Munchener Ruck worries about insurance coverage of cities with millions of inhabitants

The scale of the tsunami disaster in South Asia has exceeded even the worst fears and pessimistic forecasts. This applies first and foremost to the countless human tragedies, but also to the material damage, the astronomical size of which poses unprecedented challenges for the affected countries and the global community. Insurance companies in many places also face these. According to the world’s largest reinsurer, Munchener Ruck, 2004 was the worst year on record "the most expensive natural catastrophe year in insurance history to date". Even before the Asian seaquake, insured losses topped $40 billion, with more than $35 billion caused by hurricanes and typhoons.

Satellite image of Tokyo. Image: Japan Aerospace EXploration Agency

There is still no memorial for the euthanasia victims of the Nazi era – a Berlin initiative wants to change that

For decades, the cellar vaults of the Heidelberg University Hospital held a special kind of art treasure: the so-called Prinzhorn Collection. It is named after the physician Hans Prinzhorn, who collected around 6,000 works of art from inmates in the Heidelberg hospital between 1919 and 1921. In the twenties, the collection caused a worldwide sensation. Famous artists such as Paul Klee, Picasso and Dali were inspired by the Prinzhorn collection in their work.

The Nazis exhibited some works of art from the collection in their notorious exhibition of degenerate art. There, they wanted to place the entire modernism under general suspicion. Of course, pictures of psychiatric patients were ideal for this purpose. A number of artists became victims of the euthanasia murders under the Nazis, while many more disappeared in the 1930s. During this period, the Heidelberg University Hospital, under the famous neurologist Carl Schneider, became the driving force behind euthanasia, the murder program of the so-called handicapped.

In 1801, the House of Representatives had to choose between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in a contingent election. Images: Public domain

What U.S. constitutional law provides in the event of an inconclusive election

Three days after the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump’s lawyers have filed complaints in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia. The courts had to hear these appeals by 8 a.m. at the latest. December have decided. That’s the day states must name the electors they will send to the electoral college, which will meet on 14. December is to elect the president.