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Chinese insurance tech firm Waterdrop raises $230 million, plans U.S. IPO

Two sources with knowledge of the fundraising told Reuters that Waterdrop was valued at nearly $2 billion in the funding round. One of them said that Swiss Re itself had invested $100 million.

Swiss Re declined to comment on its investment size, but said the company’s participation in the round was part of its long-term commitment to China.

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Indore cleanest city in India for the fourth time, five others rated 5-star

Indore city in Madhya Pradesh emerged as the cleanest city for the fourth time in a row, Surat and Navi Mumbai won the second and third position respectively in the more than 100,000 population category.

Mysuru city in Karnataka had won the award for the cleanest city of India in the first edition of the survey in 2016, while Indore had retained the top position for three consecutive years.

Chhattisgarh won the prestigious title of the cleanest state in the more than hundred urban local bodies category, while Jharkhand was adjudged the winner in the less than hundred urban local bodies category. An additional 117 awards were also handed over by the Minister.

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Beijing says residents can go mask-free as China COVID cases hit new lows

Beijing’s municipal Centers for Disease Control first said residents could go without masks in outdoor areas in late April, though the rules were swiftly reversed in June after a new outbreak in a large wholesale market in the city’s south.
Experts say the key to the country’s success in controlling the disease has been the strict enforcement of local rules, including wearing masks, mandatory home quarantine and participating in mass testing.

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Russia vaccine roll-out plan prompts virus mutation worries

Sputnik-V’s developers, as well as financial backers and Russian authorities, say the vaccine is safe and that two months of small-scale human trials have shown that it works.

But the results of those trials have not been made public, and many Western scientists are sceptical, warning against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory hurdles have been passed.

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ICICI Gen acquiers Bharti AXA Gen in an all- stock deal valued at Rs 4,200 crore

AXA and Bharti to combine their non-life operations in India into ICICI Lombard, in exchange of shares, said Axa.

Under the terms of the agreement, AXA and Bharti will receive a total of 35.8 million shares of ICICI Lombard on closing, which would represent Euro 521 million at current market value, and an implied HY 2020 P/BV4 multiple of more than five  times. The transactionis expected to result in a one-time positive net income of approximately Euro 0.2 billion in AXA Group’s FY 2021 consolidated financial statements,said AXA..

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Insurer AIA’s new business drops 37% in first-half as pandemic hits sales

Insurers across the world have been hit by pandemic-related claims including for travel, business interruption and event cancellation, while economic slowdown and job losses have led to reduced demand for life insurance.

In Asia, insurance firms mainly rely on their army of agents for product sales, which have been dented by lockdown and social distancing measures put in place in various countries to contain the pandemic.

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