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International News

Suez Canal traffic resumes after stranded container ship freed

It remained unclear when traffic through the canal would return to normal. At least 367 vessels, carrying everything from crude oil to cattle, have piled up on either end of the canal, waiting to pass.

Data firm Refinitiv estimated it could take more than 10 days to clear the backlog of ships. Meanwhile, dozens of vessels have opted for the alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip — a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) detour that adds some two weeks to journeys and costs ships hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel and other costs.

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Insurers come to Crypto’s wild west promising 50% plus returns

Now software developers are launching products that claim to reduce the risks by selling something akin to insurance coverage. But here’s the catch: They’re also DeFi apps.

Unlike insurance offered through the likes of Lloyd’s to custodians and large crypto exchanges, these apps — which run on digital ledgers called blockchains — let any investor buy coverage. They also allow anyone to form investment pools to provide coverage — often promising annual returns of at least 50%.

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Stranded Suez Canal ship re-floated, marine services firm says

At least 369 vessels were waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, SCA Chairman Osama Rabie told Egypt’s Extra News on Sunday. The ship’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has disrupted global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with COVID-19 restrictions. Some shippers had decided to reroute their cargoes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding about two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.

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Green Climate Fund chief urges reopening of U.S. finance tap

Glemarec told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from his base in South Korea that the fund had allocated a record amount at its board meeting last week.

It approved $1.2 billion for 15 new climate projects – from a private equity fund for green energy and transport in India to help for farmers in Micronesia to keep their food crops safe from extreme weather and rising seas. The board also green-lighted projects aimed at reducing emissions from forests in the Republic of Congo and protecting Cuba’s coastal ecosystems.

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Aviva sells Polish business to Allianz for $2.9 billion

Allianz, which first entered the Polish market in 1997, ranks as Europe’s biggest insurer and while it has no plans to grow its life insurance operations, it sees the deal as a springboard to further expand across lucrative central and eastern European markets, sources told Reuters.
Aviva’s boss Amanda Blanc has been selling assets at pace to focus on the life and general insurer’s core businesses of Britain, Canada and Ireland. Aviva also has joint ventures in China and India.

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