Month: May 2021

Categories
Business

EU uncertain of U.S. plan to waive IP rights

EU doubtful of U.S. plan to waive IP rights

French President Emmanuel Macron holds a press conference during the European Social Summit hosted by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union at the Palacio de Cristal in Porto.

JOSE COELHO | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – European leaders have doubts that surrendering intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, a recent US-backed proposal, is the way to go.

Instead, they criticized the US for not exporting Covid recordings.

“It’s not really about intellectual property rights. You can give the intellectual property to laboratories that don’t know how to make it (the vaccine) and they won’t be able to make it overnight,” said French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Friday ahead of a European meeting, according to CNBC translation.

In the meantime, Chancellor Angela Merkel also said: “I have already made it clear here that I do not believe that the release of patents is the solution to provide more people with vaccines.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday welcomed the US decision to support the vaccination patent exemption.

“It’s a good initiative, but I don’t think it’s enough,” he said in Porto, Portugal, while advocating expansion of production and distribution.

President Joe Biden surprised his European counterparts last week by announcing that the US government is in favor of abolishing intellectual property rights for Covid vaccines, citing the “exceptional circumstances” of the pandemic.

Health professionals, human rights groups and international medical charities believe that renouncing intellectual property rights is essential to urgently address the global vaccine shortage amid the pandemic and ultimately avoid prolongation of the health crisis. However, vaccine makers say this could disrupt the flow of raw materials while reducing investment by smaller biotech innovators in health research.

Today, 100% of vaccines made in the United States go to the American market.

Emmanuel Macron

French President

India and South Africa first submitted a joint proposal to the World Trade Organization in October to renounce intellectual property rights in Covid vaccines. Known as the TRIPS waiver, the proposal has been blocked by a handful of high-income nations such as the UK, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Canada, Australia, Brazil, the EU and – until last week – the US

France’s Macron insisted that the best way to increase global vaccination rates is for vaccine-producing countries to increase their exports.

“Today, Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients and vaccines. Today, 100% of vaccines made in the United States go to the American market,” he said, adding that Europeans “are the most generous”. on that front.

The U.S. doesn’t have an outright export ban on Covid shots, but it does use laws to ensure that country-made vaccines are only shipped overseas if it is determined that there are sufficient doses to vaccinate the American people.

The latest data from the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, shows that of the 400 million cans so far made in the block, 200 million have been exported to 90 different countries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said that exporting vaccines “is currently the best way to address short-term shortages and shortages of vaccines around the world”.

“We should be open to this discussion. We should also look closely at the role of licensing, for example. These are important issues that need to be discussed. However, we should be aware of the fact that these are long-term issues.” “said von der Leyen during a speech on Saturday.

Categories
Politics

Cuomo privately calls on enterprise leaders to remain in NY, foyer on SALT

Cuomo privately calls on business leaders to stay in NY, lobby on SALT

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to the media at a press conference in Manhattan on May 5, 2021 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | AFP | Getty Images

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is privately encouraging some of the state’s richest business leaders to stay in the Empire State and is campaigning for lawmakers to lift the federal limit on state and local tax deductions known as SALT.

Cuomo took the opportunity to discuss the matter with a small group of executives who, during a call on Thursday, included Wall Street financiers, said someone with direct knowledge of the matter.

This person declined to be named in order to speak freely about what was considered a private conversation.

“As business leaders, we should tell people to stay in New York and try to include SALT in the new tax bill,” said the person knowing the call, describing Cuomo’s message to the participants.

The Biden government wants to withdraw parts of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax reform law in order to finance the infrastructure. Some Democrats, including Cuomo, are calling on the White House to remove the $ 10,000 ceiling Trump has imposed on SALT deductions as part of changes.

A Cuomo press representative did not return repeated requests for comments.

In the state budget recently signed by Cuomo, New York’s richest executives would likely see higher combined local and state income tax rates than those for wealthy California residents.

Within the more than $ 200 billion state budget, the top tax rate will be raised from 8.82% for single applicants earning more than $ 1 million to 9.65%. Those making between $ 5 million and $ 25 million would be taxed around 10.3%, and those making more than $ 25 million would be taxed at 10.9%. Wealthy earners are expected to experience these new taxes in the next tax season. The tax rates expire in 2027.

