DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Explainer: What to expect from Nigeria's new president Bola Tinubu
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Macdonald Dzirutwe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LAGOS, May 29 (Reuters) - Nigeria's new president Bola Tinubu faces a litany of problems, including widespread violence, double-digit inflation and industrial-scale oil theft. Tinubu says he will build on Buhari's public infrastructure programme to create jobs and remove legal limits on government spending. Tinubu says he will reduce corporate tax to attract investment and plug tax loopholes to boost revenue. Tinubu says he will set up a surveillance unit to protect the country's pipelines and attract new investors with tax incentives. Tinubu wants to recruit more soldiers and police officers, while paying and equipping them better.

SummarySummary Companies Tinubu succeeds former military leader BuhariNigeria divided after disputed electionAfrica's biggest economy faces headwindsInsecurity spread under BuhariABUJA, May 29 (Reuters) - Bola Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria's president on Monday, facing mounting calls to improve economic and security conditions which many complain worsened under his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari. Tinubu, the former Lagos state governor and a member of Buhari's party, has promised to be a better steward of Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation. A raft of protectionist economic policies and foreign currency interventions have also spooked investors. Buhari defended his record on Sunday, saying new infrastructure such as roads, bridges and airports, and the protectionist policies have laid the foundations for future growth. Separatist and gang violence plague the southeast, and clashes between farmers and herders persist in hinterland states known as Nigeria's Middle Belt.

☆ Nigeria's Tinubu gets his turn as president, familiar problems await
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Macdonald Dzirutwe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Buhari, a taciturn former military ruler, leaves Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation deeply divided. But what authorities promised would be the country's freest and fairest election yet ended in frustration for many. Buhari defends his record, saying new infrastructure such as roads, bridges and airports, and the protectionist policies have laid the foundations for future growth. Separatist and gang violence plague the southeast, and clashes between farmers and herders persist in hinterland states known as Nigeria's Middle Belt. A former Lagos state governor, Tinubu has promised to be a better steward of the economy.

☆ Nigeria's Buhari defends election outcome, economic record
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Felix Onuah | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ABUJA, May 28 (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday defended his record on the economy and the outcome of a disputed presidential election, saying he was leaving a legacy of credible and fair votes, a day before he hands over power to his successor. Buhari first came to office in 2015 after promising to reboot the economy and end corruption and insecurity, but many Nigerians say these issues have worsened under his watch. Incoming President Bola Tinubu's victory is being challenged by his two closest opposition rivals, and on Tuesday a tribunal will begin to hear the main arguments in the election petition. Tinubu is inheriting anaemic economic growth, record debt and shrinking oil output. Life is tough for Nigerians, and a tangle of protectionist economic policies and foreign currency interventions have caused dollar shortages and spooked investors.

☆ Nigeria to commission Dangote refinery, crude supply a concern
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Macdonald Dzirutwe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Despite being Africa's biggest oil producer, Nigeria imports petrol, diesel and processed petroleum products because its refineries were run down over the years. The refinery needs a constant supply of crude but Nigeria's oil production has been declining due to oil theft, vandalism of pipelines and underinvestment. Lower production would affect state-owned oil company NNPC Ltd's ability to fulfil an agreement to supply Dangote refinery with 300,000 bpd of crude, said economist Kelvin Emmanuel, who authored a report on oil theft last year. "There are risks with supply of crude oil feedstock. Energy Aspects, however, said in the long run, the Dangote refinery could end Nigeria's gasoline deficit, reshape the Atlantic basin gasoline market and export diesel that meets European Union specifications.

Ambassador and South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has walked a long and windy road when it comes to her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump. DeSantis’ announcement nears: NBC News’ Dasha Burns reports that Florida Republican Gov. And the New York Times reports DeSantis has been telling donors that out of the three “credible” candidates for president (Trump, himself and President Biden), only he and Biden can win. Raising eyebrows: Virginia GOP Gov.

☆ Fact Check-New Canadian passport design represents seasons, not Pride flag
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

(Editor’s note: This article contains profanity)The new Canadian passport design does not include a rainbow Pride flag. On May 10, Canada unveiled its new passport design with upgraded security features, according to Reuters reporting (here). A tweet said: “These new Canadian Passports are an absolute DISGRACE They removed Terry Fox and Vimy Ridge for a f*cking PRIDE FLAG?? Most pride flags show six or more colors, as seen in Reuters pictures (here), (here), (here), not four like the new Canadian passport design. The new Canadian passport design does not feature a Pride flag, and the colors on the inside cover represent the four seasons.

