DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Turkey votes in runoff election after candidates double down on nationalism and fear
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

People walk past an election campaign poster for Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 25, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. The country is holding its first presidential runoff election after neither candidate earned more than 50% of the vote in the May 14 election. Still, no candidate surpassed the 50% threshold required to win; and with Erdogan at 49.5% and Kilicdaroglu at 44.7%, a runoff election was set for two weeks after the first vote on May 14. "Kilicdaroglu has adopted a harder line on immigration and security ahead of the run-off … is unlikely to be enough," Kinnear said. Already, though, his anti-refugee rhetoric has angered many of his supporters and prompted resignations from some of his campaign allies.

☆ Opinion | Ralph Nader and Others Clash Over the Value of Third Parties
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tough,” by Gail Collins (column, May 4):Ms. Collins’s diatribe scapegoating me and the Green Party for the Democrats’ loss of the presidency in 2000 might have been tempered by consulting Al Gore. He has respected third-party candidates exercising their First Amendment rights to offer more voices and choices on the ballot. Third parties have had a galvanizing reform influence on our country from the antislavery Liberty Party in 1840 to the labor, farmer and populist parties. The major parties later adopted popular third-party issues to win more support. Ralph NaderWashingtonTo the Editor:Gail Collins’s column reminded me of why my reasons for voting have changed over the years.

His main opponent is CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who represents an election coalition of six opposition parties. For the first time, Turkey’s factious opposition has coalesced around a single candidate. When a vicious earthquake on February 6 laid waste to large parts of southeast Turkey, Erdogan’s battled political aftershocks. More than 1.8 million voters living abroad already cast their votes on April 17, Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported Wednesday, citing the country’s deputy foreign minister. The Supreme Election Council (YSK) chief Ahmet Yener said last month that at least 1 million voters in quake-stricken zones are expected not to vote this year amid displacement.

☆ China reluctantly keeps sanctions powder dry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet most trade measures Xi has taken so far are best seen as defensive tactics to protect market share from aspirant rivals in the West and India. The easiest option is picking on America’s $120-billion-plus of direct investment stock in China. Of course, that is no way for China to revive the decaying quantity and quality of the investment it receives. Chinese officials consistently say they welcome U.S. trade and investment and there is no reason to doubt them. The move comes after the United States implemented multiple restrictions on sales of chipmaking tools and components to China.

"Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered," Francis said. [1/9] Pope Francis sits next to Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi as he attends the welcoming ceremony at the Palais de la Nation on the first day of his apostolic journey, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, January 31, 2023. The pope criticised rich countries for ignoring the tragedies unfolding in Congo and elsewhere in Africa. On Wednesday, Francis will celebrate Mass at a Kinshasa airport that is expected to draw more than a million people.

☆ Pandemic-era stigma cost Asian restaurants $7.4B in lost revenue, new study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Angela Yang | Angela Yang Is An Intern For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Stigma against Chinese cuisine in the first year of the pandemic cost Asian restaurants in the United States an estimated $7.4 billion in lost revenue in 2020, a recent study found. In a year in which tens of thousands of restaurants closed and many barely scraped by, the study — published online last week in the journal Nature Human Behaviour — reported that Asian restaurants across the country lost 18.4% more in foot traffic than other restaurants in 2020. Prominent reports of anti-Asian racism, from harassment to direct violence, flooded the country in the years after the pandemic’s outbreak. What was particularly surprising to Krupenkin, however, was that Asian restaurants that were not Chinese suffered an even greater decrease in traffic than Chinese restaurants. After investigating this spillover of consumer discrimination, her team found that many people simply couldn’t tell different Asian cuisines apart.

Prosecutors will need a mountain of evidence to cast Alec Baldwin as a criminally negligent gunman, skeptical defense criminal lawyers said Friday, as Hollywood appeared to rally around the oft-polarizing actor. But prosecutors insist they have FBI lab reports that show Baldwin did fire the fatal round. "Is there some intentional act that placed that live round there that we know nothing about? She urged prosecutors to stop "blaming the victim" and rhetorically asked "how about investigating who put the live round into the gun?" "Nobody is asking who put the live round into the prop gun," tweeted Fisher, best known for her role in "Titanic."

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), said she has personally spoken to Jeffries and recommended that Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., should be the ranking member. “The Republicans made it very clear that the committee is primarily focused on … counter intelligence and economic espionage issues which have been the focus of my own work, especially on the Intelligence Committee,” Krishnamoorthi said in an interview. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA analyst who is eyeing a possible Senate bid in 2024, has also expressed interest in the top role on the China panel. But while CAPAC is divided, its members agree that the ranking member of the new panel should be Asian American. Think about that," said one CAPAC member.

