DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Russia and Ukraine are not currently engaged in talks to end the fighting, which is raging in the east and south and reached Kyiv again on Wednesday. Zelenskiy said this week Russia should start withdrawing by Christmas as a step to end the conflict, Europe's biggest since World War Two. Moscow rejected the proposal outright, saying Ukraine must accept the loss of territory to Russia before any progress can be made. [1/5] Rescuers and police officers examine parts of the drone at the site of a building destroyed by a Russian drone attack, as their attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 14, 2022. DRONES STRIKE KYIVViolence returned to Kyiv, with the first major drone attack on Ukraine's capital in weeks.

☆ Saudi foreign minister: 'All bets off' if Iran gets nuclear weapon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Sunday that Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours would act to shore up their security if Tehran were to obtain nuclear weapons. Indirect U.S.-Iranian talks to salvage a 2015 nuclear pact between global powers and Iran, which Washington exited in 2018, stalled in September. "If Iran gets an operational nuclear weapon, all bets are off," Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said in an on-stage interview at the World Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi when asked about such a scenario. "The signs right now are not very positive unfortunately," Prince Faisal said. "We hear from the Iranians that they have no interest in a nuclear weapons programme, it would be very comforting to be able to believe that.

☆ Kremlin says Minsk deals failure led to Russia's Ukraine offensive
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir Putin this week bemoaned the failure to implement the Minsk agreements - ceasefire and constitutional reform deals between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine brokered in 2014 and 2015 by Russia, France and Germany, at the outset of the conflict with Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of violating the deal. Asked by a journalist whether Russia understood that it was being "deceived" over the Minsk accords, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Over time, of course, it became obvious. "And, again, President Putin and our other representatives constantly kept saying this," the TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying. "This is all precisely the precursor to the special military operation."

☆ Fire rages through shopping mall in Moscow suburbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Fire engulfed one of the largest shopping malls near Moscow early on Friday, emergency services said, leading to the collapse of part of the structure, which complicated firefighters' efforts to douse the flames. The conflagration spread over an area of about 7,000 sq m (75,000 sq ft) in the Mega shopping centre in Khimki near the Russian capital, authorities said. Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it was looking into the cause of the fire. The head of the Moscow region's emergency services agency said it appeared the blaze was the result of safety regulations being violated during repair work on the building. Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. Senator Sinema leaves Democratic Party, registers as independent
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) walks from her hideaway office to the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. August 2, 2022. Senator Kyrsten Sinema said on Friday she had switched her political party affiliation to independent, leaving the Democratic Party just days after it won a U.S. Senate race in Georgia to secure 51 seats in the chamber. I registered as an Arizona independent," she said in a op-ed for local media outlet Arizona Central. Sinema, in a separate Politico interview published on Friday, said she would not caucus with the Republican Party. Sinema on Friday said her shift came as a growing number of people in her Western U.S. state were also declaring themselves politically independent, rejecting both the Republican and Democratic political labels.

☆ Brittney Griner arrives in the U.S. after prisoner exchange with Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 9 (Reuters) - A plane carrying basketball star Brittney Griner landed in the United States early on Friday, nearly 10 months after she was detained in Russia. Griner was released in a prisoner swap with Russia in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout and was heading home on Thursday, ending what President Joe Biden called months of "hell" for her and her wife. [1/3] The plane carrying U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner arrives, following her release from prison in Russia, in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., December 9, 2022. The swap was a rare instance of cooperation between the United States and Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. The two countries also swapped prisoners in April when Russia released former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed and the United States released Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.

☆ Red Cross visits POWs held by Russia and Ukraine, commends progress
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Geneva-based body has reached hundreds of prisoners on both sides. "My expectation is that these visits lead to more regular access to all prisoners of war," the statement cited ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric as saying. The U.N. human rights office said last month that its monitors had not been allowed access to Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia. The ICRC said it carried out a two-day visit to Ukrainian POWs last week, with another happening this week. It also visited Russian POWs last week and more such visits are planned by month-end.

