Latest USA Headlines

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

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Individual Health Insurance Mandate

Jun 29 2011 // A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law that requires Americans to buy insurance as constitutional, an early victory for the White House.The U.S. Court of Appeals for...

Jury Weighs First U.S. Foreign Bribery Sting Case

Jun 29 2011 // Jurors have seen grenade launchers, M4 rifles and secretly recorded videos of military suppliers working on a deal to funnel money to an official of an African nation they wanted to buy their weapons.Now, after a six-week...

Season’s First Atlantic Storm Powers Toward Mexico

Jun 29 2011 // Arlene, the first tropical storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, churned through the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Tuesday but looked set to spare Mexico’s oilfields from a direct hit.The storm had maximum...

US, India Pledge Market Access Cooperation; Could Ease Insurance Barriers

Jun 28 2011 // Finance chiefs from the United States and India pledged on Tuesday to continue efforts to open up India’s financial, retail, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors to competition but offered no specific measures to...

Report Says South China Sea Disputes Could Lead to Asian War

Jun 28 2011 // Risks are growing that incidents at sea involving China could lead to war in Asia, potentially drawing in the United States and other powers, an Australian think tank warned on Tuesday.The Lowy Institute said in a report...

U.S. Court Rejects $270M Tobacco Lawsuit Appeal

Jun 27 2011 // The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the major tobacco companies of a $270 million award for a Louisiana smoking cessation program.Altria Group Inc’s Philip Morris USA Inc, a Reynolds American Inc unit, a...

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 gave...

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 De...

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 than...