DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Kenya Stares Into ‘Abyss’ as Soaring Prices and Feuding Leaders Bring Chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Declan Walsh | More About Declan Walsh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kenya’s boisterous news outlets are normally fierce rivals. “Let’s save our country,” read an identical banner headline across the front pages of the Daily Nation, Standard and other major papers. Kenya risks tumbling into “a dark and dangerous abyss,” the joint article said, if its leaders fail to resolve a boiling crisis that has destabilized one of Africa’s strongest democracies. Police clashed with demonstrators in Nairobi on Thursday in the second of three days of planned nationwide protests against soaring food and fuel prices and steep tax hikes. The police, sometimes firing live rounds, killed at least six people in clashes on Wednesday and detained about 300, including a prominent opposition politician who was whisked away to a police station 60 miles from the capital.

Persons: William Ruto, “ Organizations: Daily Nation Locations: Kenya, Nairobi

Vertical thrusters Horizontal thruster Viewport Horizontal thruster Vertical thrusters Horizontal thruster Viewport Horizontal thruster Titanium hemisphere Carbon fiber cylinder Titanium hemisphere Titanium hemisphere Carbon fiber cylinder Titanium hemisphereTitan had several cost-saving departures from proven submersible designs. And Titan’s carbon fiber cylinder was attached to titanium hemispheres, creating several joints of dissimilar materials that are challenging to bond properly. Titan Hull The pressure applied to a pill shape is distributed disproportionately and may cause collapse similar to a soda can being crushed. Titan The Polar Prince towed the Titan submersible through a harbor in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in May. Dolores Harvey/Alamy Alvin Alvin is brought out to sea aboard a scientific ship like Atlantis, shown here lifting Alvin over the water.

Persons: Hull, Alvin Hull, OceanGate, Oisin Fanning Alvin, Alvin, Tim Foecke, ”, Foecke, Rush, Arnie Weissmann, Dolores Harvey, Alvin Alvin, Andrew Von Kerens, submersibles, Alfred S, McLaren, Navy submariner, Kedar Kirane, Mr, Kirane Organizations: Titan, The New York Times, Oceangate, Oceanographic, Alvin, Stockton Rush, Travel, Explorers Club of New Locations: St, John’s, Newfoundland, Navy, Explorers Club of New York City

☆ Top seed Swiatek toppled by Svitolina in Wimbledon quarter-finals
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Pritha Sarkar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Even the world's best players are not immune to crippling nerves as Iga Swiatek discovered when her Wimbledon dreams were turned to dust in a 7-5 6-7(5) 6-2 quarter-final defeat by Ukrainian wildcard Elina Svitolina on Tuesday. That sequence included breaking Swiatek's serve twice in succession, with the Polish top seed surrendering the first of those to love with a double fault. That interlude gave Swiatek a chance to re-evaluate her tactics and she came back to break Svitolina for a 2-1 lead in the second set. Swiatek earned two more break points in the ninth game but once those went begging neither player could break the deadlock and they headed into the tiebreak. There was no coming back for Swiatek from that gaping abyss and a forehand into the net handed Svitolina a remarkable win.

Persons: Swiatek, Elina Svitolina, Svitolina, Belinda Bencic, Pritha Sarkar, Ken Ferris Organizations: Wimbledon, Court, Thomson Locations: Polish

REUTERS/Stringer/File PhotoSummary Fears of civil war rose in world's biggest nuclear powerMercenaries posed biggest threat to Putin in 23-year rule'Anyone with anything to lose was extremely tense' -sourceThe elite wonder: What's next for Russia? One fear was that Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner mercenary group, if he entered Moscow, would try to take over the economy, triggering yet another redistribution of ownership in Russia, the world's biggest supplier of natural resources. The source spoke on condition of anonymity due to the danger of speaking publicly in contemporary Russia. Russians started to withdraw significant amounts of roubles and seek foreign currency in 15 regions across Russia. But within the elite, there is now a fear that Putin will seek to assert his position and remove those he felt did not profess their loyalty with enough ardour.

