Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Five natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region in the first three months of 2011 are likely to cost Zurich Financial Services Group $500 million, the company said in a statement Thursday 31 March.
The figure represents an amount net of reinsurance and before tax. They are estimates only, the company cautions: “The full loss assessment, and therefore the ultimate cost, will take time to complete due to the extreme nature of the losses and the limited access to the damaged areas particularly in Japan but also in New Zealand.”
The five events are: the Brisbane floods, the Victoria storms and cyclone Yasi in Australia in January and February, the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand in late February and the recent earthquake and Tsunami in Japan. The losses will be recorded in the first quarter results 2011,to be released 5 May 2011.
A man who endured 18 years of abuse at the hands of his partner and strangled her in a drunken rage in February has been sentenced to 14 years prison in Melbourne, Australia. Anthony Sherna was sentenced under a controversial Victoria law that accepts “defensive homicide” instead of murder in cases of “sustained domestic violence and abuse”, reports the Sydney Morning Herald 20 November.
The sentencing judge, Justice Beach, admitted that Sherna had lived through “significant episodes of unpleasantness” but that nothing justified taking his partner’s life, and that her death had caused her mother great distress.
During the 18 years with his partner, Sherna had to give up all family ties and friendhips. He was not allowed to use the toilet in the house they shared, he slept on a cot in the guest room, and his partner at one point openly resumed a relationship with a former boyfriend.
Australia’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, is calling it the worst natural disaster on record, with the Sydney Morning Herald reporting 108 people dead Sunday night Swiss time, including veteran TV news reader from Melbourne, Brian Naylor. Twenty-six fires are raging in Victoria and police suspect arsonists of starting several of them. In China, the government is allocating $12 billion for drought aid with the worst drought in decades affecting 4.4 million people and 10.7 million hectares, reports Xinhua.
