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COVID-19 kills more than 4,000 Indians amid clamour for vaccines

Two states – Karnataka, which includes tech hub Bengaluru, and Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai – have announced they will temporarily suspend vaccination for people aged 18-44 years as they prioritize those over 45 who need their second dose.

Maharashtra also announced that curbs on movement would be extended until the end of the month in a bid to break the chain of infections. Mostly rural Bihar in the east extended curbs until May 25.

Remote work leads to massive surge in hacking globally: Report

Among Financial and insurance industries, 83 per cent of data compromised in breaches was personal data, while in Professional, Scientific and Technical services industries only 49 per cent was personal.

“As the number of companies switching business-critical functions to the cloud increases, the potential threat to their operations may become more pronounced, as malicious actors look to exploit human vulnerabilities and leverage an increased dependency on digital infrastructures” said Tami Erwin, CEO, Verizon Business, in a statement. .

Colonial Pipeline has cyber insurance policy, paid hackers nearly $5 Million in ransom

The cover was for at least $15 million.

Cyber insurance typically covers ransom payments and insurers often provide staff to negotiate with the hackers, in addition to IT and public relations services.

Swiss Re CEO Christian Mumenthaler argues that the private insurance market is simply not large enough to offer full cyber protection to vulnerable organisations, due to the systemic nature of cyber risk.

He observed that the cyber insurance market is currently worth around $5.5 billion in premium, compared to “gigantic” yearly losses that extend into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Pune at the top in health infra-related ranking: Report

These rankings are benchmarked against parameters such as number of hospital beds per 1,000 people, air quality, water quality, sanitation, liveability index and 40 per cent weightage has been given to number of hospital beds.

“When it comes to health infrastructure, Pune is the most equipped city in India, offering 3.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people,” Housing.com said. This is much higher when compared to India’s national average.

 Amazon-backed Acko seeks new funds at $1 billion value

The funding round, if successful, will make Acko the latest unicorn in India, where there’s been a boom for the technology industry. In April, the country minted at least six new startups with a valuation of $1 billion or more in a week’s time.

Acko, founded in 2016, is among India’s first digital insurers that provides coverage for cars, motorbikes and even taxi passengers as well as health insurance, according to its website. It has more than 400 employees and has sold policies to over 50 million customers. Besides Amazon, the startup also counts Accel, Catamaran Ventures and SAIF Partners among its investors.

Gig-economy riders in Spain must become staff within 90 days under new rule

The decree, which was agreed on with trade unions and business associations, aims to clarify the legal situation of thousands of riders after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled last year that companies must hire them as employees.

A debate on how to regulate workers’ rights in the gig economy is unfolding globally. The European Commission has opened a public consultation period on potential EU-wide rules.

Apple stopped over $1.5B in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2020

Apple said it relies on a sophisticated system that combines machine learning, artificial intelligence, and human review by expert teams to moderate these ratings and reviews to help ensure accuracy and maintain trust.

Since 2020, Apple has processed over 1 billion ratings and over 100 million reviews, and over 250 million ratings and reviews were removed for not meeting moderation standards.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co to acquire Willis Re and WTW’s corporate risk, broking, health and benefits services for $3.57 billion

Gallagher has agreed to purchase a group of businesses from Willis Towers Watson that includes:

Willis Re operations globally, excluding operations in mainland China and Hong Kong;

Global cedent facultative reinsurance, excluding operations in mainland China and Hong Kong;
Corporate Risk and Broking business unit known as Inspace globally and certain business undertaken for Aerospace Manufacturing clients;

Centre allows employees with medical qualification to undertake practice, teleconsultation

“In view of the unprecedented rise in the numbers of COVID-19 cases, and to utilise the in-house capabilities available in the government to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus and to provide relief to the public, it has been decided that the central government employees holding recognised qualifications in any system of medicine requires no permission from the Head of Departments (HoDs) concerned to undertake practice/provide teleconsultation,” it said.

China’s population to hit ‘turning point’ in 2026-2030 – think tank

Entering the era of zero or even negative population growth is a “major change unseen in a century” for China, hitting its supply of high-quality labor and consumer demand, Zhai said.

The population is likely to peak before 2025 as fertility falls, said Ernan Cui, an analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics in Beijing.

“An older population will increase the fiscal burden of old-age pensions and health care provision, and also push down the household savings rate – both factors that will constrain the government’s ability to continue the investment-driven growth model of recent decades,” Cui said.