DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

KINSHASA, March 24 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi has appointed the country's former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was detained for over 10 years for war crimes, as the country's defence minister in a sweeping government reshuffle. The reshuffle, which was more extensive than observers had predicted, came ahead of an expected presidential election on Dec. 20, in which Tshisekedi is likely to seek a second term. "This a deeply political shuffle," said Jason Stearns, Director of the Congo Research Group and Professor at Canada's Simon Fraser University. Tshisekedi appointed Vital Kamerhe, his former chief of staff who was released from prison in Dec. 2021 following as embezzlement conviction, as economy minister. Bemba, a former rebel leader was arrested in 2008 by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his troops in the Central African Republic between 2002 and 2003.

☆ South Sudan president fires defence and interior ministers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JUBA, March 4 (Reuters) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir has sacked two top security ministers, violating the terms of a peace agreement with opposition party leader First Vice President Riek Machar. Implementation of the deal, known as the Revitalized Peace Agreement for South Sudan, has been slow and the opposing forces have clashed frequently over disagreements about how to share power. In exchange, the president gave Machar's party the interior ministry. "The switch... is unilateral and a new cycle of violating the revitalized agreement," said Puok Both Baluang, Machar's spokesperson. Edmond Yakani, a leading civil rights activist and signatory of the peace agreement, said in a statement he urged the presidency to explain "why there is an exchange of information that demonstrates the violation of the peace agreement."

☆ Britain 'warming up' weapon output to help Ukraine, says defence minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Elizabeth Piper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is helped off a tank during a visit to Bovington Camp, a British Army military base in Dorset, to view Ukrainian soldiers training on Challenger 2 tanks, Britain February 22, 2023. In an interview with Reuters in southwest England where officers are training Ukrainian crews on Challenger-2 tanks, Wallace said he believed Britain was in a good place to help Ukraine but needed to sustain the provision of weapons. 'REASSURED'Standing at a tank training ground surrounded by armoured fighting vehicles and tanks, Wallace spoke to Ukrainian soldiers who were training to use Britain's Challenger tanks which the defence minister said would arrive in Ukraine in "the spring". London has also offered to train Ukrainian soldiers on war planes rather than delivering fighter jets as yet. Wallace said Britain could offer additional Challenger tanks to the 14 already promised, but that it would depend on the threat level and also the country's defence needs.

BENGALURU, Feb 13 (Reuters) - India wants to more than triple annual defence exports to $5 billion by 2024/25 from $1.5 billion currently as it looks to ramp up domestic manufacturing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday while inaugurating the Aero India show. "Today, India is not just a market for defence companies, it is also a potential defence partner," Modi said in his speech at the show. "I call on India's private sector to invest more and more in the country's defence sector." India, for decades one of the world's biggest importers of defence equipment, now exports to 75 countries, he added. India's airlines are also expanding, with Tata Group's Air India expected to announce a potentially record deal to buy nearly 500 jets from Airbus and Boeing, worth more than $100 billion at list prices.

☆ Factbox: Who is Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoiskiy?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Ukrainian business tycoon Ihor Kolomoiskiy speaks with journalists on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) annual meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine September 13, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn OgirenkoKYIV, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Ukrainian law enforcement and security officials searched the home of billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy on Wednesday. EARLY LIFEKolomoiskiy was born in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk, which was then part of the Soviet Union and is now known as Dnipro. SANCTIONSThe United States imposed travel sanctions on Kolomoiskiy in 2021 "due to his involvement in significant corruption", partly while serving as governor of Dnipropetrovsk. U.S. authorities have also alleged that Kolomoiskiy and a business partner laundered stolen funds through the United States.

☆ Ukrainian lawmakers draw up defence transparency bill after graft claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Ukraine's ruling party drew up a bill on Tuesday aiming to boost transparency in defence procurement after an army food contract became the subject of high-profile corruption allegations, according to parliament's website. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's team is trying to set out a tough stance against graft after the Defence Ministry was accused by a media outlet of overspending on food. Radina, a member of Zelenskiy's Servant of the People party, said the requirement would not be introduced for arms purchases. "We are obliged to ensure a level of transparency in procurement for the army, under which such scandals simply will not arise. Reporting by Olena Harmash; editing by Tom Balmforth and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ North Korea calls for normalising factories, economy after COVID 'upheaval'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Jan 19 (Reuters) - North Korea's parliament has outlined plans to normalise industrial production and meet its economic goals this year, despite the "worst-ever upheaval" amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2022, state media said on Thursday. The reclusive country's rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, held a two-day meeting from Tuesday to discuss government budget, economic policy and personnel changes, the official KCNA news agency said. The premier lauded the country for "successfully tackling the worst-ever upheaval since the founding of the country" amid the COVID-19 outbreak, despite "shortcomings" in implementing last year's plans. He called for normalising the production of metal factories and reinforcing iron mines and steel plants, and for operating chemical plants "at full capacity" to accelerate construction projects. The country will also take "strong measures" to supply equipment, materials and funds to boost coal production, Kim said.

REUTERS/Nir EliasSINGAPORE, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Israel's Cognyte Software Ltd (CGNT.O) won a tender to sell intercept spyware to a Myanmar state-backed telecommunications firm a month before the Asian nation's February 2021 military coup, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. Intercept spyware can give authorities the power to listen in on calls, view text messages and web traffic including emails, and track the locations of users without the assistance of telecom and internet firms. MPT uses intercept spyware, a source with direct knowledge of the matter and three people briefed on the issue told Reuters although they did not identify the vendor. Reuters was unable to determine whether the sale of Cognyte intercept technology to MPT was finalised. While intercept spyware is typically described as "dual-use" technology for civilian and defence purposes, Israeli law states that "dual-use" technology is classified as defence equipment.

