The problems are expected to intensify in 2024, when many of the...
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Hapag-Lloyd to decide on Wednesday about Red Sea routes
The world's top shipping firms, including Maersk and Hapag Lloyds,...
Cuba quietly authorizes euthanasia
Euthanasia and medically assisted suicide, opposed by most...
‘Developing Asia’ to shrink for first time in nearly six decades: ADB
“Most economies in the Asia and Pacific region can expect difficult growth path for the rest of 2020,” ADB Chief Economist Yasuyuki Sawada said in a statement.
“The economic threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic remains potent, as extended first waves or recurring outbreaks could prompt further containment measures,” Sawada said.
COVID-19 has set global health progress back decades – Gates Foundation
“After 20 consecutive years of declines in extreme poverty, we’ve now seen a reversal,” said Mark Suzman, chief executive of the Gates Foundation, in an interview with Reuters. “We’ve had nearly 40 million people thrown back into extreme poverty. That’s well over a million a week since the virus hit.”
The report cited International Monetary Fund projections that, despite the $18 trillion dollars already spent on trying to stimulate economies around the world, the global economy will lose $12 trillion or more by the end of 2021 – the biggest global GDP loss since the end of World War Two.
China coronavirus vaccine may be ready for public in November: official
A unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and U.S.-listed Sinovac Biotech SVA.O are developing the three vaccines under the state’s emergency use programme. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics 6185.HK was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.
Funds and firms call for tougher 2030 EU climate target
In a separate letter, 127 business leaders and 30 investors, some of whom are in the IIGCC, also backed an emissions-cutting target of “at least 55%” by 2030.This would help ensure Europe’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is driven by green growth, said the companies, which include Unilever, Google, EDF, Deutsche Bank and H&M.
The EU expects a 55% 2030 emissions-cutting goal to require additional energy investments of 350 billion euros ($415 billion) a year from 2021 to 2030, compared with the previous decade.
Vaccine likely in a few months, but life won’t return to normal until end of 2021:Dr. Fauci
“If you’re talking about getting back to a degree of normality which resembles where we were prior to Covid, it’s going to be well into 2021, maybe even towards the end of 2021,” he added.
Nearly 30 U.S. states are reporting downward trends in Covid-19 cases, but the pandemic will likely worsen again, said Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert.
Aviva sells Singapore unit for $1.98 billion as new CEO shifts focus
The British company said on Friday it will sell its majority shareholding in the business to the Singlife consortium, which includes alternative asset firm TPG, Japanese insurer Sumitomo Life and other existing Singlife shareholders.
Promising to shake up the organisation after she took over in July, new CEO Amanda Blanc pledged to reduce its operations in Asia and Europe.
Analysts have said the insurer is operating in too many countries and sectors, and its shares have lagged rivals.
AstraZeneca still aiming for Oxford Covid-19 vaccine by year-end:CEO
The pause highlights the importance of rigorous final-stage trials to pick up on potential side effects or rare events, according to Hatchett. It also shows the need to have a diversified portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines under development, a strategy that CEPI is using with its partners, he said.
“It points to the fact that vaccine development is tricky and unpredictable, and that things that look like they are going along very well can encounter difficulties,” he said.
Munich Re to stop selling Pandemic Business Coverage after losses
“We are currently examining whether we will offer new contracts that include pandemic protection in property and casualty insurance in the future,” Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re’s head of reinsurance, said in an interview.
“For the moment it has been suspended, for example with respect to event cancellations.” The company will continue to cover pandemics in its life and health contracts.Most of Munich Re’s Covid 19-related losses this year stemmed from the scrapping of major events and other hits to companies’ income during lockdown..
Lloyd’s to pay up to £5bn as gross COVID-19 claims
John Neal, Lloyd’s CEO said: “The first half of 2020 has been an exceptionally challenging period for our people, our customers, and for economies around the world. The pandemic has inflicted catastrophic societal and economic damage calling for unparalleled measures to stifle the spread of the virus, and to get businesses and economies back on their feet. Our half year results demonstrate that our robust approach to performance management and remediation has begun to take effect, evidenced by a significant turnaround in the underlying performance metrics, which give the truest indication of our market’s profitability.”
Global annual average Cat losses rise almost 8 times to $ 200 billion in 50 yrs:Study
The quality of recovery for very high and high insurance penetration countries is better than pre-loss levels, and the reverse is true for countries with lower insurance penetration although the differences are quite small. There is potential for product development in terms of “building back better”.