Persons: Wagner, Stringer, Putin, What's, Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner, Prigozhin's, Mikhail Gorbachev, Andrei Belousov, Dmitry Gusev, Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin, Russia's, Sergei Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, Viktor Zolotov, Guy Faulconbridge, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Southern Military District, REUTERS, Reuters, Kremlin, KGB, Bolshevik, Air, Jets, General Staff, National Guard, Thomson Locations: Rostov, Don, Russia, MOSCOW, Moscow, Russian, Soviet, Ukraine, Belgrade, Istanbul, Dubai, Sochi, Belarus, Belarusian, Zolotov

☆ James Cameron interview: Director and deep-sea explorer says he figured Monday the Titan submersible imploded
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Aya Elamroussi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Filmmaker and deep-sea explorer James Cameron says he figured soon after learning that a Titanic-bound submersible was missing that it had imploded and its occupants were dead – days before officials announced that very outcome. The submersible was carrying five people when it dove Sunday toward the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic. It lost contact with its mother ship an hour and 45 minutes into the journey, sparking a dayslong search. Cameron was “hoping against hope” that his conclusion was wrong, “knowing in my bones that I wasn’t (wrong),” he said Thursday. … These are serious people with serious curiosity willing to put serious money down to go to these interesting places – and I don’t want to discourage that.”

Persons: James Cameron, Cameron, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, ” Cameron, “ Anderson Cooper, “, ”, Cameron –, Mariana Trench, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, Paul, Henri Nargeolet –, I’m, “ I’m Organizations: CNN, US Navy, Navy, Stockton Rush Locations: North

☆ James Cameron: How the 'Titanic' director became a deep-sea explorer
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Cameron, who is also the director of the Oscar-winning movie “Titanic,” has shared his perspective on the “catastrophic implosion” that killed five aboard the Titan submersible on its way to tour the Titanic wreckage. The youngster would also track a then new deep-sea submersible named Alvin. “It was such a golden age of technological exploration,” Cameron said of the time. Cameron told NPR in 2012 that there is a connection between what he does professionally in films and his personal life as an explorer. “But it has problems, because there’s no second take!”Record breaking explorationAlong with his exploring, Cameron fell in love with the technology that makes deep-sea diving possible.

Persons: James Cameron, Cameron, Oscar, ”, ” Cameron, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Jacques Cousteau’s, “, Playboy, ‘, there’s, Saul Loeb, Mariana Trench, Earth Cameron Organizations: CNN, Titan, National Geographic, Geographic, Getty Locations: Ontario, Canada

☆ The director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron points to flaws in the Titan submersible’s design.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We’ve never had an accident like this,” James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” said on Thursday. Mr. Cameron, an expert in submersibles, has dived dozens of times to the ship’s deteriorating hulk and once plunged in a tiny craft of his own design to the bottom of the planet’s deepest recess. In an interview, Mr. Cameron called the presumed loss of five lives aboard the Titan submersible from the company OceanGate like nothing anyone involved in private ocean exploration had ever seen. An implosion in the deep sea happens when the crushing pressures of the abyss cause a hollow object to collapse violently inward. If the object is big enough to hold five people, Mr. Cameron said in an interview, “it’s going to be an extremely violent event — like 10 cases of dynamite going off.”

Persons: “ We’ve, ” James Cameron, Oscar, ”, Cameron, “ There’ve, “ it’s Organizations: Titan

But Titan, the lost submersible from the company OceanGate, is a technological maverick based on novel concepts that differ from standard designs. “I’ve had three people ask me about making a dive on it,” he said in reference to the lost submersible. Private vessels — those used on superyachts, exploratory craft, tourists jaunts — are not formally regulated by any governmental or intergovernmental agency. Nor do they meet the rigorous standards that are applied to deep-sea craft used by the United States Navy and other government agencies. “We are proud that every submersible delivered remains in active service and certified to its original design depth,” it says on the company’s website.

Persons: ”, Bruce H, Robison, Alfred S, McLaren, Navy submariner, “ I’ve, ‘, OceanGate, submersibles, jaunts, Jennifer, Dr Organizations: Aquarium Research, Explorers Club of New, United States Navy, Lloyd’s, American Bureau of Shipping, ” Triton, Triton Locations: Monterey, California, Navy, Explorers Club of New York City, British, Everett, Wash, Houston, American

☆ Opinion: Our fascination with the missing Titanic-exploring submersible
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Opinion Jill Filipovic | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Now, a massive hunt is on to find the submersible before its passengers run out of oxygen. And yet, while the migrant story is far from being ignored, it’s not receiving the same breathless moment-by-moment updates accorded the lost Titanic hunters. (Who among us plebs had even heard the word “submersible” used as a noun before this incident?) The parallels to the Titanic, itself a story that still engenders widespread fascination more than a century after its sinking, add another layer of interest. But this is not a parable; it’s five human beings and many more working around the clock to save their lives.

