Report suggests potential excess mortality in the general...
Category:
International News
Latest
Strongest typhoon since 1949 hits Shanghai and knocks out power to some homes
Typhoon Yagi hit China’s southern Hainan island earlier this month...
Tech companies commit to fighting harmful AI sexual imagery by curbing nudity from datasets
In a deal brokered by the Biden administration, tech companies...
Researchers find double benefit of climate protection through both limiting, delaying global warming
In the study, the scientists analysed the joint impacts of demographic development and climate change on people exposed to tropical cyclones — and found that timing of when certain warming levels are reached becomes crucial. The results are even more obvious on the country level, explained Johannes Gutschow.
“Our model shows, with unprecedented detail, that in 2050 all countries at high risk of tropical cyclones are projected to see a rise in exposure. Due to the projected population growth, we found exposure changes of nearly 300 per cent in some East African countries, up to 100 per cent in the US and also a strong increase for the Arabian Peninsula.”
Pandemic pushes Chinese tech giants to roll out more courier robots
Researchers at the University of Michigan said fully and partially automated vehicles could cut delivery costs by 10−40% in cities. Alibaba’s last-mile logistics vehicle has delivered over a million orders as of September to more than 200,000 consumers, the company said. It operates over 200 robots and plans to have 1,000 by March and 10,000 over the next three years.
World Bank says Delta variant slowing economic growth in East Asia and Pacific
Economic activity began to slow in the second quarter of 2021, and growth forecasts have been downgraded for most countries in the region, according to the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Fall 2021 Economic Update.
While China’s economy is projected to expand by 8.5%, the rest of the region is forecast to grow at 2.5%, nearly 2 percentage points less than forecast in April 2021, the World Bank said.
McKinsey Report: Asia-Pacific digital banking accelerating, led by emerging markets
McKinsey concluded that, “To deliver on this report’s calls to action, banks need to make fundamental changes in how they operate. They also need to build the capabilities required for an AI-powered digital-first business model, including a new sales and service model, modern operations and technology, and an agile operating model. Any bank that intends to remain relevant and thrive must become an innovation leader.”
Covid caused biggest decrease in life expectancy since World War II: Study
The research team assembled an unprecedented dataset on mortality from 29 countries, spanning most of Europe, the US and Chile — countries for which official death registrations for 2020 had been published.
It took on average 5.6 years for these countries to achieve a one-year increase in life expectancy recently, while the progress was wiped out over the course of 2020 by Covid-19, they said.
The largest declines in life expectancy were observed among males in the US, who saw a decline of 2.2 years relative to 2019 levels, followed by Lithuanian males (1.7 years), they said.
UN development arm launches disaster insurance programme
The facility will also have funding from other sources, including the UNDP itself, a spokesperson said. The UNDP is aiming to help create insurance protection from socio-economic, climate and health-related disasters in more than 50 developing countries by 2025, it said.
“Insurance and risk-finance products, tools and services can secure our critical infrastructure, protect our agriculture and businesses, and preserve critical ecosystems that make life on earth possible,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner.
AXA XL appoints Head of Climate to accelerate sustainability efforts
“As a signatory of the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance, AXA XL is committed to taking a leading role in working with our clients and business partners to raise awareness of climate issues, manage risk and develop solutions to create a more sustainable society.Andy’s expertise and knowledge of our business will allow us to further advance our understanding and response to climate change by ensuring we continue to understand how the climate is evolving and how this impacts our overall strategy. Andy is charged with embedding our climate strategy across AXA XL from underwriting to claims, to risk and operations ensuring that we meet our climate leadership ambitions,” said Scott Gunter, CEO of AXA XL
Amazon to start offering insurance to UK businesses: Broker
Members of Amazon’s Business Prime program will be able to buy cover from Superscript such as contents insurance, cyber insurance and professional indemnity insurance, which a Superscript spokesperson said would be underwritten by “major UK insurers.” They will be offered a discount of 20% to current rates as a way of enticing businesses over to them.
Tesla starts judging owners it charged $10,000 for self-driving
Musk’s fostering of the perception Tesla is a self-driving leader has helped make it the world’s most valuable automaker by far. But others have taken issue with what they see as a reckless and misleading approach to deploying technology that isn’t ready.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently opened its second defect investigation into Autopilot since 2016.
Munich Re appoints Michaela Hannemann as new Regional Head of Casualty Treaty Underwriting for Japan, India, Korea & SE Asia
“In addition to her strong casualty treaty background and her multi-market experience across emerging and mature regions, I am confident that Michaela’s passion for client focus will be a driving force in our ongoing commitment to maintaining strong and sustainable long term relationships with clients and industry partners in the region ,” said Roland Eckl, Munich Re’s Chief Executive Asia Pacific (Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia).