Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Japan Scrambles to Pull Nuclear Plant Back from Brink of Disaster
Mar 16 2011 // Japan’s nuclear crisis appeared to be spinning out of control on Wednesday after workers withdrew briefly from a stricken power plant because of surging radiation levels, but desperate efforts to avert a catastrophic...
SBA: Small Businesses Provide Nearly 55% of Private-Sector Jobs in Louisiana
Mar 15 2011 // The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that in 2008 nearly 400 thousand small businesses were operating in Louisiana, representing 97.4 percent of the state’s employers. A report released in February by the...
Western U.S. Tsunami Damage Exceeds $50 Million
Mar 14 2011 // Tsunami waves following Japan’s massive earthquake are estimated to have caused more than $50 million in damage in the Western United States, according to local officials. In Hawaii, Gov. Neil Abercrombie issued an...
Appeals Court to Expedite Obama Healthcare Appeal
Mar 14 2011 // A U.S. Appeals Court agreed Friday to speed up the timetable for the Obama administration’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that struck down landmark healthcare overhaul law. The Court of Appeals for the...
WikiLeaks Cables Show China Regulator Intervened as AIG Crumbled
Mar 11 2011 // U.S. officials believe China’s insurance regulator passed on proprietary information about AIG to its Chinese rivals during the American firm’s collapse in 2008, according to unpublished diplomatic cables. The...
AIG Offers U.S. Government a $15.7 Billion Buyback
Mar 10 2011 // American International Group offered Thursday to buy back, for $15.7 billion cash, mortgage-backed securities the U.S. government took off the bailed-out insurer’s hands during the financial crisis. The announcement...
Soft Market Is Ending, Really It Is, Says SNL Financial
Mar 10 2011 // Could the soft market finally be over? A new analysis concludes that insurance prices are rising and the prolonged soft market is ending, contrary to earlier reports from other analysts. Virginia-based SNL Financial says...
Aspen Launches U.S. Surety Unit
Mar 10 2011 // Specialty insurer Aspen has established a surety unit that will focus on public and private commercial and non-construction surety. Michael Toppi, executive vice president of Aspen U.S. Insurance, will lead the unit....
Senate Passes Patent Reform, 95-5
Mar 10 2011 // The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to overhaul U.S. patent laws, backing a measure aimed at chipping away at a huge backlog of patent applications and offering cheaper alternatives to litigation. In a 95-5 vote, the...
Damage Claims Threaten Munich Re’s 2011 Profit Goal
Mar 10 2011 // Heavy damage claims from an earthquake, floods and a storm this year will put Munich Re’s full-year profit goal at risk if claims do not subside in the coming quarters. The world’s biggest reinsurer said it...
Obama Administration Appeals Florida Judge’s Healthcare Ruling
Mar 8 2011 // The Obama administration Tuesday appealed a U.S. judge’s ruling in Florida that struck down its landmark healthcare overhaul law as unconstitutional because it required Americans to buy healthcare insurance or face a...
Judge Won’t Order Additional Damages Against Exxon for Valdez Spill
Mar 8 2011 // A federal judge has refused to order Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay an additional $92 million sought by the U.S. government and state of Alaska to address lingering damage from the 1989 oil spill in Prince William Sound. U.S....
U.S. Judge Halts Ecuador Damages Enforcement Against Chevron
Mar 8 2011 // A U.S. judge Monday halted enforcement of an $18 billion award against Chevron Corp, siding with the oil company against Ecuadorean plaintiffs in a long-running dispute over Amazon rain forest pollution. The move comes...
QBE Completes Acquisition of RenRe’s U.S. Insurance Operations
Mar 8 2011 // Australia’s QBE announced that it has completed its acquisition of the U.S. admitted insurance businesses of Renaissance Re, which include a U.S. crop and small specialist program insurance business. QBE said the...
Rising Seas Could Threaten 180 U.S. Cities by 2100
Mar 7 2011 // Rising seas spurred by climate change could threaten 180 U.S. coastal cities by 2100, a new study says, with Miami, New Orleans and Virginia Beach among those most severely affected. Previous studies have looked at where...
NAIC, EU Regulators Hold Meeting on International Insurance Regulation
Mar 7 2011 // As business becomes more globalized, the financial services industry, including insurance, has recognized the need to keep up with the changing times. Both U.S and European Union regulators have therefore embarked on...
People
Mar 7 2011 // Giddings, Texas-based independent insurance agency, Insurance Network of Texas, announced that agency founder R.J. Nitsche passed his responsibilities as CEO to his son, Robert. Robert Nitsche most recently served as chief...
Midwest Prepares for Massive Spring Flooding
Mar 7 2011 // One of the snowiest winters on record for the Midwest and northern U.S. Plains have crop watchers worried about a repeat of the massive flooding that hit one of the world’s top grain producing regions in...
States Must Decide if Workers’ Comp Benefits Extend to Illegal Workers
Mar 7 2011 // The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear a workers’ compensation insurance case that concerned an illegal immigrant in Louisiana who had sought coverage after a workplace accident. The Court’s refusal...
Judge Stays Healthcare Ruling, Gives White House Appeal Deadline
Mar 4 2011 // A U.S. judge Thursday put on hold his ruling that President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul was unconstitutional, allowing the White House to continue implementing the landmark legislation for now. But U.S....
