1.Alibaba:The woes of China’s biggest e-commerce company began in late 2020 when China abruptly suspended the record $37 billion stock market debut of its financial affiliate Ant Group and later fined Alibaba  $2.75 billion for abusing its market dominance.

The company’s U.S.-listed shares have shed more than $400 billion in value since late October, when its founder Jack Ma made a speech that blasted China’s regulatory system, which is widely regarded as the trigger for the government backlash that followed.

Alibaba’s sprawling empire of businesses has continued to face heat from regulators, over issues ranging from their use of algorithms, to consumer privacy and worker protections.

2.Virgin Australia :-Virgin Australia said on Thursday it will require all its staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19, in line with domestic rival Qantas Airways Ltd and a growing number of airlines in the Asia-Pacific region.

Pilots, cabin crew and airport workers will need to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 15, while other staff will have until March 31, 2022, Virgin said, aligning its dates with Qantas.

“We also remain supportive of any government-led measures to ensure travellers are vaccinated,” Virgin Chief Executive Officer Jayne Hrdlicka said.

In Australia, lockdowns in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra due to coronavirus cases have led to state border closures, hampering domestic travel.

The country has not mandated vaccines for travel, but some states require them for entry in certain cases.

Asian airlines have reported high vaccination take-up rates among pilots and cabin crew as they wait for the region’s tight pandemic-related border controls to be relaxed.

Singapore Airlines Ltd, Malaysia Airlines and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways  Ltd are among those that have mandated crew vaccinations.

3.General Motors–General Motors Co  on Wednesday recommended that Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle owners parking in decks do so on the top floor or on an open level, at least 50 feet away from other vehicles, citing potential fire risks.

The precaution would “reduce potential damage to structures and nearby vehicles in the rare event of a potential fire,” a company spokesman said in an email. GM sent a notice to consumers who had asked about parking issues, he added.

GM had previously asked owners to park Bolt vehicles outdoors, away from structures, and to not charge them overnight.

GM also urged owners to not leave Bolt EVs charging unattended, even if using a charging station in a parking deck. Bloomberg News reported the recommendation earlier.

GM in August widened its Bolt recall to more than 140,000 vehicles to replace battery modules, at a cost now estimated at $1.8 billion after reports of 10 fires. The automaker said it would seek reimbursement from GM battery supplier LG.

4.Microsoft Corp:  Former Amazon.com Inc  cloud executive Charlie Bell said he has joined Microsoft Corp to lead a newly formed role overseeing cybersecurity operations.

Bell, who will start as an executive vice president, indicated in a LinkedIn post that his role will include dealing with digital fraud, ransomware attacks and with public exposure of private data.

Bell’s appointment comes at a time when Microsoft has been hit hard in terms of cybersecurity shortcomings.

Last week, the company warned some of its Azure cloud computing customers that a major flaw discovered by security researchers could have allowed hackers access to their data.

In late August, security experts at Wiz described a database flaw that also would have allowed one customer to alter another’s data in the Azure cloud platform.

Bell, who long reported to former Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy and oversaw the engineering teams working on AWS’s main software services, will report directly to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, Bloomberg News said.

Bell began his career as a developer of mini-computer software used in engineering of space shuttle payload mixes. He joined Amazon in 1998 after his startup was acquired by the e-commerce giant.

“I’m thrilled to join Microsoft to take on one of the greatest challenges of our time, leading a newly formed engineering organization: Security, Compliance, Identity, and Management,” Bell wrote in a LinkedIn post

5.Moderna :New data from Moderna Inc’s large COVID-19 vaccine trial shows that the protection it offers wanes over time, supporting the case for booster doses, the company said in a news release on Wednesday.

“This is only one estimate, but we do believe this means as you look toward the fall and winter, at minimum we expect the estimated impact of waning immunity would be 600,000 additional cases of COVID-19,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said on a conference call with investors.

Hoge did not project how many of the cases would be severe, but said some would require hospitalization.

The data stands in stark contrast with data from several recent studies that suggested Moderna’s vaccine protection lasts longer than a similar shot from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE .

Experts said the difference is likely due to Moderna’s higher dose of messenger RNA (mRNA) and the slightly longer interval between the first and second shots.

Both vaccines proved to be exceedingly effective at preventing illness in their large Phase III studies.

Wednesday’s analysis, however, showed higher rates of infection among people vaccinated roughly 13 months ago compared with those vaccinated roughly eight months ago. The study period was from July-August, when Delta was the predominant strain. It has yet to undergo peer review.

Moderna on Sept. 1 submitted its application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking authorization for a booster shot.

Hoge said data from its booster studies shows the vaccine could increase neutralizing antibodies to levels even higher than were seen after the second dose.

“We believe this will reduce COVID-19 cases,” he said. “We also believe that a third dose of mRNA-1273 has a chance of significantly extending immunity throughout much of next year as we attempt to end the pandemic.”