Latest USA Headlines

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

G20 Wrangles over Currencies, Borrowing, Deficits at Moscow Talks

Feb 15 2013 // The Group of 20 major economies struggled on Friday to find common ground on currencies and borrowing, exposing rifts between advocates of a dash for growth and supporters of more austerity to revive the world economy.A...

Former Wisconsin Insurance Executive Sentenced to 5 Years for Fraud

Feb 15 2013 // A former Wausau, Wis., insurance agency executive has been sentenced to five years in prison for a fraud scheme.Former J.N. Manson Agency Inc. (Manson) CEO Timothy Mathwich had been indicted by a grand jury in June 2012 on...

Toyota Finalizes $29 Million Multi-State Settlement Over Acceleration

Feb 14 2013 // Toyota Motor Corp. will pay $29 million as part of a multi-state settlement agreement finalized on Thursday over the Japanese automaker’s failure to quickly notify drivers of defects that wound up triggering the...

U.S. Wants Gaylord’s Tennessee Flood Suit Against Army Corps Dismissed

Feb 14 2013 // A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Gaylord Entertainment Co. seeking money for property damage to its luxury hotel and convention center, the Grand Ole Opry and...

National Hurricane Center Report: Sandy Was 2nd-Costliest Hurricane in U.S.

Feb 14 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 Tuesday, Feb. 12.Sandy damage in Ortley Beach, N.J....

U.S. Government Adds Climate Change, Weather Data Gaps to ‘High Risk’ List

Feb 14 2013 // Climate change and gaps in weather satellite data have been officially added to the list of high risks facing the federal government, a list that already includes the federal flood insurance program, Medicare and the Post...

U.S. Chamber, Europe Business Group Welcome U.S-EU Free Trade Talks

Feb 14 2013 // In a joint statement the U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue and the President of BUSINESSEUROPE Jürgen R. Thumann welcomed the release of the final report of the U.S.-EU High Level Working Group...

California Commissioner Fingers Insurers for Iran Investments

Feb 13 2013 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Wednesday singled out eight insurers licensed to do business in the state that continue to have investments tied to Iran’s energy, military and nuclear sectors.During a...

Courts Upholds $28 Million Award in Grand Canyon Skywalk Case

Feb 13 2013 // A federal court dealt a blow to the business arm of a northern Arizona tribe that owns the Grand Canyon Skywalk by upholding a $28.5 million judgment in favor of a Las Vegas developer who invested the money to build the...

Goals of the U.S.-EU Free Trade Agreement; Re/Insurance Regs Reconsidered

Feb 13 2013 // Negotiations for a free-trade agreement between the United States and the European Union are set to begin within months, almost two decades after the idea was first floated between the world’s two largest...

Aspen Posts $2 Mn Q4 Net Income; FY $280.4 Mn; No Plans to Exit U.S. Property

Feb 13 2013 // Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited reported net income after tax of $2.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $12.4 million in Q4 2011. After tax net income for the full year was $280.4 million,...

International Chamber of Commerce Survey Finds Improved Economic Climate

Feb 13 2013 // The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Munich-based Ifo institute for economic research have released findings, which conclude that the “world economy is showing signs of brightening after...

Rules for Dodd-Frank Top Republican House Agenda

Feb 12 2013 // Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are gearing up to overhaul the housing finance system this year and will soon map out ways to monitor Wall Street reform rules, according to a draft agenda circulating on...

U.S. Chief Claims Officer Named for Navigators Management Co. in N.Y.

Feb 12 2013 // The Navigators Group Inc. recently appointed Christopher Finneran as U.S. chief claims officer of Navigators Management Company Inc., the Group’s principal underwriting agency subsidiary. Finneran will be responsible...

How Identity Theft Ruined Alabama Victim’s Finances, Career

Feb 12 2013 // Air National Guard Maj. Zane Purdy was making more than $100,000 a year working for a defense contracting company when his identity was stolen and sold to a tax fraud ring.Now, Purdy makes $7.25 an hour at a Krystal...

High Prices, Crop Insurance to Offset Drought Losses for Farmers in 2013: USDA

Feb 12 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...

Obama Expected to Issue Cyber Defense Order

Feb 12 2013 // President Barack Obama plans to release a long-awaited executive order aimed at improving the nation’s defenses against cyber attacks as early as Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter.The order,...

HMS Bounty’s Sinking During Sandy Under Investigation

Feb 11 2013 // More than a week before Hurricane Sandy became a superstorm that would zero in on the U.S. Northeast, while it was just a tropical depression bouncing around the Caribbean, a captain headed out to sea. The HMS Bounty...

Arbitrators Press Ecuador to Halt Chevron Judgment Enforcement

Feb 11 2013 // An international tribunal weighing in on Chevron Corp’s long-running legal dispute over pollution in Ecuador has found the country in violation of past orders to try to prevent enforcement of a contested $19 billion...

Half of 2012’s Global Economic Losses Due to U.S. Natural Disasters: Aon

Feb 11 2013 // While global economic losses were close to average in 2012, insured losses were 36 percent higher than the 10-year average ($72 billion versus $53 billion) because the two most costly events of the year occurred in the...