Latest USA Headlines

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

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...

West Virginia Widows Press Case for Mine Inspectors’ Liability

Aug 21 2012 // The widows of two West Virginia coal miners killed in a 2006 fire want the state Supreme Court to rule that private and federal mine safety inspectors can be held legally liable when workers die as a result of their...

Iowa Brokerage Founder Pleads Not Guilty to Fraud

Aug 20 2012 // The founder of an Iowa-based brokerage pleaded not guilty on Aug. 17 to fraud charges in a suspected $200 million embezzlement scheme that drove his firm to bankruptcy and left thousands of customers without their...

Aetna to Buy Rival Coventry Health for $5.6 Billion

Aug 20 2012 // Health insurer Aetna Inc. said on Monday that it would buy rival Coventry Health Care Inc. for $5.6 billion to increase its share of the fast-growing, U.S. government-backed Medicare and Medicaid programs. The purchase,...

Republican VP Pick Ryan Aims to Change Tax Break for Health Insurance Benefits

Aug 17 2012 // Mitt Romney wants to change the U.S. tax code’s treatment of healthcare costs, but his vice presidential pick is one step ahead: Paul Ryan has proposed a plan to scrap a generations-old tax break enjoyed by millions...

Climate Change Poses Risks to Food Supplies Beyond U.S. Drought

Aug 17 2012 // Downpours and heat waves caused by climate change could disrupt food supplies from the fields to the supermarkets, raising the risk of more price spikes such as this year’s leap triggered by drought in the United...

Wildfires: Sage Grouse Habitat Loss Could Impact Nevada Insureds

Aug 16 2012 // If you’re a business in Nevada, it may not be immediately clear why you should be concered with the state’s nearly dozen wildfires that are consuming almost 600,000 acres and destroying sage grouse habitat. But...

US Teen’s Family Sues Tourist, Aloha Jet Ski

Aug 16 2012 // The family of a 16-year-old California girl killed in a Hawaii watercraft crash is suing an Australian tourist charged with third-degree negligent homicide. The lawsuit filed Monday in Circuit Court in Honolulu by Kristen...