India heads to the polls this month for a democratic exercise "unmatched in scale" historically or geographically. "From the Himalayas in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south, from the hills of the east to the deserts in the west … an estimated 969 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots," said Al Jazeera. That is more than 10% of the world's population, and more than the population of the EU, the U.S. and Russia combined. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, is running for a third term in office at the helm of the world's most populous country, and the fastest-growing economy, of more than 1.4 billion people. 

How long does the election last? 
It takes place in seven phases, starting on April 19 and ending on June 1, according to the Election Commission of India. The results are expected on June 4. The length of time needed is due to the "sheer size" of India and the "astonishing levels of logistics" needed to ensure every voter can cast a ballot, said The Associated Press. 

Electoral rules state there must be a booth within a mile of each voter, which means officials have to cross deserts and mountains to reach remote areas. In 2019, India's last election, one team of polling officers trekked 300 miles to reach a "single voter in a hamlet," said the AP. Another concern is security after "deadly clashes" between supporters of rival parties marred previous elections.

How does it work? 
This year, a "15-million-strong army" of polling officials and security forces will oversee the "gigantic" 44-day exercise at more than a million polling stations with the help of 5.5 million electronic voting machines, said Sky News. 

Each of the 28 states and eight federal territories will vote to fill the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha (lower house). To secure a majority and form a government in this first-past-the-post system, a party or coalition needs to win at least 272 seats. About 25% of those are reserved for members of two "disadvantaged communities," said Sky News. A total of 84 seats go to those from "scheduled castes," known as Dalits, and there are 47 seats for "scheduled tribes," or Adivasis.

The harbor cleanup following the recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, the total amount of insured losses could make it the largest maritime insurance loss ever, said analysts to Reuters. But this won't be the first time insurance companies have had to open their checkbooks. Here are some of the largest insurance payouts in U.S. history.  

Lehman Brothers: over $115B
No institution sums up the massive plunge of the 2008 economic crisis like Lehman Brothers, when the shuttered investment bank underwent what is believed to be the largest insurance payout in history. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and insurance began paying out thousands of customer claims. This continued for 14 years until 2022, when the Securities Investor Protection Corporation announced the "return of more than $115 billion to [Lehman Brothers] customers and creditors." Most of this went back to former Lehman customers.

9/11: $50B
The true fiscal cost of the 9/11 terrorist attacks may never be known, and for many, the emotional toll is impossible to quantify. However, insurers had to try and place a dollar value on each life lost. The average award for a death payout during 9/11 was $1.44 million, according to the Justice Department, while "personal injury awards ranged from $5 to $6.8 million." In all, "insurance losses stemming from the 9/11 attacks totaled about $50 billion," the Insurance Information Institute (III) said.

Hurricane Katrina: $41.1B
Nearly 20 years on, parts of the Gulf Coast are still feeling the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina, which decimated New Orleans and the surrounding region. Not only did Katrina result in "enormous destruction and significant loss of life," the National Weather Service said, but it also remains the "costliest hurricane to ever hit the United States." Five years after the hurricane, the III released a report concluding that Katrina had "generated the largest single loss in the history of insurance [at the time] — $41.1 billion and more than 1.7 million claims — across six states.