Wealthy New Yorkers previously signaled to CNBC that they could leave New York altogether and travel to Florida with taxes on the verge of hitting the historic levels of the wealthy in the Big Apple.

Cuomo’s commitment to these executives comes from being besieged for alleged sexual harassment and his government’s handling of nursing home death dates during the Covid pandemic. Cuomo has denied the sexual harassment allegations.

Cuomo has also previously said that he plans to run for a historic fourth term in 2022 and that it could help build support for another run if large corporations along with their leaders are discouraged from leaving New York. A recent poll by the Siena College Research Institute found that 33% of those polled would vote for Cuomo to run for re-election next year, compared to 57% who would prefer “someone else”.

Cuomo previously requested that the SALT cap be removed.

“The repeal of SALT would lower the effective tax rate for the state’s top earners by 37%,” Cuomo said in April. “The state’s new tax rate of 10.9% becomes an effective tax rate of 6.9%,” he said. Cuomo was part of a group of governors who sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling for the SALT cap to be lifted.

Taxpayers, particularly wealthy people in New York and other high-tax countries, including New Jersey and California, saw the greatest benefits when there was no cap on SALT deductions, including state and local property and income taxes.

New York executives, including the New York City Partnership Head, have urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Biden’s team to bring the full trigger back.

Representative Tom Suozzi, DN.Y. and Josh Gottheimer, DN.J., are among those Democratic lawmakers who say they will oppose changes to tax law unless SALT is brought back.

Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said in April that the SALT withdrawal was “not a revenue boost” and it was unclear whether the Biden administration would include the cap lifting in its infrastructure plan.

Biden plans to raise taxes to pay for his $ 2 trillion infrastructure proposal. Biden has stated that he is open to raising the corporate tax rate to 25% to 28% to pay for his infrastructure plan and has vowed not to levy taxes on those earning less than $ 400,000.

Categories
Health

Do Statins Actually Trigger Muscle Aches?

Do Statins Really Cause Muscle Aches?

Many people who take the cholesterol lowering statin drugs report that they cause muscle pain. However, one randomized study suggests that the pain is no different when taking a placebo pill.

In rare cases, statins have been known to cause a serious muscle condition called rhabdomyolysis, which destroys skeletal muscle tissue, leading to serious complications. But much more often, people complain that the drugs simply cause muscle pain.

However, it remains uncertain whether statins are responsible for the muscle pain. Muscle pain has many causes and is common in the older age group using statins. Therefore, it is not easy to determine if statins are causing the pain. Results of observational studies, as well as many media reports, may have led some to unnecessarily abandon potentially life-saving treatment.

This new study, published in the BMJ, included a series of so-called n-of-1 studies, a method that allows researchers to examine the results of treatment and placebo in individual patients rather than examining them as a group. In fact, each patient serves as their own control.

Recognition…Mike Mergen for the New York Times

The researchers gathered 200 people in England and Wales who had either stopped taking statins because of excruciating muscle pain or were about to stop. For a year, each patient took either a statin or a placebo pill at random over a period of six two months. Half the time they were given 20 milligrams of Lipitor and the other half they were given a similar dummy pill. By the end of the study, neither the researchers nor the patients knew when to take the statin and when to take the placebo.

For the last seven days of each two-month phase, researchers measured each patient’s pain daily using a validated 10-point visual pain scale, with 10 indicating the worst pain. They also tracked other aspects of daily life, including the patient’s general level of activity, mood, walking comfort, ability to engage in normal work activities, social relationships, sleep, and enjoyment of life.

The study found no differences between statin and placebo periods in muscle pain or reports of activities and moods in daily life. Nine percent withdrew because of pain while taking statins, but seven percent who took placebos also withdrew, an insignificant difference.

“These studies are difficult to conduct,” said Dr. Henry N. Ginsberg, professor of medicine at Columbia University who was not involved in the work. “This one is done as well as possible and it’s nice to talk to patients about it. You can tell your patients, “They did studies on people like you and those people couldn’t tell the difference between placebo and medicine.”

Three months after the last treatment, when the patients were informed of their results, The researchers asked them whether they had or planned to restart statins and whether they found their own test result helpful in their decision. Most patients said the study was helpful, and more than two-thirds said they intended to start taking statins again.