Persons: Jill Filipovic, CNN —, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Sulaiman Dawood, it’s, that’s, they’re Organizations: Twitter, CNN, Canadian Armed Forces, US Coast Guard, OceanGate Expeditions, United, Greek Coast Guard, Nature, Facebook Locations: New York, Cape Cod, British, United Arab Emirates, Pakistani, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan

A team of scientists working to map the Titanic in 2010 as part of a project to create a high-definition 3D image of the ship. For decades after the Titanic sank, searchers scanned the dark waters of the North Atlantic for the ship’s final resting place. Since the wreck was found, in 1985, it has drawn hundreds of filmmakers, salvagers, explorers and tourists, using robots and submersibles. Mr. Cameron, who has repeatedly visited the wreck, was among those calling for care around the site. By the time it began offering tours to paying customers, researchers said that the Titanic had little scientific value compared to other sites.

Persons: James Cameron, Cameron’s, Cameron Organizations: Titanic, Atlantic, Expeditions

Persons: James Cameron, Cameron’s, Cameron Organizations: Titanic, Atlantic, Expeditions

☆ How Daniel Ellsberg, who died at 92, went from being a disillusioned member of the government-military elite to a hero of anti-war movements
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers, died at 92, his family said Friday. David Halberstam, the late author and Vietnam War correspondent who had known Ellsberg since both were posted overseas, would describe him as no ordinary convert. "Without Nixon's obsession with me, he would have stayed in office," Ellsberg told The Associated Press in 1999. Ellsberg's story was depicted in the 2009 documentary "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers." He and Marx wedded in 1970, the year before the Pentagon Papers were made public.

Persons: Daniel Ellsberg, Ellsberg, —, — Daniel Ellsberg, Richard Nixon, Julia Pacetti, Dan, Robert S, McNamara, Lyndon Johnson's, John F, Kennedy, David Halberstam, Johnson, Neil Sheehan, Henry Kissinger, Hannah Arendt, Nixon, Nixon fumed, H.R, Haldeman, Matthew Byrne, Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, Byrne, Daniel, Harry Truman, nodded, Ellsberg's, Rand, Anthony J, Russo, Robert, Kissinger, Sen, William J, Fulbright, George McGovern of, Marcus Raskin, Ralph Stavins, Sheehan, Raskin, Stavins, didn't, spry, George W, Bush, Obama, Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Snowden, Patricia Marx, Marx Organizations: Pentagon, Service, Supreme, Defense, Harvard, Democratic, Republican, The New York Times, Washington Post, The Associated Press, National Security, United, U.S, White, Democratic Party's, Washington , D.C, Associated Press, Coast, Rand Corp, Christian Science, Soviet Union overseas, Harvard University, Marines, Ivy League, Defense Department, State Department, Rand, Xerox, Arkansas, Foreign Relations Committee, Institute for Policy, Times, ., Army, New York Times, Massachusetts Institute, Technology's Center for International Studies Locations: Boston, Los Angeles, Vietnam, Indochina, U.S, France's, America, United States, Beverly Hills , California, Washington ,, Saigon, Santa Monica, Chicago, Detroit, Pearl, London, Germany, Japan, Santa Monica , California, George McGovern of South Dakota, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia

☆ New US military aid to Ukraine pushes Washington deeper in conflict - Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 14 (Reuters) - The new $325 million U.S. military aid package for Ukraine pushes Washington deeper into the "abyss" of the conflict, Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said early on Wednesday. The package, which includes munitions for air defence systems, ammunition and vehicles, comes as Ukraine is shaping its long-expected counter-offensive. "The United States is getting deeper and deeper into the abyss of the Ukrainian crisis," Antonov was quoted as saying in a post on the embassy's Telegram messaging channel. "Apparently, the strategists from the United States somehow do not understand that no amount of weapons, whatever involvement of mercenaries, will be able to turn the tide in the course of (Russia's) special military operation." Russia refers to its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation", rather than a war.

Persons: Anatoly Antonov, Antonov, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Lidia Kelly, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: European Union, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Washington, United States, Russia, Kyiv, Russian, Melbourne

☆ The planet's coldest, saltiest ocean waters are heating up and shrinking, new report finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Deep ocean water in the Antarctic is heating up and shrinking, with potentially far-reaching consequences for climate change and deep ocean ecosystems, according to a report. They also found that ocean waters deeper than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) have warmed four times faster than the rest of the global ocean. They are a vital part of global ocean circulation, transporting human-caused carbon pollution into the deep ocean where it remains for centuries, said Silvano. If this deep circulation weakens, “less carbon can be absorbed by the deep ocean, limiting the ability of the ocean to mitigate global warming,” Silvano told CNN. This cold, dense water also has a vital role in supplying oxygen to deep ocean waters.

