Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hundreds Left Homeless, Thousands Without Power from Puerto Rico Earthquake
Jan 9 2020 // Cars, cots and plastic chairs became temporary beds for hundreds of families who lost their homes in southwest Puerto Rico as a flurry of earthquakes struck the island, one of them the strongest in a century. The magnitude...
Trump Wants to Speed Infrastructure Projects by Dropping Climate Impact Assessment
Jan 9 2020 // The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, including by dropping consideration of their potential impact on climate change. The plan,...
U.S. Safety Agency Opens Probe into Deadly Tesla Crash in Indiana
Jan 9 2020 // The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it is launching an investigation into the Dec. 29 crash of a Tesla Model 3 that left a passenger dead after the vehicle collided with a parked fire truck...
U.S. Had 14 Weather Disasters of $1 Billion or More in 2019
Jan 9 2020 // The U.S. had 14 weather disasters costing $1 billion or more last year, with Midwest flooding accounting for almost half of the total, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Flooding from the...
U.S. Study Questions Baby Powder Link to Ovarian Cancer
Jan 9 2020 // A study of more than 250,000 women found that those who used talc or other personal-hygiene powders weren’t significantly more likely to develop ovarian cancer, news that will impact thousands of legal claims against...
Tensions Between U.S. and Iran Hamper Probe of Boeing 737-800 Crash near Tehran
Jan 8 2020 // As investigators sift through the charred wreckage of a jetliner that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, contradictory reports have emerged about what might have caused the Boeing Co. 737-800 to abruptly plunge out...
Generali Completes Acquisition of Portugal Insurer Seguradoras Unidas from Apollo
Jan 8 2020 // Generali finalized the acquisition in Portugal of the insurer Seguradoras Unidas and the health services company AdvanceCare from Apollo Global Management Inc. for €600 million (US$670.1 million) Generali paid €510...
Texas Governor Warns of 10K per Minute Attempted Cyber Attacks from Iran
Jan 8 2020 // Gov. Greg Abbott is warning Texans to be “particularly vigilant” regarding potential cyber terrorism from Iran, suggesting that heightened tensions with the country have caused an increase in attempted attacks...
Natural Catastrophes Cost $150B in 2019, with Insurers Paying $52B: Munich Re
Jan 8 2020 // Natural catastrophes caused overall losses of US$150 billion during 2019, including insured losses of about US$52 billion, which matches the average of the past 30 years, according to Munich Re’s catastrophe...
Insurance Industry Calls for Action to Mitigate Climate Risk as Australia Bushfires Widen
Jan 8 2020 // As the devastation from Australia’s bushfires widens, the insurance industry is calling for concerted action to mitigate the impact of climate change. Months of out-of-control fires have burnt an area more than five...
Trump Administration Seeks to Limit ‘Overreach’ of Regulation of Artificial Intelligence
Jan 8 2020 // The White House on Tuesday proposed regulatory principles to govern the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) aimed at limiting authorities’ “overreach,” and said it wants European officials...
Insurance Journal’s Top 10 Cyber Risk Stories of 2019
Jan 7 2020 // Cyber risks were cited as the top concern among businesses of all sizes in 2019, according to a Travelers report released in October. Of the 1,200 business leaders who participated in an insurer-sponsored survey, 55% said...
Tokio Marine to Pay US$374M for Insurance Joint Venture with Brazil’s Caixa Bank
Jan 7 2020 // Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. announced it will pay 1.52 billion reais (US$374 million) to form a joint venture to sell mortgage and homeowners insurance for Caixa Econômica Federal, the Brazilian state-owned...
Nexus Specialty to Offer Admitted Trade Credit Products through Crum & Forster
Jan 7 2020 // Nexus Specialty Inc., part of MGA Nexus Group, has formed a new program agreement with Crum & Forster that allows Nexus to underwrite their trade credit products on a fully admitted basis in the U.S. Nexus Specialty...
FEMA Renews $1.3 Billion Reinsurance for Flood Program with 27 Carriers
Jan 6 2020 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) FEMA reported its 2020 traditional reinsurance placement for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in a transaction in which 27 private reinsurers assumed $1.33 billion...
January 2020 Reinsurance Renewals Varied Significantly, Brokers Say
Jan 6 2020 // The January 2020 reinsurance renewals saw significant variation in pricing and capacity depending on geography, line of business, cedents’ loss record and client relationships, according to two reports published by...
Chaucer Names 3 U.S. Property Executives
Jan 6 2020 // Specialty insurer Chaucer announced the appointment of Chance Gilliland as head of U.S. Property Insurance, Mel Smart as head of International Property Facultative and Michael Johnston as deputy class underwriter,...
Judge Triples Award for Hewlett Packard Against Quanta in Price-Fixing Scheme
Jan 6 2020 // HP Inc. was awarded $439 million in damages against Quanta Storage Inc. and its U.S. subsidiary after a federal judge tripled a jury’s 2019 award for damages caused by a widespread scheme to inflate the price of...
America Is Still Waiting for Trump’s ‘Much Better’ Replacement for Obamacare
Jan 3 2020 // As a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would “immediately” replace President Barack Obama’s health care law with a plan of his own that would provide “insurance...
Trump Administration Issues Partial E-Cigarette Ban
Jan 3 2020 // The Trump administration on Thursday announced a ban on some popular e-cigarette flavors, including fruit and mint, to curb rising teenage use of vaping products, allowing only menthol and tobacco flavors to remain on the...