Formal organizations like the Oath Keepers no longer define the American right-wing landscape. If Biden’s election was illegitimate, the Oath Keepers were ready to defend Trump’s legitimate one. And indeed, the trial has revealed the brazenness of the Oath Keepers, as well as some profound shifts happening in the American right. The evidence of a seditious conspiracy introduced in the Oath Keepers’ trial was damning, yet obvious. While certainly more polished, some of Masters’ talking points would not be out of place at an Oath Keepers meeting.

Military veteran Richard Fierro's selfless response when a gunman opened fire in a Colorado gay club is being lauded by the nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization. He said he did what he was trained to do as a 15-year Army veteran who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fierro and Jessica, who live in Colorado Springs, own a brewery called Atrevida, which in Spanish means brazen. 'Leaped into the breach'The nation's string of mass shootings in recent years have claimed the lives of many Latino victims. He said LULAC invited Fierro and his family to Washington, D.C., to receive the award or it would give it to him in a ceremony in Colorado Springs.

☆ Ex-Tesla and SpaceX managers say Elon Musk's commitment to his companies is often inspirational but can also turn toxic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ex-SpaceX and Tesla workers said his commitment was often inspirational. The comments came after Musk gave Twitter employees an ultimatum last week: work "extremely hardcore" or resign. Musk's strict work ethic and aggressive goals have also been evident at some of his other companies. Last year, Musk told SpaceX employees a lack of progress on Starship engines created a "risk of bankruptcy," per a memo obtained by CNBC. He also urged Tesla workers in an email seen by Reuters to "go super hardcore" to finish the quarter strong.

Deutsche Bank's scapegoating ruined the reputation and career of Connolly, a married father of two, and caused the "destruction of his life," the complaint said. Investigations worldwide into Libor manipulation resulted in about $9 billion of fines for banks, including $2.5 billion for Deutsche Bank in 2015. Connolly sued Deutsche Bank four weeks after a New York judge tossed a Libor-rigging indictment against former UBS (UBSG.S) and Citigroup (C.N) trader Tom Hayes and another trader. Hayes had already served more than five years in prison in Britain for rigging Libor. The case is Connolly v. Deutsche Bank AG, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ Ahead of midterms, politicians warn against using China rhetoric that scapegoats Asians
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Asian American politicians are warning against using inflammatory rhetoric about China and anti-Asian terms ahead of the midterms after a new report detailed the impact it can have on Asian and Asian American communities. The report, titled “The Blame Game” and released Wednesday by the nonprofit group Stop AAPI Hate, focused on how language used in hate incidents often mirrors that of anti-Asian political rhetoric. “The Blame Game” cited language from politicians used to blame China for Covid-19, including President Donald Trump who nicknamed the virus “the China virus” in March 2020. The report said hashtags expressing anti-Asian rhetoric increased by 174 times one week after his first tweet. The report said politicians also accused the Chinese government of espionage, which mirrors language used in scapegoating Asians and Asian Americans.

☆ Covid leads to long Covid, in governments as well as people
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Brian Michael Jenkins | Brian Michael Jenkins Is An Army Combat Veteran Who Currently Serves As Senior Adviser To The President Of The Nonprofit | Nonpartisan Rand Corporation. His Latest Book Is | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

Unlike previous pandemics, however, Covid didn’t see the same offsets in unifying sentiment. There were many explanations for this, including underreporting of Covid deaths in many countries, but the optics were not good. Democratic governments imposed controls that intruded into ordinarily personal space, while authoritarian governments exploited the pandemic to tighten their control. The decline in Covid numbers, if it holds, will not reverse these developments after the November elections. Just as we may talk about societal comorbidity, societies may suffer from long Covid — an impaired functioning of democracy that may persist long after the contagion survives.

☆ Why Celeste Ng's new book places an Asian American mom in the eye of a social justice movement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

For the author, it was critical to place Miu, an Asian American mother and fugitive poet, at the forefront of a protest movement in her book. It was, in a way, a nod to the awareness that Asian American women more generally have long had around violence, preceding the rise in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic. Research previously showed that 21% to 55% of Asian women in the U.S. report having experienced intimate physical and/or sexual violence during their lifetimes, according to the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. “As an Asian American woman, I feel like I’ve been aware of the possibility of violence for most of my life. “In the case of PACT, it’s the idea that there’s a right way to be American,” Ng said.

Search resuls for: "scapegoating"

15 mentions found