☆ Opinion | Death and the City
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

“Some have hypothesized that the rise in homicide rates is specifically a result of the June 2020 protests,” Chalfin and MacDonald wrote, but “theories about the role of the protests must contend with several challenges. The data also pinpoint the timing of the spikes to late May 2020, which corresponds with the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis and subsequent anti-police protests — protests that likely led to declines in law enforcement. Although unemployment caused by Covid surged in April, there was little if any increase in murders at that time. That is the challenge that every city should be grappling with. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

☆ Neglected Igbo-Ukwu Bronzes get new life at Nigerian museum
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Angela Ukomadu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] An Igbo-Ukwu bronze, which, according to the museum, dates back to the 9th century, is displayed with other Igbo-Ukwu bronze artefacts at the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos, Nigeria, March 22,... Read moreLAGOS, May 17 (Reuters) - At the National Museum in Lagos, workers carefully remove rust and patina from Igbo-Ukwu Bronze artefacts, part of restoration work on some of Nigeria's oldest but lesser known collections. The Igbo-Ukwu, which date back to the 9th century according to the museum, were discovered in 1939 in southeastern Anambra state, part of the region inhabited by the Igbo people. Their restoration comes at a time when there is uncertainty about the return of thousands of the more famous Benin Bronzes from museums and collectors abroad. At the museum in Lagos, curator Omotayo Adeboye said she considered the Igbo-Ukwu "masterpieces of creativity and indigenous craftsmanship." Reporting by Angela Ukomadu, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ After 100 hours of non-stop cooking, Nigerian chef seeks world record
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/6] Nigerian Chef Hilda Bassey, 27, attempts to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking time by an individual, in Lagos, Nigeria May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Temilade AdelajaLAGOS, May 16 (Reuters) - A Nigerian chef has spent 100 hours preparing meals non-stop, aiming to set a Guinness World Record for the longest ever cooking session by an individual. Hilda Bassey, a chef in the mega city of Lagos, has captivated the country with her marathon cooking, which started on Thursday and ended on Monday night. The current longest cooking record is held by Indian chef Lata Tondon, who set a time of 87 hours and 45 minutes in 2019. Bassey's time will need to be certified by Guinness World Record officials before it can be made official.

☆ Google employees reportedly joked about playing drinking games and made up a song to the tune of 'Old MacDonald' to mock how many times execs said AI at I/O developer conference
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google employees are reportedly happy with products revealed at the company's annual development conference, but are still making jokes. CNBC cited messages and memes from internal communications mocking how often AI was mentioned. Some employees said they should take a shot every time AI was mentioned by a Google executive. The internal messaging site is often used by Google employees to make jokes at the expense of the company and executives including CEO Sundar Pichai. Last month, Insider reported that a group of executives including Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg said "AI" at least 168 times on their recent first quarter earnings calls.

☆ Return of Benin Bronzes delayed after Nigerian president's decree
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Macdonald Dzirutwe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

But an official gazette signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 28 said the Oba of Benin was the rightful owner of all returned Benin Bronzes and was responsible for the management of all places where the artefacts were kept. The commission has in the past signed agreements to return looted artefacts, including from Cambridge college and Germany. The University of Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. There have been questions on whether Nigeria has capacity to safely keep artefacts returned from abroad. The palace has previously said it planned to build a museum to house returned artefacts.

☆ Tech's been hit by layoffs. But Singapore is still investing big in its talent — in tech and beyond
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Demand for individuals with specialized tech talent isn't limited to the tech sector, says Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority. "This has been a consequence of tech companies anchoring and growing their higher-value tech development and corporate functions here," he said. Tech 'powers all the big banks'In finance, technology is the engine that "powers all the big banks," said Donald MacDonald, OCBC head of group data. and deep tech," MacDonald said. Specialized tech skills

☆ For King Charles, a Detente Emerges in Relationship With U.K. Media
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( David Luhnow | Alistair Macdonald | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People in Piccadilly Circus during the coronation of King Charles III. Photo: Cover Images/Zuma PressLONDON—King Charles III’s coronation this weekend got rave reviews from the British press, part of what appears to be a fragile truce between the notoriously aggressive U.K. media and the new king, after a long and sometimes frosty relationship. The former Prince of Wales has had a famously fraught time with the British press, especially when he had an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now his wife and queen, while married to Diana, princess of Wales. He was also mocked for years over everything from his ears to his penchant for talking to plants.

☆ Nigerian president to commission Dangote refinery in two weeks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ABUJA, May 7 (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will commission the multi-billion dollar Dangote oil refinery in two weeks, a presidency spokesperson said on Sunday, setting up the plant for its first production since construction started in 2016. Spokesperson Bashir Ahmad said Buhari will commission the refinery, near Lagos, on May 22, a week before he is due to leave office after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the constitution. A spokesperson for Dangote confirmed the timing of the commissioning but did not give details. The Dangote refinery's cost grew to $19 billion from initial estimates of between $12 billion and $14 billion, after years of delays. Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nigerian hijab-wearing chef seeks to break stereotypes about Muslim women
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LAGOS, May 4 (Reuters) - Nigerian Sherifah Yunus Olokodana looks like any Muslim woman with a veil that only exposes her eyes, but the entrepreneur who has carved a niche as a chef in Lagos is seeking to break stereotypes about hijab-wearing women in the country. Nigeria is almost evenly divided between the largely Christian south and mainly Muslim north, where cultural norms often discourage women to get into business. Olokodana, a Yoruba Muslim from the southwest, has been a pastry chef for nearly two decades and sells food spices, but she said she still faced prejudice. "Women in hijab continue to get negative vibes from people. Reporting by Seun Sanni; writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nightmare in Sudan: African expats struggle to find way out
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Macdonald Dzirutwe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Thousands piled into buses and trucks for the 800 km (500 miles) journey by road from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea to board ships. He had to wait four more days for transport to Port Sudan, an overnight trip. After a week, word reached them that there would be transport leaving from their embassy for Port Sudan. RSF fighters stopped the family along the way but let them pass when he said he was looking for food for his son. From Port Sudan, they travelled via cargo ship to Saudi Arabia.

