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Eco/Invest/Demography

English judge blocks $6.6 billion Brazil lawsuit against BHP over burst dam

The case is the latest battle to establish whether multinationals can be held liable for the conduct of subsidiaries abroad.
The collapse of the Fundao dam, which is owned by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale VALE3.SA, killed 19 and sent a torrent of mining waste into communities, the Doce river, and the Atlantic Ocean, 650 kilometres (400 miles) away. It was Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.
The ruling comes about 18 months after the UK Supreme Court ruled that nearly 2,000 Zambian villagers could sue miner Vedanta in England for alleged pollution in Africa because substantial justice was not obtainable in Zambia.

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One in five COVID-19 patients develop mental illness within 90 days – Lancet study

People have been worried that COVID-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems, and our findings … show this to be likely,” said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at Britain’s Oxford University.

Doctors and scientists around the world urgently need to investigate the causes and identify new treatments for mental illness after COVID-19, Harrison said.

“(Health) services need to be ready to provide care, especially since our results are likely to be underestimates (of the number of psychiatric patients),” he added.

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India’s October car, motorbike sales skid as dealers caution over stock

The sales numbers, based on vehicles registered in the country, were higher than September as more people visited car showrooms, but the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) warned that momentum is slow.

New cars fared better than older models, entry-level motorcycles saw poor demand and discounts offered by automakers in October 2019 were higher – all of which affected sales this year, FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said in a statement

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Automakers log dip in fleet sales in Sep qtr amid coronavirus pandemic

“There has been extreme aversion on the part of customers against shared mobility and public transport and they are obviously looking at personal transport. If we look at the figures in our portfolio, fleet sales which include shared mobility, in the second quarter there was a drop of 69 per cent,” Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director (Sales and Marketing) Shashank Srivastava said.

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Buffett’s Berkshire suffers in Covid pandemic even as Apple boosts profit

Insurance profit fell 58% to $802 million, reflecting lower premiums at Geico, COVID-19, Hurricanes Laura and Sally, and lower income from investments as interest rates tumble.

Geico awarded drivers $2.5 billion of credits on policy renewals this year, and Berkshire said its accounting for those credits should hurt underwriting results through March 2021.

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Global uncertainty could risk World War Three – UK military chief

“I think we are living at a moment in time where the world is a very uncertain and anxious place and of course, the dynamic of global competition is a feature of our lives as well, and I think the real risk we have with quite a lot of the regional conflicts that are gong on at the moment, is you could see escalation lead to miscalculation,” Carter told Sky News.

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Govt working to make India automobile manufacturing hub in next 5 years: Gadkari

He also said that Indian manufacturers have the capability to make efficient EVs that can not only create more jobs but also provide opportunities for exports.

“e-Mobility is going to be the future mode of transport with greater efficiency and less impact on the environment. Import of crude oil and air pollution are two major concerns for the country. We need to have an integrated approach for EVs,” he added.

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