The lead author, Dr. Liam Smeeth, general practitioner and professor of clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that when people stop taking statins for muscle pain, “they miss the tremendous benefits – reducing the risk of a heart attack or stroke by about a third.” What we have shown is that among these people who gave up their medicine because of pain – and their pain was real – statins did not make it worse. “

Categories
Business

Australian Leather-based Loses Ugg Trademark Battle

Australian Leather Loses Ugg Trademark Battle

MELBOURNE, Australia – A long-term offer by an Australian company to scrap a US brand bearing the word “Ugg” has suffered another blow after an American appeals court dismissed its case in Sheepskin Boots.

This is the final step in a five-year legal battle between US trademark owner Deckers Outdoor Corporation and a company called Australian Leather. They argued over ownership of the name of a shoe that has been derided as unfashionable and downright ugly, but which has still found its way onto the feet of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brady.

The Australian news media called the lawsuit a battle between David and Goliath, and the case hit many Australians who consider footwear a national, if out-of-fashion, symbol. The case also showed how global access to products on the Internet can lead to conflicts between local legal systems.

Australian Leather owner Eddie Oygur said following the court ruling on Friday that he would take the case to the US Supreme Court.

“This is not just about me; It’s about Australia taking ugg back, ”said Oygur. “The brand should never have been given to the US in the first place.”

In Australia, the word is used as a collective term for sheepskin boots that have been lined with fleece since the 1930s. They were popularized by surfers in the 1960s. The term is not registered as a trademark there and anyone can sell Ugg boots. It was registered as a trademark in the United States in the 1980s by Australian entrepreneur Brian Smith.

Deckers said it bought the name fairly from Mr. Smith, that it was branded “UGG Australia” in the US in 1995, and that American consumers knew it as a brand name rather than a generic term. Deckers holds the trademark in more than 130 countries, which means that Australians are largely prevented from selling their boots internationally.

Deckers sued Australian Leather in 2016, alleging trademark infringement for selling 13 pairs of Ugg boots in the United States through its website. Mr. Oygur did not deny the sale of boots, but argued that Deckers should not have used the term “ugg” at all.

Recognition…Deckers outdoors via PR Newswire

“We should be able to sell our Ugg boots worldwide,” said Oygur. “It’s generic here and it’s an Australian product.”

He also argued that Uggs were generic in the US, being sold by numerous entrepreneurs across the country before being registered as trademarks, and that the term warranted similar protection in Australia to French “Champagne” and Greek “Feta” .

In business today

Updated

May 7, 2021 at 1:12 p.m. ET

In 2019 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled in favor of Deckers that, while ugg was an umbrella term in Australia, it had no such meaning in the U.S. It was also determined that the term was not subject to the “Foreign Equivalents Doctrine,” a legal guideline in the United States that foreign words for categories of items cannot be trademarked and that Mr. Oygur willfully violated the trademark of Deckers has violated. Mr. Oygur was fined $ 450,000.

Mr. Oygur appealed the decision in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In court documents filed prior to the appeal, his attorneys argued that the U.S. District Court used the wrong standards to judge whether something was generic. In his own documents, Deckers countered that the judge used the correct test, citing survey results that most US consumers recognize Ugg as a brand.

On Friday, the court upheld the court’s original decision. There were no reasons.

Tom Garcia, Deckers’ chief administrative officer, said in a statement prior to the verdict that the company believes the appeal has no merit.

“Deckers welcomes fair competition,” he said. “This case, however, was about protecting American consumers from being deceived into buying counterfeit products that were on sale and sold online in the US.”

Dean Wilkie, Lecturer in Branding and Marketing at the University of Adelaide, said, “In the Australian market there is a normal person on the street if you go up to them and say you think it’s right for this American brand to stop folks, who use ‘ugg’ for sheepskin boots, most of us would be outraged because it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel moral. “

On the other hand, he admitted, Decker’s years spent building Uggs into a sophisticated lifestyle brand – a far cry from the situation in Australia where they are relegated to souvenir shop windows and people use them for grocery stores and they carry around the house.

“The internet has given us access to a global market. We can distribute products all over the world. But the legal systems are not global. They are in countries, ”said Dr. Wilkie.

