While buying an overseas insurance policy at the click of a mouse, please check your proposal documents before you buy, as more travelers are discovering that when it comes to claims, insurance companies deny claims on grounds of pre-existing ailments. Ombudsman offices are flooded with complaints from policy holders that claims are getting repudiated. For example, the Chennai office of insurance ombudsman has seen...

South Korea: Real GDP rose by +1.1% q/q in Q1 2018 (after -0.2% q/q in Q4 2017) supported by a recovery of exports (+4.4% q/q, after -5.3% in Q4) and a rise in investment (+3% q/q, up from -1.2% in Q4). In contrast, private consumption growth decelerated to +0.6% q/q in Q1 (from +1% in Q4). Going forward, advanced indicators...

FRANCE:  Business confidence faltered in April, particularly in the manufacturing sector where it landed at 109 points after skyrocketing to 114 in January (the best level since 2001). The capacity utilization rate landed as well, at 85.3% in April, down from 85.8% in January. Overall, the main explanation was lagging demand as consumption did not follow output acceleration in H2...

VESSEL DESTINATION - EUROPE “ALBANY” -  IMO:8721404 – Flag: Panama – Type: General Cargo Ship On April 21, the "Albany", en route from Nemrut Bay to Azov suffered a technical failure, during its passage of the Istanbul Strait and dropped anchor at Karanlik Liman. The passage permission was temporarily cancelled by the strait authority until completition of permanent repairs. On April...

“SOPHIE DEYMANN” - Callsign:PA2412 – Flag: Netherlands – Type: General Cargo Ship On April 9, the "Sophie Deymann", which was berthed at the quay of the Frankenbach container terminal at river km 501 in Mainz was hit by another barge which was sailing Rhine upstream and suddenly veered off course and slammed into its side. The container barge was hit...