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Biden order seeks to improve US port cybersecurity
US President Joe Biden The U.S. Coast Guard will get powers to...
US imposes sanctions on Russia’s leading tanker group Sovcomflot – Treasury Dept website
The Treasury Department also sanctioned 14 crude oil tankers...
German prosecutors probe EY auditors over Wirecard collapse
EY said on Friday that “it is not aware of any indications of criminal behaviour by its auditors at Wirecard. EY has supported the investigations of the responsible authorities from the outset and will continue to do so in full.”
Wirecard collapsed into insolvency in June after EY, its auditor for more than a decade, was unable to confirm the existence of 1.9 billion euros ($2.3 billion) purportedly held in offshore trustee accounts.
New EU-U.S. data transfer pact? Not any time soon, says EU privacy watchdog
The European Union is also trying to devise different ways to manage its data transfers with the rest of the world after the CJEU said privacy watchdogs must halt or prohibit transfers outside the EU if other countries cannot assure that the data will be protected.
More than 5,000 companies had signed up to the Privacy Shield set up in 2016 when the Luxembourg-based EU Court of Justice (CJEU) scrapped it in July this year, disrupting their businesses and exposing them to the risk of privacy lawsuits.
EU climate deal unlikely without breakthrough on budget, envoy says
The climate and budget issues are interlinked.The EU has agreed that hundreds of billions of euros from its 1.8-billion-euro budget and attached COVID-19 recovery fund will be spent on helping countries cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Commission wants the EU to commit to cut net emissions at least 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels. The bloc’s current 2030 target is a 40% emissions cut.
A year into COVID-19, U.N. declares a day of ‘epidemic preparednes
The COVID-19 virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and spread globally, so far infecting more than 66 million people and killing some 1.5 million. The World Health Organization (WHO) called it a pandemic in March, a declaration that the United States and others said came too late.
“Given that the General Assembly has previously declared international days devoted to chess, yoga and toilets it only seems fair that epidemics should have their day too,” said International Crisis Group U.N. director Richard Gowan.
Personal accident and health insurance in Asia-Pacific to reach $240.1bn in 2023:GlobalData
Varma concludes: “Personal accident and health insurance insurance is expected to see major developments as short-term accident covers, critical illness, disease-specific products become more mainstream. Furthermore, technology savvy middle class emerging markets and aging population in mature markets will support the business growth over the next few years.”
1st dynamic Covid surveillance system rolls out in 195 nations
“We can inform leaders where the outbreak is occurring before it shows up in overcrowded hospitals and morgues,” said Lori Post from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. said.
“Current systems are static and ours is dynamic.”
Northwestern is hosting a dashboard for the new Covid tracking system — open to anyone — with the new metrics as well as traditional metrics.
Each country’s dashboard will be monitored to inform policy leaders around the globe. Users will have metrics of the whole world at their fingertips.
COVID-19 could push number of people living in extreme poverty to over 1 billion by 2030: UN
“Severe long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could push an additional 207 million people into extreme poverty on top of the current pandemic trajectory, bringing the total to over 1 billion by 2030,” noted the study.
The ‘Baseline COVID’ scenario, based on current mortality rates and the most recent growth projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), would result in 44 million more people living in extreme poverty by 2030 compared to the development trajectory the world was on before the pandemic.
AstraZeneca and Oxford’s stories clash on COVID-19 vaccine
The discrepancy, reported for the first time by Reuters, centres on the regimen administered to a smaller group of volunteers in the late-stage trials, of half a dose followed by a full dose. This diverged from the original plan of two full doses, given to the majority of participants.
The half-dose pattern was found to be 90% effective, versus the 62% success rate of the two-full-dose main study, based on interim data
Britain gets ready for roll-out of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine this week
Some of the most famous figures in British life stepped forward to say that they would receive the vaccine to encourage the public to follow suit. That could include Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, who are likely to receive the vaccine within weeks, according to MailOnline reports on Sunday.
Even with vaccines, airport testing Is here for the long haul
There’s data to support the idea that testing could reestablish consumer confidence. In a study published by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) in October, 76% of respondents said that rapid testing prior to departure—with waived quarantining requirements for those who test negative—would be the best way to open up international travel.