National News

J&J to Pay $700 Million to Settle States’ Talc-Marketing Probe

Johnson & Johnson has tentatively agreed to pay about $700 million to resolve an investigation by more than 40 US states of claims that it wrongfully marketed its talc-based baby powder by not warning about possible health risks, according to …

Rokstone to Grow N.A. Marine Portfolio With $25M Allianz-Backed Partnership

Specialty MGA Rokstone of the Aventum Group announced a significant enhancement to its North American marine operations. Allianz Commercial has committed a $25 million facility to Rokstone. This latest deal will provide Rokstone’s North American wholesale Marine Specialty business, led …

Majesco Acquires Decision Research Corp. Insurance Software Business

Majesco, a cloud insurance software provider for the insurance business, announced it has acquired the Decision Research Corporation (DRC) business. DRC, based in Philadelphia-based, is an SaaS-based insurance software company. It offers enterprise rating for large insurers, a reinsurance product, …

FEMA Adds Nearly $620M to Reinsurance Program

FEMA announced that the agency is transferring $619.5 million more of the National Flood Insurance Program’s financial risk to the private reinsurance market as part of its 2024 reinsurance placement. The 2024 reinsurance placement covers portions of NFIP losses above …

Microsoft, OpenAI Hit With New Lawsuit by Authors Over AI Training

OpenAI and its financial backer Microsoft were sued on Friday in Manhattan federal court by a pair of nonfiction authors who say the companies misused their work to train the artificial-intelligence models behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT and other AI-based …

Google Must Bargain With YouTube Worker Union, US Labor Board Rules

Alphabet Inc’s Google violated U.S. labor law by refusing to bargain with a union representing contract workers for YouTube Music, a federal agency has ruled. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a decision on Jan. 3 rejected claims by …

Driverless Truck Companies Plan to Ditch Human Copilots in 2024

Driverless trucks with no humans on board will soon cruise Texas highways if three startup firms have their way, despite objections from critics who say financial pressures, not safety, is behind the timetable. After years of testing, Aurora Innovation Inc., …

US Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to EPA’s ‘Good Neighbor’ Air Pollution Plan

The U.S. Supreme Court on late last month said it would hear a bid to block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing a federal regulation aimed at reducing ozone emissions that may worsen air pollution in neighboring states. Acting on …

Merck Settles Coverage Dispute With Insurers Over War Exclusion in NotPetya Attack

Merck & Co. Inc. has reportedly reached a deal with insurers over a closely-watched coverage dispute related to a massive cyberattack in 2017. The New Jersey Supreme Court in July 2023 agreed to hear the case after a state appeals …

OpenAI In Talks With Dozens of Publishers to License Content

OpenAI said it’s talking to dozens of publishers about striking deals to license their articles, a broader effort than was previously known as the startup looks for content to train its artificial intelligence models. “We are in the middle of …

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