THE challenge to feed an extra two billion people on planet earth by 2050 inspired a provocative title for a lecture and debate at the Euroscience Open Forum held in Dublin last week — “Will we starve or will we burn”.

A battle for customers is looming in the private health insurance market following the arrival of a fourth insurance provider.

Health insurer GloHealth will create 150 jobs within three to four years as the business expands, with 45 of these positions already filled, the company said today.

Natural disasters such as Japan’s earthquake and floods in Australia and Thailand cost the global economy a record $370bn (€281bn) in 2011, with losses for the insurance industry the second largest ever, Swiss Re said yesterday.

THE impact of a Greek debt restructuring on non-Greek European banks would be “milder” now than a year ago thanks to European Central Bank loans, according to Goldman Sachs’ analysts.

THE Haiti earthquake and floods in Pakistan and China helped make 2010 an exceptional year for natural disasters, killing 295,000 and costing €97.2 billion, the world’s top reinsurer said yesterday.

Troubled insurer American International Group is understood to be planning to sell some of its UK operations in a bid to repay its debt to the US Government, it was reported today.

Royal Bank of Scotland is this week expected to raise £950m (€1.2bn) through the sale of its stake in Tesco Personal Finance to the supermarket giant.

The FTSE 100 Index slipped into the red today after a raft of insurance firms endured a difficult session.

MUNICH RE, the second largest reinsurance company in the world, has acquired Dublin-based financial software firm Allfinanz for €48 million.

The Swiss owner of the iconic Gherkin tower in London today said it would axe up to 2,000 jobs by the end of next year.

IRELAND’S pension fund is backing a UN initiative to promote investments that reflect environmental, social and corporate-governance concerns.

ACCORDING to officials production of petrol in the US has fallen to a tenth of its usual rate following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, prompting the price of crude oil to soar on the international market as the US government prepares to dip into its strategic reserves (normally only used in times of war) to ease the crisis.

British insurers and holiday firms were today counting the cost of the tsunami that brought death and devastation to Asia.

The confirmed deaths in a mammoth Asian quake and tsunami soared above 60,000 today as worst-hit Indonesia readied bulldozers to dig mass graves for corpses in a rush to ward off disease, which the UN health agency said could double the toll.

THE sea and wreckage of coastal towns around the Indian Ocean yielded up tens of thousands of bodies yesterday pushing the toll from Sunday's tsunami above 60,000.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is suing Marsh & McLennan, the world’s number one insurance broker, for steering unsuspecting clients to certain insurers in exchange for lucrative payoffs.

Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, lost £293m (€433m) last year because of the stock market’s prolonged weakness – its first annual net loss in 97 years.

Dolmen Butler Briscoe has acquired the stock-broking business of its smaller competitor BCP. The re-named company, Dolmen Stockbrokers, will expand to a staff of around 70 people in three offices in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.

DOLMEN Butler Briscoe has bought the broking arm of BCP Stockbrokers in another example of consolidation in the industry.

Europe’s stock rally may stall next week over concerns about insurers’ cash holdings, while investors remain on high alert as war in Iraq progresses.

Europe’s stock rally may stall next week over concerns about insurers’ cash holdings, while investors remain on high alert as war in Iraq progresses.

Share price were higher midday, in line with the strong late showing on Wall Street on Friday, with Munich Re supported by a broker upgrade, while Bayer was lifted by reports that GlaxoSmithKline is eyeing its pharma division, dealers said.

More than 25,000 people died in major natural disasters in 2001, according to figures released today by the world’s largest reinsurance firm.