DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ North Korea slams UN meeting on satellite launch, 'robbery' US demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing what it called a space satellite toward the south, in Seoul, South Korea, May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-JiSEOUL, June 4 (Reuters) - North Korea denounced the U.N. Security Council for holding a meeting on its recent satellite launch upon "robbery demands" from the U.S., vowing to continue rejecting sanctions and taking "self-defensive" action, state media KCNA said on Sunday. She said the satellite launch was a "legitimate, self-defensive countermeasure" against increasing threats from the U.S. and its allies, which Pyongyang have accused of rekindling tension with their annual springtime military drills. North Korea will never acknowledge U.N. sanctions resolutions "even if they slap them hundred, thousand times," she said, pledging to continue exercising its sovereign rights, including launching spy satellites. North Korea had informed the IMO of a time frame of its planned satellite launch, and the resolution "strongly" condemned the isolated country's missile tests "which seriously threatened the safety of seafarers and international shipping."

Persons: Kim Hong, Ji, KCNA, Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un, Kim, Kim Myong Chol, Hyonhee Shin, Nick Zieminski Organizations: REUTERS, . Security, UNSC, KCNA, International Maritime, Thomson Locations: North Korea, Seoul, South Korea, Ji SEOUL, U.S, United States, Pyongyang, Korea

☆ Sexual harassment debate breathes new life into China’s #MeToo movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Shi has strongly denied the accusations of sexual harassment in two separate statements and claimed the encounters were consensual. The falloutThe allegations have since sparked furious debate on Chinese social media, with related hashtags trending for days and racking up hundreds of millions of views on Weibo. China did not specify sexual harassment as a legal offense until 2021, when it enacted a civil code defining sexual harassment for the first time in the country’s law. But still, the failure of sexual harassment lawsuits – like Zhou’s – in recent years has made it “increasingly clear that seeking legal remedies for sexual harassment is not realistic,” said the Chinese feminist in New Jersey. “Even if I reported it, and he was summoned to the police station, how many days can he be detained for sexual harassment?” she wrote.

☆ Opinion: How to fight back against the ‘anti-woke’ movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Opinion Khalil Gibran Muhammad | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Several states across the country have imposed bans on books, K-12 educational curricula and diversity programs in recent months. And even where statewide bans are not in place, restrictive measures are being enacted by local school boards. The mere mention of structural racism or gender discrimination or sexuality can potentially cost educators and librarians their jobs. The beginnings of this national movement to defend the freedom to learn is rekindling relationships between college students and civil rights activists and inspiring new ones between college faculty and K-12 teachers and librarians. With such formidable alliances among students, teachers, organizers and academics being forged in communities across the country, we finally have an answer to reverse the swelling tide of injustice and authoritarianism.

☆ Graphic images of Texas mall shooting spread on Twitter, rekindling debate on how much to share
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Within hours of the mass shooting on Saturday at a Texas outlet mall, some Twitter users shared gruesome pictures of bloodied bodies, purportedly from the crime scene. The apparent spread of these images has revived scrutiny around how social media platforms handle graphic content from mass shootings. There have been 202 mass shootings in the US within the first five months of this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, compared to 647 mass shootings in 2022. The nonprofit and CNN define mass shootings as those in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. But in a tweet Saturday night, Spainhouer slammed a photo from the mall being shared on social media.

☆ Japan’s Kishida Visits South Korea as Two U.S. Allies Confront ‘Grave’ Security Issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Dasl Yoon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, wearing glasses, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held a joint press conference Sunday. Photo: Yonhap News/Zuma PressSEOUL—The leaders of South Korea and Japan met Sunday, as the two U.S. allies continue rekindling cooperation to counter China’s regional aggression and North Korea’s nuclear threat. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Seoul for a two-day trip, the first visit to South Korea by a Japanese leader since 2018. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol traveled to Tokyo in March for the first formal summit between the two countries in more than a decade.

