Latest USA Headlines

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

U.S. Risk Names Mullens VP, Senior Underwriter

Aug 20 2010 // U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. named Mike Mullens a vice president and senior underwriter in the U.S. Risk Underwriters Inc. Dallas office. Mullens will head up the U.S. Risk newly formed social services program...

Aon Benfield Launches Monthly Insurance Linked Securities Index

Aug 20 2010 // Aon Benfield Securities, the securities and investment banking operation of Aon Benfield, announced the launch of the Aon Benfield ILS Indices, which provide a quantitative view of monthly insurance-linked securities (ILS)...

U.S. Gives States Cash to Police Health Insurance Rate Hikes

Aug 17 2010 // A $46 million round of grants will help U.S. states boost oversight of health insurance premium hikes and keep down costs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday.All but a few states will receive...

Extreme Weather Seen Unlikely to Help Climate Talks

Aug 17 2010 // Extreme weather in 2010 will spur more strident calls for action to combat global warming but is unlikely to break a deadlock at U.N. climate talks about sharing the burden between rich and poor.Islamabad, for instance,...

EU, US to Hold November Summit in Portugal; Insurance on Agenda

Aug 17 2010 // The European Union and United States will hold a summit in Portugal in November, the EU and the White House said on Tuesday, offering an opportunity to rebuild ties strained by the cancellation of their last meeting.The...

UN Chief Appeals for Aid in Flood Ravaged Pakistan; U.S. Sends Help

Aug 16 2010 // U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world to provide more aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan on Sunday as the 20 million people made homeless grew increasingly desperate and new torrents inundated villages.Survivors...

Snapshot: Declarations

Aug 16 2010 // Health Care Challenge“While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to regulate — and tax — a...

Declarations

Aug 16 2010 // Health Care Challenge“While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to regulate — and tax — a citizen’s...

Tropical Cyclone Heads for Northern Gulf of Mexico

Aug 15 2010 // An area of low pressure moving over the Florida Panhandle was expected to track southward into the northern Gulf of Mexico by early Monday and had a 50 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours,...

AIG Still a Risky Bet for Investors

Aug 13 2010 // American International Group Inc, already a big headache for taxpayers, could leave its shareholders with a migraine.AIG, which is nearly 80 percent owned by the U.S. government, owes taxpayers more than $100 billion. That...

Fortress to Buy Majority of AIG Consumer Finance Unit

Aug 12 2010 // American International Group Inc is selling most of its consumer finance unit to Fortress Investment Group at a deep discount and will recognize a $1.9 billion pretax loss as a result.AIG, majority owned by the U.S....

E&S Wrap Up: Broker Mergers, Expansions and Start Ups

Aug 12 2010 // As goes the circle of life, so goes the wholesale insurance broker world. Not even the sixth year of a soft market cycle has deterred industry veterans from launching new wholesale businesses or creating larger ones. Many...

Tennessee State Senator Could Have Sentence Reduced

Aug 12 2010 // Former state senator John Ford could have his federal prison sentence nearly cut in half after a recent Supreme Court decision that weakened an anti-fraud law.The 68-year-old Ford is serving a 19-year sentence. A 2008...

Petersen International Underwriters Expands Medicare Bridge Plan

Aug 11 2010 // Petersen International Underwriters main product line up, the Bridge Plan, is now renewable annually without any additional health qualifications on each anniversary date.“This plan is now guaranteed to renew without...

India’s Nuclear Bill Gives Stiffer Penalties, Higher Insurance Costs

Aug 11 2010 // India is rewriting a bill that will allow global firms to access its $150 billion nuclear power market, suggesting stiffer compensation for industrial accidents and extending liability to cover private suppliers.The...

U.S. Review of Toyota Recorders Finds No New Defects

Aug 11 2010 // A key element of the U.S. government’s investigation of Toyota Motor Corp electronic throttles and other systems found no defects beyond what is known to explain crashes blamed on unintended acceleration, the...

Arizona Has More Plane Crashes Than Rest of U.S.

Aug 10 2010 // A fatal plane crash in north Phoenix was Arizona’s ninth of the year.Safety experts have no clear explanation why Arizona consistently records higher fatal-crash rates for light aircraft than the rest of the United...

Exxon Sues Federal Government for Texas Refinery Cleanup Costs

Aug 9 2010 // Exxon Mobil Corp. is suing the United States to recover more than $45 million in clean-up costs at its refining and petrochemical plants in Baytown, Texas, saying the government controlled the facilities during World War...

Cruise Ships Traveling In Changing Legal, Security Climate

Aug 9 2010 // Crime on cruise ships is rare, considering 10 million North Americans sailed last year.But some crime victims believe that justice also is rare — due to overlapping investigative powers, difficulty obtaining evidence...

U.S. Captive Insurers’ Underwriting Income Drops; Investments Improve

Aug 9 2010 // Net income doubled in 2009 over 2008 for a composite of 195 U.S. captive insurers followed by A.M. Best Co., driven by the recovery of the industry’s investments. Realized capital gains totaled $82 million for 2009,...