Author: completebodyneeds

Microplastics in the atmosphere are heating the planet, magnifying climate change impacts, according to new research. Scientists in China and the US found that tiny, colored plastic particles absorb sunlight as winds blow them around the world, trapping heat and contributing to temperature rise, according to the peer-reviewed paper published Monday Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. “The plastic problem is not just in our blue oceans, it is also in the invisible skies above us,” Hongbo Fu, a co-author of the study and an atmospheric scientist at Fudan University in Shanghai, said at a press conference. “Climate models…

Australian Ethical Investment Ltd., a pension fund with about A$14 billion ($10 billion) under management, is pressuring QBE Insurance Group Ltd. over the potential threat extreme weather poses to future profitability. The fund, which holds about A$65 million of QBE shares, has requested additional information from the Sydney-based insurer over its exposure to climate-related risks, and called for further annual assessments on the issue. Investors need QBE to make clear how much of the “current insurance book is not viable from a climate perspective,” the pension fund’s ethical stewardship lead Amanda Richman said in an interview. Australian Ethical and share…

A legal claim from one of the world’s largest oil traders is throwing a spotlight on an arcane but critical corner of global finance — the multibillion-dollar freight market and the 282-year-old City of London institution that sits at the heart of it. Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. is suing the Baltic Exchange, Bloomberg reported on Thursday [April 30], alleging that it has suffered losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of distortions in a key benchmark for the cost of shipping oil from the Middle East to China. The case is the latest example of how…

Hundreds of vessels were seen clustering near Dubai on Tuesday, as more ships moved away from a still-empty Strait of Hormuz in response to Iran’s efforts to widen its area of control. A weeks-long ceasefire between the US and Iran has begun to look increasingly fragile, with the two sides exchanging fire as Washington said it had opened a passage through the waterway and CBS reported two American destroyers had crossed into the Persian Gulf. Since Monday, nearly 60 vessels across different types sailed into an area off Dubai monitored by Bloomberg News — an unusually large number even for…

The fragile truce in the Middle East was in jeopardy on Tuesday after the U.S. and Iran launched new attacks as they wrestled for control of the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said on Monday it destroyed six Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones, after President Donald Trump sent the navy to escort stranded tankers through the strait in a campaign he called “Project Freedom.” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said in a social media post on Tuesday that the security of shipping and energy transit had been threatened by breaches of the four-week-old…

Delta Dental Insurance Co. (DDIC) and Delta Dental of New York, Inc. (DDNY) will pay a $2.25 million penalty for violations of New York’s cybersecurity regulation, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) reported. Acting DFS Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow said that an investigation determined that the companies’ “inadequate incident response policies and procedures” allowed threat actors to obtain unauthorized access to New Yorkers’ personal information including names, addresses, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account information, and patient health information. The investigation found that the cybersecurity program used by the companies did not comply with DFS’s cybersecurity regulation, which requires…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent winces at the allure of easy money — whether it’s lottery tickets, buy now, pay later loans or the promise of a crypto windfall — warning that the get-rich-quick mindset often leads Americans farther from financial stability, not closer to it. “There are a lot of young people, mostly young men, going to blue-collar construction jobs, playing the lottery. It drives me crazy,” Bessent said in an interview, giving an example of why he has prioritized meeting with community bankers, retirees and schoolchildren to talk about how to budget, save and manage debt. “The best thing…

Oregon regulators ordered a health sharing company to stop selling coverage to residents, saying the company’s membership plans were functioning as unlicensed insurance. ClearShare Health was ordered to stop selling coverage by the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, which began reviewing ClearShare in January. The DFR reportedly found that the company’s membership plans function as insurance contracts because ClearShare pays specific and ascertainable medical expenses once members meet their annual maximum. These annual maximums operate as insurance deductibles, according to DFR. ClearShare Health’s affiliates include Clearwater Benefits LLC, Clearwater Benefits Administrators LLC and Clearwater Benefits Holdings LLC. The division also…

The Massachusetts Supreme Court appeared skeptical of Kalshi Inc.’s claim that its prediction markets don’t fall under state gambling laws because the company is instead providing financial arrangements between people using “swap” contracts on events like sports. The case is one of several legal fights involving states seeking greater oversight of prediction market companies, which argue their activities come under federal rules and should only be regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A judge barred Kalshi in Massachusetts, and the company appealed to the state’s high court, which has yet to rule. During oral arguments Monday, some justices…

From driving cars to flying drones, as autonomous robots take on more responsibility, they also face more human-like dilemmas — including what to do when rules collide. For a self-driving vehicle, this conundrum might pop up when a pedestrian suddenly steps off a curb and into its path. By swerving to avoid them, the car will also have to briefly veer over the road’s clearly marked center line. Is this a justifiable infraction? What if it leads to a collision with an oncoming car? Similarly, a drone might need to decide whether to fly through a narrow gap between two…