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António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, has reportedly slammed the ‘wildly unequal as well as unfair’ distribution of coronavirus vaccines, citing that only 10 countries have administered a total of 75 per cent of vaccinations available globally. Guterres further demanded that there be a worldwide effort to get all individuals across each country immunized as early as possible.

As per reports, the UN chief, while addressing a high-level meeting of the United Nations security council on Wednesday, stated that around 130 countries had not yet received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Guterres urged the

American multinational tech company, Google, has reportedly agreed to pay a sum of $2.59 million to over 5,500 existing employees along with former job applicants under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor over alleged systemic discrimination pertaining to hiring and compensation. In addition, the company has agreed keep aside $250,000 annually for next five years for addressing the pay equity adjustments that might come up in future.

This sums up its financial commitment to $3.8 million, which apparently is miniscule amount for the tech giant, whose parent company Alphabet has a market cap of $1.28 trillion.

As per credible s

EU officials have reportedly lashed out at the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca but failed to secure commitments that would address the massive shortfall in the production of coronavirus vaccine that is likely to leave the bloc short of at least 75 million doses during the first three months of 2021.

Speaking on the matter, Stella Kyriakides, EU health commissioner, tweeted that the commission regrets the lack of clarity regarding the delivery schedule and requests a definite plan from AstraZeneca for rapid delivery of the amount of vaccines that the commission had reserved for Q1.

Further, Kyriakides insisted that the European Commis

German authorities have reportedly asked Taiwan’s Government to convince local manufacturers in lending a hand for easing the semiconductor shortage in the automotive sector amidst the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Automakers across the globe are shutting down production due to complications in the supply of semiconductors. Trump administration’s action against major Chinese chip factories has worsened the scenario to some degree, cited sources knowledgeable with the matter.

In particular, the shortage has affected Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen, Subaru Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., and Fiat Chrysl

Supermarket chain, Aldi, has reportedly announced that it will provide two hours of pay to its workers for each of the two doses of COVID-19 vaccine they receive. The company has also emphasized that it would be covering the expenses associated with administration of the vaccine for those employees who wish to get vaccinated.

According to reliable sources, this move reportedly follows the initiatives of other prominent companies comprising Instacart, Dollar General, and Trader Joe’s.

On this note, Instacart is set to provide a vaccine support stipend of $25 commencing on the 1^st of February 2021. According to the compan

Major financial firms JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have recently announced their decision to pause PAC (Political Action Committee) donations after supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol last week.

JPMorgan spokesman Steve O’Halloran stated that, the company, the largest U.S. bank by assets, will pause contributions for Republicans as well as Democrats for minimum six months. The New York-based bank is planning to utilize that time for contemplating certain potential changes in its strategies related to political-donations.

Commenting on the same, Peter Scher, head of corporate responsibili

The U.S. Justice Department and the federal court system have recently revealed that they were among the few U.S. government agencies and private businesses affected by a broader and months long campaign of cyber espionage that the U.S. officials have linked to the elite Russia hackers. However, the extent of the damage was unclear.

The department stated that 3% of its Microsoft Office 365 email accounts were potentially affected, however, it did not disclose whom those accounts belonged to. The agency further stated that there are no indications of classified systems being affected. In this regard, Dmitri Alperovitch, former chief technical officer of the cybersecurity fi

The tourism industry in Australia is bracing to lose over half its usual revenue in the upcoming Christmas-New Year period owing to state border closures, in turn prompting calls for financial support in the long term.

TTF Chief Executive, Margy Osmond, calls it a twofold setback, whereby not only the money will not be spent but also that it is the most crucial time of the year for this to occur. Osmond further added that there should be some sort of longer-term support for the sector and there should be a version of the JobKeeper.

The executive also added that the sector is more sensitive to the closure of borders and the lack of confi

The European Union is reportedly considering a new fishing rights proposal from the United Kingdom as  Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes an effort to secure a last moment trade deal. According to the sources of knowledge, the latest proposal indicates that Britain has agreed to let the boats from EU to retain two thirds of the catch. Apparently, the United Kingdom was insisting that the EU must agree upon 60% cut last week.

It has been reported that the EU recently offered a 25% cut over a span of six years. However, France is not very comfortable with this proposal and this has fueled an outrage from the bloc’s fishing industry.

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