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Picking up speed, tropical Storm Elsa moves towards south-central Cuba

Elsa had arrived earlier in the day in eastern Cuba, whipping palms with strong winds and bringing a steady downpour along with parts of the southern coast. Miami-based NHC said data from an aircraft indicated maximum sustained winds were near 65 miles per hour (100 km per hour) with higher gusts. It had downgraded Elsa from a hurricane on Saturday.

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Suez Canal says deal reached to free seized vessel

At first, the Suez Canal Authority demanded $916 million in compensation, which was later lowered to $550 million.
The authority did not reveal details on the settlement deal with the Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the Japanese owner of the Ever Given. It said the deal will be singed in a ceremony in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia on Wednesday.
The canal authority will receive a tug boat with a pulling capacity of about 75 tonnes as part of a settlement to release the container ship Ever Given, which blocked traffic at the waterway for six days in March, Rabie told a private TV channel.

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Getting athletes to Olympics amid global pandemic a logistics nightmare

Although most athletes have been fully vaccinated and Games organizers require negative Covid tests prior to arrival, there have already been some upsets. Two members of Uganda’s Olympic squad tested positive in Japan last month, despite having been inoculated earlier, and over the weekend, a rower from Serbia tested positive.

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Reinsurance rate increases continued for most major lines and territories during July 1 renewals:Willis Re

Momentum continued in the catastrophe bond market, which saw around US$6 billion of new issues in the second quarter of 2021, outstripping all new cat bond capacity issued in 2019. Significant investment inflows have narrowed margins and encouraged new cat-bond cedants.
James Kent, Global CEO of Willis Re, said: “The global reinsurance market is moving towards an equilibrium. Reinsurers, backed by resilient investors delivering an increasing capital base, are robust and well positioned to provide the long-term support their clients expect and need. However, we are approaching the top of a cycle which we believe is unlikely to precede a precipitous and damaging decline in rates. Instead, the market is likely to retain its discipline in order to maintain the balance it has achieved over the past couple of years especially with the full picture of losses from COVID-19 and prior year liability lines still to emerge.”

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A massive ransomware attack has hit more than 1,000 companies

The impact of the attack is only beginning to come to light. In Sweden, a majority of grocery chain Coop’s more than 800 stores couldn’t open on Saturday after the attack led to a malfunction of their cash registers, spokesperson Therese Knapp told Bloomberg News.

There are victims in 11 countries so far, according to research published by cybersecurity firm ESET.

The hackers were identified as the Russia-linked ransomware group REvil, which was accused last month of hacking giant meatpacker JBS SA.

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Insurers’ response to COVID-19 pandemic has damaged their reputation, finds GlobalData

Ben Carey-Evans, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The pandemic has undoubtedly been an extremely difficult situation for insurers. Claims in some lines have soared and a lot of lines have become hard to insure. The biggest factor behind the industry’s reputational damage is likely to be the legal battles around business interruption claims throughout 2020.

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Didi shares dive as China unveils new cyber probe after mega IPO

The move is to prevent data security risks, safeguard national security and protect public interest, according to a statement from the Cyberspace Administration of China. Didi has halted new user registrations during the probe. The company, which only started trading on Wednesday in New York after an initial public offering, fell 7% to $15.26.

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