☆ Factbox: Far-right attacks, scandals in Germany
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Following are some of the far-right attacks and scandals that have shaken Germany in recent years:Jan. 2021 - Far-right sympathiser Stephan Ernst is handed a life sentence for shooting dead pro-immigration conservative politician Walter Luebcke who was found lying in a pool of blood outside his home in western Germany in 2019. Luebcke had been an outspoken supporter of former Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision in 2015 to let in refugees. June 2020 - German defence minister disbands company of its elite KSK special forces after a scandal over its links to far-right radicals. The attacker, a 27-year-old German, fatally shoots a woman outside the synagogue and a man inside a nearby kebab shop. An official report later says police had "massively underestimated" the risk of far-right violence and that missteps had allowed the cell to go undetected.

At an EU economics and finance ministers' meeting in Brussels, Hungarian minister Mihaly Varga confirmed his government's opposition to supporting Ukraine with the loan. Hungary has said it would not take part in joint EU borrowing for Ukraine, though Budapest has said it would provide bilateral assistance. But this is not how Hungary's decision to block the EU loan has been received by all. Locked in a tug-of-war with Hungary, the ministers decided to take off their agenda on Tuesday any decision about 7.5 billion euros in EU funds earmarked for Hungary, according to EU officials. International watchdogs say he has channelled EU funds to his inner circle over the years, entrenching himself in power.

☆ Britain's Currys to avoid using Royal Mail 'for now' over strikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - British electricals retailer Currys (CURY.L) will not use Royal Mail as a delivery provider "for now" to reduce any impact from strike action, the company's chief executive officer Alex Baldock said on Sunday. Asked whether the report was true, Baldock said: "For now, yes. We plan for this sort of thing all the time and the relatively few, smaller parcels that we distribute through Royal Mail are pretty easily switchable to another provider." Postal workers have already staged walk outs and plan another wave of strikes later this month over pay and conditions, arguing that they want a rise that matches increasing prices and the cost of living. Reporting by Elizabeth Piper Editing by Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Under the three-day amnesty which began on Saturday, Ukrainians living in villages across the river can traverse the Dnipro during daylight hours and to a designated point. Anastasiia, who also only gave her first name, said she was at the port because she hoped to cross the river the other way, into Russian-held territory where her relatives are. Russian forces have intensified artillery attacks on the Kherson region since withdrawing from the western bank of the Dnipro. Dozens have died in attacks in the region, Ukrainian officials say. Mykola, 73, said his daughter happened to be on the east bank of the river when Kherson was liberated and got stuck alone in Russian-held territory.

☆ UK's Labour comfortably beat PM Sunak's Conservatives to retain parliamentary seat
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour Party retained a parliamentary seat in the northwest of England on Friday, comfortably winning the vote in the first electoral test for Rishi Sunak as prime minister. Labour candidate Samantha Dixon won the City of Chester constituency, securing 61% of the vote, compared to 22% for the candidate from Sunak's Conservatives. The next national election is expected in 2024. Curtice said the scale of the swing could indicate Labour winning an outright majority in parliament at the next national election, but noted that local elections were rarely a good guide. Labour have held the Chester seat since 2015, when it was the most marginal seat in the country.

☆ German exports fall as demand cools in Europe, U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies Exports down 0.6% m/m, twice as much as forecastImports post strongest m/m fall since JanuaryBERLIN, Dec 2 (Reuters) - German exports fell more than forecast in October, official data showed on Friday, as high inflation and supply chain snags hit demand in key trading partners, further raising the spectre of recession for Europe's largest economy. Exports declined by 0.6% on the month, twice as much as analysts predicted in a Reuters poll, the data from the Federal Statistics Office showed. Germany's top export partner, the United States, saw the sharpest fall in German exports at 3.9%, while exports to other European Union member states were down 2.4%. The German chambers of commerce and industry (DIHK) said last month Germany's exports were likely to fall 2% next year due to a sluggish global economy, with nearly half of German companies that sell abroad expecting an economic downturn. Also last month, German industrial group Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) warned its sales and profit would "nosedive" next year as high inflation and energy costs are compounded by expected recession in Europe.

