Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Australia’s QBE Profits Reduced by Higher Claims; Cuts Dividend
Feb 26 2013 // QBE Insurance, Australia’s biggest insurer, posted a lower-than-expected 8 percent rise in full-year net profit due to high claims for accidents and adverse U.S. weather, prompting it to slash its dividend and...
Long-Awaited BP Oil Spill Trial Begins; No Deal Yet
Feb 25 2013 // BP executives more focused on cost-cutting and oil production than safety should be held responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a lawyer...
Commentary: The Near Impossible Battle against Hackers Everywhere
Feb 25 2013 // Dire warnings from Washington about a “cyber Pearl Harbor” envision a single surprise strike from a formidable enemy that could destroy power plants nationwide, disable the financial system or cripple the U.S....
Report: Sandy Was 2nd-Costliest Storm in U.S.
Feb 25 2013 // Superstorm Sandy was the deadliest hurricane in the northeastern U.S. in 40 years and the second-costliest in the nation’s history, according to a report released Feb. 12. The storm’s effects reached far and...
Business Moves – West
Feb 25 2013 // Shea, Leavitt Shea Insurance in Las Vegas, Nev. has been acquired by the Leavitt Group. Terms of the deal were not made available. With the acquisition Scott Villamor, who owned Shea Insurance, joins Leavitt Group’s...
California Commissioner Fingers Insurers for Iran Investments
Feb 25 2013 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones in mid-February singled out eight insurers licensed to do business in the state that continue to have investments tied to Iran’s energy, military and nuclear...
Former Wisconsin Insurance Executive Sentenced to 5 Years for Fraud
Feb 25 2013 // A former Wausau, Wis., insurance agency executive has been sentenced to five years in prison for a fraud scheme, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin said...
Ohio Personal Lines Premiums Among the Lowest in U.S.
Feb 25 2013 // Lieutenant Governor and Department of Insurance Director Mary Taylor announced that Ohio’s average auto and homeowners insurance premiums are again among the lowest in the nation. According to 2010 data, the most...
High Prices, Crop Insurance to Offset Drought Losses for Farmers in 2013: USDA
Feb 25 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...
U.S., Gulf States Considering $16 Billion BP Oil Spill Deal: WSJ
Feb 24 2013 // The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states are considering offering BP Plc a deal under which it pays $16 billion to settle civil suits stemming from the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, the Wall...
Insurance Australia Group Posts US$ 840 Million Half Year Insurance Profit
Feb 22 2013 // Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) announced an insurance profit of A$815 million [US$840 million] for the half-year ended 31 December 2012, compared to A$276 million [US$284.6 million], for the first half of 2012....
AIG Q4 Operating Results Beat Expectations
Feb 21 2013 // Insurer American International Group Inc. reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations, although Chief Executive Robert Benmosche said some employee bonuses will be smaller this year because the...
Barring Last Minute Deal, Gulf Oil Spill Trial to Get Underway Monday
Feb 21 2013 // Nearly three years after a deepwater well rupture killed 11 men, sank a rig and spewed 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP and the other companies involved are scheduled to face their judge in court. The...
Despite Uncertainty, Momentum Building for M&As in 2013: PwC
Feb 21 2013 // While 2012 was a flat year for financial services mergers and acquisitions (M&A) overall, there was a surge in the fourth quarter and there is reason to think activity will pick up in 2013, according to a new...
Penn. Court: ‘Single Occurrence’ Applies for Drywall Claims Arising From One Shipment
Feb 21 2013 // The U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania ruled last week that multiple claims that arose from allegedly defective drywall that the insured entity imported in one single shipment from China should be considered a...
World Trade Center Developer Challenges Airline’s ‘Act of War’ Defense for 9/11 Attacks
Feb 20 2013 // The leaseholder of the World Trade Center properties is asking a U.S. federal judge to reject arguments that American Airlines is not liable for damages stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackings because the attacks were...
Carnival Cruise Ship Fire Started by Fuel Leak: Coast Guard
Feb 20 2013 // The fire on board the Carnival Corp. cruise ship that drifted for days in the Gulf of Mexico awash in raw sewage started from fuel from a leaking diesel engine line that ignited, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday. More...
Rain and Snow Help Ease Plains/Midwest Drought
Feb 20 2013 // Crop-friendly rain and snow is blanketing much of the drought-stricken U.S. Plains hard red winter wheat region and the dry western Midwest, an agricultural meteorologist said on Wednesday. “Widespread coverage of...
US Security Group Suspects Chinese Military Unit behind Hacking Attacks
Feb 19 2013 // A secretive Chinese military unit is believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks, a U.S. computer security company said, prompting a strong denial by China and accusations that it was in fact the victim of U.S....
Catholic Bishops Urge Birth Control Reprieve in Fiscal Bills
Feb 18 2013 // U.S. Roman Catholic bishops stepped up their battle against President Obama’s contraceptives policy on Friday by urging Congress to use its fiscal debate to free religious employers from a mandate requiring insurance...
