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Global coronavirus cases rise to more than 11 million

The United States reported more than 55,400 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a new daily global record as infections rose in a majority of states. Several U.S. governors halted plans to reopen their state economies in the face of a surge in cases.

Almost a quarter of the known global deaths have occurred in the United States – nearly 129,000. A recent surge in cases has put President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis under a microscope and led several governors to halt plans to reopen their states after strict lockdowns.

Latin America, where Brazil has 1.5 million cases, makes up 23% of the global total of people infected. India has become the new epicenter in Asia, rising to 625,000 cases.

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SoftBank-backed Lemonade raises $319 million in IPO

Lemonade, started in late 2016, says it has digitized the entire insurance process, replacing brokers and paperwork with algorithms. It says it provides insurance policies to homeowners and renters in as little as 90 seconds and claim payments in three minutes.The IPO values Lemonade at $1.6 billion. That is less than the $2.1 billion it was valued at last year, after it raised $300 million in a funding round led by Japan’s SoftBank and which included insurer Allianz SE and Alphabet Inc’s venture capital arm GV. Lemonade has pursued breakneck revenue growth at the expense of widening losses.

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Insurers anticipated a pandemic but could have responded better,says exec

David Williams, managing director of underwriting and technical services at AXA Insurance UK PLC.said the industry’s response to previous virus outbreaks, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, and the H5N1 avian flu strain, was “why we’ve ended up in a situation where 98% of business interruption policies in the U.K. don’t include the impacts of COVID-19.”

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FWD completes MetLife Hong Kong acquisition

FWD will be renaming and rebranding the newly acquired businesses in the next few months.  At the same time, MetLife Hong Kong will continue to operate through all its existing channels across its businesses.  All existing MetLife Hong Kong policies will continue to be honoured by FWD following the change in ownership.

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Wimbledon and other events left more exposed to COVID-19 risk as insurers withdraw pandemic cover: GlobalData

That an event as high-profile as Wimbledon can’t renew its policy suggests it is unlikely that any major event in the UK will be able to have pandemic cover for business interruption in the immediate future, and going ahead with events before a vaccine is rolled out is extremely risky.

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Huge acceleration of clean energy innovation needed to meet net zero target: IEA

“Without decarbonising the transport sector there is no chance whatsoever of meeting climate targets,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol told Reuters.
The four most critical clean technologies needing innovation are battery technologies, carbon capture and storage, bioenergy and low-carbon hydrogen, which are currently mostly in the development phase and/or costly.

Global CO2 emissions are expected to be 8% lower this year than in 2019 – their lowest level since 2010 – as energy demand has slumped due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they are likely to rebound as economies recover unless action is taken.

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