☆ German exports fall more than expected as demand cools in Europe, U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Alan Baldwin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The German export engine is noticeably juddering," said German chambers of commerce and industry (DIHK) trade chief Volker Trier. "High inflation rates and a tight monetary policy in important sales markets are dampening international demand." DIHK said last month Germany's exports were likely to fall 2% next year due to a sluggish global economy, with nearly half of German companies that sell abroad expecting an economic downturn. Also last month, German industrial group Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) warned its sales and profit would "nosedive" next year as high inflation and energy costs are compounded by an expected recession in Europe. A survey published on Thursday showed Germany's manufacturing sector reported continued weaker demand in November but the downturn slowed as signs of fewer material shortages fuelled hopes that cost pressures could also ease.

Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, a court filing showed. The filing said Jones has between $1 million and $10 million of assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion of liabilities. In October, a Connecticut jury in a case brought by relatives of more than a dozen Sandy Hook victims ordered Jones and Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, to pay nearly $1 billion in damages. Jones claimed for years that the 2012 killing of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize Americans’ guns. In addition to the $1 billion compensatory damages, Jones was ordered to pay $473 million in punitive damages in the Connecticut case.

☆ Syria Kurds halt all joint ops with U.S.-led coalition after Turkish attacks -spokesman
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

QAMISHLI, Syria Dec 2 (Reuters) - The Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed group that helped defeat Islamic State jihadists in Syria, has stopped all joint counter-terrorism operations as a result of Turkish bombardment on its area of control, a spokesman said Friday. Aram Henna told Reuters that "all coordination and joint counter-terrorism operations with the coalition" as well as "all the joint special operations we were carrying out regularly" had had been halted. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder earlier told reporters that operations against IS had not stopped. SDF head Mazloum Abdi earlier this week told Reuters he wanted a "stronger" message from Washington after seeing unprecedented Turkish deployments along the border. Reporting by Orhan Qehreman; Writing by Maya Gebeily Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia condemns German parliament for declaring Ukraine Soviet-era famine a genocide
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday the German parliament's move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past. In a decision welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians - the Holodomor - was genocide. Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls "clearly premeditated mass murder". Russia on Thursday rejected the claim that this was a genocide and said millions of people across other parts of the Soviet Union, including in Russia, also suffered. "The Germans are trying to rewrite their history ... downplay their own guilt and muddy the memory of the unprecedented nature of the countless crimes committed by Nazi Germany during World War Two," it added.

[1/2] Zambia's Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane attends the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, U.S., October 15, 2022. Zambia's Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane told Reuters that China had sought clarification from the Zambian government and the IMF on their debt agreement, he said. At the end of 2021, Chinese creditors accounted for almost $6 billion of Zambia's external debt, which was then $17.27 billion. The Export-Import Bank of China is representing all Chinese creditors in their restructuring negotiations with Zambia, Musokotwane said. These include commercial banks, the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS), Jiangxi Bank (1916.HK) and China Minsheng Bank (600016.SS).

☆ Ukraine says it will work to convince Germany to provide Patriot systems
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Ukraine needs the U.S. made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday, adding he would try to convince Germany to allow their delivery. Russia has carried out regular missile bombardments on Ukraine's energy infrastructure since early October, with damage accumulating as temperatures drop. Spare parts to repair the energy sector, air defence systems to prevent future attacks and NATO-style tanks were the priority, he said. "If Germany is ready to provide Patriots to Poland and Poland is ready to hand them to Ukraine then I think the solution for the German government is obvious," he said, adding that Kyiv would work with Berlin on the issue. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems.

