General Business

The UK's largest companies have failed to address a culture of excessive bonuses, a report says.

Some 24,000 health workers in South Africa have contracted the coronavirus, 181 of whom have died, since the pandemic hit the country in March, the health minister announced on Wednesday. Health Minister Zweli Mkwize told a news conference that the numbers of health workers who tested positive for coronavirus stood at 24,104 with 181 deaths. The numbers of infected health care workers translates to around five percent of the country's total caseload, compared to the global rate of some 10 percent, he said.

David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the...

Building of the Ayodhya temple will begin after a decades-long legal fight between Hindus and Muslims.

(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. is driving discussions to merge China’s biggest game-streaming platforms Huya Inc. and DouYu International Holdings Ltd., people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would allow it to dominate the $3.4 billion arena.The Chinese social media titan -- which owns a 37% stake in Huya and 38% of DouYu -- has been discussing such a merger with the duo over the past few months, although details have yet to be finalized, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. Tencent is seeking to become the largest shareholder in the combined entity, one person said.A deal would create an online giant with more than 300 million users and a combined market value of $10 billion, cementing Tencent’s lead in Chinese games and social media. Faced with rising competition for advertisers from ByteDance Ltd. and its rapidly growing stable of apps, the WeChat operator would then run a highly profitable service akin to Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch. Huya and DouYu would keep their respective platforms and branding while working more closely with Tencent’s own esports site eGame, said the people.“As the major shareholder of both platforms, Tencent would benefit because a merger would remove unnecessary competition between them,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Vey-Sern Ling said. “The enlarged scale can also help to drive cost synergies and fend off emerging competitors.”Tencent’s shares were up 1.5% in afternoon trade. Tencent and DouYu representatives declined to comment, while Huya spokespeople didn’t respond to requests for comment.Tencent’s shoring up its home-market position against the backdrop of a Trump administration increasingly hostile toward Chinese tech companies. WeChat has a limited U.S. presence and Trovo Live, a mobile-focused game-streaming service for American consumers, is only in its initial stages.China’s game-streaming market is estimated to generate 23.6 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in revenue this year, according to iResearch. The country’s streaming networks live and die by the popularity of star players and the virtual tips and gifts that fans buy for them, leading to intense bidding wars for the most-recognized names. Companies like Google-backed Chushou TV shuttered their services after failing to secure new money, while NetEase Inc.’s CC Live has found a small niche in broadcasting its in-house titles.Already featuring Tencent’s marquee games like PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings, Huya and DouYu have established a clear lead as the top two platforms. Nevertheless, revenue growth slowed down for both in recent quarters as users shifted their attention to ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese twin to the globally popular TikTok short-video service. A merger would help them lower broadcast and content costs at a time when rival video services like Kuaishou and Bilibili Inc -- both also backed by Tencent -- intensify their efforts to compete for more gaming content.In April, Tencent bought an additional stake in Huya for about $260 million from Joyy Inc., boosting its voting power in the platform to more than 50%. When asked about the possibility of a merger with Huya, DouYu founder and Chief Executive Officer Chen Shaojie told analysts on a March earnings call: “We believe it’s Tencent’s vision.”(Updates with analyst’s comment from the fourth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. is driving discussions to merge China’s biggest game-streaming platforms Huya Inc. and DouYu International Holdings Ltd., people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would allow it to dominate the $3.4 billion arena.The Chinese social media titan -- which owns a 37% stake in Huya and 38% of DouYu -- has been discussing such a merger with the duo over the past few months, although details have yet to be finalized, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. Tencent is seeking to become the largest shareholder in the combined entity, one person said.A deal would create an online giant with more than 300 million users and a combined market value of $10 billion, cementing Tencent’s lead in Chinese games and social media. Faced with rising competition for advertisers from ByteDance Ltd. and its rapidly growing stable of apps, the WeChat operator would then run a highly profitable service akin to Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch. Huya and DouYu would keep their respective platforms and branding while working more closely with Tencent’s own esports site eGame, said the people.“As the major shareholder of both platforms, Tencent would benefit because a merger would remove unnecessary competition between them,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Vey-Sern Ling said. “The enlarged scale can also help to drive cost synergies and fend off emerging competitors.”Tencent’s shares were up 1.5% in afternoon trade. Tencent and DouYu representatives declined to comment, while Huya spokespeople didn’t respond to requests for comment.Tencent’s shoring up its home-market position against the backdrop of a Trump administration increasingly hostile toward Chinese tech companies. WeChat has a limited U.S. presence and Trovo Live, a mobile-focused game-streaming service for American consumers, is only in its initial stages.China’s game-streaming market is estimated to generate 23.6 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in revenue this year, according to iResearch. The country’s streaming networks live and die by the popularity of star players and the virtual tips and gifts that fans buy for them, leading to intense bidding wars for the most-recognized names. Companies like Google-backed Chushou TV shuttered their services after failing to secure new money, while NetEase Inc.’s CC Live has found a small niche in broadcasting its in-house titles.Already featuring Tencent’s marquee games like PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings, Huya and DouYu have established a clear lead as the top two platforms. Nevertheless, revenue growth slowed down for both in recent quarters as users shifted their attention to ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese twin to the globally popular TikTok short-video service. A merger would help them lower broadcast and content costs at a time when rival video services like Kuaishou and Bilibili Inc -- both also backed by Tencent -- intensify their efforts to compete for more gaming content.In April, Tencent bought an additional stake in Huya for about $260 million from Joyy Inc., boosting its voting power in the platform to more than 50%. When asked about the possibility of a merger with Huya, DouYu founder and Chief Executive Officer Chen Shaojie told analysts on a March earnings call: “We believe it’s Tencent’s vision.”(Updates with analyst’s comment from the fourth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Japanese automakers' China sales grew by more than 10% from a year earlier in July as the world's biggest auto market sustained its recovery. Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> said on Wednesday its sales in China rose 11.6% last month from a year earlier to 120,945 vehicles. China is a market that Nissan is focusing on as the embattled car maker struggles to fix problems from ousted leader Carlos Ghosn's aggressive expansion drive.

