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Eco/Invest/Demography

AXA XL launches Digital Risk Engineer, a connected solution to monitor “buildings and assets”

Available globally, Digital Risk Engineer uses Internet of Things (IoT) devices installed in the clients’ buildings to capture information from connected systems such as energy, water (including sprinklers), heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).
Jonathan Salter, recently announced Head of Risk Consulting at AXA XL said“This fully digital offering is especially relevant today as we grapple, as a society, with the impacts of COVID-19, and the likelihood that companies will try to limit in-person site visits where possible.”

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U.S. pension funds sue Allianz after $4 bln in coronavirus losses

Market panic around the virus that resulted in billions in losses earlier this year scarred many investors, but no other top-tier asset manager is facing such a large number of lawsuits in the United States connected to the turbulence.

In March, Allianz ALVG.DE was forced to shutter two private hedge funds after severe losses, prompting the wave of litigation the company says is “legally and factually flawed”.

Together, the various suits filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York claim investors lost a total of around $4 billion.

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AstraZeneca gets partial immunity in low-cost EU vaccine deal

Drugmakers have called on EU regulators to set up a Europe-wide compensation scheme, while patients’ organizations are calling for an EU-wide fund financed by pharmaceutical firms that would compensate for unexpected side-effects.

The EU legal regime is among the least favorable to drugmakers on compensation claims, although plaintiffs have rarely managed to win as the law requires them to prove the link between an illness and a vaccine that may have caused it.

The United States has granted immunity from liability for COVID-19 vaccines that receive regulatory approval. Meanwhile, Russia has said it would shoulder some of the legal liability should anything go wrong with the vaccine developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute.

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Govt may sell 25% stake in LIC in phases

As part of the proposal, the government will also move an amendment in parliament for an authorized capital of Rs 20,000 cr which will be divided into 20 billion shares, the people said.

A ministerial panel set up for asset sales will decide on the size of the public offering while the cabinet will consider changes to capital structure of the insurer, the people said. Taking the insurer public will help instill “discipline” and unlock value, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her budget speech in February, without providing details or the time line for the sale.

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World Bank seeks board approval for $12 billion coronavirus vaccine financing plan

Malpass said the World Bank plan aimed to put poor and middle-income countries, where the virus is spreading most rapidly, on the same footing as richer countries by ensuring they have financing to secure supplies and a system for distribution, which will encourage drugmakers to meet their demand.

Without early doses that can bring outbreaks under control, many of these countries risk economic collapse that will push hundreds of millions of people back into poverty.

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Global coronavirus deaths pass ‘agonizing milestone’ of 1 million

It took just three months for COVID-19 deaths to double from half a million, an accelerating rate of fatalities since the first death was recorded in China in early January.

More than 5,400 people are dying around the world every 24 hours, according to Reuters calculations based on September averages, overwhelming funeral businesses and cemeteries.

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Pandemic to keep Asia’s growth at lowest since 1967, warns World Bank

The economic shock of the pandemic was also expected to lead to a jump in poverty, defined as income of $5.50 a day, the bank said, adding that based on past experience and the latest gross domestic product forecasts, poverty could expand by 33 million to 38 million people to see its first rise in 20 years.

The bank said that 33 million people who would have in the absence of the pandemic escaped poverty would remain in it this year.

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