Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Imprisoned Trial Attorney Scruggs Wants Corruption Conviction Tossed
Jun 27 2011 // Imprisoned former attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs asked a federal court last week to throw out his conviction in the judicial corruption case involving former Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby...
Wal-Mart Plaintiffs Seek More Time to Pursue Cases
Jun 27 2011 // Attorneys representing women who unsuccessfully sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for gender discrimination filed a motion Friday asking a U.S. District Court to freeze the statute of limitations for their complaints against the...
House Approves Patent Reform Bill Similar to Senate’s
Jun 24 2011 // Patent legislation that aims to clear a years-long backlog of applications and allows the patent office set its own fees was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. Supporters say the bill will help the...
Can U.S. Make Phoning While Driving as Taboo as Drunk Driving?
Jun 24 2011 // The nation risks a surge in deadly accidents unless it makes distracted driving — talking, texting and surfing the Internet while operating cars, boats and trains — as taboo as drunken driving, members of the National...
Citi Skimped on ID Theft Protection for Data Breach Victims: Reuters
Jun 24 2011 // After a massive data breach last month, Citigroup did not offer its hacked clients the same degree of identity-theft protection that many other companies provide, drawing criticism from privacy advocates. Citigroup, which...
Report: SoCal Quake Would Rattle Economy
Jun 24 2011 // A new study says a big Southern California earthquake would rattle the region’s economy as well as its buildings. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said a magnitude-7.8 quake in the southern segment of the San...
Ratings Recap: Stonebridge, RLI Group, Am. Agricultural, ARIC
Jun 23 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of “a-” of Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company, the Columbus Ohio-based property/casualty...
Casualty Actuaries Should Consider Foreign Customs, Economics, Politics
Jun 23 2011 // A bulletin from the Insurance Information Institute notes that a recent Casualty Actuarial Society seminar advises actuaries that when it comes to pricing global reinsurance business, it’s important to remember that...
Generic Drug Firms Shielded from State Suits: Supreme Court
Jun 23 2011 // The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that generic drug companies cannot be sued under state law over allegations that they failed to provide adequate label warnings about potential side effects. By a 5-4 vote, the justices...
Aon: U.S. Insured Weather Losses Top $15.5 Billion This Year
Jun 22 2011 // Insured severe weather losses have already topped $15.5 billion in the United States this year, three times the full-year average of the last 20 years, insurance brokerage Aon Corp. said Wednesday. Almost all of that comes...
P/C Insurers’ Profits Fell in Q1 as Underwriting Losses Grew
Jun 22 2011 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes dropped to $7.8 billion in first-quarter 2011 from $8.9 billion in first-quarter 2010, with insurers’ annualized rate of return on average...
Court Says Suit Can Proceed over WTC Tower Collapse
Jun 22 2011 // The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey can be sued for negligence over the collapse of a World Trade Center building in the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday. The agency is one of the most...
EU Urges Tariff Standstill as Doha Round Down Payment
Jun 21 2011 // World Trade Organization members should agree to a standstill on tariffs in December as a down payment toward a larger deal in long-running world trade talks, the top EU official said Tuesday. EU Trade Commissioner Karel...
U.S. Sees Room for Improvement in Nuclear Plant Safety
Jun 21 2011 // U.S. regulators see room to improve safety at the country’s nuclear power plants even though tests after the Fukushima disaster have shown they are fundamentally sound, the top U.S. watchdog said on Tuesday. More...
Even Low Blood Alcohol Level ‘Buzz’ Unsafe for Driving: Study
Jun 21 2011 // In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A new study has found that...
Banks Lose Bid to Limit ‘Hot News’ Republication of Analysts’ Research
Jun 20 2011 // A federal appeals court handed a major defeat to Wall Street banks in ruling that a financial news service did not misappropriate their analyst research for its website. Reversing a lower court ruling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit...
Zurich Issues Loss Estimate for Spring Storms in U.S.
Jun 20 2011 // Zurich Financial Services Group said it currently estimates aggregate claims of approximately $295 million for both Zurich North America and Farmers Re relating to the series of severe weather-related events that hit the...
Hackers Might Face Stiffer Sentences in U.S.
Jun 20 2011 // Even before a loosely organized group of hackers broke into the CIA’s and Senate’s public websites, the White House asked for stiffer sentences for breaking into government and private computer networks. Last...
Kidnapping for Ransom: A Fateful International Growth Industry
Jun 20 2011 // A global economy offers enormously rich rewards, along with more than enough dangerous risks. Although accurate statistics are difficult to come by, estimates indicate there are anywhere from 12,500 to 25,000 kidnappings a...
Cyber World
Jun 20 2011 // Barely a day goes by without news of yet another data breach at a major corporation or institution. From Sony to Citicorp and the International Monetary Fund to the U.S. Senate, systems have proved vulnerable to hackers...
