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India’s buildings sector to overshoot country’s entire carbon budget: Report
India's buildings sector currently accounts for 25 per cent of the...
Bangladesh, Pakistan and India bottom in air quality rankings in 2023, data shows
Average concentrations of PM2.5 - small airborne particles that...
MENA reinsurers strive to adapt to testing conditions:AM Best
AM Best notes that in general, the region’s reinsurers have demonstrated resilience in a difficult operating environment. The strategies adopted by MENA reinsurers vary considerably. Certain reinsurers benefit from long-standing legal cessions in their domestic markets, while others focus on providing proportional capacity. Strategic shifts are ongoing, with some looking to increase nonproportional and facultative business, as well as improve regional and international diversification.
Men at 62% increased risk of COVID-19 associated deaths: Study
“We need further studies on what exactly makes men more vulnerable to COVID-19. We do not yet know which biological or possibly social factors lead to these marked differences,” the authors concluded.
Global climate goals ‘virtually impossible’ without carbon capture – IEA
Up to $160 billion needs to be invested in the technology by 2030, a ten-fold increase from the previous decade, it added.
“Without it, our energy and climate goals will become virtually impossible to reach,” the IEA head Fatih Birol said in a statement.
Businesses cheer, unions fear contentious Indian labour reforms
Under the Industrial Relations Code, one of the three new laws, companies employing up to 300 workers will not require government permission to lay off workers or close plants – an increase from the previous cap of 100 and a major demand from industry over the years.
The code also puts restrictions on the recognition of trade unions – making it mandatory for them to represent at least 10% of workers in a given sector – and prohibit them from striking without prior notice and during conciliation proceedings.
Catastrophic cyber event leading to claims of more than $10 billion has increased since the Pandemic:Willis Re
Mark Synnott, Global Cyber Practice Leader, Willis Re, said: “This year’s survey shows quite clearly that risk professionals around the world believe that the pandemic has increased cyber risk, in some cases dramatically. They expect the insurance industry to respond, but unfortunately not in the way we might hope. While three quarters of the people we surveyed think demand for cyber cover will increase post-COVID-19, only 45% think supply will increase, which perhaps explains why three-quarters think the cost of cover will rise. The insurance industry has some work to do to ensure these expectations are not met!”
U.N. aviation agency ICAO advises Pakistan to suspend issuance of new pilot licenses
“Pakistan should improve and strengthen its licensing system to ensure that it takes into account all necessary processes and procedures and prevents inconsistencies and malpractices before new licenses are issued and privileges of suspended licenses are re-established,” said ICAO, in a previously unreported letter to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) last week.
COVID-19 cases in India breach 57-lakh mark, recovery rate at 81.55 per cent
The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection was recorded at 1.59 per cent.
There are 9,66,382 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 16.86 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
India’s coronavirus infections surge to 5.82 million
A total of 1,141 people died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the ministry said, taking mortalities to 92,290, which is a relatively low 1.6% of all cases.
Microsoft develops ‘virtual commute’ for remote workers amid Covid-19
Pandemic-related burnout and difficulty separating work and personal life has become a surprisingly common concern among Microsoft’s corporate customers, according to Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela. “The thing we didn’t predict that we’ve learned is now at the top of customers’ mind is really the well-being of their employees,” he said.
Companies initially worried about employees having the right technology to work from home. “Now it’s getting to be much more about ‘hey how do I know if an employee is burned out, how do I know how they are doing — if they are working too hard?’ All of the things around the emotional well-being or the mental health of employees has risen to the top faster in a way that we didn’t really predict,” he added.
Even as Covid-19 rages, Indian economy’s animal spirits are stabilising
A strong rebound is still a far way off though as a surge in virus cases continues to disrupt activity and has led many economists to downgrade their growth forecasts for the year.