Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hurricane Matthew Smashed Haiti Villages; Death Count Near 900
Oct 9 2016 // Hurricane Matthew killed almost 900 people and displaced tens of thousands in Haiti before plowing northward on Saturday just off the southeast U.S. coast where it caused major flooding and widespread power outages. The...
Forecasters Lower Matthew Loss Estimates
Oct 9 2016 // On Friday, a catastrophe modeling firm slashed its estimate for insurance losses from Hurricane Matthew on Friday, as the storm skirted Florida but failed to make landfall. Kinetic Analysis had estimated the insured losses...
Catastrophe Bonds Fell Most in 4 Years on Hurricane Matthew Risk
Oct 9 2016 // Bonds tied to weather risks tumbled the most in four years as Hurricane Matthew lashed Florida. The Swiss Re Cat Bond Price Return Index dropped 1.7 percent last week, the steepest decline since Superstorm Sandy in 2012....
Florida Coast Clean Up After Matthew Underway
Oct 9 2016 // Joan Galasso walked through the empty wreck of the waterfront seafood restaurant she and her husband started a quarter-century ago and was horrified. Hurricane Matthew had ripped away the deck where tourists had gathered...
Southeast Turns to Recovery from Matthew; Reports of Deaths, Rescues, Power Outages
Oct 9 2016 // Residents of the southeastern United States ravaged by Hurricane Matthew turned their focus on Monday toward recovery and clean-up, but officials in several states warned that deadly flooding could continue as swollen...
Matthew Death Toll in Southeast Rises
Oct 9 2016 // More than 1.5 million people are still without power as Matthew on Sunday brought Hurricane-force wind gusts and flooding to the outer banks of North Carolina, where the storm left at least seven dead. Almost 423,000 homes...
Could Hurricane Matthew’s Insured Losses Surpass Sandy’s?
Oct 7 2016 // A hurricane threatening the first direct hit on the United States in more than a decade could cause insurance losses of $25-30 billion and be the second costliest U.S. hurricane on record for insurers, according to initial...
Hurricane Matthew Forces Millions to Evacuate Along Southeast Coast
Oct 7 2016 // Millions of people in the U.S. southeast were ordered to flee as Hurricane Matthew, set to become the strongest storm to hit the country since 2005, headed toward Florida’s East Coast after leaving hundreds dead in...
New Forecasting, Damage Assessment Tools Track Hurricane Matthew
Oct 7 2016 // As Hurricane Matthew rolled toward Florida earlier this week, the meteorologists at Verisk Analytics were tracking its every move. They weren’t just plotting the usual meteorological stuff, though, and making the...
Japan’s Cash-Flush Insurers to Keep Paying Hefty Prices for Overseas M&As
Oct 7 2016 // Japan’s cashed-up insurers are likely to keep paying hefty premiums for overseas assets as they seek to spur growth and overcome negative interest rates, fewer lucrative investment options and a fast-maturing market...
Mitsui Sumitomo Marine Management, Air Centurion to Cover Aviation & Aerospace Risks
Oct 7 2016 // Mitsui Sumitomo Marine Management, Inc. (MSMM) and MS Amlin plc, its sister company, have formed a new partnership with Air Centurion to write the U.S.-based aviation and aerospace accounts for Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance...
MetLife Decides to Spinoff U.S. Retail Division
Oct 6 2016 // MetLife Inc. has filed for a spinoff of a U.S. retail unit after considering alternate plans to sell the business or exit through an initial public offering. At least 80.1 percent of the shares in the unit, Brighthouse...
Hurricane Matthew Heads to Florida; Losses Could Reach $15 Billion
Oct 6 2016 // Hurricane Matthew has thousands fleeing the U.S. Southeast where it’s expected to batter the coastline and threaten electricity supplies to more than 1 million people in Florida. Potential losses are seen as high as...
Everest Taps Former Lexington Exec Curtin to Head E&S Property
Oct 6 2016 // Christopher Curtin has joined Everest Insurance as head of Excess & Surplus (E&S) Property. Curtin joins Everest as vice president and National E&S leader, based in the Everest Insurance Boston office. He will...
P/C Insurers Report $1.5B Net Underwriting Loss in First Half of 2016
Oct 5 2016 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers reported a $1.5 billion net underwriting loss in the first half of 2016— the first year-to-date net underwriting loss in more than three years— and saw their net income after...
Lawsuit over Police Tactics in Ferguson Protests Dismissed
Oct 5 2016 // A federal judge has tossed out a $40 million civil rights lawsuit that alleged police used excessive force against protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, after the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown. U.S. District...
Marsh Hires Maryland-Based Hewett to Construction Practice
Oct 5 2016 // Global insurance broker Marsh has hired David Hewett as a U.S. contract surety leader in its construction practice. In this newly created role, Hewett will work closely with Marsh’s surety practice to deliver...
Wells Fargo Account Scandal Included Small Businesses, Says Senator
Oct 5 2016 // The scandal over improper sales practices at Wells Fargo & Co extended to thousands of small-business owners, according to a U.S. lawmaker, raising questions about the scope the bank’s issues with unauthorized...
U.S. Sees Automakers Complying with Voluntary Guidelines for Autonomous Vehicles
Oct 5 2016 // U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told Reuters he expects automakers and tech companies will comply with voluntary guidelines his department issued last month for autonomous vehicles. The National Highway Traffic...
Hurricane Matthews Pounds Haiti, Cuba; 1 Death Reported
Oct 4 2016 // The fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade ripped into Haiti’s southwestern peninsula early on Tuesday, packing 145 mile-per-hour (230 kph) winds and storm surges that killed at least one person and damaged...