Category:

International News

Privacy practices probe could cost facebook up to $5 billion

Under the terms of the 2011 settlement with the US Federal Trade CommissionC, Facebook agreed to get user consent for certain changes to privacy settings. The agreement stemmed from claims that it deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended. That complaint arose after the company changed some user settings without notifying its customers.

read more

 Direct-to-Consumer model gains traction in US auto insurance market

What’s driving this trend? In a word: consumerism. The shift in consumer behavior in the auto insurance industry is quickly moving from face-to-face to digital as large, well-capitalized insurers give consumers the tools to shop as they would for any other consumer product. Increasingly, those insurers who get that consumer model right are the ones who will dominate the market.

read more

World’s first malaria vaccine launched in Africa

“We have seen tremendous gains from bed nets and other measures to control malaria in the last 15 years, but progress has stalled and even reversed in some areas. We need new solutions to get the malaria response back on track, and this vaccine gives us a promising tool to get there,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The malaria vaccine has the potential to save tens of thousands of children’s lives.”

read more

Lawyers expect wave of litigation targeting popular heart drugs in US

Millions of Americans have taken the drugs, which are at the center of a widening recall being overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and have been for decades used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure and other common conditions.A lawyer involved in an effort to combine about 50 lawsuits, including at least 27 by patients who say they contracted cancer by using the recalled medicine, told a U.S. federal court he expects a surge of legal action.

read more