The danger of war damage, as well as longer-term political and...
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California insurers’ inability to price risk is causing headaches
State regulations ask wildfire insurers to set rates for annual...
NASA mission to avert ‘internet apocalypse’ that could pause online access for months
Scientists have warned about the potential impact of an upcoming...
Fiat Chrysler to pay $700M to U.S., States, car owners over diesel emissions claims
The Justice Department in 2017 said Fiat Chrysler used auxiliary emissions controls in diesel vehicles that led to “substantially” higher than allowable levels of nitrogen oxide, or NOx pollution, which is linked to smog formation and respiratory problems.
US: Drug advertising drives $30 bn Medical Industry marketing machine
The researchers estimated that medical marketing reached $30 billion in 2016, up from $18 billion in 1997. Spending on consumer-focused ads climbed fastest. But marketing to doctors and other health professionals still grabbed the biggest share with the bulk of it paying for free drug samples.
“Marketing drives more treatments, more testing” that patients don’t always need, said Dr. Steven Woloshin, a Dartmouth College health policy expert. Woloshin wrote the report with his wife, Dr. Lisa Schwartz, both longtime critics of over-diagnosis and over-treatment.
65% chance that weak El Niño will emerge in Spring, U.S. Weather Service
El Niño can affect rainfall and temperature patterns in many regions, with important consequences for agricultural and food security sectors, according to the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.
Sharing Safety:Toyota offers Its Driver Assistance Technology to Competitors
Self-driving cars and related mobility services could become a $10 trillion market, according to Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett. Toyota’s seemingly selfless act could pay off in fat royalties and potentially burnish its reputation as a safety and technology leader just as those attributes become critical to the autonomous age. Toyota insists it’s about saving lives in a world where 1.3 million people die on the highway each year.
Los Angeles sues IBM’s Weather Channel for use of location tracking
In a complaint filed Thursday [Jan. 3] in California state court, the city alleges IBM used detailed location data from users for targeted advertising and to identify consumer trends that might be useful to hedge funds, while at the same time telling consumers their location would only be used to localize weather forecasts. The suit doesn’t allege personally identifiable information was sold.
Global natural disasters wreak $160 bn damage in 2018; worst losses in US
As with the previousc year the United States suffered the heaviest losses from disasters globally, with its second record wildfire season in a row. But it was given some respite from damaging storms, with the hurricanes hitting the country in 2018 inflicting far less destruction than in 2017
Swiss Re launches FLOW, insurance for companies exposed to high or low water levels
Unlike traditional insurance covers, which often require loss investigations and adjudication, FLOW provides pay-out of fixed amounts based on a defined index, for example each day the index remains below or above the defined index threshold value
Los Angeles releases Earthquake Warning App
Based on a warning system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, the app will alert when there’s a quake of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the state.
262 terror attacks killed 595 people in Pakistan in 2018: Report
“Balochistan was the only region where terrorism-related killings surged, by over 23 per cent, when compared to 2017; most of these fatalities resulted from attacks by religiously-inspired militant groups,” according to the report.
Around 171 attacks in entire Pakistan were perpetrated by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its splinter groups – Jamaatul Ahrar, Hizbul Ahrar and others, which killed 449 people.
Nationalist insurgent groups, mostly in Balochistan and a few in Sindh, carried out 80 attacks, martyring 96 people.
How Big Tech is using Artificial Intelligence to stop Hackers
Hackers are themselves famously adaptable, of course, so they too could harness machine learning to create fresh mischief and overwhelm the new defenses. For example, they could figure out how companies train their systems and use the data to evade or corrupt the algorithms. The big cloud services companies are painfully aware that the foe is a moving target but argue that the new technology will help tilt the balance in favor of the good guys.