Latest USA Headlines

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

New California-Mexico Border Crossing To Open in San Diego

Dec 12 2008 // California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined federal and state officials from the United States and Mexico to announce the issuance of a federal permit that clears the way to create a new California-Mexico border crossing...

Economic Crisis Leaves States Less Ready to Handle Disasters

Dec 11 2008 // Progress made to better protect the country from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis, according to a new report.The report concludes that major...

Insiders Say AIG Slashing Prices to Win Business in Moves That May Burn Rivals, Taxpayers

Dec 11 2008 // American International Group Inc. is cutting prices to win new business and boost market share, competitors and others in the industry say, but taxpayers could again be stuck with the tab.Since a U.S. government bailout,...

Pole-Climbing Robots Could Save Lives of Construction Workers

Dec 11 2008 // Researchers have developed a trio of pole-climbing serpentine robots designed to take the place of construction workers tasked with dangerous jobs such as inspecting high-rises or underwater bridge piers.The Robotics and...

AIG CEO Liddy Says Asset Sales May Be Delayed

Dec 11 2008 // The CEO of U.S. insurer American International Group (AIG), which is looking to shed assets around the globe as part of a $152 billion U.S. government rescue package, said that difficult markets may delay the sale plans,...

NAIC to Examine Proposal to Modify Reinsurance Collateral Requirements

Dec 10 2008 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has adopted its Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Framework Proposal, which modernizes U.S. state-based regulation of reinsurance.“This proposal sets...

AXA, Metlife, Prudential, China’s CIC in AIG Talks

Dec 10 2008 // Insurance firms Axa S.A., MetLife Inc. and Prudential Plc., as well as China’s sovereign wealth fund CIC, are all in talks to buy a unit of U.S. insurance firm American International Group in a deal that is likely to...

Maine Mercury Cleanup at Issue in Federal Ruling

Dec 10 2008 // A federal judge has refused to block Maine environmental regulators from enforcing a mercury cleanup order at a former chemical plant’s Orrington landfills.Mallinckrodt LLC of St. Louis, a subsidiary of U.S....

Ambitions for 2009 UN Climate Pact Fade in Poznan

Dec 9 2008 // Recession and the change of U.S. administration make it unlikely the world will meet a 2009 deadline for agreeing a full new pact to fight global warming, delegates at UN climate talks say.A year ago, 190 nations signed up...

Doctors Still Sleep Deprived Despite Hours Cap: U.S. Report

Dec 8 2008 // Doctors-in-training are still too exhausted, says a new U.S. report that calls on hospitals to let them have a nap.Regulations that capped the working hours of bleary-eyed young doctors came just five years ago, limiting...

‘Made in China’ Label Battered by Product Contamination Scandals

Dec 8 2008 // Milk, toothpaste, cough syrup, pet food, eels, blood thinner, car parts, pork, eggs, honey, chicken, dumplings, cooking oil and rice — if you can fake it or taint it, you can almost guarantee it’s happened in...

Montpelier Group Licenses AIR Worldwide’s U.S. Crop Model

Dec 5 2008 // AIR Worldwide Corporation announced that the Bermuda-based Montpelier Group has licensed the AIR Multiple Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI) model for use in AIR’s CATRADER®, the industry standard application for...

Obama Laying Groundwork for Overhaul of U.S. Health Insurance

Dec 5 2008 // President-elect Barack Obama has begun laying the groundwork for overhauling the troubled U.S. healthcare system, reaching out to interest groups and building grass-roots support for the huge undertaking.Obama, who takes...

Ex-CEO Greenberg: AIG Needs Unified Plan Quickly to Recover

Dec 5 2008 // Former American International Group Inc. CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg said the insurer could fall apart unless management quickly came up with a unified recovery plan.“You can’t hold (together) an...

Prudential to Sell Securities Brokerage Business Stake to Wells Fargo

Dec 4 2008 // Prudential Financial Inc., the second-largest U.S. life insurer, said it plans to sell its 38 percent stake in the Wachovia Securities brokerage to Wells Fargo & Co.The stake is worth about $5 billion, or more than...

U.S. Supreme Court Stays Out of West Virginia Damages Case

Dec 3 2008 // The U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to enter a politically charged case from West Virginia, a major coal producing state, that involves a large punitive damages award and allegations of bias by a state judge.In an order...

AIG in Deal with U.S. Government to Terminate Some Debt Obligations

Dec 3 2008 // American International Group Inc. and the U.S. government have reached an agreement to clear the insurer of its obligations on about $53.5 billion in toxic mortgage debt, the giant insurer said in a regulatory filing...

FDA Cites Progress on Food Safety

Dec 3 2008 // The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it is making “significant progress” with its one-year program to protect both domestic and imported food from accidental and intentional contamination.“Science...

Fairfax to Buy Rest of Northbridge for $550 Million

Dec 2 2008 // Fairfax Financial Holdings said Monday it plans to spend C$686 million (US$550 million) to buy the remaining shares of Canadian property and casualty insurer Northbridge Financial that it does not already own.Fairfax,...

AIG Offers First Takaful Homeowners Insurance Product for U.S.

Dec 2 2008 // Risk Specialists Companies, Inc. (RSC), a subsidiary of AIG Commercial Insurance, is introducing what it says is a first in the U.S.: a homeowners insurance product that is compliant with key Islamic finance tenets and...