CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Banks have flagged tougher industry rules with a major review set to investigate tighter standards two years after the damning banking royal commission. The voluntary code is a set of promises made by a bank about how it will treat its customers, including when they run into financial difficulties and face eviction from homes and farms. The royal commission, which handed down its final report in February 2019, sparked court cases and steep fines. Revelations resulted in stolen money being returned to customers and action on junk products, with executives axed from lucrative posts. Australian Banking Association…
Author: zenger.news
SYDNEY — Australian resident Ness Song was trying to close the blind in the bedroom of her Sydney rental property when it fell on her head. It wasn’t the only issue with the house. A medicine cabinet fell off its hinges in the bathroom, floorboards were in disrepair, and the blinds in the living room had been repaired with cable ties. But her requests to her real estate agent to have the issues fixed were ignored, resisted, or met with blame, she said. “It was almost a caricature how the house was falling apart,” the 26-year-old student and business owner said. Then…
KUPWARA — Days after explosive-laden drones attacked an airbase in Jammu and Kashmir, the Kupwara district administration in the northern Indian union territory has imposed restrictions on the storage, sale, possession, use, and transport of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). “Keeping in view the security situation apart from concerns of breach of privacy, nuisance and trespass, it is extremely dangerous to let unmanned aerial vehicles wander around in the skies within the territorial jurisdiction of district Kupwara,” District Magistrate Imam Din said in the order. The order states that a person already having drone cameras or similar kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles in their possession should…
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian state of Victoria is aiming for its first full week of no Covid-19 community transmission since its fourth lockdown, as the state awaits a decision on eased restrictions. An announcement on the state’s next step toward “Covid-19 normal” rules is expected on July 7. Victorians have been living under the same set of restrictions for the past fortnight, including mandatory indoor masks and a 75 percent office workplace cap. Business groups have been lobbying for both measures to be scraped, encouraging more Melbourne workers to return to the Central Business District. The central business district (CBD) is…
MUMBAI, India — Bollywood’s “Tragedy King” Dilip Kumar breathed his last on July 7 at Mumbai’s Paramanand Deepchand Hinduja Hospital. The 98-year-old actor passed away due to various age-related ailments. His demise was confirmed by Faisal Farooqui, who posted the statement on Kumar’s official Twitter account. In an acting career that spanned over more than five decades, Kumar starred in more than 65 films and charmed millions of hearts. Especially during the golden era of Hindi cinema. Popularly known as the “First Khan of Bollywood,” he was born as Muhammad Yusuf Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, and began his acting career with…
Over a year and a half into the COVID crisis, most of us have already heard about the link between vitamin D deficiency and the coronavirus. But while previous research mostly measured vitamin D levels once patients were already sick, a new Israeli study shows that even pre-infection vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased COVID-19 severity and mortality. The study, conducted by researchers from Bar-Ilan University and its affiliate Galilee Medical Center, searched for vitamin D levels in the records of people with positive PCR tests for COVID who were admitted to the hospital between April 2020 and February…
As India continues to battle with COVID-19, Israeli aid organization SmartAID is distributing some 3,800 oxygen concentrators to medical facilities across the subcontinent that are overwhelmed by the high rates of infection and disease. India, which has seen the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the world, is still facing thousands of deaths from the pandemic each day and more than a million active cases of the disease. SmartAID’s Israeli and international staff, together with the Ted Arison Family Foundation, DHL, the Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust and Indian logistics company Blue Dart, are providing the oxygen concentrators to dozens of rural medical…
NEW DELHI — The Indian government has extended the deadline for comments and suggestions on the proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, to July 21. “It has now been decided to extend the timeline for receipt of comment, suggestions on the Draft E-Commerce Rules,” Jayashree Narayanan, Under-Secretary at the Department of Consumer Affairs, said. “View, comments, or suggestions on the proposed amendments may be sent by July 21, 2021,” Narayanan added in the notification. The previous deadline for public suggestions was July 6, however, several e-commerce firms had urged the Indian government to extend the deadline. On June 21, the Indian…
BEIJING — China has announced an investigation into job recruiting platform Boss Zhipin and two commercial freight platforms over national security concerns after the companies launched an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to list in the U.S. stock markets. This comes just a day after the Chinese Cyberspace Administration ordered app stores to remove ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing from app stores citing concerns around user privacy and national security. According to a media report, a notice by the Chinese regulator said that cybersecurity reviews would be conducted against Boss Zhipin and truck-booking platforms Yunmanman and Huochebang under Full Truck Alliance, to address national…
NEW DELHI — India’s second wave of the Covid-19 virus has altered the realty landscape, according to Vineet Nanda, one of India’s leading infrastructure and real estate experts. “Customers are now beginning to veer towards multifunctional working space, with contemporary amenities and safety provisions, in community living format at high-end locations,” Nanda said. “Prior to the pandemic, young executives generally stayed in rental accommodations and saved money for the future. A major shift in perspective and preferences happened post-pandemic. The youngsters especially are now renouncing the option of rental accommodation and would rather opt for a ‘work from home space’,…