Latest USA Headlines

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

One Year Later, Gulf States Still Grappling with BP Oil Disaster

Apr 15 2011 // When a BP oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico last April, killing 11 workers, authorities first reported that no crude was leaking into the ocean.They were wrong. The disaster that captivated the world’s...

Investors Suing Banks Gain Ammunition with Senate Report

Apr 15 2011 // Pigs. Unicorns. Money?A scathing U.S. Senate panel report faulting Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and others for contributing to the financial crisis may provide ammunition for investor lawsuits accusing the...

U.S. Oversight Council Urged to Be More Transparent

Apr 15 2011 // The U.S. risk council is hiding documents and needs to be more transparent in how it chooses which insurers and other major non-bank financial firms pose a risk to the financial system, lawmakers said on Thursday.Among the...

U.S. Shuts Down Massive Cyber Theft Ring

Apr 14 2011 // U.S. authorities claimed one of their biggest victories against cyber crime as they shut down a ring they said used malicious software to take control of more than 2 million PCs around the world, and may have led to theft...

Auditors Cite Catholic Church’s Lapses in Child Abuse Prevention

Apr 13 2011 // Auditors hired by the U.S. bishops to check child safety in America’s Roman Catholic dioceses each year warned in a new report this week of a drift away from parts of the church’s nine-year-old abuse prevention...

U.S. Hospital Safety Plan Could Save Lives, Dollars: Officials

Apr 13 2011 // A hospital patient care and safety initiative aimed at preventing medical errors and hospital-acquired infections could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars, U.S. government and industry officials said on...

Red River Floods Fields, but U.S. Farmers Ready

Apr 12 2011 // Record flooding in parts of the U.S. Red River Valley has slowed grain movement, but lake-like fields are nothing new to farmers who battle flooding on some scale each spring, industry officials said.The Red River, which...

Aspen Adds Two Execs to U.S. Surety Unit

Apr 12 2011 // Specialty insurer Aspen has added two execs to its Connecticut-based U.S. surety team. James Mercier will serves as senior vice president, associate general counsel and claims, surety. Scott Sadowsky will serve as senior...

U.S. Pay Czar Allows AIG Flexibility with Pay Packages at AIG

Apr 11 2011 // The U.S. pay czar will allow bailed-out firms American International Group, Ally Financial and General Motors to be flexible with their compensation packages for certain high-paid employees, according to letters released...

U.S. Plan Would Restart Mexico Trucking

Apr 11 2011 // Long-haul trucks from Mexico would be allowed to operate throughout the United States for up to three years under a pilot plan aimed at reviving a politically sensitive trade program stalled for years.The U.S....

UPDATE: U.N. Climate Change Agenda Agreed, Roadmap Set for 2011

Apr 8 2011 // Rich and poor nations overcame deep divisions on Friday to cut a deal that maps out U.N. climate negotiations for 2011, building on last December’s agreement in Mexico and hardening the focus on tougher issues.The...

Texas Company Sued for Abuse of Iowa Workers

Apr 8 2011 // A Texas company is accused of severely abusing and discriminating against 31 mentally disabled men who worked at an Iowa turkey processor, in a federal lawsuit filed April 6 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity...

Medical Errors 10 Times More Frequent Than Reported, New Research Says

Apr 8 2011 // Medical errors and other adverse events occur in one-third of hospital admissions, which is as much as 10 times more than some previous estimates have indicated, according a new study.“Without doubt, we’ve seen...

Ghost of Cancun Haunts Bangkok Climate Talks

Apr 8 2011 // The deep divisions apparently bridged by last December’s climate deal in Cancun opened anew this week at U.N. talks in Bangkok, undermining the chance of any agreement on the shape of a broader pact by year’s...

Allied World U.S. Enhances Management Liability Product for Healthcare Organizations

Apr 7 2011 // Allied World Assurance Co. has introduced Allied World U.S.’s new ForceField management liability package product for U.S. Healthcare Organizations.The ForceField Package Policy for Healthcare Organizations combines...

‘Above Average’ 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast

Apr 7 2011 // The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season will be above average with nine hurricanes, five of them major, with a more than 70 percent chance that at least one of them will hit the U.S. coastline, Colorado State University...

New Zealand to Back Insurer AMI Despite Budget Pain

Apr 7 2011 // New Zealand’s government has agreed to provide financial support for AMI, the country’s second-largest residential insurer, after two major earthquakes threatened to deplete its capital, Finance Minister Bill...

Reinsurance Rates Rising, But Few Agree Where, How Much

Apr 6 2011 // Reinsurance rates may be edging higher only now, but the companies’ shares could still surge amid investor hopes that disasters, including Japan’s earthquake, will result in much higher rates in the...

Reinsurance Rates Are Rising, but Few Agree Where

Apr 6 2011 // Reinsurance rates may be edging higher only now, but the companies’ shares could still surge amid investor hopes that disasters, including Japan’s earthquake, will result in much higher rates in the...

Report Tallies Economic Costs of Violence to States

Apr 6 2011 // States with the most violence are spending billions of dollars on medical care and prisons and recording lower productivity than more peaceful states, according to a new study on the effects of peace and violence on the...