The aim of this week's United Nations negotiations is to create a...
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82% of Singaporean business leaders fear elections across the globe impacting international trade: Beazley report
Jack Suk, Underwriter, Political Risks & Trade Credit, Asia...
Global brands responsible for majority of branded plastic pollution
They found that the top five brands were The Coca-Cola Company...
Global Covid toll crosses 3m amid infection resurgence
“Indeed there is a very serious situation going on in Brazil right now, where we have a number of states in critical condition,” WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove told a briefing last Thursday, adding that many hospital intensive care units are more than 90% full.
India reported a record rise in Covid-19 infections on Monday, becoming the second nation after the United States to post more than 100,000 new cases in a day.
Volcanoes and hurricanes become destinations for ethical money
“Reliable contingency financing for disasters is a very important tool for society,” said Joanna Syroka, senior underwriter and director of new markets at Fermat Capital Management in London. “We’ve seen an increase in inquiries from end-investors who want to understand what ESG means in insurance-linked securities over the past year.”
UK’s Boris Johnson launches mass testing programme as economy reopens
Johnson, who is expected to confirm plans to relaunch international travel and open sections of the economy later on Monday, said the new mass testing programme would break the chain of transmissions and spot cases without symptoms
Vaccine passports are also being trial led for mass events.
Under the current plan international travel will not resume until May 17 at the earliest.
U.S. puts J&J in charge of plant that botched COVID vaccine, removes AstraZeneca
The development, first reported by the New York Times, further hampers AstraZeneca’s efforts in the United States. The government has criticized the drugmaker for using outdated data in the results of its vaccine trial. It later revised its study.
Facebook admits leaked data on 533 million users back online for free
The leak includes personal information on 533 million Facebook users, such as phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birth dates, bios and in some cases email addresses, Business Insider reported.
At the time, the company addressed a flaw in its technology that allowed the information to leak out. However, once such data escapes from Facebook’s network, the company has limited power to stop it from spreading online.
World economy risks ‘dangerously diverging’ even as growth booms
For the year as whole, Bloomberg Economics forecasts growth of 6.9%, the quickest in records dating back to the 1960s. Behind the buoyant outlook: a shrinking virus threat, expanding US stimulus, and trillions of dollars in pent-up savings.
Much will depend on how fast countries can inoculate their populations with the risk that the longer it takes the greater the chance the virus remains an international threat especially if new variants develop. Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker shows while the US has administered doses equivalent to almost a quarter of its people, the European Union has yet to hit 10% and rates in Mexico, Russia and Brazil are less than 6%.
Global Covid-19 caseload tops 130mn mark
In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 130,114,348 and 2,836,446, respectively.
The US is the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 30,606,649 and 554,069, respectively, according to the CSSE.
Measles resurgent in Congo eight months after epidemic declared over
“Unfortunately, since the end of 2020, several provinces have started recording new increases in patients with measles,” said Anthony Kergosien, coordinator of MSF’s emergency response team in Congo.
Cybercriminal hacks vaccine marketplace, makes over $752K
The researchers found that the dark net advertisements for Covid-19 vaccines have increased by over 300 per cent in the past three months.
The Covid vaccine sellers are majorly based in the US and European countries including Spain, Germany, France and Russia.
Global chip supply chain increasingly vulnerable to massive disruption: Study
The report comes amid a global chip shortage that started with overbooked factories in Taiwan late last year, but has since been exacerbated by a fire at a plant in Japan, a freeze that knocked out electricity in the U.S. state of Texas and a worsening drought in Taiwan this year. The shortage has idled some production lines at automobile factories in the United States, Europe and Asia.