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☆ ‘It’s a dolphin!’: Researchers uncover unusual ancient fossil in the Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The newly identified dolphin species lived in a freshwater lake in the Peruvian Amazon 16 million years ago. This composite image captures the phases of a total solar eclipse as they unfolded in El Molle, Chile, in July 2019. Stan HondaOn April 8, astrophotographer Stan Honda will be stationed in Fredericksburg, Texas, armed with four cameras to document the total solar eclipse. Mark your Apple iCal or Outlook, Google, or Office365 calendar with the date of the upcoming total solar eclipse, which CNN will be covering live. UnearthedThe remains of a decorative wall can be seen at the site of an ancient home renovation in Pompeii.

Persons: Dr, Austin Gallagher, Gallagher, Pebanista yacuruna, Jaime Bran, ”, Aldo Benites, Emperor Wu, couldn’t, Wu, Stan Honda, Honda, Apple, George Washington, Samuel, Washington, Francesca Giarelli, Everest, —, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, University of Zurich, Honda, Google, Italy Ministry of Culture, Red River Archaeology, CNN Space, Science Locations: Bahamas, Peruvian, Peru’s Loreto, Switzerland, China, Mongolia, El Molle, Chile, Fredericksburg , Texas, Mount Vernon , Virginia, Samuel’s Harewood, Charles Town, West Virginia, Harewood, Red, English, Oxfordshire, Cairo

☆ TikTok: House panel unanimously approves bill that could ban app from US app stores
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

If enacted, the bill would give ByteDance 165 days, or a little more than five months, to sell TikTok. The legislation also has the support of the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson. House lawmakers voted unanimously in the same session Thursday to advance a second bill, one that would limit US companies’ ability to sell Americans’ personal information to foreign adversaries. Speaking to reporters on the Capitol steps Thursday, Gallagher rejected characterizations of the bill as a TikTok ban. A legislative factsheet from the sponsors of the House bill claims the proposal does not censor speech.

Persons: ”, TikTok, Shou Chew, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Frank Pallone, “, ” Pallone, Shou Zi Chew, Jose Luis Magana, Mike Gallagher, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise, Washington Sen, Maria Cantwell, ” Cantwell, Gallagher, “ It’s, Dan Crenshaw, It’s, ” Crenshaw, snoop, ByteDance, Trump, Tom Williams, —, “ We’re, Jenna Leventoff, Stephanie Joyce, ” CNN’s Haley Talbot, Melanie Zanona Organizations: Washington CNN, TikTok, House Energy, Commerce, Apple, Google, “, Washington Republican, New, New Jersey Rep, Capitol, Wisconsin Republican, Illinois Democratic Rep, White, Senate, Democratic, Washington, CNN, Chinese Communist Party, Texas Republican, Oracle, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Foreign Locations: China, New Jersey, Washington, United States, Beijing, State, Rayburn, Montana

☆ Even some Republicans are nervous about how Mayorkas' impeachment could backfire
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewHomeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is only the second Cabinet secretary to be impeached in American history. The three Republicans who voted to oppose Mayorkas' impeachment have each warned about establishing a new precedent for the action some lawmakers place only below authorizing a war. Still, the vote to impeach Trump for inciting the Capitol riot was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment vote in history. As The New York Times pointed out during Trump's first impeachment, one out of every four presidents have had articles of impeachment written up against them. Gallagher announced his decision just days after bucking his party on the first vote to impeach Mayorkas.

Persons: —, Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden, Mike Gallagher of, Mayorkas, hasn't, Tom McClintock of, Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, Johnson, Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump's, Gallagher, Trump, Trump's, there's, George W, Dennis J, Kucinich, Bush, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Machiavelli, Bryan Metzger, Adam Schiff, Jonathan Turley, Ken Buck, Ken Buck of Colorado Organizations: Service, Business, Republican, Homeland, House Homeland Security, Trump, Capitol, New York Times, Ohio Democrat, Republicans, Georgia Republican, California Democrat, George Washington University Law, Daily Locations: Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, Tom McClintock of California, Ohio, Georgia, California, Ken Buck of

☆ Flash floods foreshadow a threatening reality in New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-30 | by ( Denise Chow | Evan Bush | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Cars drive along a flooded street on Church Avenue amid a coastal storm on September 29, 2023 in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn borough New York City. And more than a decade after Hurricane Sandy forced officials to rethink the meaning of climate resilience in New York City, it appears there's still much to be done. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, calling the storm a "life-threatening rainfall event." The storm caused about $19 billion in damage to New York City. In densely populated cities like New York, flooding risks are heightened because of the built environment and lack of green spaces.