☆ Israel PM cautions Saudi Arabia about Iran after China-brokered deal, urges greater U.S. presence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The China-brokered March 10 détente between long-term rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran has dealt a blow to Netanyahu's diplomatic crusade of pursuing Tehran's political isolation. I think that Saudi Arabia, the leadership there, has no illusions about who are their adversaries, and who are their friends." Before that, footage of Israeli forces beating worshippers in Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque during the Arabic holy month of Ramadan drew international condemnations, including from Saudi Arabia. "We'd like very much to have peace with Saudi Arabia. watch nowNarrowing down to just the potential of a relationship with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu said, "I think the sky's the limit.

☆ Exclusive: Germans shun deposits abroad on fear of new crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Francesco Canepa | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

By contrast, German banks, which are perceived as safer because of their government's high credit rating and two separate safety nets on deposits, saw an increase in demand, both platforms said. Sibylle Miller-Trach of the German consumer association in Bavaria said "term deposits aren't necessarily safe" and savers should gather information about the creditworthiness of the bank and its country. Household flows into bank deposits with an agreed maturitySPREAD SEEN WIDENINGCheck24 and competing platforms do not publish figures about their volumes of business so it is hard to tell how much money Germans have deposited abroad. By contrast, the most that savers could get from a German bank was 2.55% from online lender SWK Bank. "The current crisis is leading customers to keep their deposits with their local bank," said Christian van Beek, a director at the Scope Ratings agency.

☆ ChatGPT will most likely impact your job if you work in tech, went to college, and make up to $80,000 a year, research says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Most American jobs are at risk of being impacted by AI like ChatGPT, researchers found. Educated, white-collar workers making up to $80,000 a year will be most affected by AI, per the study. Some jobs likely to be impacted include financial analysts, accountants, and writers. More specifically, the researchers wanted to find out which jobs are most likely to be "exposed" to the model's capabilities. The impact of AI on jobs increases as salaries gets closer to $80,000.

☆ Egypt Promises More Aid to Syria After Earthquakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Egypt promised more aid to Syria Monday after earthquakes devastated parts of the country, in a sign of how Arabs states are rekindling ties with President Bashar al-Assad after ostracizing him for more than a decade for his brutal crackdown on opponents at home. In the first public visit by a senior Egyptian official in more than a decade, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told President Assad in Damascus that Cairo would continue to provide whatever humanitarian assistance it could to its fellow Arab nation.

☆ European shares head for best week since November, inflation data in focus
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Bansari Mayur Kamdar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) was flat by 0915 GMT. For the week so far, it was up 3.4% following a drop in natural gas prices and upbeat economic data. All eyes are on the December euro zone inflation data due at 1000 GMT, with economists expecting prices to have declined year-on-year for a second consecutive month. "Inflation readings in the euro zone were not all good news, and core inflation remains high," analysts at UBS Global Wealth Management said in a note. "Despite the encouraging data (this week), we expect central banks to stick with a hawkish stance at this time."

☆ Indian shares snap four-day losing streak; Nifty 50 back above 18,000
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose for the first time in five days in a low-volume session on Monday, with the benchmark Nifty 50 reclaiming the key 18,000 level, as risk assets were boosted after mixed U.S. data bolstered bets of smaller Federal Reserve rate hikes. The Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) closed 1.17% higher at 18,014.60, and the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) gained 1.20% to 60,566.42, marking their biggest daily gain since Nov. 24. The Nifty fell 3.3% in the previous four sessions, slipping below the psychologically key 18,000 mark on Friday. Forty of the Nifty 50 constituents advanced, as did most of the major sectoral indexes. Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Eileen SorengOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Indian shares snap four-day losing run in low-volume session
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose for the first time in five days in a low-volume session on Monday, with the rebound helped by mixed U.S. data that bolstered bets of smaller interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) was up 1.08% at 17,999.85 by midday, and the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) gained 1.08% to 60,494.09. The Nifty fell 3.3% in the previous four sessions and dropped below the psychologically key 18,0000 mark on Friday. Banking stocks also rose with (.NSEBANK) and (.NIFTYPSU) rising over 1% and 3% respectively. Index heavyweight Larsen and Toubro (LART.NS) advanced 1.95% after bagging orders worth 10 billion rupees and 25 billion rupees.

