Latest USA Headlines

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

U.S. P/C Insurers Expected to Withstand Isaac: Fitch

Aug 29 2012 // Fitch Ratings anticipates losses related to Hurricane Isaac will be largely borne by primary insurers, but estimates remain uncertain as the storm has yet to make landfall. Isaac is expected to be less powerful than the...

Hurricane Isaac Soaks Gulf Coast, Tests Levees

Aug 29 2012 // Hurricane Isaac drove water over the top of a levee on the outskirts of New Orleans on Wednesday, but the multibillion-dollar barriers built to protect the city itself after the 2005 Katrina disaster were not breached,...

Hurricane Isaac Hits Fortified New Orleans on Katrina’s Anniversary

Aug 29 2012 // Hurricane Isaac lashed southern Louisiana with high winds and heavy rains on Wednesday and was set for a late-morning arrival in New Orleans, seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. Isaac is the...

Isaac Becomes a Hurricane As It Churns Toward New Orleans

Aug 28 2012 // Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened into a hurricane just off the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday as it churned toward landfall in the New Orleans area seven years after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Isaac’s...

10 U.S. Cities with Safest Drivers

Aug 28 2012 // This year’s top honor of “America’s Safest Driving City” is Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the average driver will experience an auto collision every 13.8 years, which is 27.6 percent less likely...

Near-Hurricane Strength Isaac Takes Aim at New Orleans

Aug 28 2012 // Tropical Storm Isaac was near hurricane force as it bore down on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday and was expected to make landfall in the New Orleans area seven years after it was devastated by Hurricane...

Arctic Sea Ice at Record Low; Expected to Keep on Melting

Aug 28 2012 // The world’s Arctic ice cap has shrunk to a new low, surpassing a record set only five years ago, and is expected to keep retreating for a few more weeks, according to U.S. data released on Monday. The Arctic sea ice...

How Apple Outsmarted Samsung in Patent Dispute

Aug 27 2012 // In August 2010, just a few months after Samsung Electronics launched its Galaxy smartphone, a team of Apple Inc. lawyers flew to South Korea. Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, had already told Samsung executives...

Update: Isaac Menaces Gulf States; Forces Evacuations, Closings; Serious Flooding Feared

Aug 27 2012 // Tropical Storm Isaac closed in on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast on Monday, triggering some mandatory evacuation orders and disrupting U.S. offshore oil production as it threatened to make landfall between Florida and...

Markel Executive Joins Aspen US Insurance in New York

Aug 24 2012 // Aspen US Insurance has appointed Richard Aldorisio as executive vice president of casualty insurance. He will be based in New York City. In his new role, Aldorisio will head the casualty insurance unit, which now includes...

Drought Worsens in Plains, Despite Cooler Temps

Aug 24 2012 // The nation’s most withering drought in decades only got worse in several key farming states last week, despite cooler temperatures that at least gave those living there a break from this summer’s stifling heat,...

Tropical Storm Isaac Threatens Haiti; Oil Rigs Shut; Southeast Prepares

Aug 24 2012 // Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened on Friday as it took aim at flood-prone Haiti, but it was not expected to become a hurricane until it barreled into the Gulf of Mexico early next week. On its current path, forecasters...

U.S. Salmonella Outbreak Tied to Indiana Farm Melons

Aug 23 2012 // U.S. health regulators said cantaloupe from Chamberlain Farms in Indiana may be one source of a multi-state outbreak of salmonella that has killed two people and sickened some 178 in the past month. The farm in Owensville...

USI to Acquire TD Bank’s U.S. Insurance Subsidiary

Aug 23 2012 // USI Insurance Services, a brokerage and financial service firm based in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., has agreed to acquire TD Insurance Inc., a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of TD Bank, N.A. The terms of the deal were not...

Fitch Notes Reinsurers More Risk-Focused For More Asian Catastrophes

Aug 23 2012 // Fitch Ratings has issued a statement which points out that the “spate of Asia-Pacific catastrophes in the past two years have prompted reinsurers to take stock of their existing portfolio and re-evaluate their...

U.S. Exports Seen at Risk as Russia Enters WTO

Aug 23 2012 // U.S. agricultural, aircraft and other exports to Russia could suffer unless Congress passes legislation soon recognizing the former Cold War enemy is now a fellow member of the World Trade Organization, trade experts and...

In Apple v. Samsung, Attention Turns to Alchemy of Damages

Aug 23 2012 // Between the hotshot designers and brainy engineers Apple Inc. questioned for three weeks in the company’s bitterly fought patent battle against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a marketing expert from MIT took...

Tropical Storm Isaac Strengthening; Floridians, Citrus Growers Begin to Worry

Aug 22 2012 // New York orange juice futures jumped more than 5 percent on Wednesday after U.S. forecasters warned Tropical Storm Isaac would strengthen into a hurricane and could hit the south coast of citrus-rich Florida by Monday. The...

Jury to Begin Deliberating Patent Disputes Between Apple, Samsung

Aug 22 2012 // Apple Inc.’s worldwide legal crusade against the Android mobile operating system drew toward a climax on Tuesday as the iPhone maker’s attorneys accused Samsung of taking a shortcut by copying Apple’s...

Historical U.S. Hurricanes: What If They Struck Today?

Aug 21 2012 // There have been 28 storms in U.S. history since 1900 which if they were happen today would each cause $10 billion or more in insured losses. Hurricane Andrew, which struck Florida 20 years ago this week, would be three...