In its heyday, Australian Leather produced around 50,000 to 60,000 pairs of boots a year and had a few dozen employees. Last year, Deckers had sales of $ 2 billion, three quarters of which came from the Ugg brand, according to the 2020 annual report.

The stakes for both companies were high. Prior to the ruling, Nicole Murdoch, an intellectual property attorney with Eaglegate Lawyers in Brisbane, Australia, said that legal success for Mr. Oygur would have “a disastrous effect for Deckers” that would cost the company the trademark on which it was branded had built up.

Mr Oygur said before the verdict, “All ugg boot manufacturers in Australia will turn to imports because of prices and Australia will lose what has been Australian since the 1930s.”

Personally, he’d gotten to the heart of the matter: the business he’d run for nearly 40 years and a house he’d mortgaged to pay for his legal fees. He said he spent over a million dollars on the case, lost the majority of his employees, and saw the legal challenge put off many of his clients.

“God help me, I won’t back down,” he said. “You didn’t give me a choice. Absolutely no choice. “

Categories
Entertainment

Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? An Investigation

Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? An Investigation

And then there are recent events that may have added more fuel to our fire. “Of course there is the indescribable factor of the quarantine, with which everyone briefly lost their minds,” said Adewunmi. “When all you have to do is roll off your bed and onto your laptop, you could say, ‘Do you know what I’m going to get into today? The father of ‘Onward’. “

And if you’re single and still struggling through the pandemic, isn’t it appealing to imagine a generally good-natured, relationship-oriented character who would love to be there for you? After “Raya” was over, I half expected Benja to jump off the screen onto the couch next to me, where he would finally be the supportive partner I have to watch stupid episodes of “The Circle” with. Plus, he looks great in patterned aqua blue tunics, and that can’t be said of every dad.

“You see, I don’t even think I could do it, so in a way he’s way superior to me,” said Daniel Dae Kim. When I called Kim a few weeks ago, Raya and the Last Dragon had just been released and he had started to take in the excitement on the Internet. “And I’ve gotten a lot of comments about how this character looks like me, too,” Kim said. “Well, I think that because of the transitive quality, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

In fact, Kim revealed that Benja got hotter and hotter as it progressed: “The character I originally saw was thinner and slimmer and longer,” he said. “I found that fascinating, and then when I saw a rough cut it was wider, a little more muscular, and I noticed a hairline that looked like mine.”

Still, it all has to be more than just well-rendered computer modeling, right? As Kim pondered Benjamin’s appeal, he wondered if these animated fathers convey a sense of G-rated comfort in a cultural moment he is sorely lacking.

“In a way, I think Benja is the dad we all want,” said Kim. “He’s a warrior, but he’s kind and compassionate to his children and tries to unite people rather than divide them.”

Categories
World News

U.S. and China might cooperate to finish disaster in Myanmar

U.S. and China could cooperate to end crisis in Myanmar

Protesters demonstrate against the military coup in Yangon and demanded the release of the imprisoned Myanmar State Council, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Theint Mon Soe | SOPA pictures | LightRocket via Getty Images

US-China relations may have got off to a bad start under President Joe Biden, but the two countries could find common ground to work together to end the violence in Myanmar.

Scot Marciel, former US ambassador to Myanmar, said both the US and China would not want to see an escalating crisis in the Southeast Asian country.

A military coup on February 1 sparked mass protests across Myanmar and security forces tried to use violent tactics to suppress the demonstrations. According to the advocacy group of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 780 people have been killed in the act so far, while over 3,800 people are still detained.

“My feeling would be that this coup, and certainly the turmoil and violence in Myanmar, I don’t see how it is in China’s best interests … My feeling is that China wants stability for a number of reasons, so I think that they’re ‘I’m not thrilled about it, but they’re cautious,’ Marciel said Friday during a webinar organized by the Australian think tank Lowy Institute.

“So there could be some common interests between the United States and China to end the violence and instability,” said Marciel, who was US ambassador to Myanmar from 2016-2020.

The US and other Western powers strongly condemned the coup and imposed sanctions to put the military under pressure. Meanwhile, China’s response has been more subdued as Beijing stressed the importance of stability.

China is a major investor in Myanmar and borders the Southeast Asian country. Some analysts have said China’s relatively cautious response may harm its own interests.