☆ Hunger-struck Africa needs liquidity, debt relief
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Joe Bavier | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"It's not just been these macroeconomic fallouts, but also, heart-wrenchingly, the food insecurity issue," said Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Africa Department. "Food insecurity has shot up like never before." The number of East Africans facing acute food insecurity has jumped by 60% to 82 million in the past year. But Razia Khan, Middle East and Africa Chief Economist at Standard Chartered Bank, questioned whether simply providing more liquidity would be enough. Easing their debt burdens would allow governments to focus on pressing problems including food insecurity.

☆ French baguette makes it onto World Cultural Heritage list
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The humble baguette, France's staple bread, has made it onto the United Nation's cultural heritage list. Paris-based U.N. heritage body UNESCO on Wednesday voted to include the "artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread" on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which already includes around 600 traditions from over 130 countries. This "celebrates the French way of life: the baguette is a daily ritual, a structuring element of the meal, synonymous with sharing and conviviality," said UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay. These days a baguette - which means "wand" or "baton" - is sold for around 1 euro ($1.04) each. ($1 = 0.9645 euros)Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Arab Monetary Fund signs $1 bln agreement to support Yemeni government reforms -Saudi state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAIRO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The Arab Monetary Fund has signed a $1 billion agreement to support Yemen's economic reform programme to its Saudi-backed government, Saudi state media said on Sunday. The new package by the Abu Dhabi-based fund, which includes countries from the Middle East and North Africa, will provide support for the Yemeni government's efforts to stabilise the economy from 2022 to 2025, Saudi Ekhbaria TV reported. The war between the Iran-aligned Houthi group and a Saudi-led coalition has brought Yemen's economy to its knees and caused the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Inflation and foreign currency shortages have made food, water and fuel unaffordable for many in Yemen, which imports most of its needs. Saudi Arabia said in April it would arrange $3 billion of support to the war-torn country's economy after a new presidential council was formed.

☆ China sentences Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years for rape
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Nov 25 (Reuters) - A Beijing court on Friday sentenced Chinese-born Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years in jail after finding him guilty of crimes including rape. The court in Beijing's Chaoyang District said investigations showed that from November to December 2020, the man also known as Wu Yifan raped three women. The court also said Wu would be deported, although lawyers in China have said deportations typically take place after a defendant serves their sentence. Officials from the Canadian embassy in Beijing attended the sentencing, according to state media. The Canadian embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

☆ ECB's Lane plays down wage, core inflation fears
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Euro zone wage growth could keep pushing up inflation for years but this does not signal a permanent shift in wage dynamics and current indicators underlying inflation may be misleading, European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane said on Friday. "This means that, even after energy and pandemic factors fade out of inflation measures, wage inflation will be a primary driver of price inflation over the next several years." Still, this a time-limited catch-up and should not be misinterpreted to signal a more permanent shift in wage dynamics, Lane wrote. "The current values of these measures may overstate the medium-term persistent component of inflation in this highly atypical environment," Lane said. "It is unlikely that the standard measures of underlying inflation are sending the same signals about the likely persistence of inflation dynamics than under more standard macroeconomic conditions," he added.

☆ Iran official says 50 police killed in protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DUBAI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Around 50 police have been killed in the protests shaking Iran since September, the deputy foreign minister said on Thursday, giving a first official death toll amid an intensified crackdown on Kurdish areas in recent days. U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said on Thursday Iran faced a "full fledged human rights crisis" with 14,000 people arrested so far, including children. "Around 50 police officers were killed during the protests and hundreds were injured," said Iran's deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani, who is also Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, in an interview on Indian television. He gave no figure for the number of protesters killed but said the Interior Ministry had formed a panel to investigate the deaths. Iranian state media reported last month that 46 security forces had been killed but without citing officials.

Search resuls for: "Raissa"

25 mentions found