Category:

International News

Egypt Court rejects appeal to free ship that blocked Suez

The lawsuit of Suez Canal Authority asked for $916 million in compensation. The operator lowered the figure in out-of-court negotiations to $550 million, which the ship’s insurers say is still too high.The Ever Given’s owner has offered to pay $150 million, according to the SCA, which says that doesn’t cover losses of transit fees, damage to the waterway during the dredging and rescue efforts, and costs of equipment and labor.

read more

‘Cascade of Calamities’ Plagues Tokyo’s Olympics Ambitions

Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and top executive of SoftBank Group Corp., criticized the push to hold the Olympics while Hiroshi Mikitani, billionaire founder and CEO of online retailer Rakuten Group Inc., compared them to a “suicide mission.”

The Asahi newspaper, a sponsor of the games, called in an editorial Wednesday for Suga to make the decision to cancel the games.

read more

Dutch court orders Shell to deepen carbon cuts in landmark ruling

At a court room in The Hague, judge Larisa Alwin read out a ruling which ordered Shell to reduce its planet warming carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels.
Shell immediately said it would appeal the court ruling, which comes amid rising pressure from investors, activists and governments on energy companies to shift away from fossil fuels and rapidly ramp up investments in renewable energy.

read more

Cyber crime is growing risk to bank ratings: S&P

Cyber attacks can harm credit ratings mainly through reputational damage and potential monetary losses, it said in a report titled ‘Cyber Risk In A New Era: The Effect On Bank Ratings.’

“Cyber attacks have had only a limited effect on bank ratings to date but can trigger more rating actions in the future as cyber incidents become more frequent and complex,” said Credit Analyst Irina Velieva.

read more

Australian general insurers welcome `Bushfire Funding’, say Tax Rise ‘Unsustainable

The federal government’s allocation of A$1.2 billion (US$931 million) over five years to improve Australia’s capability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters and now the Victorian government’s A$517 million investment in bushfire specific resilience initiatives will protect communities vulnerable to the impact of extreme weather and natural disasters,the ICA said in a statement.

“This welcome news is tempered, however, by the Victorian budget’s projections that revenue from insurance stamp duty will increase by almost one-third over the budget estimates, rising 29% from A$1.517 billion in 2020-21 to A$1.959 billion [US$1.519 billion] in 2024-25,” the ICA explained.

read more