The crisis is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon

One way the US and China could come together on the Myanmar issue is to support the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Rizal Sukma, senior researcher at the Think Tank Center for Strategic and International Studies in Indonesia, said during the webinar .

The regional grouping held an emergency summit last month to address the escalating violence in Myanmar. The ten Member States then issued a statement calling, among other things, for an immediate end to the violence and the appointment of a special envoy to mediate the crisis in Myanmar.

“ASEAN just hopes that whatever plan we have on the ground in Myanmar, the US and China can also help contribute to that plan, such as humanitarian aid,” said Sukma, a former Indonesian diplomat.

Sukma said he was “quite frustrated” that ASEAN had not appointed the special envoy for Myanmar two weeks after the statement. He said the regional grouping should “go ahead” with its plan so that it could enter into dialogue with the various parties in Myanmar.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Monday that it was up to the Myanmar military to decide how and when ASEAN could play a role.

Balakrishnan reiterated that the military must stop the violence and release political prisoners – including Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders. He said that only then can “honest direct negotiations” between the army and civilian leaders continue.

“Without this national conversation and this reconciliation, you will see no progress in Myanmar. Indeed, there are signs of a possible civil war,” said the minister.

Marciel said he hoped the group’s initiatives can make “a little bit of headway” in Myanmar. But it is difficult to see an early resolution to the crisis at the moment and that will likely mean more suffering among the people, he added.

“It’s really impossible to predict. I would say that the most likely scenario for the next few months – as far as I can – is unfortunately probably more of the same,” he said. “I don’t see that the (military) give in, I certainly don’t see that the people accept this coup.”

Categories
Business

Suggestions for asking for a month of distant work

Tips for asking for a month of remote work

In addition to on-site yoga classes and ergonomic desks, companies may have a new wellness initiative in store that gives workers annual remote working hours.

Remote working has proven popular with many workers. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 54% of employees say they want to continue working from home after the pandemic has ended.

But that probably won’t happen. Far more companies are expected to switch to hybrid work arrangements this year to get the best of both work environments – flexibility with an office environment focus, less loneliness and less commuting.

However, a hybrid schedule of three days in the office and two days out of the office does not allow for any of the greatest benefits of the work-from-home program: the extended workcation.

Workcations – and their lesser-known cousin, the wellness sabbatical – are blurring the lines between work and vacation. You are sure to work, but with a better view. Research shows that it can be a therapeutic change that complements the regular vacation time rather than replaces it.

Is annual remote working the norm?

“A block of time is an interesting concept,” said Lynne Cazaly, a workplace specialist and author of “Agile-ish: How to Create a Culture of Agility.”

She said the idea might be attractive during certain times of the year (summer, yes, but also during snowy winters), school holidays, and other “difficult times of the year”.

If you don’t offer these evolving advantages, there is a competitive disadvantage.

Lynne Cazaly

Workplace specialist and speaker

Short duration of remote working would also allow employers to compete with companies that are introducing perpetual flexible working arrangements, Cazaly said.

“Many leading indicator companies – like Spotify, Twitter, Square, Unilever and Atlassian – have declared that their employees can work from home forever,” she told CNBC. “Corporations … know that there is a growing war for talent … if you don’t offer these evolving perks, there is a competitive disadvantage.”

Just take a look at google. In an email to employees last week, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that employees would now have four “work-from-anywhere” weeks (of two) to give “everyone more flexibility on summer and vacation travel.” to offer.

Less pandemic-style problems

The problems many employees have had while working from home over the past year – such as isolation and lack of social interaction with coworkers – are less likely to be encountered with short-term stays away from the office.

In fact, workers who use time to travel can improve their mental well-being instead of harming it, said Susie Ellis, CEO of the Global Wellness Institute.

“Academics have actually studied the wellbeing effects of sabbaticals, whether it’s the traditional one-year academic variant or a sabbatical lasting a month or more,” she said. “Research shows [they] Decrease people’s stress, increase general well-being, and help people be more creative. “

Google announced last week that 60% of its workforce will be working in the office three days a week, 20% in new office locations and 20% from home.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Employers’ concerns can also be manageable. According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 68% of executives said that employees should be in the office at least three days a week to maintain the corporate culture once the pandemic has subsided. For employees following this schedule, one month of remote work equals the requirement of 12 additional external days per year.