Persons: Povl, ” Alessandro Silvano, ” Silvano, ”, Holly Ayres, ” Ayres, Zhou Organizations: CNN, British Antarctic Survey, Weddell, University of Southampton, Reading University Locations: Weddell, Antarctica

☆ After the S&P's Wednesday jump, Jim Cramer dissects 10 stocks that performed well when the index bottomed out last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

After Wednesday saw the S&P 500 suddenly jump, CNBC's Jim Cramer looked back at 10 stocks that performed well even when the index bottomed out last October. "I think today's advance from the abyss last year all the way to near 4,300 is actually a very important landmark that you and I must explore," Cramer said. "We need to know which stocks can make us the most money when we get a true trend-line inflection." Cramer laid out 10 stocks that did well during that down period for the S&P 500. He pointed to insurance company Arch Capital Group , Facebook parent Meta , casino chains Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands , credit-score platform Fair Isaac , homebuilder PulteGroupe , solar-panel manufacturer First Solar , Netflix , software giant Nvidia and cruise-line giant Royal Caribbean .

Persons: CNBC's Jim Cramer, Cramer, we've, Isaac, homebuilder Organizations: Arch Capital, Facebook, Wynn Resorts, Vegas Sands, Netflix, Nvidia, Royal Locations: Vegas, Royal Caribbean

☆ Blackstone will help prevent an office market 'catastrophe', says JPMorgan's commercial real estate chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Al Yoon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Reports on the death of offices are "just wrong," JPMorgan's commercial real estate chief said. Office buildings are losing value as more people opt to work from home and companies need less space. No 'catastrophe' for the office market"You get the headline written that the office market is a catastrophe," Brooks said during a JPMorgan outlook webinar on June 1. In April, Blackstone announced the final close of its Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, the largest real estate fund ever raised, with $30.4 billion in capital commitments. Through its real estate investment trust, Blackstone has maintained some exposure to office buildings.

Persons: Blackstone, delinquencies, Alfred Brooks, Brooks, JLL, Manus Clancy, JPMorgan —, hasn't, They're Organizations: JPMorgan, Blackstone, Blackstone Real Estate Partners Locations: Brookfield, Blackstone, Los Angeles

☆ JPMorgan's commercial real estate chief lays out how Blackstone will help prevent an office market 'catastrophe'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Al Yoon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

☆ Poland slams vote questioning Hungary holding EU presidency
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, June 1 (Reuters) - Poland rebuked on Thursday the European Parliament backing a resolution that questions Hungary's ability to hold the European Union presidency next year due to concerns about judicial independence. According to a calendar agreed by all EU governments in 2016, Hungary is to hold the presidency of the bloc between July and December 2024. Hungary and Poland have long been at odds with the EU over multiple issues, such as the rule of law, media freedoms and LGBTQ rights. The EU has frozen billions of euros in funds for Budapest and Warsaw due to its concerns. Hungary has refused to provide any military equipment to its neighbour to help it fight off a Russian invasion, and Hungary has criticised EU sanctions against Moscow.

Persons: Mateusz Morawiecki, Viktor Orban's, Balazs Orban, Alan Charlish, Anna Wlodarczak, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: WARSAW, Parliament, Union, EU, European Union, European Commission, . State Department, Twitter, Moscow, Thomson Locations: Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Brussels, Moldova, Budapest, Warsaw

But in the process of jogging his memory, things got complicated, and confusing, and messy because her ex didn’t remember anything, including their breakup. He amplified or even brought out for the first time these qualities that you didn’t know you had. He didn’t know he was about to start a graduate program at Central Saint Martins or that he lived in a dilapidated warehouse in Whitechapel with a pet rabbit. tyler wetherallAnd I used the excuse that, often, he didn’t remember our conversations. tyler wetherallHe had asked — Sam had asked a friend of his why I didn’t visit more often.

