Latest USA Headlines

All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Appeals Court Blocks Obamacare Contraceptive Mandate

Nov 10 2013 // A requirement of President Barack Obama’s health-care law that group insurance plans cover contraceptives was ordered blocked by a federal appeals court, the first such ban on enforcement of the mandate.The 2-1...

Oil Tank Train Derails in Alabama; Cars Erupt in Flames

Nov 10 2013 // Several oil tank cars that burst into flames after a train derailed in rural Alabama were expected to keep burning into Saturday, potentially reigniting the push for tougher regulation of the boom in moving oil by...

U.S. Sen. Toomey Cites Pennsylvania Residents Losing Health Insurance

Nov 8 2013 // U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey said thousands of Pennsylvanians are contacting his office with complaints about losing their health insurance because of the federal overhaul, while state insurance regulators put the number of people...

Nevada Mine Pollution Deal Brings Residents $19.5M

Nov 8 2013 // Rural neighbors of an abandoned World War II-era copper mine that has leaked toxic chemicals in northern Nevada for decades have won up to a $19.5 million settlement from companies they accused of covering up the...

Federal Safety Regulators Criticized for Missing Bus Safety Hazards

Nov 8 2013 // U.S. bus regulators are overlooking or not catching serious safety hazards before fatal crashes and need to change their auditing practices, the National Transportation Safety Board said.The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier...

Endurance Specialty Names CEO of U.S. Insurance Division

Nov 7 2013 // Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property/casualty insurance and reinsurance, announced Douglas Worman will join the company on Nov. 11 as executive vice president and chief...

AIG Settles Dispute Over Real Estate Executive Pay for $274M

Nov 7 2013 // American International Group Inc. has agreed to settle a $274 million lawsuit by a former executive who said the insurer refused to pay him during the financial crisis in 2008.The settlement came as a trial was due to have...

Insurers’ Annual Incurred A&E Losses Rose 12% in 2012: A.M. Best

Nov 6 2013 // While generally not a material drag on the U.S. property/casualty industry’s earnings, industry losses from asbestos and environmental (A&E) claims resumed an upward climb in 2012, according to a new A.M. Best...

ING to Speed up Reorganization after Revised Deal with EU

Nov 6 2013 // ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, will complete its reorganization two years earlier than planned after winning regulators’ permission to combine its Japanese insurance unit with European...

PLUS Conference: Global Risks, Governance and Hypocrisy

Nov 5 2013 // America’s European allies are being hypocritical in their complaints about the U.S. spying on them because they all have their own surveillance programs, according to two former top officials in the Clinton...

U.S. Regulator Unveils New Insurance Fee Guidelines

Nov 5 2013 // A U.S. housing regulator said on Tuesday that it would ban some fees and commissions that borrowers are compelled to pay when their own home insurance coverage lapses.The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it was aiming...

Morgan Stanley Says AIG May Sue Over Mortgage Investments

Nov 5 2013 // Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it may be sued by American International Group Inc. over mortgage-backed securities that the insurer bought before the financial crisis.AIG purchased $3.7 billion...

A Wary Supreme Court Allows Facebook’s $9.5M Privacy Settlement

Nov 5 2013 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand Facebook Inc.’s $9.5 million class action settlement over allegations the social networking company’s defunct “Beacon” service violated its members’...

Judge Dismisses Suit Against Bank of America For Not Disclosing AIG Claims

Nov 4 2013 // Bank of America Corp. has won the dismissal of an unusual lawsuit in which shareholders accused it of concealing a $10 billion fraud case brought by American International Group Inc.In a decision made public on Monday,...

IICF Northeast Announces Featured Speakers for Year-End Fundraising Dinner

Nov 4 2013 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) Northeast division announced three featured speakers who will be accepting grants for charities at its fundraising dinner on Wednesday Dec. 11, 2013 in New York City. The...

BP Oil Spill Settlement Opponents Ask Court to Rescind Approval

Nov 4 2013 // Opponents of BP Plc’s $9.2 billion partial settlement of private-party claims from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are set to ask a U.S. appeals court to reverse a judge’s approval of the agreement.The...

Courts Split Over Health Care Law Birth Control Coverage Mandate

Nov 4 2013 // A requirement of President Barack Obama’s health care law that group insurance plans cover contraceptives may violate religious freedom, a U.S. appeals court said, widening a split among the circuits and making it...

U.S. Says Japan Signing Liability Pact Would Aid Nuclear Cleanup

Nov 4 2013 // Japan will receive international help with the cleanup at the Fukushima atomic station once it joins an existing treaty that defines liability for accidents at nuclear plants, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said.The...

Third Quarter Activity Picks Up Pace

Nov 4 2013 // After a sluggish start to the year, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity gained some momentum in the third quarter. With 55 transactions announced from July to September, the third quarter comprised 42 percent of the...

10 Things to Know About Habitational and Dwelling Risks

Nov 4 2013 // Sales of new single-family houses reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 421,000 in August, 7.9 percent above the revised July 2013 estimate of 390,000. (U.S. Census Bureau) There were roughly 24,400 completions of...