Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Arctic Nations Step up Cooperation on Safety, Oil Spills
May 13 2011 // Arctic nations agreed on Thursday to improve cooperation including on preventing oil spills as a thaw of ice and snow opens access to the remote region’s rich mineral and petroleum resources. The Arctic Council,...
Ratings Recap: Keystone, Forestry Mutual, Residential Re, National Unity, Dakota
May 12 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to ‘A+’ (Superior) from’ B++’ (Good) and the issuer credit ratings (ICRs) to “aa-” from “bbb” of Keystone...
Liability Lawsuits Against U.S. Rating Agencies Dismissed
May 11 2011 // The three major U.S. credit rating agencies won the dismissal of lawsuits seeking to hold them liable as “underwriters” for helping banks structure securities transactions to achieve desired ratings. The 2nd...
Alaska Workplace Fatalities Down 42.5%
May 11 2011 // Alaska has seen a significant decrease in workplace fatalities — down 42.5 percent from the previous decade — according to the epidemiology branch of the state Division of Public Health. According to the Division,...
Wal-Mart Facing Job Bias Suit from Fired Cuban Warehouse Workers
May 11 2011 // Former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. warehouse workers of Cuban origin may pursue a lawsuit accusing the world’s largest retailer of discrimination, and of firing them when they complained about their...
Bus, Taxi Drivers Targeted in Ongoing New York Crackdown
May 11 2011 // The latest and broadest sting in a crackdown on commercial drivers that has ensnared 173 of them since a deadly March tour bus crash has netted nearly four dozen more arrests of drivers of tour buses, New York City buses,...
AIG, U.S. Treasury to Sell Nearly $9 Billion in Stock
May 11 2011 // American International Group and the U.S. Treasury said Wednesday they will sell just under $9 billion in AIG stock, suggesting the government’s exit from its crisis-era investment will be more difficult than...
Chevron, Ecuadoreans Spar over Halted Damage Award
May 11 2011 // Lawyers for Ecuadorean villagers who sued Chevron Corp over pollution in the Amazon rain forest asked a U.S. appeals panel Tuesday to modify a court order that halted enforcement of an $8.6 billion award against the oil...
Federal Appeals Court Questions Virginia Challenge to Healthcare Law
May 10 2011 // A U.S. appeals court Tuesday sharply questioned whether the state of Virginia could challenge President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which requires Americans to buy insurance in a bid to slow healthcare...
U.S. Appeals Court Hears Arguments Over Healthcare Mandate Today
May 10 2011 // Lawyers for President Barack Obama go to court Tuesday to try to save the cornerstone of his healthcare overhaul, arguing that the requirement for Americans to buy insurance is constitutional. A three-judge panel of the...
Hiscox Issues Interim Management Statement; Sees Future Rate Hikes
May 10 2011 // Hiscox Ltd., which operates in the U.S., Bermuda and Europe, as well as the Lloyd’s and UK market, has issued its Interim Management Statement for the first three months of the year to 31 March 2011. Hiscox said its...
Arctic Nations Meet to Chart Future of World’s Final Frontier
May 10 2011 // Leaders of Arctic nations will gather in Greenland this week to chart future cooperation as global warming sets off a race for oil, mineral, fishing and shipping opportunities in the world’s fragile final...
Brit Insurance Launches Package Policy for U.S. Higher Education Sector
May 10 2011 // Brit Insurance, the international general insurance and reinsurance group, has launched a new package policy designed specifically for the needs of the U.S. higher education community. This product will be distributed...
Ratings Roundup: Aviva/Delta Lloyd, Montana Re (cat bonds), Montpelier Re (notes), Arab Orient
May 9 2011 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has commented that the ratings for the UK’s Aviva plc and its subsidiary companies remain unchanged as a result of Aviva’s announcement to sell a portion of its...
AIG Reports $1.5B Net Income Loss in Q1
May 6 2011 // American International Group posted a loss from continuing operations in the first quarter as it recorded a charge of more than $3 billion related to its recapitalization and termination of its credit facility from the...
‘Exceptional Drought’ Expands in Texas, Oklahoma
May 6 2011 // The severe drought ravaging Texas and other parts of the U.S. Southwest is getting worse, weather experts said Thursday, and little respite is in sight for farmers, ranchers and others whose livelihoods and properties are...
Insurers Fight Over Flood Policies Dropped by State Farm
May 6 2011 // Major U.S. insurers jostled on Capitol Hill this week over control of 800,000 former State Farm flood insurance policies as lawmakers tried to advance reform of the nation’s flood insurance system. The conflict began...
Systemic Firms Will Not Be ‘Too Big to Fail,’ Says FDIC’s Bair
May 6 2011 // Financial firms that the U.S. government deems as “systemic” will not be “too big to fail,” bank regulator Sheila Bair said Thursday. Bair, pushing back against critics who say the systemic...
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses Arkansas Poultry Company Appeal
May 5 2011 // The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by an Arkansas-based company that was ordered to pay $14.5 million to Oklahoma poultry farmers. The court declined without comment to hear the appeal by Fort Smith-based...
BP to Pay $85 Million to Settle Alaska Oil Spill Case
May 5 2011 // BP has agreed to pay a $25 million civil penalty, as well as spend $60 million on enhanced safety measures, to settle a federal probe of a pipeline oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006, the U.S. government...