☆ Webb telescope detects mysterious water vapor in a nearby star system
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has detected water vapor around a rocky exoplanet that orbits a star located 26 light-years away from Earth. The presence of water vapor could suggest that GJ 486 b somehow has an atmosphere, despite its heat and proximity to the star. “Water vapor in an atmosphere on a hot rocky planet would represent a major breakthrough for exoplanet science. The results from the Webb data analysis pointed to water vapor being present around GJ 486 b. Future observations of the planet using different instruments on the Webb telescope could reveal additional details about the source of the water vapor.

☆ Ukraine’s Arms Industry Survives Russian Onslaught to Hit Back
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Alistair Macdonald | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Illustration: Adele MorganFor Ukraine’s largest weapons maker, the war started with a barrage of Russian missiles that destroyed one factory and several of its giant Antonov cargo planes. Despite a persistent onslaught, Ukroboronprom says it has delivered more than eight times the weapons to Ukraine’s military over the past year than the one before.

☆ Gunmen in Nigeria free 74 children after ransoms paid
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MAIDUGURI, April 29 (Reuters) - Gunmen in Nigeria have released 74 children out of more than 80 people who were abducted earlier this month in northwestern Zamfara state, after ransoms were paid, parents and a village head said on Saturday. Gangs of armed men have attacked hundreds of local communities across northwestern Nigeria in recent years, while Islamist militants continue to stage attacks in the northeast. Two parents from Zamfara's Wadzamai village said they paid 20,000 naira ($43.50) each and their children were among those released on Friday and had suffered from severe malnutrition. A village head in Wadzamai said 11 people were still being held but two were killed trying to escape from their captors. Reporting by Ahmed Kingimi Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 'Constant fear': war shakes Sudan despite truce pledges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Khalid Abdelaziz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The fighting has also reawakened a two-decade-old conflict in the western Darfur region where scores have died this week. "We're in a constant state of fear for ourselves and our children." The army has been deploying jets or drones on RSF forces spread out in neighbourhoods across the capital. Sudan's army accused the RSF of firing at the plane, damaging its fuel system which was being repaired after the aircraft managed to land safely. Some had walked from Khartoum to South Sudan's border, a distance of over 400 km (250 miles), a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency said.

☆ Prescient bets by the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and Serena Williams have triggered an explosion in tech investing among Europe's sports stars
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

European sports stars are following US counterparts, such as Shaquille O'Neal, in betting on tech. O'Neal, who also made early bets on Google and Lyft, has shown how sports stars can become successful venture capitalists once their playing careers end. He's not alone in the US, with the football star Tom Brady and the basketball stars LeBron James and Steph Curry all actively investing in tech. The tennis legend Serena Williams went a step further and set up her own fund, Serena Ventures. Shaquille O'Neal has proven to be a shrewd tech investor with early bets on Ring, Google, and Lyft.

☆ These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

They identified Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Central America – including Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua – as “hot spots” for high-risk heat waves. Not only is there high potential for record-breaking extreme heat, but the impacts will be intensified by the huge difficulties the country already faces, he said. “When a really extreme heat wave does finally come along, then there are instantly going to be a lot of problems,” Mitchell said. Heat waves have a wide-ranging negative impact. They also take a heavy toll on human health, and extreme heat is one of the deadliest natural disasters.

[1/2] Picketers gather and march downtown as approximately 155,000 public sector union workers with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) continue to strike, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 24, 2023. For the 155,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) on strike, the main sticking point is wages. "If they do get the remote work language in the collective agreement, then others will be inspired to do the same." PSAC, which names remote work as its second priority after wages, said on its website that it is time to look to the future "by enshrining remote work protections" into collective agreements. On Tuesday the Treasury Board said remote work remained a sticking point.

☆ Weapons Makers Can’t Hire Enough Workers as Ukraine War Drives Demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Alistair Macdonald | Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. military has sought to boost production at facilities such as the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Pennsylvania. Photo: Hannah Beier/Getty ImagesRussia’s invasion of Ukraine has turbocharged demand for weapons. Now arms makers face the challenge of hiring thousands of skilled workers to capitalize on an influx of orders. Defense companies in the U.S. and Europe are working through record order books after Western governments increased spending in recent years amid rising geopolitical tensions. The war in Ukraine is now further fueling growth, partly as the U.S. and its allies begin to replace weapons they have sent to Kyiv.

Search resuls for: "Macdonald"

25 mentions found