Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Sebelius Resigning as Obama Health Chief
Apr 10 2014 // U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is resigning after overseeing the botched rollout of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reforms, a White House official said on Thursday. Her...
Forecasters See Quiet Atlantic Hurricane Season
Apr 10 2014 // Rising heat in the equatorial Pacific Ocean portends the quietest Atlantic hurricane season in five years, Colorado State University researchers said. Nine named storms, with winds of at least 39 miles (63 kilometers) per...
Axa Eyes Sale of U.S. Reinsurer
Apr 10 2014 // Axa SA is exploring the sale of a U.S. subsidiary that shoulders risks tied to variable annuities, as Europe’s second-largest insurer narrows its focus in North America, according to people familiar with the...
Auto Recalls On Rise Following Toyota-GM Cases
Apr 10 2014 // Recall first, ask questions later. After Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. — two of the largest carmakers — were criticized for dragging their feet before calling back defective models in recent years,...
Allstate, Merrill Lynch End $167 Million Mortgage Suit
Apr 9 2014 // Allstate Corp. and Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit agreed to end a lawsuit by the insurer over $167 million in mortgage-backed securities as the second-largest U.S. lender continues to resolve litigation...
Allstate, Bank of America Agree to End Lawsuit Over Mortgages
Apr 8 2014 // Allstate Corp. and Bank of America Corp.’s Countrywide unit have agreed to dismiss a lawsuit stemming from $700 million of toxic mortgage debt, according to a court filing on Tuesday. The parties “have agreed...
U.S. Warns Businesses on Major Web Technology Bug ‘Heartbleed’
Apr 8 2014 // A newly discovered bug in widely used Web encryption technology has made data on many of the world’s major websites vulnerable to theft by hackers in what experts say is one of the most serious security flaws...
IMF Sees Global Growth Gaining Along with Rising Risks in Emerging Economies
Apr 8 2014 // The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday predicted the global recovery would strengthen this year as output in richer nations picked up, but it warned of rising risks in emerging economies. In its latest global economic...
Court Says FTC Can Sue Hotel Chain Over Data Breaches
Apr 8 2014 // A U.S. court ruled on Monday that the Federal Trade Commission can proceed with a lawsuit against hotel group Wyndham Worldwide Corp. for allegedly failing to safeguard consumers’ personal information. Wyndham had...
Jury Hits Drugmakers with $9 Billion in Punitive Damages
Apr 8 2014 // Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd said it would contest $6 billion in punitive damages imposed by a U.S. federal jury in a case alleging that Japan’s largest drugmaker had concealed cancer risks associated with its Actos...
SNL’s Top 30 E&S Writers: Berkshire On Fire with 40% Growth in 2013
Apr 7 2014 // With 40 percent premium growth in 2013, Berkshire Hathaway climbed five spots in the U.S. excess and surplus lines (E&S) ranking by SNL Financial, while QBE scaled back its North American operations and fell three...
Washington LNG Blast Spotlights Natural Gas Safety
Apr 7 2014 // An unexplained blast this week at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in rural Washington state, which injured workers, forced an evacuation and raised alarm about a potentially large second explosion, could focus...
New York DFS Becoming ‘National Player’ Among Insurance, Banking Regulators
Apr 7 2014 // On a June morning in 2012, New York bank examiners paid surprise visits to the offices of Ocwen Financial Corp., the biggest non-bank mortgage servicer. That break with tradition — examiners typically set up...
Credit Bureau Experian Facing Litigation, State Probes Over Data Breach
Apr 7 2014 // Experian Plc is enmeshed in litigation over its 2012 purchase of the assets of data firm Court Ventures, which is at the center of a breach that exposed some 200 million American Social Security numbers to...
Malaysian Plane Tragedy Increases Pressure for Plane Tracking after MH370
Apr 6 2014 // Four weeks into the hunt for MH370, pressure is building for better ways of tracking aircraft as regulators wrestle with the Malaysian jet’s disappearance armed with only minimal information on the fate of its 227...
All Target Data Breach Cases to Be Heard in Minnesota
Apr 4 2014 // The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that the many lawsuits that accuse Target Corp. of failing to protect customers from a data breach will be consolidated in the retailer’s home state...
GM Submits Ignition Recall Documents to Safety Agency
Apr 4 2014 // General Motors Co. said it has submitted most of the answers that U.S. safety regulators sought from the automaker about a defective ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths. In response to the National Highway Traffic...
Allied World U.S. Launches Coverage for Liability, Expenses of Privacy Breach
Apr 3 2014 // Allied World U.S. has launched Privacy//403 SRVS, a Specified Response Vendor Solution (SRVS) policy to provide coverage for liability and expenses associated with the compromise of sensitive information and information...
U.S. Approves JPMorgan Release of Funds to Sanctioned Russian Insurer
Apr 3 2014 // JPMorgan Chase & Co. is unfreezing a money transfer from a Russian embassy in Central Asia to an insurer linked to U.S.-sanctioned bank after getting a go-ahead from regulators. “Following consultation with our...
Fitch Sees Growth, Profitability Continuing for U.S. Commercial Lines
Apr 3 2014 // Fitch Ratings said it maintains a stable rating outlook for the U.S. commercial lines sector due to improving profitability over the past two years and strong capital levels allowing insurers to withstand considerable...
