Spending $7,500 on home repairs may not seem like much in 2026. But a bill approved by a Florida House of Representatives panel on Wednesday would allow construction work below that threshold without a building permit, a change that could have an unexpected impact on inspections and some insurance claims. House Bill 1049, by state Rep. Tiffany Esposito, R-Fort Myers, would bar local governments from requiring permits for work that is projected to cost less than $7,500 on a single-family home. Permits would still be allowed for structural, electrical and plumbing work below that level, and contractors would need to…
Author: Awais
Breakdown cover and car insurance company RAC is close to selecting banks to lead its initial public offering in London, according to people familiar with the matter. The nearly 130-year-old firm is set to pick Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc to help arrange a possible listing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The listing would value it at around £5 billion ($6.9 billion), the people said. Lazard Inc. is acting as a financial adviser on the transaction, the people said. The RAC is one of the UK’s…
A major winter storm that hit the United States in recent days is expected to cause billions of dollars in insured losses, analysts at brokerage UBS said in a note. The heavy storm has left much of the central and …
The US Marshals Service, which provides custody of cryptocurrencies seized by or forfeited to federal law enforcement agencies, said it’s investigating a possible hack of US government digital-asset accounts. “At this time, we will not be making any statement as the matter is under investigation,” a spokesperson for the agency said in an email. On Jan. 26, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said in a post on X that he is “on it,” and linked to another post by an anonymous onchain investigator who goes by ZachXBT. In the online note, ZachXBT…
A second Russia-linked oil tanker lost control as it was entering the Mediterranean Sea in under a week. The medium-range vessel Chariot Tide first showed signs of difficulty as it approached Tangier, Morocco, on Jan. 21, when its speed abruptly dropped to less than two knots. Hours later the vessel’s navigation status was changed to “Not under command,” — a designation indicating a loss of control that would mean it can’t avoid other ships. By Wednesday, its operational status had shifted to “in casualty or repairing.” Last week, another tanker, the Progress, also showed as “not under command” while on…
W.R Berkley reported a “flattish” top line but nearly 15% growth in underwriting income for fourth-quarter 2025 this week. The insurer’s chief executive signaled a change in the level of rate increases going forward. President and CEO W. Robert Berkley, Jr. said during an call with analysts that while it may be early to make a definitive call, some recent prior years seem to be “developing out” favorably. In reaction to this, he said the company is not reducing prior-year loss picks, and added, “We are not feeling, across the board, the same level of pressure to keep pushing on…
Signal Iduna Reinsurance Ltd. (SI Re), the Swiss based reinsurance company that invests in insurance-linked securities (ILS) for their diversification and return effects, expanded its ILS investments which include catastrophe bonds during the last year to US $111.5 million.The company explained that the cat bond and ILS portfolio it invests in delivered “strong results” for the year, validating its hybrid approach as reinsurance underwriter and ILS investor. SI Re has been investing into catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities since 2010 and in 2025 grew its ILS portfolio from US $89.5 million at year-end 2024 to US $111.5 million. The company…
Possible risk of autism in children. Dormant cancer cells awakening. Accelerating aging of the brain. Federal officials in May 2023 declared an end to the national covid pandemic. But more than two years later, a growing body of research continues to reveal information about the virus and its ability to cause harm long after initial infections resolve, even in some cases when symptoms were mild. The discoveries raise fresh concerns about the Trump administration’s covid policies, researchers say. While some studies show covid vaccines offer protective benefits against longer-term health effects, the Department of Health and Human Services has drastically…
Marsh Risk Expands US Surety Team With 3 Leadership Appointments Jimmy Tse Marsh Risk, headquartered in New York City, made three leadership appointments. Jimmy Tse was named U.S. financial institutions surety growth leader. Tse has 20 years of experience in financial institutions, with expertise in developing integrated strategies that connect financial institutions with surety markets. Prior to joining Marsh, he led ANZ’s Funds and Insurance Coverage business. Based in New York, Tse will report to Carrick Bligh, U.S. surety financial institutions leader. Caroline Jardim Caroline Jardim was named U.S. multinational surety leader. Jardim has nearly 20 years of specialized experience…
Lathrop brings more than 30 years’ experience in the Latin American insurance market. He joins from Marsh, where he was CEO of Marsh Chile with additional responsibility for Argentina and Uruguay, and previously established and built JLT’s Chile operation. In his new role, he will work closely with Sonia Caamaño, CEO, International Growth Markets, to drive organic and inorganic expansion, support country leadership and deepen relationships with key regional and global markets.
Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive Brief: Rapid digitization and increasing interconnectedness in the healthcare industry are “exposing clinical technology to threats it was never engineered to withstand,” Trellix said in a report published on Tuesday. The threat intelligence report, based on 54.7 million detections from Trellix products in healthcare environments in 2025, highlighted email as the top threat vector (85% of all detections) and the U.S. as the biggest target (75% of all detections). Trellix’s report also described the evolution of the ransomware ecosystem. Dive Insight:…
Liberty Mutual provides all standard types of car insurance, including liability, collision, comprehensive, uninsured and underinsured motorist, and PIP. You can add new car replacement, better car replacement, accident forgiveness, gap coverage, OEM parts coverage, rental reimbursement, and 24/7 roadside assistance. These options help you build packages that can compete with those of the best car insurance companies.
A Dutch court on Tuesday overturned a 2021 ruling that had classified all Uber drivers as employees, stating that individual drivers can be treated as independent entrepreneurs. The Amsterdam court said six drivers who had joined the rideshare company in its appeal are self-employed rather than employees, given the investments they made in their vehicle, their freedom to choose working hours and their ability to accept or reject rides. “This ruling is a clear victory for thousands of drivers in the Netherlands who have spent more than five years fighting to protect their status as independent workers,” an Uber spokesperson…
GEICO has agreed to pay more than $900,000 plus administrative costs to settle lawsuits from almost 1,500 call-center workers who said the insurer failed to pay overtime, including for time spent booting up computers and logging into a GEICO network. Some $520,000 of that settlement will go to the plaintiffs’ attorneys in Nashville, Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama, according to the settlement agreement. That leaves an average of about $240 per plaintiff, although four named plaintiffs will see payments of about $5,000 each. Two others will receive $20,000 each in retaliation settlement payments. The fees and costs payable to plaintiffs’ counsel…