Persons: Michael M, Hurricane Ida, Hurricane Sandy, Joseph Kane, Steve Bowen, Gallagher, Bowen, Kathy Hochul, Eric Adams, Spencer Platt, Zachary Iscol, Sandy, Superstorm Sandy, Louise Yeung, Yeung, Hurricane Sandy —, Ida, Mona Hemmati, Hemmati, Andrew Kelly Organizations: Brooklyn borough New, Santiago, Getty, Hurricane, Brookings Institute, NBC News, Gallagher Re, . New York Gov, York City, Prospect, Columbia Climate School, New York City Department of Environmental Locations: Flatbush, Brooklyn borough, Brooklyn borough New York City, New York City, Brooklyn, New York, New York , New Jersey, Connecticut, Long, Hudson, York, Brooklyn Borough, Zachary Iscol , New York, Hurricane, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Manhattan, Williamsburg, U.S

☆ California lets insurers factor wildfire risks in rates to widen coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A house is fully engulfed by flames at the Dixie Fire, a wildfire near the town of Greenville, California, U.S. August 5, 2021. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Liberty Mutual Group Inc FollowSept 21 (Reuters) - California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara took steps on Thursday to allow property insurers to factor in climate risks including wildfires in rate prices, if they increase underwriting in at-risk areas to wean consumers off state-funded coverage. The measures by the state's insurance regulator follow an executive order by Governor Gavin Newsom urging regulatory action to expand coverage in underserved areas, account for catastrophe risks in rates, and keep the FAIR Plan solvent. The continued retreat of larger insurance carriers from the California residential property insurance market signals ongoing regulatory constraints, rising cost inflation, and higher catastrophe losses, credit rating agency Fitch said in a note earlier this year. Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Fred Greaves, Ricardo Lara, Lara, Gavin Newsom, Gallagher, Fitch, Jamie Freed Organizations: REUTERS, Companies Liberty Mutual Group, California Insurance, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, FAIR, Gallagher Re, Thomson Locations: Greenville , California, U.S, California, Florida, Bengaluru

☆ S&P Global raises reinsurance sector view to stable from negative on higher prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Carolyn Cohn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The S&P Global logo is displayed on its offices in the financial district in New York City, U.S., December 13, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - S&P Global has raised its view of the global reinsurance sector to stable from negative, it said on Tuesday, due to higher reinsurance rates and increasing investment income, while rival Moody's kept its outlook for the sector stable. The COVID-19 pandemic, war, inflation and climate change-fuelled natural catastrophes have put upward pressure on reinsurance rates in recent years. S&P Global said this "resulted in the hardest market in decades" in some lines of business. "Challenges such as elevated natural disasters, increasing cost of capital, financial market volatility, and inflation risk persist," S&P Global added.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Moody's, Gallagher Re, reinsurers, Laline Carvalho, Neff, Re, Carolyn Cohn, Jason Neely, Alex Richardson, Sharon Singleton Organizations: REUTERS, Global, P Global, P, reinsurer, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, California, Florida, Monte Carlo

A view of a damaged house after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia, in Cedar Key, Florida, U.S., August 31, 2023. REUTERS/Marco Bello Acquire Licensing RightsAug 31 (Reuters) - Florida-only insurers such as Citizens Property Insurance anticipate fewer losses from Hurricane Idalia than from previous storms in the state, even as industry experts expect further insurer pullback from the market. "This certainly will not help with ongoing challenges to Florida's insurance market, but it could have been a lot worse," said Steve Bowen, chief science officer at reinsurer broker Gallagher Re. The top 10 U.S. homeowners insurers such as State Farm and Allstate Corp (ALL.N) average only about 4.1% of their premiums in Florida, Moody's said. Reuters GraphicsThe exit of insurers from Florida comes amid a broader pullback from the market, including from reinsurers, according to an Aug. 24 Fitch report.

