Author: completebodyneeds

The insurance cost of shipping goods through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies on Thursday, after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis attacked at least one tanker overnight, sources said. The Houthis said their forces had carried out missile and drone strikes on Saudi oil tankers, the Encelia and the Layla. This worsened the turmoil for shipping in the region, with the Strait of Hormuz essentially shut down. Maritime security sources confirmed the strike on the Encelia, off the coast of the southern Saudi port of Jizan, close to Yemen’s border. Reuters could not immediately confirm the attack on the Layla,…

A federal judge cast doubt on July 22 on claims by approximately 69,000 people alleging that Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ.N baby powder and other talc products caused ovarian cancer, saying plaintiffs must provide more specific evidence or risk having their lawsuits dismissed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Rukhsanah Singh in Trenton, New Jersey, said that recent testimony by two of the plaintiffs’ experts raised doubts about whether any plaintiffs can provide evidence admissible in court “that talcum powder use specifically caused her ovarian cancer.” The two experts, Judith Wolf and Daniel Clarke-Pearson, testified in May in preparation for a set of six…

Wildfires forced French authorities to evacuate some 20,000 residents and tourists from an area southwest of Bordeaux, after successive heat waves created tinderbox conditions. Hundreds of firefighters are battling blazes that have so far burned 3,100 hectares in the Bassin d’Arcachon in the Gironde department. Tanker aircraft are dousing the flames with water and retardant, but the fires aren’t yet under control, according to the regional prefect. France has been at the epicenter of three heat waves that seared western Europe since late May. More than 50,000 hectares in the country have been burned this year, according to the European…

South Korea has been hit by a “significant” data leak that could affect all of its diplomats following a breach at a government-run training academy. A system that held roughly 10,000 records of current and retired diplomats is believed to have been compromised by an unidentified hacker, foreign ministry spokesperson Park Il told reporters on Tuesday. Park didn’t confirm how many records had been accessed, but Yonhap News Agency reported that no sensitive data such as identification numbers, mobile phone numbers or home addresses appeared to have been affected. “It appears that a significant amount of data has been leaked,”…

Technology-driven insurer Root has launched its behavior-based car insurance in New Jersey, marking its 37th state. Using mobile telematics, Root calculates its rates primarily on actual driving performance, such as focused driving, smooth braking, and gentle turns. The system can financially reward safe drivers. Safe drivers in New Jersey stand to realize potential annual savings of up to $1,300, according to the insurer. Driver onboarding, customized coverage selection, policy management, and claims routing are handled entirely through Root’s mobile application. “Expanding to New Jersey is a massive milestone in our state expansion strategy as we accelerate toward our goal of…

More than twice the amount of swimming pool chemicals as planned were improperly stored at a Georgia plant, setting conditions for a fire in 2024 that sent a huge plume of orange and black smoke into the sky and forced residents to shelter in place, a federal agency report concluded. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board found that components of a sprinkler system inside the BioLab plant “had been experiencing significant corrosion and leaking” since 2019. That was shortly after the company began storing the chemicals at the plant, the agency said in its final report on the…

A Mexican man who was struck and killed by a tractor trailer in Florida after running from federal immigration officers was vacationing in the U.S. and had a tourist visa, according to a Mexico official and a group assisting his wife. Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, 28, died July 14 after authorities said he darted across a busy road in St. Augustine and into the path of a truck. His death was the third in roughly a week involving encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, following fatal shootings in Texas and Maine. Coronilla Durán traveled from his hometown of San…

Global commercial insurance rates dropped by 6%, on average, in the second quarter of 2026, following a 5% decline in Q1 2026, according to Marsh’s latest Global Insurance Market Index (GIMI). Property rates declined by 12% in Q2, while casualty rates increased 2%, driven largely by ongoing claims severity and litigation pressures in the US. (Editor’s note: Marsh’s Global Insurance Market Index skews toward larger account business). Marsh said that Q2 2026 marks the eighth consecutive quarter of rate decreases, fueled by abundant capacity, strong insurer profitability, a surplus of capital, favorable reinsurance conditions, and higher investment returns. Strong insurer…

A novel lawsuit claiming that Meta Platforms relied on discriminatory AI tools to select employees for layoffs highlights the problems workers face in suing employers over the new technology, including proving how it was actually used. The case helps illustrate why a widely predicted wave of employment lawsuits over AI use has yet to arrive. Legal experts say workers often have little understanding of how AI systems are used in the workplace and many have also signed away their right to sue in court, agreeing instead to resolve workplace disputes through a private process called arbitration that can keep such…

Coverwatch has raised a $4.5 million pre-seed round to help accelerate product development and expand the team at the San Francisco-based firm. The round was led by CoFound and Restive with participation from KFund, liquid2 ventures and others. Coverwatch is an AI-native commercial brokerage. Its clients span three markets: homeowner associations, venture-backed technology companies and ecommerce and consumer packaged goods. Coverwatch is currently licensed in 17 states. The firm says it expects to be licensed in all 48 continental U.S. states by the third quarter. Topics InsurTech Data Driven Artificial Intelligence California Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are…