The Hartford mentioned it’s selling Prateek Chhabra to chief danger officer, succeeding Robert Paiano who will retire from the corporate on the finish of the yr.

Chhabra, who since 2018 has held the position of senior vice chairman and chief insurance coverage danger officer, will begin as CRO on September 1. He’ll report back to CEO Christopher Swift.

Swift mentioned Chhabra “has superior our danger administration capabilities, pushed innovation and carried out strategic enhancements throughout our enterprise making him ideally fitted to the position of chief danger officer.”

Earlier than becoming a member of The Hartford, Chhabra was CRO for home companies at The Hanover Insurance coverage Group.

Paiano will assume an advisory position to assist with the transition, The Hartford mentioned. He spent 29 years with the insurer. Previous to his position as CRO, Paiano was The Hartford’s treasurer.

The set up of cockpit cameras would significantly assist aviation security authorities investigating accidents just like the current deadly Air India crash, in line with the top of the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation.

“On a private foundation, I can see that there’s a robust argument now for the inclusion of video,” Director Basic Willie Walsh mentioned in Singapore on Wednesday. “Primarily based on what little we all know now, it’s fairly potential {that a} video recording, along with the voice recording, would considerably help the investigators.”

The thought of cockpit cameras has been fiercely debated for decades, however has been thrust into the highlight as soon as once more within the wake of final month’s Air India crash in Ahmedabad. A preliminary report into the accident that killed 260 individuals on board the Boeing Co. 787 plane and on the bottom revealed that the fuel-supply switches had been switched off — dooming the jet virtually instantly after takeoff.

Authorities have to date solely launched a brief transcript that reveals one pilot asking his colleague why he turned off the gasoline provide, to which the second pilot answered he had not.

It isn’t clear if this was the extent of the cockpit dialog, and authorities didn’t establish which pilot mentioned what, leaving the important thing query of how the switches had been moved to a cut-off place unanswered. Nonetheless, Walsh mentioned the preliminary report was extra complete than anticipated.

Learn Extra: Air India Crash Points to Cockpit Confusion as Fuel Flow Cut Out

Walsh, in Singapore for occasions together with a summit on aviation security, reiterated his optimistic outlook for the trade, which has weathered disruptions from conflicts to escalating geopolitical tensions. Whereas some carriers have scaled again their Asian operations, solely journey between the US and Canada has been considerably impacted by the Trump administration’s tariffs, in line with Walsh.

IATA initiatives 5.8% progress in air journey demand this 12 months. Over the longer-term, Walsh cautioned that vacationers must pay greater fares as a result of rising price of assembly local weather objectives.

The price of complying with the Carbon Offsetting and Discount Scheme for Worldwide Aviation will hit $1 billion this 12 months and balloon to about $15 billion over the subsequent decade, Walsh mentioned.

He pointed to Singapore’s plan so as to add a levy to ticket costs subsequent 12 months to buy cleaner gasoline as a great mannequin for exciting demand for sustainable aviation gasoline. Different areas, like Europe, might battle to fulfill their SAF objectives as manufacturing stays scarce, Walsh mentioned.

Singapore’s Changi Airport, which generally ranks as one of many world’s hottest and not too long ago broke floor on an unlimited new terminal, can be an trade chief in sectors like automation, in line with Walsh.

“In comparison with what I see in Europe, it’s like evening and day,” mentioned Walsh, who was beforehand the chief govt officer of British Airways. “Aviation is really valued on this area.”

{Photograph}: The crash web site of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad, India, on June 13, 2025; picture credit score: Siddharaj Solanki/Bloomberg

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

The College of Michigan is beneath federal scrutiny after two Chinese scientists linked to the college have been individually charged with smuggling organic supplies into america.

The Schooling Division on Tuesday opened an investigation into the college’s international funding, citing the pair of cases that have been introduced days aside in June. It mentioned the “extremely disturbing prison prices” increase issues about Michigan’s vulnerability to nationwide safety threats from China.

“Regardless of the College of Michigan’s historical past of downplaying its vulnerabilities to malign international affect, current studies reveal that UM’s analysis laboratories stay susceptible to sabotage,” mentioned Paul Moore, chief investigative counsel of the division.

President Donald Trump has made it a precedence to increase transparency round international presents and contracts to U.S. universities, particularly these tied to China. Comparable investigations have been opened at Harvard College, the College of Pennsylvania and the College of California, Berkeley.

It joins efforts from Republicans in Congress who’ve urged universities to cut research ties with China, saying China exploits the relationships to steal expertise. Michigan ended a partnership with a college in Shanghai in January amid strain from Home Republicans who referred to as it a safety threat.

The brand new investigation calls for monetary data from Michigan, together with details about analysis collaborations with establishments outdoors the U.S. The Schooling Division accuses Michigan of being “incomplete, inaccurate and premature” in its public disclosures round funding from international sources.

Federal authorities introduced prices in June towards a Chinese language scientist and his girlfriend — who labored at a lab on the College of Michigan — after the FBI mentioned it halted their effort to convey a poisonous fungus into america.

Days later, authorities arrested a Chinese language scientist who was arriving within the U.S. and has been accused of transport organic materials to a laboratory on the College of Michigan.

Noxious fungus causes “head blight,” a illness of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is answerable for billions of {dollars} in financial losses worldwide every year, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, Japanese District of Michigan said in a statement. Fusarium graminearum’s toxins may cause vomiting, liver harm, and reproductive defects in people and livestock.

In June, the college mentioned it condemned any actions that undermine nationwide safety and introduced a assessment of protocols associated to analysis safety.

In a letter to the college, nonetheless, the Schooling Division mentioned some faculty officers have downplayed the vulnerability of analysis collaborations with Chinese language establishments. It singles out Ann Chih Lin, director of the college’s Heart for Chinese language Research, who has publicly mentioned the specter of expertise theft from China is overstated.

“Lin’s obvious indifference to the nationwide safety issues of the most important single supply of funding for UM’s annual analysis expenditures — the American taxpayer — is especially unsettling,” Schooling Division officers wrote.

Federal regulation requires universities to report all presents and contracts from international sources totaling $250,000 or extra. The regulation went largely unenforced till Trump’s first time period, when the Schooling Division opened a dozen inquiries into universities accused of underreporting international cash. The Biden administration closed most of these circumstances, however the effort has lately been renewed.

Many U.S. universities acknowledge a necessity to enhance analysis safety however warning towards treating Chinese language students with hostility and suspicion, saying solely small numbers have been concerned in espionage.

Final 12 months, Home Republicans issued a report discovering that lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in federal funding had gone towards analysis that finally boosted Chinese language developments in synthetic intelligence, semiconductor expertise and nuclear weapons.

China is the second-largest nation of origin for international college students within the U.S., behind solely India. Within the 2023-24 tutorial 12 months, greater than 270,000 worldwide college students have been from China, making up roughly 1 / 4 of all international college students in america.

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