Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
High Prices, Crop Insurance to Offset Drought Losses for Farmers in 2013: USDA
Feb 25 2013 // The seven-year-old U.S. agricultural boom, driven by record-high commodity prices and painfully tight supplies, is expected to peak this year and then come to an abrupt end as high costs start to bite, the government...
U.S., Gulf States Considering $16 Billion BP Oil Spill Deal: WSJ
Feb 24 2013 // The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states are considering offering BP Plc a deal under which it pays $16 billion to settle civil suits stemming from the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, the Wall...
Insurance Australia Group Posts US$ 840 Million Half Year Insurance Profit
Feb 22 2013 // Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) announced an insurance profit of A$815 million [US$840 million] for the half-year ended 31 December 2012, compared to A$276 million [US$284.6 million], for the first half of 2012....
AIG Q4 Operating Results Beat Expectations
Feb 21 2013 // Insurer American International Group Inc. reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations, although Chief Executive Robert Benmosche said some employee bonuses will be smaller this year because the...
Barring Last Minute Deal, Gulf Oil Spill Trial to Get Underway Monday
Feb 21 2013 // Nearly three years after a deepwater well rupture killed 11 men, sank a rig and spewed 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP and the other companies involved are scheduled to face their judge in court. The...
Despite Uncertainty, Momentum Building for M&As in 2013: PwC
Feb 21 2013 // While 2012 was a flat year for financial services mergers and acquisitions (M&A) overall, there was a surge in the fourth quarter and there is reason to think activity will pick up in 2013, according to a new...
Penn. Court: ‘Single Occurrence’ Applies for Drywall Claims Arising From One Shipment
Feb 21 2013 // The U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania ruled last week that multiple claims that arose from allegedly defective drywall that the insured entity imported in one single shipment from China should be considered a...
World Trade Center Developer Challenges Airline’s ‘Act of War’ Defense for 9/11 Attacks
Feb 20 2013 // The leaseholder of the World Trade Center properties is asking a U.S. federal judge to reject arguments that American Airlines is not liable for damages stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackings because the attacks were...
Carnival Cruise Ship Fire Started by Fuel Leak: Coast Guard
Feb 20 2013 // The fire on board the Carnival Corp. cruise ship that drifted for days in the Gulf of Mexico awash in raw sewage started from fuel from a leaking diesel engine line that ignited, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday. More...
Rain and Snow Help Ease Plains/Midwest Drought
Feb 20 2013 // Crop-friendly rain and snow is blanketing much of the drought-stricken U.S. Plains hard red winter wheat region and the dry western Midwest, an agricultural meteorologist said on Wednesday. “Widespread coverage of...
US Security Group Suspects Chinese Military Unit behind Hacking Attacks
Feb 19 2013 // A secretive Chinese military unit is believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks, a U.S. computer security company said, prompting a strong denial by China and accusations that it was in fact the victim of U.S....
Catholic Bishops Urge Birth Control Reprieve in Fiscal Bills
Feb 18 2013 // U.S. Roman Catholic bishops stepped up their battle against President Obama’s contraceptives policy on Friday by urging Congress to use its fiscal debate to free religious employers from a mandate requiring insurance...
Travel Industry Unfazed by Latest Carnival Cruise Ship Saga
Feb 18 2013 // Global cruise giant Carnival Corp. found itself in deep doo-doo this week, due to alarming reports about an engine room fire that left one of its jam-packed U.S. passenger ships adrift and awash in raw sewage in the Gulf...
Upstate New York Woman Sentenced for Crash Fraud Scheme
Feb 15 2013 // Authorities announced this week that a Utica, N.Y., woman has been sentenced for her role in an insurance and health care fraud scheme. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York said Cynthia...
Judge Accepts Transocean Settlement in Gulf Oil Spill
Feb 15 2013 // A federal judge on Thursday accepted a guilty plea by rig contractor Transocean Ltd. for violating the U.S. Clean Water Act along with a $400 million criminal fine for its role in the 2010 disaster at BP Plc’s...
G20 Wrangles over Currencies, Borrowing, Deficits at Moscow Talks
Feb 15 2013 // The Group of 20 major economies struggled on Friday to find common ground on currencies and borrowing, exposing rifts between advocates of a dash for growth and supporters of more austerity to revive the world economy. A...
Former Wisconsin Insurance Executive Sentenced to 5 Years for Fraud
Feb 15 2013 // A former Wausau, Wis., insurance agency executive has been sentenced to five years in prison for a fraud scheme. Former J.N. Manson Agency Inc. (Manson) CEO Timothy Mathwich had been indicted by a grand jury in June 2012...
Toyota Finalizes $29 Million Multi-State Settlement Over Acceleration
Feb 14 2013 // Toyota Motor Corp. will pay $29 million as part of a multi-state settlement agreement finalized on Thursday over the Japanese automaker’s failure to quickly notify drivers of defects that wound up triggering the...
U.S. Wants Gaylord’s Tennessee Flood Suit Against Army Corps Dismissed
Feb 14 2013 // A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Gaylord Entertainment Co. seeking money for property damage to its luxury hotel and convention center, the Grand Ole Opry and...
National Hurricane Center Report: Sandy Was 2nd-Costliest Hurricane in U.S.
Feb 14 2013 // Superstorm Sandy was the deadliest hurricane in the northeastern U.S. in 40 years and the second-costliest in the nation’s history, according to a report released Tuesday, Feb. 12.Sandy damage in Ortley Beach, N.J....
