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Eco/Invest/Demography

AstraZeneca and Oxford say COVID-19 vaccine shows 70% efficacy

AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said that the lower first dose of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine meant more people can be vaccinated more quickly, as the British drugmaker unveiled interim late-stage trial results.

“Being able to vaccinate more people faster is a really a big plus,” he told a briefing.AstraZeneca said it would “immediately prepare regulatory submission of the data to authorities around the world that have a framework in place for conditional or early approval.”
The Astra vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage which may make it easier to administer than the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, which needs to be refrigerated at -70 degrees.

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Airline body IATA develops mobile apps for COVID-era travel

“Our main priority is to get people travelling again safely,” IATA security chief Nick Careen said. “That means giving governments confidence that systematic COVID-19 testing can work as a replacement for quarantine requirements.”

Passenger health and other data are not stored centrally but authenticated with blockchain, leaving consumers in control of what they share, IATA said.

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Google faces regulatory scrutiny in Britain over ‘Privacy Sandbox’ advertising data revamp

The complaint follows up on concerns about Google’s new system that the watchdog raised in a July report about online platforms and digital advertising. The report recommended the British government adopt a new regulatory approach to governing digital giants making big money from online ads.

Google said the new technology will increase privacy for users while also supporting publishers.

Meanwhile,Russia has opened a case against U.S. tech giant Google for failing to remove banned content from its search engine, communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said on Monday.

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S&P sceptical of allowing corporates into Indian banking

“The working group’s concerns regarding conflict of interest, concentration of economic power, and financial stability in allowing corporates to own banks are potential risks,” S&P Global Ratings said in a note.

A former RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan, and a former deputy governor, Viral Acharya, also criticised the proposal, calling it a “bad” idea.

Even though India needed more banks it was not wise to allow industrial houses into banking as the history of such inter-connected lending showed it could be disastrous, they said.

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Will India’s banking system go from being state-dominated to tycoon-led?

The regulator mustn’t take the public’s trust for granted. The IL&FS debacle shows little institutional capacity to stop mischief outside the balance sheet of a traditional bank.
The report came just as the regulator solemnised the sale to Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd. of one such lender, the third failure of a major deposit-taking institution in 15 months. Before that shotgun marriage, the country had 22 universal banks (and 10 so-called small finance banks) in the private sector, with a 30% share of deposits, up from 13% two decades ago. Foreign banks’ low 5% share has remained unchanged. Dominant public-sector banks’ market share is down to 65%, from 82% in 2000.

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Europe to lift Boeing 737 MAX grounding in January, follows US action

“We wanted to carry out a totally independent analysis of the safety of this aircraft, so we performed our own checks and flight tests,” Executive Director Patrick Ky told the Paris Air Forum, an online aviation conference hosted by La Tribune.

“All these studies tell us that the 737 MAX can return to service. We have started to put in place all the measures,” he said. “It is likely that in our case we will adopt the decisions, allowing it to return to service, some time in January.”

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Second Covid-19 wave can hit like tsunami:Maha CM

Addressing the state this evening, Thackeray reiterated that the best possible preventive measures are wearing a face mask, physical distancing, cleanliness and avoiding overcrowding in public places.

“We don’t have the vaccine yet, nor is there any treatment. So we have to stick to the preventive measures till then. Don’t be under any mistaken impression that because everything is being opened up, the coronavirus has been conquered,” he warned.

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