Additionally, moving to hybrid schedules could make the old way of working (with everyone in the office) and pandemic-style work (with everyone online) a thing of the past, said Cazaly, adding that a mix of “people here”, there and everywhere it is where it is “now”.

Will it work for your industry?

While some industries cannot simply work from home – retail, construction, entertainment, and healthcare to name a few – Pew’s research has shown that the majority of workers in these industries:

  • Information and technology: 84%
  • Banking, finance, accounting, real estate, or insurance: 84%
  • Education: 59%
  • professional, scientific and technical services: 59%

Yet another obstacle awaits you in these sectors – the buy-in of corporate governance. From Facebook to Google, tech industries are embracing the flexible work trend, while the titans of banking have begun publicly rejecting it.

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said last week he wasn’t a fan of the work-from-home trend, while Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon described it as “a divergence we’re as soon as possible to correct “.

Jaya Dass, managing director of the Randstad recruitment agency in Singapore and Malaysia, warns employees to perform a “reality check” before requesting remote work opportunities.

“It is not that easy to collaborate and discover work results in a remote environment as it sounds,” she said. “If your manager has not performed as expected over the past year, he may be waiting for you to return to the office to assess whether remote work is the variable factor affecting your work.”

At the same time, Dass noted that it would be inadvisable for companies to unnecessarily reject annual employee remote work requests, as otherwise “they could run the risk of losing their trust and loyalty to the company”.

Tips for annual remote work

1. Don’t wait

When is the right time to ask about annual remote work? “Now, now, now,” Cazaly said, adding that some companies may resort to pre-Covid labor practices over time.

2. Do your research

Check your employee handbook or speak to someone in human resources to see if your company already has a remote working policy, said Amanda Augustine, career coach with resume writing service TopResume.

“If there is no such directive, don’t let that stop you,” she said. “Instead, look online for messages from other organizations – ideally competitors, companies with similar traits, or that your CEO admires – that have indicated that at least some of their employees will be allowed to continue teleworking after the pandemic.”

3. Be strategic

Take your manager’s personality into account when deciding how to start the conversation.

“If your boss prefers direct people, schedule a meeting with a clear goal: ‘I want to schedule a time with you to discuss extending my remote work,'” Augustine said.

Use video chat to request annual remote work hours to assess your employer’s body language, advises career coach Amanda Augustine.

Alistair Berg | DigitalVision | Getty Images

If your manager is less direct, bring up the topic in your next one-on-one interview. Either way, make sure the conversation is over video and not over the phone, Augustine said.

“That way, you can observe your manager’s body language and assess whether your proposal is well received,” she said.

4. Equip yourself with data

Through research, explain how remote working can be a win-win situation for you and your employer.

“Studies have shown that companies offering work flexibility options can reduce employee burnout, increase retention rates, decrease absenteeism, improve productivity, and improve overall work morale,” said Augustine.

Cazaly agrees, “Organizations know that happier employees stay more engaged, productive, and longer.”

5. Show that you are a hard worker

Although remote working has shown productivity gains over the past year, companies can decline short-term remote requests if they fear employees will not be working efficiently away from the office, Cazaly said. To combat this, show that you have a great work ethic and are committed to your role, she said.

Augustine calls this sharing “Your Professional Profits”. Remind your boss of the goals you’ve met or exceeded since working from home, she said.

6. Prepare for objections

Eliminate possible objections from your employer before bringing your case forward. Upgrade your WiFi, buy a new router, fix lights for video calls, and buy noise-canceling headphones, advised Augustine.

Then reassure your managers that you will be available during your absence and that you will not compromise on quality work, said Dass of Randstad.

If companies don’t move, try another option

If employers decline a one-month request, ask to combine two weeks of remote work with two weeks of vacation time.

Kristen Graff, a Singapore-based sales and marketing director, negotiated with her employer to spend a month in Hawaii this summer, with time evenly split between vacation and remote work.

“I know I’m probably the exception, but I didn’t want a four-week vacation,” Graff said, adding that one of the things she wanted most was “a change in the environment … from a productivity standpoint Inspiration “was. “”

Graff said she would be interested in an annual period of remote work, but she believes the idea “really depends on the person”.

“It takes a lot of self-motivation,” she said. “You have to work or you will ruin it for everyone.”