☆ Japan PM floats possibility of snap election before defence budget tax hike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday floated the possibility of calling a snap election before a tax increase aimed at funding the country's defence budget comes into place "sometime after 2024". The government is set to implement tax increases to cover a shortfall of 1 trillion yen in the defence budget, despite stiff opposition from within the ruling coalition amid Kishida's sagging popularity. "We will be asking the general public to take on the (tax) burden for an appropriate period of time, starting from sometime after 2024 up to 2027. The next national election is due by 2025, unless Kishida calls for a snap election. Kishida revealed a new national security plan in mid-December and has pledged to double defence outlay to 2% of Japan's GDP by 2027.

☆ Three killed from falling drone wreckage at Russian military base in Saratov -Defence Ministry
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Three military personnel were killed as a result of wreckage from a Ukrainian drone falling on a military base in Russia's Saratov region, Russian agencies reported citing the country's defence ministry. "On December 26, at about 01:35 Moscow time, a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down at low altitude while approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region," the Russian Defence Ministry said. "As a result of the fall of the wreckage of the drone, three Russian servicemen of the technical staff who were at the airfield were fatally wounded." The ministry added that aviation equipment was not damaged. Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ukraine's 'cat and mouse' battle to keep Russian missiles at bay
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

It is ground-based air defence units that shoot down the vast majority of missiles and drones, not ageing warplanes, Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said. "Air defences don't remain in one place: we can't cover the whole country..." Ihnat said. "So we usually know what objects are under attack, we can build around those objects some kind of air defence," he said. "Our Soviet air defence system is being depleted - that is the S-300 and the BUK, which are the foundation. Western air defence systems supplied to Ukraine have performed well, but supplies are far short of what is needed, according to both air force officials.

That made Vietnam one of the top buyers of Russian arms, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks global military expenditures. Starting Thursday, the country will host its first large-scale international arms trade fair, for which more than 170 companies from 30 countries have registered, the defence ministry said. The Defence Ministry referred questions about the country's defence industry to the Foreign Ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment. A half-dozen Russian defence firms are registered for the Hanoi fair, including Rosoboronexport, the state agency that imports and exports weapons. That year, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced Vietnam's military imports to only $32 million, of which $9 million worth were Russian arms.

☆ New Zealand Navy idles ships as labour crisis hits
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The bottom line is "workforce issues are impacting ship availability to deliver naval outputs," an August note from the Chief of the Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short to the Minister of Defence said. The Defence Force said in May that it would spend 90 million New Zealand dollars ($57 million) over four years to raise the salaries of the lowest-paid workers. Having so few ships available makes it harder for the navy to handle multiple challenges at once, a New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) spokesperson said. New Zealand's Defence Force is also dealing with ageing equipment and a large number of personnel being assigned to border quarantine facilities. Minister of Defence Peeni Henare acknowledged in an email that staff losses were hurting the Defence Force, but said the government was committed to rebuilding it.

TOKYO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Japan, Britain and Italy will announce a groundbreaking agreement as early as next week to jointly develop a new advanced jet fighter, two sources with knowledge of the plan told Reuters. The push to merge the British led Tempest jet fighter project with Japan's F-X fighter programme was first reported by Reuters in July. It will be the first time that Japan has collaborated with countries beyond the United States on a major defence equipment project. The announcement will come before Japan releases a new national security strategy and military procurement plan around mid December, the sources said. Reporting by Tim Kelly Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ South Korea's Yoon looks to boost arms exports, develop defence tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Nov 24 (Reuters) - South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged on Thursday to step up efforts to boost weapons exports and secure cutting-edge defence technologies as he aims to build the country's weapons industry into the world's fourth-largest arms exporter. Yoon hosted a meeting on promoting defence exports for the first time since taking office in May, designed to explore ways to shift the mainstay of the industry to exports from domestic supplies. "The defence industry is a new future growth engine and the pivot of the high-tech industry," Yoon told the meeting held at Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd (047810.KS), South Korea's sole warplane developer located in the southeastern city of Sacheon. In August, Yoon unveiled a goal of nurturing the country's defence industry into the world's fourth-largest, after the United States, Russia and France. "Some say that there might be a vacuum in our military force due to defence exports as part of their political offensive, but the government will maintain thorough military readiness posture while actively supporting those exports," Yoon said.

☆ U.S. grants Philippines $100 million in foreign military financing
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ABOARD USS RONALD REAGAN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The United States has made available $100 million in foreign military financing to the Philippines, its ambassador in Manila said on Friday, part of efforts to boost the Southeast Asian country's defence capabilities and military modernisation. The new military financing underscores improved defence ties between the treaty allies under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whose predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, shifted his country's foreign policy away from the United States to pursue warmer ties with China. "The United States has now made available $100 million in foreign military financing in part for the Philippine military to use as it wishes," Ambassador MaryKay Carlson told a media briefing aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on a scheduled port call in Manila. Manila is looking to buy heavy-lift Chinook helicopters from the United States. The amount includes $475.3 million worth of foreign military financing to Philippines, among the biggest in Southeast Asia.

Search resuls for: "country's Defence"

16 mentions found