Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Premium Increases Under Obamacare Are Exaggerated, Rand Says
Aug 30 2013 // Predictions of sharp increases in health-insurance premiums for people getting coverage under the U.S. Affordable Care Act have been overstated and many states will see little to no change, researchers at Rand Corp....
G20 Urges U.S. to Centralize Insurance Regulation
Aug 29 2013 // The United States could improve how it spots and prevents risks in the financial system from turning into destabilizing crises, a global regulatory task force said on Tuesday. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) said the...
Court Reverses OK for BP to Access Transocean Insurance to Pay Oil Spill Costs
Aug 29 2013 // A U.S. appeals court withdrew its decision finding BP Plc had access to $750 million in Transocean Ltd.’s insurance to pay costs of the 2010 oil spill, to ask the Texas Supreme Court a question on coverage. The U.S....
Top New York Court to Decide Whether Towns Can Ban Fracking
Aug 29 2013 // New York’s highest court agreed to decide whether towns and cities have the power to pass anti-fracking laws. The Court of Appeals in Albany today said it will hear arguments in lawsuits seeking to block drilling...
Arkansas Homeowners Settle Suit Charging Fracking Wastewater Caused Quakes
Aug 29 2013 // Five Arkansas residents who sued two oil companies claiming wastewater disposal wells from fracking caused earthquakes that damaged their homes settled with the companies for an undisclosed sum on Aug. 28, according to...
Blackstone Settles IPO Disclosure Lawsuit for $85 Million
Aug 29 2013 // Blackstone Group LP reached an $85 million settlement with investors over claims it made misrepresentations about its initial public offering. A U.S. appeals court in 2011 reversed the dismissal of a proposed class-action...
TD Bank Profit Falls 10% on Weather Insurance Costs
Aug 29 2013 // Toronto-Dominion Bank’s quarterly profit fell 10 percent as Canada’s No. 2 lender took C$418 million in insurance-related charges, but the result topped estimates and the bank hiked its dividend by 5...
Cyber Alert: Syria, Aided by Iran, Could Retaliate Against More U.S. Companies
Aug 28 2013 // If the United States attacks Syria, it will be the first time it strikes a country that is capable of waging retaliatory cyberspace attacks on American targets. The risk is heightened by Syria’s alliance with Iran,...
Merrill Lynch Reaches $160 Million Settlement in Black Advisers’ Bias Suit
Aug 28 2013 // Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit agreed to pay $160 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by black financial advisers, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said. The case, filed in 2005, was brought on...
Wal-Mart Will Offer Health Insurance to U.S. Employees’ Domestic Partners
Aug 28 2013 // Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Tuesday it will offer health insurance benefits to domestic partners of its U.S. employees starting next year, following the lead of other major companies. The world’s largest retailer,...
Homeland Security Chief Says U.S. Should Expect ‘Major’ Cyber-Attack in Future
Aug 27 2013 // The U.S. will face a cyber-attack in the future that will cause major disruption in the economy, the outgoing Homeland Security Department chief said. “Our country will, at some point, face a major cyber-event that...
Arkansas Lawsuits Test Fracking Wastewater Link to Quakes
Aug 27 2013 // Tony Davis, a 54-year-old construction worker in central Arkansas, said he welcomed the boom in natural gas drilling that brought jobs and new businesses to his hometown starting about a decade ago. But that was before the...
Cities, States with Best Drivers: Allstate
Aug 27 2013 // Drivers in Washington, D.C. are the most accident-prone of any U.S. city, again placing at the bottom of an annual ranking by Allstate Corp. Motorists in the nation’s capital get in a collision every 4.8 years, more...
AIG to Get $905 Million From Brookfield to End Rate-Swap Dispute
Aug 26 2013 // American International Group Inc., the insurer that repaid a U.S. rescue last year, agreed to accept $905 million from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. to resolve a dispute tied to interest-rate swaps. Brookfield,...
G20 Leaders Expected to Back Easy Rules on Shadow Banking
Aug 26 2013 // World leaders are expected to take a softly-softly approach to regulating the so-called shadow banking sector when they meet in Russia next month to avoid damaging the flow of finance to the global economy. While...
Questionable Software Patents Main Reason for Rise in Lawsuits: GAO
Aug 23 2013 // Software patents are the biggest reason behind a rise in litigation over inventions, especially against companies that use the technology, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found. Its study, required under a law...
Canada Weighs Mandating Minimum Insurance for Railways
Aug 23 2013 // Canada should force railways to take out enough insurance to ensure they can cover damage caused by major incidents, the Canadian Senate said on Thursday in a report issued after last month’s train disaster in...
ACE Expands Coverage for Educators, Students Traveling Abroad
Aug 22 2013 // The ACE Group has expanded its International Advantage insurance product to offer enhanced coverages for higher education clients whose employees, students and volunteers travel internationally. According to The National...
Drivers Over Age 55 Far More Likely to Die in Job Accidents Than Younger
Aug 22 2013 // Employees age 55 or older who drive as part of their jobs are more likely to be killed in accidents than younger colleagues because of declining cognition and greater susceptibility to injury, according to a U.S....
Wildfires Across The West Push Spending Past $1B
Aug 22 2013 // More than 40 uncontained, active and large wildfires dot the western U.S. from Arizona to Washington state and Alaska, taxing national firefighting resources and helping to push spending past $1 billion for the year. The...