Persons: Hurricane Idalia, Marco Bello, Ian, Idalia, Moody's, Steve Bowen, Gallagher, Fitch, Noor Zainab Hussain, Manya, Matt Tracy, Shinjini Ganguli, Megan Davies, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Property Insurance, Hurricane, Reuters, Citizens, UBS, Insurance Information Institute, Gallagher Re, Farmers Insurance, Bankers Insurance, Lexington Insurance, AIG, Farmers, Bankers, Farm, Allstate Corp, Insurance, Institute, Manya Saini, Thomson Locations: Cedar Key , Florida, U.S, Florida, Florida's, Coast, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Idalia, USA, Lexington, reinsurers, South Carolina, Bengaluru, Washington

A vehicle drives on a flooded road after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia, in Cedar Key, Florida, U.S., August 30, 2023. Hurricane Idalia plowed into Florida's Gulf Coast with fierce winds, torrential rains and pounding surf before weakening but turning its fury on southeastern Georgia, where floodwaters trapped some residents in their homes. At about $10 billion, Idalia would cost insurers less than 10 of the costliest hurricanes to hit the United States. Higher reinsurance rates can affect the premiums that insurers charge their customers. FLORIDA PAINFlorida has a large number of very small, thinly capitalized insurers, insurance experts have said.

Persons: Hurricane Idalia, Julio Cesar Chavez, Thomas Hayes, Gallagher Re, Michael Peltier, Berkshire Hathaway, Ajit Jain, Noor Zainab Hussain, Manya, Chibuike Oguh, Jon Stempel, Devika Syamnath, Megan Davies, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: REUTERS, Hurricane, UBS, Global, Great, Great Hill Capital, Farmers Insurance, Bankers Insurance, Lexington Insurance, AIG, Farmers, Florida Office, Insurance, Bankers, Property Insurance Corp, Property Insurance, Berkshire, Manya Saini, Thomson Locations: Cedar Key , Florida, U.S, Florida, Coast, Georgia, United States, Ukraine, California, Great Hill, New York, FLORIDA, USA, Lexington, Berkshire, Bengaluru, Chibuike

☆ Insurer AIG profit beats estimates on gains in life and retirement unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoAug 1 (Reuters) - American International Group (AIG.N) exceeded second-quarter profit expectations on Tuesday, driven by growth at its life and retirement unit and lower-than-expected catastrophe losses in what was a very expensive quarter for the industry. AIG, one of the world's biggest commercial insurers, said net premiums written in its general insurance arm for the quarter ended June grew 10% to $7.5 billion. AIG's life and retirement unit saw a 42% jump in premiums and deposits, partly helped by record sales in fixed index annuities. AIG's general insurance accident year combined ratio was 88%, compared with 88.5%, a year earlier. The metric excludes catastrophe losses and a ratio below 100 signifies that the insurer earns more from premiums than it pays out in claims.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Mawar, Gallagher, Noor Zainab Hussain Organizations: AIG, REUTERS, American International, Companies, Thomson Locations: New, New York, Guam, United States, Bengaluru

NEW YORK/LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - One of the world's top insurers is mulling offloading its property reinsurance business in a bid to cut its exposure to natural disasters like hurricanes, according to three people familiar with the matter. Prices for U.S. property catastrophe reinsurance rose by as much as 50% at a key July 1 renewal date, broker Gallagher Re said in a recent report. AXA has been trying to reduce the exposure of its AXA XL property and casualty (P&C) division - which houses XL Re - in an effort to make earnings more predictable. This has caused the reinsurance business to shrink, with revenues dropping by nearly a third last year to $3.2 billion, according to AXA's 2022 accounts. In May, American International Group (AIG.N) agreed the sale of its reinsurance arm Validus Re for roughly $3 billion, or about 1.4 times the unit's book value.