Categories
Health

Singapore’s overseas minister says Covid will not go away fully

Singapore's foreign minister says Covid won't go away completely

Crowds thronged Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping belt to prepare for the festive season on December 12, 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zakaria Zainal | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

SINGAPORE – Covid-19 is “permanent” and subsequent waves of infection will occur normally in the coming years, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told CNBC.

“Covid-19 is endemic to humanity, which means it will never go away completely,” Balakrishnan told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Monday.

“And the reason it won’t go away completely is because it’s spread around the world, has sufficient critical mass, the rate of mutations and new variants continues, and the level of human immunity increases and decreases as well,” said he said.

The minister, who was a doctor before entering politics, also warned that now could be a “more dangerous time” for vaccinated people who might be complacent, as well as those who are not vaccinated and have no protection against Covid.

Balakrishnan said vaccination is critical and that people who have received Covid shots develop fewer symptoms and have fewer serious illnesses, even when infected. However, vaccination alone is not the panacea for an “exponential explosion” in Covid cases.

That means measures such as social distancing and border restrictions may have to “come and go” in response to waves of Covid infection over the next two years, the minister said.

Singapore tightened social restrictions over the weekend after the number of cases increased in the community. Cumulatively, the country confirmed more than 61,300 cases and 31 deaths on Sunday, data from the Ministry of Health showed.

Balakrishnan said around 20% of Singapore’s population has been vaccinated, but the government has no defined threshold for achieving “herd immunity”. He explained that with the emergence of new variants of Covid, the level of protection required in a community will change so that the disease no longer spreads quickly.

It is likely that immunity to vaccinations will also decrease over time. So the point is, you can’t wait to say that you have reached the magical figure and suddenly you are immune and the mask has taken off and there are no restrictions.

Vivian Balakrishnan

Singapore’s Foreign Minister

“As new variants evolve and these new variants actually appear to be more contagious than the original strain, the level of herd immunity will mathematically change,” Balakrishnan said.

“It’s likely that immunity to vaccinations will also wear off over time. So the point is, you can’t expect to have reached the magical figure and suddenly be immune and mask off and not have any restrictions,” said he added.

Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble

Singapore is a Southeast Asian city-state with no domestic air travel market. The country has reached an agreement with Hong Kong – a city that also has no domestic flight market – to create a travel bubble that will allow travelers to skip the quarantine.

When CNBC asked if the program should start on May 26th, Balakrishnan said, “As of now, the plan is yes, but we have to see how the situation develops over the next few days.”

The launch of the air travel bubble – originally scheduled for November 2020 – has been postponed several times after a surge in coronavirus cases in Hong Kong.

The two cities announced last month that the program will begin with one flight per day to each city with up to 200 travelers per flight.

Categories
Business

What to Do If Your Automotive is Recalled

What to Do If Your Car is Recalled

Millions of cars are recalled every year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, up from around eight million by 2021. Notifying the automaker that your vehicle is one of them and has a security flaw is not only alarming, it can lead to a barrage of questions.

What do i do next? How can I take care of it? Will it cost me anything?

Even more urgent is how urgent it is to fix the problem. The answer is that while minor maintenance can easily slip without causing major problems, the safety concerns a recall applies to are not a footnote to the “Maybe Someday” section of your to-do list. Recalls vary in urgency and sometimes repairs cannot be done immediately by the dealer because spare parts are not available. It can be months before they are. But, as a recent case in South Carolina shows, procrastination can be fatal.

In January, the driver of a 2002 Honda Accord died of an accident in which the car’s airbag was deployed. When the 19th death in the United States was caused by splinters from a broken Takata airbag inflator, it was hardly unprecedented. But there was a twist this time around: Honda, which recalled the car in 2011, said it had attempted more than 100 times to reach the owner of the car via mail, phone, and through personal visits. The faulty inflators were never replaced.

The Takata recall, the largest in history, affects 100 million inflaters, including 67 million in the United States. And these recalls aren’t all a decade old. As recently as March, Ford recalled 2.6 million cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles to replace the Takata driver-side airbag components.

Measures can be taken against security threats that occur even when the vehicles are parked. In March, several Hyundai and Genesis models were recalled to correct electrical shorts that created a fire risk. In this case, the Road Safety Agency advised owners to “park their cars outside and outside of houses, other structures and other combustible materials” to prevent loss of property.