More adults in the U.S. expect to be more stressed in 2023 than at this time last year, but they also say they're more willing to take steps to tackle that stress, a survey released Wednesday finds. And about 37% of adults (nearly 2 out of 5) rated their mental health as “fair or poor” this month, up from 31% a year ago. Young adults, low-income adults and parents were most likely to rank their mental health as fair or poor. At the same time, more adults say they plan to take steps to improve their mental health next year, such as journaling or going to therapy, the survey found. McKernan said other ways people can take care of their mental health include paying attention to signs of stress.

☆ Oberlin College pays $36 million to Ohio bakery after its owner accused the school of refusing to pay penalty in defamation suit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gibson's Bakery won a defamation lawsuit against Oberlin College in 2019, but claimed the school wouldn't pay in September 2022. An attorney for the Gibsons told Insider the family has since received the funds. An attorney on the Gibsons' legal team told Insider that Oberlin has since delivered the money. He added: "At this time, there has not been a rekindling of the previous business relationship with Oberlin College. However, Lorna is willing to welcome Oberlin College back."

☆ FTSE 100 tracks glum global sentiment ahead of BoE rate decision
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Johann M Cherian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies FTSE 100 down 0.7%, FTSE 250 off 0.6%Currys drops to bottom of FTMCHSBC slumps on shareholder's campaign for spinoffDec 15 (Reuters) - UK's export-driven FTSE 100 fell on Thursday, tracking glum global sentiment, while traders avoided bets on risky assets ahead of the Bank of England's monetary policy decision. The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) fell 0.7%, while the FTSE 250 (.FTMC) shed 0.6% by 9:29 GMT. After the Fed's hawkish commentary on Wednesday, traders now await the BoE's monetary policy meeting at 1200 GMT. "The split within the Monetary Policy Committee could give a hawkish edge to the meeting. Besides the 50 basis point hike on Thursday, Koopman expects BoE's terminal rate to be 4.75% by mid-2023.

☆ Uber, Motional launch robotaxi service in Las Vegas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and driverless tech-maker Motional have launched their public robotaxi service in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Tough regulatory scrutiny and delayed commercial adoption of autonomous vehicle technology have delayed deployment of robotaxi services, leaving investors worried. The launch is part of a non-exclusive 10-year agreement between both the companies for driverless vehicles, with a rollout in Los Angeles expected to follow. In the multi-market deal, Motional's autonomous vehicles would also ferry both passengers and delivery items for Uber and its Uber Eats division. Last month, rival Lyft (LYFT.O) said it would launch the robotaxi service in Los Angeles after it had rolled out in Las Vegas earlier this year.

☆ Germany Arrests Extremists in Plot to Overthrow Government
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Bojan Pancevski | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

German authorities said they had dismantled a suspected terror cell on suspicion of planning to overthrow the government, rekindling concerns in the country about the risks posed by domestic terrorists. Twenty-five people who were partly inspired by the QAnon conspiracy theory were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday, 22 of whom are suspected of conspiring to foment a coup, the federal prosecutor said. Their alleged plans included an armed storming of the federal parliament. The other three, including a Russian citizen living in Germany, are suspected of supporting the group, the prosecutor said.

☆ ECB accounts show inflation fears justifying more rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Nov 24 (Reuters) - European Central Bank policymakers feared that inflation may be getting entrenched at their last policy gathering so rates would need to rise further, the accounts of the Oct 26-27 meeting showed on Thursday. The ECB raised rates by 75 basis points to 1.5% at the meeting to fight sky high inflation, bringing its total hikes to 200 basis points since July for its fastest policy tightening on record. "It was also clear that rates would need to be raised further to reach a level that would deliver on the ECB’s 2% medium-term target," the accounts of the meeting showed. The 75-basis-point rate hike was supported by a large majority, although a "few" policymaker wanted a smaller, 50-basis-point move. Even if the ECB slows down, markets see the deposit rate doubling to 3% next year as inflation, now at 10.6%, will take years, possibly until 2025, to fall back to the ECB's 2% target.

