Latest USA Headlines

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

Supply Chain Concerns Grow as Japan Lacks Parts, Power, People

Mar 18 2011 // From Apple’s new iPad to Chevrolet pick-ups and many of the world’s airplane kitchens, concern is spreading down the global manufacturing supply chain about the impact from Japan’s earthquake last...

Marsh Expands U.S. Construction Practice

Mar 17 2011 // Marsh has appointed two veteran insurance brokers to its U.S. Construction Practice.Joining the practice are Scott Hull as Managing Director in Birmingham, Alabama, and Karen Reutter as senior vice president in...

U.S. First Responders Will Learn from Japan’s Tragedy: Napolitano

Mar 17 2011 // Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says federal. emergency agencies constantly rehearse for a disaster like the one unfolding in Japan, and American first responders will learn from the experience of their...

Global Fears Mount as Japan Takes Desperate Measures to Cool Reactors

Mar 17 2011 // Operators of a quake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan dumped water on overheating reactors on Thursday while the United States expressed growing alarm about leaking radiation and urged its citizens to stay well clear of the...

U.S. Western Tsunami Losses Climb

Mar 16 2011 // As states in the West clean up tsunami damage, loss estimates are climbing, according to local officials.In Hawaii, the estimate — tallied by Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s office to be in the millions — combines damage...

Canada’s Manulife Says Japan Exposure ‘Less than $153 Million’

Mar 16 2011 // Manulife Financial said Monday the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan should be less than C$150 million (US$152.93 million), after investors sold the shares off by 3.5 percent on concerns about the...

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 11th...

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. Mathew...

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...