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More than 2,000 people evacuated their homes in western Germany on Friday, after a wildfire near the Belgian border spread towards a village, local authorities said. Residents were asked to leave their homes in the village of Gey at around 4:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) and go to an assistance center set up at a primary school in a nearby village, they said in a statement. They were urged to carry only essential belongings, identification papers and necessary medicines. “This forest fire threatens to hit the local community hard,” Mona Neubaur, deputy premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, posted on…

Aviva Plc is on track to achieve its profitability targets for the year despite its exposure to wildfires in the UK and Canada, according to its chief executive officer. The British insurer is in contact with customers impacted by the fires in Stourbridge, England to find alternate accommodation, Amanda Blanc said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Friday. Blanc said Aviva has also seen impacts across its customer portfolio in Canada, with the third quarter being the main season for wildfires in the country. “So we will be seeing that,” Blanc said, adding that the company’s projection for profitability for…

A prolific hacking group known for exploiting software vulnerabilities to attack multiple targets simultaneously claimed it had stolen large volumes of data from nearly 50 companies worldwide, including Philips, Shell, Fiserv and GE, according to a posting on the group’s website. Philips said it had been targeted by Cl0p while Shell said it was aware of a recent “possible incident,” confirming an earlier report on Thursday by Dutch media outlet BNR. “We are working with our security teams and relevant experts to investigate the situation,” a Shell spokesperson said. “Philips has identified and contained an attempted cybersecurity compromise of a…

Trezor, a maker of hardware devices used to store cryptocurrencies, said personal information belonging to thousands of customers was exposed in a data breach affecting one of its shipping providers, the latest security incident to hit the digital-asset industry. The Prague-based company said in a post on X on Thursday that 11,742 customers had their names, shipping and email addresses and phone numbers exposed, while another 1,947 only had some personal data compromised. The breach affected customers in the US, UK, Sweden, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, and Portugal who had received an order within the 90 days preceding Aug. 8. Older…

French authorities have evacuated 525 people from the village of Luglon after a wildfire broke out in the southwestern Landes region, not far from an area already devastated by major blazes this summer. The fire, which has razed 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres) after it began on Thursday, has spread to within 2 km (1.2 miles) of the center of Luglon, regional official Gilles Clavreul told reporters on Friday. The Landes area is swathed in pine forests that become highly flammable when dry. “The situation is unfavorable and the fire remains raging,” Clavreul said, adding that 500 firefighters were tackling the…

This article is part of a sponsored series by EZLynx. Key Takeaways Small agencies can quote commercial lines without a dedicated commercial lines team: the right workflow carries the load. Appetite guidance routes each risk to the carriers that want it – within the markets you’re already appointed with, since it works with your market access rather than creating it. Single-entry quoting ends rekeying the same risk data across separate carrier portals. An all-in-one platform keeps commercial lines quoting, client data, and servicing in one connected system. Why Commercial Lines Feels Out of Reach for Small Agencies Most small agencies…

American International Group (AIG) said it launched a new Parametric Cloud Outage Solution, providing clients an additional layer of cyber insurance protection to help them recover faster from business interruption losses resulting from cloud service outages and cloud provider downtime. Parametric insurance provides a predetermined payment when a specific event or policy trigger occurs. AIG’s new Parametric Cloud Outage Solution triggers are based on a predefined formula that considers cloud service downtime and the associated potential financial impact. The solution, developed in partnership with digital infrastructure insurance solutions Parametrix, covers events like outages affecting cloud infrastructure, software-as-a-service platforms, or other…

The peak of tornado season may be behind us, but the eastward expansion of what has been traditionally known as Tornado Alley into more populated areas may continue raising insurance risk for some time. Record tornado activity in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin this year drove elevated claims and increasing risk because of population exposure. Increased losses in new areas weren’t from raw tornado counts across the U.S., but from increased risk exposure, according to one industry catastrophe modeler. Illinois led all states in tornado activity in this year, with 220 confirmed tornadoes through the end of July. Indiana and Wisconsin…

A major expansion of California’s antitrust laws advanced in the state legislature Thursday despite opposition from business leaders and some government officials. The state Senate Appropriations Committee moved the bill, AB 1776, to the full chamber, where it must pass before it moves to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom, a Democrat, hasn’t publicly offered his opinion on the measure. A spokesperson for the governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and neither did the bill’s sponsor, Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Democrat. Related: Google to Face UK Class Action for Alleged Abuse of Ad Power The…

IMA Financial Group Inc. named Karen Schwartz as Washington market president. She leads IMA’s Washington market strategy, focusing on strengthening collaboration across business lines, partnering with property/casualty and employee benefits teams and producers. Schwartz has nearly 15 years of insurance industry experience spanning client service, sales and executive leadership. She joined Parker, Smith & Feek, an IMA company, in 2020. Most recently, she was Pacific Northwest market leader, employee benefits, leading more than 100 associates across Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. IMA is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Topics Leadership Washington Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you…