Tropical storm Alex became the first hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season late yesterday and has halted about 25 percent of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and 9 percent of natural-gas output.

Asia's insurance business has been largely unaffected by the financial crisis compared to other parts of the world, according to a survey of chief information officers throughout the region.

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and Florida Citizens Property Insurance Corp. have more than $2 trillion in total exposures