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In the hands of God:’ Central America bears brunt of powerful hurricane Iota

About 40,000 people in Nicaragua have been evacuated to shelters, authorities said. Many coastal areas are at risk of storm surges of as much as 20 feet (6 meters) above normal tides. In Honduras, 80,000 people were moved to safety.

“It’s the strongest hurricane that has touched Nicaraguan soil since records began,” said Marcio Baca, director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Earth Studies.

This is the first time two major hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic basin in November since records began in 1851.

Online festive shopping increases chances of cybercrime: McAfee’s India

“With consumers of all ages shopping online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half (68.1 per cent) have reported an uptick since the start of the pandemic. Therefore, it’s no surprise that cyber-attacks are on the rise as well. More people have been connecting and shopping online this year – for both themselves, for family and friends. Close to one in three (29.5 per cent) Indians are shopping online 3-5 days a week and 15.7 per cent are shopping every day,” revealed the McAfee report.

Amazon launches online pharmacy in new contest with drug retail

The company founded as an online bookseller has disrupted industries including retail, computing and now potentially pharmaceuticals, drawing criticism of its size and power from labor groups and lawmakers along the way.
The company said Prime subscribers get up to 80% off generic and up to 40% off brand drugs when they pay without insurance, as well as two-day delivery.
Should Prime members prefer buying in person, Amazon said its discounts on non-insurance purchases apply at more than 50,000 brick-and-mortar pharmacies – including those run by rivals. Inside Rx, a subsidiary of Cigna Corp’s Evernorth, administers that benefit, Amazon said.

Google to bring new settings for smart features, personalisation In Gmail

“If you decide not to use smart features and personalization, you will still be able to use Gmail and our other products. And if you decide later on that these features are helpful and you’d like to turn them on, you can do so in your Gmail settings. At home or at work, the choice should be yours. And we’re always working to keep it simple,” Maalika Manoharan, Product Manager at Google said

Maruti sells over 2 lakh cars via online channel, launches round 5 of Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab initiative

Citing ‘Google Auto Gear Shift India 2020 Report’, he said nearly 95 per cent of new car sales in India are digitally influenced as per the customers first research online and then buy at the physical dealerships. While online experience provides the complete spectrum of information to the customers, at the last mile the customers seek assurance of the deal from their trusted dealer advisors.

Mutual funds add 4 lakh folios in Oct; total tally at 9.37 crore

Overall, investors infused Rs 98,576 crore in various mutual fund schemes last month, driven by robust inflows in debt-oriented schemes. Debt-oriented schemes witnessed a net inflow of Rs 1.1 lakh crore in October, after recording net outflows for two months in a row. The inflow was largely on the back of a significant investment in liquid, short-duration and money market categories.

On the other hand, the equity mutual funds saw an outflow for the fourth consecutive month to Rs 2,725 crore in October, mainly on profit-booking by investors..

Insurers are trying to escape COVID-19 liability, watchdog tells UK Supreme Cour

A lawyer for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which brought a test case against insurers on behalf of policyholders, said insurers had reached an “extraordinary conclusion” that business losses were largely uncovered during the coronavirus pandemic because of the widespread havoc it has caused.

“(Insurers) are saying: ‘We insure perils but not ones that are going to cost us a huge amount of money. We never contemplated that’. Well, that isn’t an answer,” Colin Edelman, the FCA’s lawyer, told the second day of a four-day appeal, watched by thousands of businesses brought to their knees during the pandemic.

Kris Gopalakrishnan appointed first chairperson of Reserve Bank Innovation Hub

The RBIH shall create an eco-system that would focus on promoting access to financial services and products, RBI said, and added “this will also promote financial inclusion”.

The Hub will collaborate with financial sector institutions, technology industry and academic institutions and coordinate efforts for exchange of ideas and development of prototypes related to financial innovations.

Canada promises big fines for companies that breach new privacy law

The draft law, which must be adopted by Parliament, says Canadians who feel their data has been improperly gathered or shared can turn to the country’s Privacy Commissioner and demand the information be deleted.The law also means businesses would have to be transparent about how they use automated decision-making systems like algorithms and artificial intelligence to make significant recommendations about individuals.

India records 30,548 fresh COVID-19 cases, 435 deaths

There are 4,65,478 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country as on date which comprise 5.26 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

The total number of recoveries has surged to 82,49,579, pushing the national recovery rate to 93.27 per cent. The COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.47 per cent.