Author: completebodyneeds

Antares, the specialist global re/insurance group, announced the death of its chief executive officer Michael van der Straaten. “It is with great sadness that we announce that Michael van der Straaten, CEO of Antares, passed away unexpectedly this weekend following a short illness,” according to Antares, the international operations of Qatar Insurance Group (QIC), a major insurer in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. “Antares and QIC’s thoughts, prayers, and deepest condolences are with Mike’s family and loved ones during this difficult time,” Antares said, adding that a further statement will be released in due course. van der…

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed to approve Alabama’s application to take over issuing certain coal waste permits from the agency, part of a trend under President Donald Trump to transfer more authority from the federal government to states. Under the current administration, the EPA has already allowed two states to handle how coal plants dispose of waste, and proposed to authorize two others, in addition to Alabama. “[W]e know that Alabama understands its own resources and topography better than bureaucrats in DC,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a statement. He later called the decision “yet another win…

Enterprise Risk Associates, the New York-based insurance brokerage that has focused on expansion through agency acquisitions, said it has acquired Insurance Solutions of America, headquartered in Oviedo, Florida. ISOA was founded in 2007 by Scott Lugering and Amber LaSota. It has specialized in commercial coverage for businesses that provide protection systems for others—fire suppression, sprinkler, alarm, and security firms. Lugering will remain at the helm of ISOA, and the team will keep operating out of the Oviedo office, the company said in a news release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The move comes seven months after Enterprise…

California and 11 states sued to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging the deal would create a media behemoth with the power to raise prices in film and television. The lawsuit filed in Oakland federal court, threatens to derail Paramount CEO David Ellison’s bid to transform his company into a major rival of Netflix and Disney. States including New York, Arizona and Minnesota argued the deal would harm theaters and television distributors, raising prices for consumers and making wages less competitive for workers. “After this merger, for every dollar generated by wide-release theatrical films and basic…

Russia on Tuesday accused Ukraine of terrorism over its escalating attacks on shipping in the Sea of Azov, a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports. Ukrainian drones hit 11 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight, Kyiv’s drone forces commander said. In a statement on Telegram, Robert Brovdi said the targets included five tankers, five dry cargo vessels and a tugboat, bringing the total number of vessels struck in the past nine days to 116. The report did not specify any attacks on grain ships. Industry sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of…

Twenty-six former employees of Meta Platforms have filed a lawsuit against the tech company, accusing it of using AI-powered software that disproportionately targeted people with disabilities or who took medical leave in selecting people for mass layoffs. The lawsuit, filed in Oakland, California, federal court late Monday, says that the company relied on factors such as productivity and AI token usage when it began slashing thousands of jobs earlier this year, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions. Meta earlier this year said it planned to lay off 10% of its global workforce, or nearly 8,000 people, beginning…

RockRose Risk launched a “human-in-the-loop” assessments product to provide the algorithms need to price risk accurately in California. RockRose Risk, an insurance brokerage that offers property owners discounts for wildfire mitigation, launched its homeowners insurance product in California, which follows their commercial property product in California, Nevada, and Colorado. This marks the firm’s first entry into the residential market. The launch introduces Rosebud, an assessment rover equipped with cameras and lidar built to capture ground-level conditions that satellite imagery and ZIP-code models can’t see. The homeowner’s product is now available in Topanga, Grass Valley, and other California communities. Topics California…

The U.S. property/casualty industry posted its best underwriting profit and combined ratio in a decade in 2025, building upon the $1 trillion of total direct premiums written logged the prior year for the first time. According to a new report from industry financial strength rating agency AM Best, DPW grew 5% in 2025 to about $1.11 trillion. Overall, the industry’s combined ratio finished at 93 in 2025—an improvement of 3.6 points over 2024. After several years of booking underwriting losses, U.S. P/C insurers recorded underwriting income of about $23 billion in 2024 and then increased it another $38 billion to…

The chemical tanker Stolt Magnesium caught fire on Tuesday following the “explosion of an unidentified external device” as it was sailing in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman, according to its manager Stolt Tankers, the main unit of Norwegian shipping company Stolt-Nielsen. The incident occurred at 12:40 a.m. (2040 GMT on Monday) and caused a fire in the vessel’s engine room, it said in a statement. All of the vessel’s seafarers were safe and accounted for, it added, and the crew had begun fighting the fire. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations had reported an incident 40 nautical…

Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. air base in Jordan on Tuesday and the United States attacked Iranian targets for five hours in a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz that has pushed up oil prices to four-week highs. U.S. forces launched waves of attacks for the third successive night after Iran said on Saturday it was closing the strait, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to reinstate a blockade of Iranian shipping and propose charging a 20% fee to guard the vital waterway. The strikes have increased doubts that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last month…