Author: completebodyneeds

The heat wave baking western Europe smashed records in the UK and France, as the region faces another day of disruptive temperatures. The UK recorded its hottest June day on Wednesday, with daytime highs hitting 36.1C (97F) in Gosport in southern England, according to the Met Office. France’s average daily temperature reached an all-time high of 30C, eclipsing the record set on Tuesday, data from Météo-France show. The intense heat wave is hitting Europe earlier than usual, underscoring how climate change is reshaping summers on the world’s fastest-warming continent. As the extreme heat strains health services, transport networks and power…

President Donald Trump said tolls on ships sailing in the Strait of Hormuz would be a red line issue for the US in negotiations with Iran. Asked if he would reject a final Iran deal if it included any service or shipping fees in the strait, Trump said that he would. “It would be unacceptable to me, because we have numerous strengths, and if you did that for them, you’d have to do it for other people,” the president told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “It would be a game changer.” The comments represent his most definitive statement…

The four most recent cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed on the same Texas property, marking the largest cluster of detections to be reported since the parasite was found in the US earlier this month. Three cattle and one goat were detected to have screwworm in Terrell County, which is adjacent to Mexico, according to the US Department of Agriculture. All were from a single premises, the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a Wednesday email. That brings the total number of cases in the US to 19 since early June when the screwworm was originally detected…

Digital insurer Honeycomb Insurance is expanding into Nevada roughly one month after receiving a $40 million funding round. The company’s recent launches include operations in Kansas and Missouri. Honeycomb’s digital platform is designed to enable agents to quote and bind policies quickly using only a property address for initial eligibility. Agents will have access to Honeycomb’s admitted and non-admitted habitational products, as well as excess liability coverage. Honeycomb is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in the U.S. and Israel. The company specializes in landlord and condominium associations and now offers coverage in 24 states. Topics Carriers Was this article valuable?…

New York City has taken the next steps toward realizing its vision of a city-backed insurance program for affordable housing providers. The city has selected Pinnacle Actuarial Resources to provide actuarial analysis and technical support. Also, the city has issued a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) to the private sector seeking proposals to design, structure and operate an insurance program capable of reducing premiums by at least 20% for a meaningful share of the city’s affordable and rent-stabilized housing stock. Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced his intention to create the insurance program in April as part of a broad…

A 14-month-long “ghost broker” investigation has concluded with the arrest of a man accused of procuring more than 1,120 auto insurance policies using fraudulent data and social media apps. The Utah Insurance Department announced the arrest of Carlos David Garcia Gonzalez in Liberty Hills, Texas. It is alleged that between January 2023 and January 2026, Garcia operated a large-scale “ghost broker” scheme in which he procured auto insurance policies by submitting fraudulent data online to three different carriers on behalf of predominantly Hispanic victims residing in Utah. The actions of Garcia, who is not a licensed insurance agent, resulted in…

National insurance groups are hailing the signing of a new law in North Carolina, one that makes the state the first to place an outright ban on third-party funding of lawsuits. House Bill 315, signed by Gov. Josh Stein this week, “is an important measure that will help protect North Carolinians from predatory commercial third-party funders looking to profit off lawsuits at the expense of businesses and consumers,” the American Property Casualty Insurance Association said in a statement Wednesday. “Third-party litigation investment has become an increasingly significant driver of legal system abuse, injecting profit motives into disputes that should be…

The rebound in blank-check companies is proving to be a useful route to public markets for companies involved in the artificial intelligence-data center build-out, said Betsy Cohen, a veteran of dealmaking in special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC). The Cohen Circle LLC co-founder, speaking on Bloomberg TV’s weekly deals show Wednesday, said that some tech startups focused on powering data centers or creating faster, more powerful quantum computers have seen SPACs as a better option than traditional initial public offerings. That’s a switch from the 1990s, when SPACs were first used to provide capital to the steel industry. “We now have…

Google’s YouTube has settled a lawsuit brought by a minor who claimed the platform damaged his mental health, his lawyers said Tuesday, ahead of a second California trial over social media’s role in the youth mental health crisis. The terms of the settlement of the state court lawsuit were confidential, the lawyers said on Tuesday. The suit named four defendants — YouTube, Meta’s Instagram, Snap Inc’s Snapchat and ByteDance’s TikTok — and the remaining three companies are still set to face trial in July. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement that the lawsuit had been amicably resolved. “Our…

As part of its new group strategy Xcelerate29, corporate & specialty insurer HDI Global (HDI) will implement a new organizational setup and leadership changes in its U.S. business. HDI Global U.S. named Shadi Albert as the new CEO as of July 13. Most recently, Albert worked for W. R. Berkley Corporation, including as president of Vela Insurance Services. Prior to that, he was president of Berkley Luxury Group. Earlier in his career, Albert served in senior roles at global brokers Aon, Marsh, and WTW, as well as executive leadership positions at U.S.-based insurance companies. Jim Clark, CEO of HDI Global…