Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Courts Upholds $28 Million Award in Grand Canyon Skywalk Case
Feb 13 2013 // A federal court dealt a blow to the business arm of a northern Arizona tribe that owns the Grand Canyon Skywalk by upholding a $28.5 million judgment in favor of a Las Vegas developer who invested the money to build the...
Goals of the U.S.-EU Free Trade Agreement; Re/Insurance Regs Reconsidered
Feb 13 2013 // Negotiations for a free-trade agreement between the United States and the European Union are set to begin within months, almost two decades after the idea was first floated between the world’s two largest...
Aspen Posts $2 Mn Q4 Net Income; FY $280.4 Mn; No Plans to Exit U.S. Property
Feb 13 2013 // Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited reported net income after tax of $2.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $12.4 million in Q4 2011. After tax net income for the full year was $280.4 million,...
International Chamber of Commerce Survey Finds Improved Economic Climate
Feb 13 2013 // The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Munich-based Ifo institute for economic research have released findings, which conclude that the “world economy is showing signs of brightening after...
Rules for Dodd-Frank Top Republican House Agenda
Feb 12 2013 // Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are gearing up to overhaul the housing finance system this year and will soon map out ways to monitor Wall Street reform rules, according to a draft agenda circulating on...
U.S. Chief Claims Officer Named for Navigators Management Co. in N.Y.
Feb 12 2013 // The Navigators Group Inc. recently appointed Christopher Finneran as U.S. chief claims officer of Navigators Management Company Inc., the Group’s principal underwriting agency subsidiary. Finneran will be responsible...
How Identity Theft Ruined Alabama Victim’s Finances, Career
Feb 12 2013 // Air National Guard Maj. Zane Purdy was making more than $100,000 a year working for a defense contracting company when his identity was stolen and sold to a tax fraud ring. Now, Purdy makes $7.25 an hour at a Krystal...
High Prices, Crop Insurance to Offset Drought Losses for Farmers in 2013: USDA
Feb 12 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...
Obama Expected to Issue Cyber Defense Order
Feb 12 2013 // President Barack Obama plans to release a long-awaited executive order aimed at improving the nation’s defenses against cyber attacks as early as Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter. The order,...
HMS Bounty’s Sinking During Sandy Under Investigation
Feb 11 2013 // More than a week before Hurricane Sandy became a superstorm that would zero in on the U.S. Northeast, while it was just a tropical depression bouncing around the Caribbean, a captain headed out to sea. The HMS Bounty...
Arbitrators Press Ecuador to Halt Chevron Judgment Enforcement
Feb 11 2013 // An international tribunal weighing in on Chevron Corp’s long-running legal dispute over pollution in Ecuador has found the country in violation of past orders to try to prevent enforcement of a contested $19 billion...
Half of 2012’s Global Economic Losses Due to U.S. Natural Disasters: Aon
Feb 11 2013 // While global economic losses were close to average in 2012, insured losses were 36 percent higher than the 10-year average ($72 billion versus $53 billion) because the two most costly events of the year occurred in the...
U.S. Commercial Insurance Prices to Firm in 2013: Marsh
Feb 11 2013 // Rates for commercial lines insurance will continue to rise in 2013, thanks to above average losses, low investment returns and receding reserve releases. However, according to a report by Marsh, traditional signs of a...
A Future Filled With Driverless Cars
Feb 11 2013 // Visions of robotic self-driving cars may appear like something from a George Lucas film but in June 2011, this vision took a giant leap toward becoming reality when Nevada became the first state to enact legislation that...
Arch to Acquire Interests in California Firm From Bankrupt PMI
Feb 8 2013 // Arch Capital Group Ltd., through its U.S.-based subsidiaries (Arch U.S. MI), will acquire all outstanding equity interests in San Francisco, Calif.-based CMG Mortgage Insurance Co. from bankrupt Arizona-based PMI Mortgage...
Ratings Recap: Auto Club (Michigan), Atlas Financial, Merced Mutual, ING US (Notes), PEMCO
Feb 8 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to ‘A-‘ (Excellent) from ‘A’ (Excellent) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) to “a-” from “a” of Auto Club...
U.S., States Weigh Suing Moody’s Over Mortgage Ratings
Feb 8 2013 // The U.S. Justice Department and multiple states are discussing also suing Moody’s Corp. for defrauding investors, according to people familiar with the matter, but any such move will likely wait until a similar...
Catholic Bishops Reject Obama Compromise on Contraception Coverage
Feb 8 2013 // U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on Thursday rejected the Obama Administration’s latest bid for compromise over a hotly disputed health policy that requires employees at religiously affiliated institutions to have access...
Court Says Trial Must Decide Travelers, Reinsurers Asbestos Case
Feb 8 2013 // New York state’s highest court on Thursday said a trial must determine whether Travelers Cos. deliberately structured a nearly $1 billion asbestos settlement to force its reinsurers to pay more than their fair...
Catlin Group’s $339 Million 2012 Profit Less than Forecast as Sandy Loss Widens
Feb 8 2013 // Bermuda-based insurer Catlin said its profit fell short of analysts’ forecasts because of a bigger than expected claims bill from Superstorm Sandy and the Costa Concordia shipwreck. Catlin, operator of the biggest...
