Author: completebodyneeds

Zurich Insurance Group’s proposed £8.1 billion (US$10.8 billion) acquisition of Lloyd’s insurer Beazley plc has received approval from Australia’s regulatory watchdog. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced on June 17 that the acquisition “may be put into effect” because it is “unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in any market.” Zurich also is awaiting approval from the UK regulators (the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority) as well as Lloyd’s of London, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the European Union’s competition watchdog, which received a filing for merger approval from…

Alphabet self-driving unit Waymo is recalling nearly 3,900 robotaxis in the U.S. because a software issue could cause the vehicles to enter a closed freeway construction zone and continue driving. It is the second recall by Waymo in just over a month. The latest recall, filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), stems from more than a dozen incidents since early April in California and Arizona in which Waymo autonomous vehicles (AVs) did not recognize and drove past ramp closure signs into pre-planned freeway construction zones and freeway lanes with active construction work. The company initially imposed freeway…

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating a health insurance executive in a carefully executed plot, could have a hard time convincing jurors at his murder trial that he suffered a mental health breakdown, legal experts said. Mangione is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Midtown in December 2024. Defense lawyers indicated on Wednesday that Mangione plans to mount a type of legal defense that allows jurors to downgrade murder charges to manslaughter if they believe a defendant lost control of their actions due to an “extreme emotional disturbance.” But allegations that Mangione meticulously…

A Bulgaria-based company sold controversial surveillance technology to governments in countries with records of repression, enabling authorities to track mobile phones and eavesdrop on private communications, according to documents obtained by Human Rights Watch. The surveillance firm Circles offered tools capable of spying on phone calls, messages and internet activity, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Thursday. The documents — a trove of Bulgarian export records covering sales by Circles between 2018 and 2023 — show that the Bulgarian government approved Circles transactions with law enforcement and intelligence agencies in countries including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jordan,…

Joshua Baer, the founder and chief executive officer of the venture capital firm Capital Factory, died Tuesday in a plane crash in South Texas, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Baer, a major player in the Texas technology and startup space, was traveling from San José del Cabo, Mexico, to Austin on a business jet with six people on board when it went down on a highway near Laredo at about 10 p.m. local time. Police said there was only one fatality from the crash of the Cessna Citation Latitude, which was operated by NetJets. “Joshua was a fearless leader, a brilliant…

Expanding biofuel demand is a “powerful catalyst” to restore profitability to American farms, according to a new study, as harvests balloon and lawmakers consider broadening the market for corn-based ethanol. Climbing crop yields are creating persistent surpluses thanks to better technology, yet at the same time demand is stagnating, according to research by S&P Global Energy. The scenario will lead to reduced cropland and dropping farmer profits, according to the study. “Without new markets, sustained surpluses are likely to place downward pressure on prices, erode farm incomes, weaken rural economies, and discourage long-term investment and innovation,” the study said. Expanding…

Zurich is committing to expand its property coverage availability in areas designated as distressed in California in a new filing. Zurich U.S. submitted a commercial property insurance rate filing in California under the state’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy, an effort by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the California Department of Insurance to address the state’s insurance market crisis. Zurich is among the first commercial insurance providers to take advantage of the initiative. The Travelers Companies in April said it intends to expand its homeowners insurance offerings across California. Travelers notified the CDI it intends to expand homeowners insurance availability across the…

Uber Technologies Inc. will offer driverless robotaxi rides in Houston in vehicles developed by Lucid Group Inc. and Nuro Inc., setting it up to challenge Waymo in the fourth-largest US city. Nuro is already testing the vehicles in Houston, but the service won’t launch until mid-2027, Uber said in a statement Wednesday. An Uber spokesperson declined to specify how many cars will be available in Houston, saying more details will be shared closer to launch. Lucid is expected to expand its fleet of test vehicles produced at its Arizona factory in the coming weeks to be used for further safety…

Ward Joins Alliant Insurance Services Benefits Team as SVP Brandon Ward joined Alliant Insurance Services as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. Ward has a background working with technology companies, venture-backed businesses and growth-stage organizations. His experience includes human capital management, employee benefits, total rewards consulting, executive and board-level advisory services, and talent attraction and retention planning. Prior to joining Alliant, Ward was a business consultant with an employee benefits consulting firm. Alliant is headquartered in Irvine, California. Delos Insurance Solutions Appoints Cammet Chief Product Officer Delos Insurance Solutions appointed Wendy Cammet to a newly created role of…

A federal judge sent Bayer’s proposed $7.25 billion Roundup settlement back to state court on Wednesday, overruling objections from plaintiffs who had argued the state court had no power to implement a nationwide resolution of lawsuits that claim the company’s Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. U.S. District Judge Henry Edward Autrey in St. Louis sided with Bayer, concluding that the objecting plaintiffs did not have the power to transfer the case to federal court because only the defendant in a case has that right. The ruling is likely to bolster Bayer’s efforts to win approval of the sweeping settlement by restoring…