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International News

Coronavirus pandemic could be over within 2 years, says hopeful WHO Chief

Tedros also said that the pandemic has given new impetus to the need to accelerate efforts to respond to climate change, Xinhua news agency.

“Throughout history, outbreaks and pandemics have changed economies and societies, this one will be no different.”

Noting that the global health criris “has given us a glimpse of our world as it could be: cleaner skies and rivers… Building back better means building back greener”.

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Covid-19 also an epidemic of depression and anxiety among young adults

It’s long been clear that Covid-19, like any major disaster, is causing an increase in mental-health disorders and their accompanying evils. Those range from alcoholism and drug addiction to wife beating and child abuse.

In the Americas, the world’s most afflicted region with hotspots from the the US to Brazil, this psycho-social crisis has become its own epidemic, the World Health Organisation’s regional branch said this week.

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Chinese insurance tech firm Waterdrop raises $230 million, plans U.S. IPO

Two sources with knowledge of the fundraising told Reuters that Waterdrop was valued at nearly $2 billion in the funding round. One of them said that Swiss Re itself had invested $100 million.

Swiss Re declined to comment on its investment size, but said the company’s participation in the round was part of its long-term commitment to China.

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Twitter privacy ruling delayed after dispute among EU regulators

Twitter had looked set to become the first big technology company to face a fine by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) under tougher EU data protection rules after it submitted the decision to other member states in May.

Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) “One Stop Shop” regime introduced in 2018, regulators can impose fines for violations of up to 4% of a company’s global revenue or 20 million euros ($22 million), whichever is higher

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Russia vaccine roll-out plan prompts virus mutation worries

Sputnik-V’s developers, as well as financial backers and Russian authorities, say the vaccine is safe and that two months of small-scale human trials have shown that it works.

But the results of those trials have not been made public, and many Western scientists are sceptical, warning against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory hurdles have been passed.

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Japan ship deviated from shipping lane before Mauritius impact, data shows

It was not immediately clear why the ship appeared to deviate from its course. Tracking data for other cargo vessels passing close to Mauritius recently show them all sticking to the shipping lane.

The Mauritius coast guard had repeatedly tried to reach the ship to warn it that its course was dangerous but received no reply, Reuters reported this week.

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China govt-backed class actions take aim at corporate fraud – with limits

Under the new litigation process, either the courts or a regulator must find that a company has broken the rules, or the company must admit wrongdoing, before a class-action lawsuit can be launched.

In addition, class-action suits launched by individuals, not the CSISC, can only include investors who opt in, reducing the number of plaintiffs and the size of the claim.

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