☆ TSX futures drop as oil, gold prices weigh
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

(Reuters) - Futures for Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, tracking losses in commodity prices from fears over weakening demand in top consumer China. December futures on the S&P/TSX index were down 0.5% at 6:52 a.m. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) ended lower on Wednesday as lower oil prices weighed on energy shares, while data showed that annual inflation held steady. Oil prices also fell as geopolitical tensions eased while rising COVID infections in China added worries that demand would not recover soon. U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Thursday following mixed economic data this week, while chip designer Nvidia rose after reporting better-than-expected quarterly revenue.

☆ China’s Economy Takes a Deeper Hit as Retail Sales Turn Negative
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Stella Yifan Xie | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China’s economy sank into a deeper funk last month as the weight of strict zero-Covid measures, a real-estate downturn and sinking export demand underscored the difficulties of rekindling growth amid tighter government regulations and a worsening global economy. New data released Tuesday showed economic activity cooling across the board in October. Retail sales contracted unexpectedly for the first time in five months as factory output growth slowed and a pullback in real-estate investment accelerated.

☆ U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry Rekindles Contact With China at COP27
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Chao Deng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Tuesday that he spoke with his Chinese counterpart during the COP27 United Nations climate conference, rekindling contact between countries that are pivotal in the global effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions. “We need to be talking to each other because we’re the two biggest economies in the world and the two biggest emitters,” Mr. Kerry told The Wall Street Journal at a live event at the Egyptian seaside resort where the 27th U.N. climate gathering is taking place.

☆ Banks plan to sell Tenneco buyout debt next week -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Matt Tracy | Shankar Ramakrishnan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Banks led by Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) aim to begin marketing a portion of the Tenneco debt package's secured portion as early as next week, said one of the sources. The package consists of a $2.4 billion leveraged loan, a $2 billion secured bond, and a $1 billion unsecured bond. This activity is rekindling hope among banks that they may not have to suffer big loses to shed junk-rated debt from their balance sheet. If the Tenneco syndication goes well, banks are sitting on plenty of junk-rated debt they may seek to offload. This includes $11 billion in debt backing the takeover of media analytics company Nielsen and $13 billion of debt for Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

☆ 'Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi' review: Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku shorts show animation remains a creative force in Lucasfilm's galaxy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Review Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Animation has been the driving creative force behind the “Star Wars” universe for some time, a state of affairs cast into sharper focus by how live-action series Lucasfilm has produced for Disney+ have drawn upon those shows. That relationship continues with “Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi,” an animated anthology that provides an opportunity to flesh out the stories of peripheral but familiar lightsaber-wielding figures. The anthology format creates the opportunity to drop in at different inflection points scattered across the “Star Wars” timeline. Animation has also become a vehicle for greater experimentation, as witnessed in the “Star Wars: Visions” anime shorts that premiered last year. “Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi” premieres October 26 on Disney+.

☆ 'Walker Independence' and 'The Winchesters' review: These are far from pioneering prequels
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Review Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —If all shows were animated like “The Simpsons,” networks wouldn’t need to strain to keep them alive. Yet live-action dramas come with shelf lives, which explains the CW’s twin attempts to extend two of its franchises with prequels: “Walker Independence,” a back-to-the-Old-West adjunct to its Texas Ranger reboot; and “The Winchesters,” a one-generation-back rekindling of the “Supernatural” flame. The main problem with “Walker” is the events that set the show in motion feel much better tailored to a limited series than an open-ended run. For now, “Walker Independence” (which, yes, will follow “Walker”) and “The Winchesters” come blessed with name recognition, but creatively speaking, first impressions say that the network has dipped into the prequel well twice too often. “Walker Independence” premieres October 6 at 9 p.m.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe president of the United States, the largest World Bank shareholder, traditionally appoints World Bank presidents. A coalition of civil society groups on Wednesday called for the World Bank to fire Malpass. "We have – and will continue – to make that expectation clear to World Bank leadership. Selwin Hart, special adviser to the UN secretary-general on climate action, had also criticized the World Bank at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last year. Large banks, especially the World Bank, "cannot continue to fiddle while the developing world burns," he said.

Search resuls for: "rekindling"

25 mentions found