Author: admin

Shares of U.S. health insurers, hospitals and healthcare companies fell on Monday in the aftermath of a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly called Obamacare, was unconstitutional.

Many legal experts predicted U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision on Friday eventually will be reversed on appeal considering that the law has been upheld by the Supreme Court, but the uncertainty created by the ruling drove down healthcare stocks on Monday.

O’Connor agreed with a coalition of Republican officials from 20 states that Obamacare was unconstitutional based on its mandate requiring that Americans obtain medical insurance. The judge refused the states’ request to issue an injunction immediately blocking 2010 law that was championed by Democratic former President Barack Obama from being enforced.

Continue reading “U.S. healthcare stocks drop after judge rules Obamacare unconstitutional”

The Federal Reserve has rejected Wells Fargo & Co’s plans to prevent further consumer abuses and told the scandal-plagued lender it needs stronger checks on management, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.

The concerns raised by the Fed, which have not been previously reported, are likely to increase the time it takes the central bank to lift an asset cap it imposed on Wells Fargo in February following a string of sales practices scandals.

The bank must draw up a robust plan to improve its governance and risk management controls before the Fed will lift the cap and in February Wells Fargo Chief Executive Tim Sloan said the bank was “on the fast track” to meeting those conditions.

Continue reading “Wells Fargo reform plans fail to satisfy Fed after scandals: sources”

A three-judge appeals court panel on Thursday questioned the U.S. Justice Department’s challenge to a lower court approval’s of AT&T Inc’s $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner.

“Where is the clear error?” U.S. Judge Judith Rogers asked Justice Department attorney Mike Murray, who called the lower court’s approval of the deal “myopic.”

“You have to show that there’s a harm to competition,” Judge David Sentelle said at another point. “Remember where the burdens are,” he added later.

Continue reading “U.S. appeals court hears arguments on stopping AT&T purchase of Time-Warner”

A justice foundation created by George and Amal Clooney is set to announce on Wednesday a global initiative called TrialWatch to monitor court trials where there is a risk of abuse and to rank countries’ judicial systems.

Working with the Columbia University Law School and the American Bar Association, the TrialWatch initiative will train an international network of court monitors, including non-lawyers, whose reports will be used by legal experts to grade trials according to international standards, several lawyers and academics involved with TrialWatch said.

Continue reading “Clooney foundation launches global effort to monitor court trials”

Email accounts for a campaign group supporting Republicans candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives were hacked before this year’s congressional elections, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

Hackers used National Republican Congressional Committee credentials to access a “small number” of email accounts at the organization, which is also known as the NRCC, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss details of the attack.

NRCC spokesman Ian Prior confirmed the group was the victim of a cyberattack by an unknown party, but disputed that stolen passwords were used.

Continue reading “U.S. Republican campaign emails hacked months before election”