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International News

EU launches health crisis body to prepare for future pandemic

The new health emergency preparedness and response authority (HERA) will assess potential health threats, promote research, ensure the availability of critical production and help build stockpiles.

If a new health crisis struck, it would activate emergency funding and help coordinate monitoring, procurement and purchase of medical equipment or treatments.

The authority is partly designed to avoid a repeat of the ad hoc measures taken by individual EU countries at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of them inefficient, others coming at the expense of other EU members.

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EU pledges extra 4 billion euros in international climate finance

The EU already contributes $25 billion per year in climate finance, von der Leyen said.

Climate finance is expected to be a decisive issue at the United Nations’ COP26 summit in November, where world leaders will attempt to unlock commitments to cut emissions faster and stave off catastrophic climate change. With seven weeks to go until COP26, finance remains a sore point.

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Large claims push up Cyber premiums by 39% for all European industries: Marsh

Malicious cyber events accounted for 80% of cyber claims made in Continental Europe last year, up from 70% in 2019,according to a report published by Marsh, the world’s largest insurance broker and risk advisor, in collaboration with Microsoft, international law firm CMS, and Kivu, a global cyber security firm,

Ransomware attacks accounted for 32% of cyber claims in 2020 – more than double that recorded for 2016-2020 (14%). Overall, cyber insurance claims across Continental Europe rose by 8% in 2020.

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Australian media outlets liable for Facebook comments, court finds

“The acts of the (media companies) in facilitating, encouraging and thereby assisting the posting of comments by the third-party Facebook users rendered them publishers of those comments,” Justice Rothman found.

At the time the comments were published, Facebook did not allow page moderators to turn off comments on posts, however it has changed that.

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Immunized but banned: EU says not all Covid vaccines equal

Although AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Europe has been authorized by the continent’s drug regulatory agency, the same shot manufactured in India hasn’t been given the green light. EU regulators said AstraZeneca hasn’t completed the necessary paperwork on the Indian factory, including details on its production practices and quality control standards.

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Hannover Re expects higher prices in P&C 2022 reinsurance renewals

The Asia-Pacific region is evolving into one of the largest global insurance markets. This growth holds the promise of further significant business opportunities, in part because the insurance density here is still lower than in more mature markets. Not only in property and casualty reinsurance but also in the health and provision sector, appreciable growth rates can be anticipated over the medium to long term, which will also benefit reinsurers.

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