering easy platitudes. The service, organized by the center and held at Ebenezer annually, headlined observances of the 38th federal King holiday. ... A prophetic word calls for an inconvenience because it challenges us to change our hearts, our minds and our behavior,” Bernice King said. At Ebenezer, Warnock, who has led the congregation for 17 years, hailed his predecessor’s role in securing ballot access for Black Americans. But, like Bernice King, the senator warned against a reductive understanding of King.

☆ Japan's JERA signs ammonia supply MOUs with Yara, CF Industries
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO: The logo of JERA Co., Inc., the world's biggest LNG buyer, is displayed at the company office in Tokyo, Japan July 14, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato(Reuters) - Japan’s biggest power generator JERA signed ammonia supply memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with CF Industries of the United States and Norway’s Yara Clean Ammonia Norge AS, as it aims to co-fire ammonia to reduce emissions, it said on Tuesday. Under the MOUs, JERA agreed with Yara and separately with CF Industries to look at the possibility of buying up to 500,000 tonnes of clean ammonia per year for the 20% co-firing operations at the Hekinan Thermal Power Plant Unit 4 in Japan. As part of the agreement, JERA and CF Industries, the world’s top ammonia producer, would study ‘potential supply options, including an equity investment alongside CF Industries to develop a greenfield clean ammonia facility in Louisiana, as well as a supplementary long-term offtake agreement from CF Industries’ Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana, the U.S. company said separately. Yara and JERA also plan to collaborate on blue ammonia production in the U.S. Gulf and to produce more than 1 million tons per annum, according to a separate statement issued by Yara on Tuesday.

☆ Aid groups resume some Afghan operations with female healthworkers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Taliban administration last month ordered local and foreign aid organisations to stop letting female staff work until further notice. Many NGOs suspended operations in response, saying they needed female workers to reach women in the conservative country. "Last week, the Ministry of Public Health offered assurances that female health staff, and those working in office support roles, can resume working. A spokesperson the Afghan Ministry of Public Health told Reuters that they had not stopped any health-related activities. "Due to a misunderstanding they stopped their health services and now they have restarted their health services," he told Reuters.

☆ Former female Afghan MP shot dead in Kabul - police
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KABUL, Jan 16 (Reuters) - A former female member of Afghanistan's parliament has been killed by unknown gunmen at her home in Kabul, police said. Mursal Nabizada and her guard were shot dead and her brother was injured in Sunday's attack, police said. "The security forces have started a serious investigation regarding the case to find the criminals," police said in a statement. Nabizada had been a lawmaker until the Taliban took over as foreign forces withdrew in 2021, when many politicians fled the country. Nabizada had been elected as a member of the lower house of parliament in 2018 to represent Kabul, according to local broadcaster Tolo.

☆ U.N. extends aid to Syria from Turkey, avoids Russia fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Despite Western animosity toward Russia over its invasion of Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, the council avoided a usual fight over approval of aid deliveries into Syria from Turkey. The current approval of the U.N. aid operation was due to expire on Tuesday. Russia, which has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that began in 2011, argues that the aid operation violates Syria's sovereignty. The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. Russia says more aid should be delivered from inside Syria, but opponents of Assad fear that food and other aid would fall under government control.

☆ Taliban criticises Prince Harry over Afghan killings comment
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Harry's highly personal book "Spare" went on sale in Spain days before its global launch on Jan. 10. When asked about Harry's comments, a spokesperson for Britain's Ministry of Defence said: "We do not comment on operational details for security reasons." Representatives of Prince Harry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As is usual for the royal family, spokespeople for King Charles and Prince William have declined to comment. Some of those who were willing to talk said they thought Harry had gone too far.

[1/5] A doctor visits patients in a hospital following an increase in the number of pneumonia cases in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 17, 2022. Every time 10-month old Rahmat's parents bring him home from the crowded, but warmer hospital, they say he gets sick again. Doctors and aid workers say thousands of children are being admitted to hospital with pneumonia and other respiratory diseases caused by the cold and malnutrition. Hospital figures showed more than 6,7000 children were admitted in November for pneumonia, coughs, asthma and other respiratory conditions, compared to around 3,700 the same month the previous year. In a ward dedicated to pneumonia patients at the hospital, babies lay two or three to a bed, with worried parents and a handful of stretched medical staff overseeing them.

☆ Afghanistan's Taliban administration in oil extraction deal with Chinese company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Mohammad Yunus Yawar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban-led administration is to sign a contract with a Chinese company to extract oil from the Amu Darya basin in the country's north, the acting mining minister said on Thursday. It will be the first major public commodities extraction deal the Taliban administration has signed with an foreign company since taking power in 2021. "The Amu Darya oil contract is an important project between China and Afghanistan," China's ambassador, Wang Yu, told the news conference. China has not formally recognised the Taliban administration but it has significant interests in a country at the centre of a region important for its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The Chinese company will invest $150 million a year in Afghanistan under the contract, the spokesperson for the Taliban-run administration, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter.

☆ Taliban seeks economic self-sufficiency and foreign investment for Afghanistan, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Mohammad Yunus Yawar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The Taliban administration will encourage self-sufficiency and wants international trade and investment, the acting commerce minister said, as Afghanistan faces isolation and suspension of some humanitarian operations over restrictions on women. Another part of their strategy was to boost trade and foreign investment, he said. He said that countries including Iran, Russia and China were interested in trade and investment. Already facing a lack of formal recognition and sanctions hampering the country's banking sector, investors are faced with growing security concerns after attacks on foreign targets in Kabul, claimed by the Islamic State. He added that foreign investors were showing interest in Afghanistan's mining sector, which has been valued at more than $1 trillion.

Search resuls for: "GREENFIELD"

25 mentions found