Persons: anna martin Hey, it’s Anna, I’ve, Kim Cattrall, I’ll, Daniel Jones, Miya Lee, ” It’s, That’s, anna martin, ” I’m Anna Martin, we’ve, tyler wetherall, — “, anna martin Tyler Wetherall, Tyler Wetherall, ” tyler wetherall, Sam, ” anna martin, You’d, anna martin Wait, — anna martin You, anna martin You, tyler, anna martin Oh, — tyler, anna martin —, he’s, tyler wetherall Oh, anna martin Well, Tyler, ’, ‘, ‘ that’s, ’ ” anna martin, anna martin Ooh, anna martin That’s, anna martin Ugh, anna martin He’d, “, —, ” anna martin Sam, He’d, you’ll, anna martin Wow, anna martin I, tyler wetherall I’ll, we’re, Pete, Lawrence, tyler wetherall Totally, tyler wetherall It’s, anna martin Right, she’d, — Sam, she’s, he’d, anna martin It’s, tyler wetherall There’s, anna martin Sure, We’d, ” We’d, you’d, anna martin Absolutely, hadn’t Organizations: Tribeca Festival, The New York Times, Chelsea, Central Saint Martins Locations: New York, Sam, Whitechapel

☆ Creepy close-up images of the sun reveal yarn-like strands, dark pores, and a 'light bridge' crossing a decaying sunspot
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The sun looks spooky and mysterious in new images from the world's most powerful solar telescope. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has been observing the sun from the Hawaiian island of Maui since it first opened in 2020. Its first video, below, showed roiling solar plasma, each cell the size of Texas. Dark "pores" on the solar surface indicate powerful magnetic fields, which are likely driving the dark threads visible in the atmosphere above. The bright yellow surface plasma cools until its density is so low that it drops below the surface, through the dark lanes between cells.

☆ A psychologist shares 7 things people who are 'addicted to drama' always do—and how to deal with them
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Scott Lyons | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As a therapist and psychologist, I've spent 20 years hopping the fence between being caught in the drama and observing it. "I often have cravings for drama," one patient, who we'll call Helen, told me. Here are seven toxic signs of someone who is addicted to drama — and how to deal with them:1. You'll often find people who are addicted to drama consumed by what's happening in the lives of others. This is something all of us experience, but it's acute for those with a propensity for drama.

☆ Ghana's main opposition party picks Mahama as 2024 presidential candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ACCRA, May 14 (Reuters) - Ghana’s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to retain former president, John Mahama, as its leader for the 2024 presidential election. This is the third time Mahama will run for the top job in Ghana, one of Africa's most stable democracies. The upcoming presidential vote is expected to be keenly contested. Mahama, 64, secured 297,603 votes, representing 98.9% of votes cast, the electoral commission said early on Sunday. "I am humbled by the overwhelming vote of confidence reposed in me by the party," Mahama said shortly after the declaration.

☆ Back-to-Office Battles Underscore a Change in Workplace Authority
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Stefan Stern | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

steps out of the corner office, stares into the abyss of a sparsely occupied floor, and only the abyss stares back. Disconcerting questions arise: What kind of a place is this, and what kind of a leader am I if so few people want to show up? The hierarchy effect, already weakening before the pandemic, has been undermined even further by the living (and successful) experiment of hybrid work. Leaders are facing more than a back-to-office struggle: They are wrestling with a new, post-pandemic identity. Old Approaches Fall ShortSome have responded by looking to reassert a degree of traditional control.

☆ The Jets Haven’t Been Prime Time Players. Then They Got Aaron Rodgers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Andrew Beaton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The New York Jets and quarterback Aaron Rodgers are expected to have plenty of games on prime time this season. Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated PressAaron Rodgers’s trade to the New York Jets instantly delivered a wave of optimism that the future Hall of Fame quarterback will lift a woeful franchise out of the abyss. This week, he may deliver them a different kind of win even before the season starts: prime slots on the upcoming season’s schedule. For the past decade, though, the Jets haven’t exactly been able to celebrate much. While they languished on the field, the league and its broadcast partners weren’t keen on featuring them.

☆ Airbnb CEO says he changed how he ran the business during the pandemic and now follows a simple rule Steve Jobs used
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told the "This Week in Startups" podcast the pandemic forced him to change how he runs the company. Now, Chesky said the company follows a principle Steve Jobs held at Apple — to never work on more than the CEO can focus on. "We were like staring into the abyss," Chesky told host Jason Calacanis. According to Chesky, a few people who famously worked closely with Steve Jobs during his time at Apple ultimately proved instrumental in reshaping how Airbnb runs. Chesky told Calacanis Ive used to tell Jobs it was important for Jobs himself to be personally involved with product development.

Search resuls for: "Abyss"

25 mentions found