Recalls aren’t about customer complaints like air conditioning or a rusty fender. They are specifically security problems, even if the danger is sometimes not readily apparent. Fixing the problem should be done ASAP, and the automaker will pay for it.

You need to contact the owners via email. However, if you weren’t home during the pandemic, chances are you missed the notification. And if you’ve bought a used car, the recall notification may not have caught you.

You can easily check if a vehicle has been recalled by entering the 17-digit vehicle identification number (or chassis number) on the security agency’s website – nhtsa.gov/recalls. You can find the chassis number in the license plate and often on the insurance card. It can also be seen through the glass at the bottom of the driver’s side windshield.

Checking for recalls is a must, especially if you are buying a used car. This search will tell you whether the vehicle has been recalled in the last 15 calendar years and whether the problem has been resolved. The report covers major automakers, motorcycle manufacturers, and some medium / heavy truck manufacturers.

If the vehicle has not been recalled or if the defect has been rectified, the following message is displayed: 0 Unrepaired recalls related to this VIN. Recently announced callbacks may not appear due to the time it takes for the VINs to be identified. Therefore, you may have to look again.

Recalls are carried out by the car manufacturer, but can be ordered by the security agency. The process can begin when an automaker discovers a Problems with regular quality checks or defects occur through the dealer network. According to the law, if a car manufacturer learns of a security deficiency, it must notify the security authorities immediately.

The process can also start with consumer complaints filed in the agency database. These complaints will be examined and if further action is required after an analysis, an investigation will be carried out is opened. If this is a problem, a callback will be initiated. In practice, automakers usually start recalls themselves before the agency intervenes. The security agency oversees the process to ensure that customer notifications are properly issued and repairs are tracked.

The automaker can repair the defect, replace the vehicle with an identical or similar specification, or refund the full purchase price (adjusted for depreciation). If you’ve already paid for repairs that would have been made as part of the recall, the automaker will often have to reimburse you.

Categories
Politics

Biden Plans an Order to Strengthen Cyberdefenses. Will It Be Sufficient?

Biden Plans an Order to Strengthen Cyberdefenses. Will It Be Enough?

Last month, top executives from Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco, FireEye and dozens of other companies worked with the Justice Department to deliver an 81-page report calling for an international coalition to fight ransomware. Heading the Justice Department is Lisa Monaco, the assistant attorney general, and John Carlin, who headed the agency’s national security division during the Obama administration.

Last month, the two ordered a four-month review of what Ms. Monaco described as “a mixed threat from nation-states and criminal corporations that sometimes work together to exploit our own infrastructure against us.” So far, the Justice Department has largely pursued a strategy of indicting hackers – including Russians, Chinese, Iranians and North Koreans – few of whom are ever tried in the US.

“We have to rethink,” said Ms. Monaco at the recent Munich cyber security conference.

Recommendations in the coalition’s report include urging ransomware-safe havens like Russia to prosecute cybercriminals with sanctions or restrictions on travel visas. It is also recommended that international law enforcement agencies join forces to hold money laundering cryptocurrency exchanges accountable and to know the “know your customers” laws.

The Executive Ordinance also seeks to fill in blind spots in the country’s cyber defense mechanisms uncovered in recent cyber attacks in Russia and China carried out from domestic servers in the United States, where the National Security Agency is legally banned from operating .

“It’s not the fact that we can’t connect the dots,” General Paul M. Nakasone, who heads both the National Security Agency and the Pentagon’s Cyber ​​Command, told Congress in March, reviving the indictment against American intelligence after 9/11 “We can’t see all the points.”

The contract will establish a real-time intelligence exchange ship that will allow the NSA to share threat intelligence with private companies and enable private companies to do the same. The concept has been debated for decades and has even found its way into earlier “feel good laws” – as Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, described a 2015 bill encouraging voluntary threat propagation – but never got implemented at the speed or speed Scale needed.

The idea is to create a ship that would allow government agencies to share classified cyberthreat data with businesses, and encourage businesses to share more incident data with the government. Companies are not legally required to disclose a breach unless hackers have come to terms with personal information such as social security numbers. The order wouldn’t change that, although lawmakers recently called for a stand-alone law to disclose violations.