Latest USA Headlines

All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Supreme Court Deals Another Blow to Class Actions with Comcast Decision

Mar 27 2013 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of Comcast Corp. in an antitrust case over how much it charged cable TV subscribers, further curtailing the ability of people to pursue class action lawsuits. In a 5-4...

Insurance Covered Half of U.S. Disaster Costs in 2012: Swiss Re

Mar 27 2013 // Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters caused $186 billion in economic losses globally in 2012 and took approximately 14,000 lives, according to global insurer Swiss Re’s latest sigma study. The United States...

Obamacare to Hike Some, Lower Other Individual Health Premiums: Sebelius

Mar 27 2013 // President Barack Obama’s top healthcare adviser acknowledged on Tuesday that costs could rise in the individual health insurance market, particularly for men and younger people, because of the landmark 2010...

Protective Life in Lead for AXA US Insurance Assets – Sources

Mar 27 2013 // U.S. insurer Protective Life Insurance is the leading candidate to buy some of AXA SA’s U.S. life insurance assets in a deal that could be valued at around $1 billion, according to two people familiar with the...

Emerging Powers China, Brazil Move Closer to Non-Dollar Trade Pact

Mar 27 2013 // China and Brazil agreed on Tuesday to swap up to the equivalent of $30 billion in each other’s currencies if need be so that their fast-growing commercial ties will not suffer if a new banking crisis causes dollar...

Swiss Re Study for 2012 Losses: $77 Bn Insured; $186 Bn Economic

Mar 27 2013 // Swiss Re has released its latest sigma study, which found that economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters reached $186 billion in 2012. Insured losses amounted to $77 billion, making 2012 the third...

ACE Launches Borderless International Pollution Liability Coverage

Mar 26 2013 // ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group, has introduced a foreign casualty pollution liability coverage endorsement. This new endorsement provides a limited pollution coverage extension in conjunction...

Bankers to Be Held Personally Liable for Sanctions Violations: U.S. Treasury

Mar 26 2013 // The U.S. Treasury Department plans to hold bankers personally responsible and subject them to fines when their banks help countries such as Iran evade economic sanctions. The shift is in line with recently declared...

SEC Approves Nasdaq Deal for Facebook IPO But Lawsuits Could Follow

Mar 26 2013 // U.S. regulators approved Nasdaq OMX Group’s $62 million compensation plan for firms that lost money in Facebook Inc.’s glitch-ridden market debut, a victory for the exchange operator that also set the stage for...

Evacuation Saved Lives, Says Transocean Deepwater Horizon Safety Officer

Mar 26 2013 // The officer in charge of safety on Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, destroyed in a BP well accident that caused the worst-ever U.S. offshore oil spill, said the post-blowout fire was too big to fight and...

France Threatens to Delay Quick Start of EU-U.S. Trade Talks

Mar 26 2013 // France threatened on Monday to delay the swift start of EU-U.S. trade talks if its red lines on culture and farm produce are not respected. Brussels and Washington hope to start negotiations in June on a transatlantic...

AIG Introduces Risk Financing Option for U.S. Casualty Clients

Mar 25 2013 // American International Group, Inc. (AIG) has launched Collateral Flex Option (CFO), a new risk financing option for companies with large deductible casualty insurance programs in the U.S. CFO provides an alternative for...

Crowded U.S. Coastal Areas to Get Even More Crowded: NOAA

Mar 25 2013 // If current population trends continue, the already-crowded U.S. coast will see population grow from 123 million people to nearly 134 million people by 2020, putting more of the population at increased risk from extreme...

Washington Weighs First Abortion Insurance Mandate In US

Mar 25 2013 // In 1970, Washington became the first – and remains the only – state in the country to legalize elective abortions by a popular vote. A generation later, and 40 years removed from the landmark United States Supreme...

Ruling Against News Aggregator Could Affect Copyright ‘Fair Use’

Mar 25 2013 // A federal judge concluded that an Internet news clipping service essentially resold stories from The Associated Press, saying in a decision released last Thursday that the ability of news organizations to perform “an...

Record Crop Claims Fuel Debate Over Government Subsidies for Farmers

Mar 25 2013 // Farmers will be paid a record $16 billion in crop insurance claims for 2012 because of the widespread drought, a staggering amount that has critics calling for changes to what they say is an inefficient taxpayer subsidy...

Lobbyists Keep Battling As Obamacare Turns 3

Mar 25 2013 // Eight months before President Barack Obama’s health care law goes prime time, a confederation of industry and business groups is ramping up its lobbying apparatus for an 11th-hour assault on the web of new taxes and...

Business Moves – Southeast

Mar 25 2013 // Bankers Insurance, AIX Group Florida ankers Insurance Group has reached an agreement with AIX Group to acquire its Florida policies as part of a strategy to increase Bankers’ presence in the state’s Latino...

2012 Insurance M&A Snapshot

Mar 25 2013 // Here is a snapshot of the property/casualty insurance industry merger and acquisition activity reported byInsurance Journal in 2012. Major carrier transactions included Nationwide’s acquisition of Harleysville, The...

Top 10 Hot New Markets

Mar 25 2013 // Insurance Journal examined industries experiencing changes and expansions during the past year. Here are the top 10 market sectors that just might deliver hot opportunities for agents and brokers in the property/casualty...