Persons: Reinsurers, Hurricane Ian, Gallagher Re, David French, Pablo Mayo, Amy, Jo Crowley, Carolyn Cohn, Echo Wang, Silvia Aloisi, John O'Donnell, Conor Humphries Organizations: AXA SA, XL, Covea, AXA, AXA XL, American International, Fidelis Insurance Holdings, Reuters, Hamilton Insurance, Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Thomson Locations: Bermuda, New York, London, Paris

☆ U.S. property catastrophe reinsurance rates rise up to 50% on July 1-report
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Higher reinsurance rates can affect the premiums which insurers charge to their customers. U.S. reinsurance rates for policies which previously faced claims for natural catastrophes rose 30-50%, Gallagher Re said. Reinsurance rates for similar policies in Florida rose 30-40%, the broker added. State Farm said in May it would stop selling new insurance policies to homeowners in California. Reinsurance rates for some types of aviation war policies rose by up to 100% on the July 1 renewal date, Gallagher Re said.

Persons: Mike Blake, Gallagher Re, James Vickers, Gallagher, Hurricane Ian, Aon, Carolyn Cohn, Noor Zainab Hussain, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Farm, Gallagher Re, Reuters, Vickers, Hurricane, U.S, Industry, Boeing, Thomson Locations: Laguna Niguel , California, U.S, California, Florida, In Florida, Russia, Khartoum, London, Bengaluru

☆ Omaha man sails into Florida’s imperfect storm
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

This imperfect storm suits the Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) CEO’s investing style. Underwriters in the state have been feverishly trying to offload risk following last year’s Category 5 hurricane that was Florida’s deadliest in nearly 90 years. The upside is several billion dollars, Jain said, if Mother Nature turns out to be more forgiving. “If the big hurricane happens in Florida, we could lose – across all the units, we could lose as much as $15 billion. And if there isn’t a loss, we’ll make several billion dollars as profit,” Jain said during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha.

☆ Reinsurers cut Russia, Ukraine from policies on Jan 1 -broker
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Reinsurers are excluding Russia, Ukraine and Belarus from policies offered to their insurance clients and cutting back their exposure to U.S. hurricanes, a report from reinsurance broker Gallagher Re (AJG.N) showed on Tuesday. Reinsurers insure insurers and Jan. 1 is the most important date in the calendar for policy renewals. Some insurers have already backed away from providing cover in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus due to risk of sanctions or of steep losses. Without reinsurance, insurers are likely to be even more reluctant to provide cover for Russia or Ukraine, industry sources say. Aviation reinsurance rates rose by as much as 200% on Jan. 1 for some types of business, Gallagher Re said.

☆ Trump says million-dollar NFT 'trading cards' of him as a superhero were 'sorta cute' and not about money
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Donald Trump sells out NFT trading cards in hours but says it's not about the money, Newsweek reports. Trump told a conservative network the NFTs were "art" and "sorta cute" after selling them for $99 each. They showed me the art," Trump said in the video. "I'm looking at this stuff and I'm saying 'Wow, that's sorta cute, that might sell, that might sell.' They thought it would sell in six months, it sold in six hours," Trump told OAN.

☆ A GOP congressman says TikTok should be banned in the US and is introducing legislation to do so, calling the app 'digital fentanyl'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a Fox News appearance, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher renewed calls for a national ban on TikTok. Gallagher called the social media app "digital fentanyl" that is "addicting our kids." Gallagher and Sen. Marco Rubio introduced legislation to ban the app nationwide earlier this month. Last month, additional reports surfaced of an internal team planning to use location information gathered from US users of the TikTok app for surveillance of American citizens. TikTok has been the most downloaded app in the US since 2021, according to data by TechCrunch.

The victims of the shooting at the LGBTQ-friendly Club Q in Colorado Springs include two bartenders, the mother of an 11-year-old girl and two other clubgoers who were enjoying a carefree night before a lone gunman started firing indiscriminately. "He lit up a room, always smiling, always happy and silly," said his mom, Sabrina Aston, who lives in Colorado Springs. We’re mad, angry.”Paugh, who is not part of the LGBTQ community, spent Saturday in Colorado Springs with a female friend. Jessica Fierro said she was at Club Q with her husband, their daughter and friends to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Daniel Arkin reported from New York; Deon J. Hampton reported from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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