Britain's banks took a gloomier view than almost all their European peers in their second quarter earnings, as coronavirus fears, Brexit and low interest rates caused them to bake tougher "worst-case" scenarios into their risk models. Investors had expected a torrid set of half-year results, but Barclays, Standard Chartered, Lloyds, NatWest Group and HSBC fell short of these low expectations. Provisions for potential loan losses across the five banks topped $22 billion, blowing past analyst forecasts and increasing selling pressure on shares already hammered by the pandemic this year.

German insurer on Wednesday posted a 29% fall in net profit in the second quarter from a year earlier and shied away from updating its full-year profit guidance as the coronavirus pandemic slows business and clouds the outlook. Allianz is one of many European insurers warning about the outlook as clients claim for business interruption and cancelled events, while demand for car and travel insurance has fallen. "Due to the continuing uncertainties we currently do not give an updated operating profit outlook for 2020," the company said.

Britain's Metro Bank swung to a 240 million pounds ($313.92 million) loss for the first half of the year on Wednesday, as provisions to cover loan losses due to the coronavirus crisis wiped out its profits. The upstart bank, founded in 2015 to take on incumbent high street lenders, said it took a 109 million pound hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly from rising expected loan losses as well as lower transaction fees. Metro Bank, whose shares have collapsed since it disclosed an accounting scandal in January last year, said its transformation plan remained on track and it grew deposits by 14% in the last year.

Precious metal values have been pushed up as investors look for havens amid the coronavirus crisis.

The District Court Dusseldorf has dismissed patent infringement claims against Medit Corp. ("Medit") - a global provider of 3D scanning solutions - by competitor 3Shape A/S ("3Shape").

Ahold Delhaize NV , a major operator of supermarket chains in the United States and Europe, reported better-than-expected sales and underlying operating income for the second quarter of 2020, as coronavirus lockdowns drove more traffic through its stores and online delivery services. Underlying operating income was 1.01 billion euros ($1.19 billion), up 78% from 594 million euros in the same period a year ago, on comparable sales of 19.1 billion euros, up 15.9%. Analysts in a company-compiled poll had forecast underlying operating income at 640 million euros on sales of 18.0 billion euros.

Millions of people were left without power in the US as the storm swept through the eastern seaboard.

BMW on Wednesday said it expected to post an operating profit for the full year despite coronavirus lockdowns pushing the carmaker to a second-quarter operating loss as deliveries of luxury cars fell by 25% during the period. The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin in the company's automotive segment was pushed to a negative 10.4% in the quarter, slumping from 6.5% in the second quarter last year, as BMW ramped up expensive electric car technology investments. Car sales have begun to recover in some markets, including in China, leading BMW to expect its core business to return a profit, but the rebound will not be enough to make up the shortfall of sales lost to the coronavirus pandemic.

Honda Motor Co on Wednesday forecast a 68% fall in annual operating profit as it anticipates a hit from falling sales as demand for cars has plunged due to the coronavirus pandemic. Japan's No. 3 automaker expects profit to sink to 200 billion yen ($1.89 billion) in the year to end-March 2021, worse than a consensus mean estimate of 260 billion yen in profit from 19 analysts polled by Refinitiv. Honda's outlook comes after it posted a 113.7 billion yen operating loss for the April-June quarter, stung by weak car sales.

China's exports are expected to have dipped in July as a surge in global coronavirus infections depressed demand, while growth in imports likely cooled, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday. Trade weakness will add to concerns whether the ongoing recovery momentum in the world's second-largest economy can be sustained even as domestic demand continues to improve on the back of government stimulus. Imports likely rose 1.0% on year, the poll showed, easing from a gain of 2.7% the previous month, due to a high base last year and the reimposition of lockdown measures in some overseas economies which hampered the flow of goods, analysts said.

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures nudged higher, while Asian stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as investors mulled the progress of stimulus talks in Washington and reports of a plan to review the U.S.-China trade deal. The dollar slid versus peers and gold traded at a record.Japanese shares pared losses to end little changed, while Australia’s fell. They rose in South Korea, and posted moderate gains in Hong Kong. S&P 500 futures rose after the index wavered between losses and gains through Tuesday before closing modestly higher. European contracts rose. Ten-year Treasury yields edged up, but stayed near their lowest since March.China’s yuan strengthened to its highest level since March 11, amid hopes that tensions with the U.S. will stay in check before the two sides review their phase-one trade pact later this month.Pressure is growing on Republicans and Democrats to resolve differences over a new U.S. virus relief package. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the goal is to strike a deal on legislation by the end of the week. Meanwhile, America and China plan to assess their trade agreement mid-August against a backdrop of rising bilateral tension, according to people briefed on the matter.The outcome of U.S.-China talks will be key for markets, said Shana Sissel, chief investment officer at Spotlight Asset Group Inc. “China really hasn’t been able to meet their hurdles to be in compliance with phase one of the trade deal” because of the pathogen, and rhetoric on both sides is set to increase as the U.S. election nears, she said on Bloomberg TV.Australia’s Victoria state reported a record number of cases, and economists at one of the country’s largest banks said the tighter restrictions will hit nationwide employment. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will visit Taiwan to discuss the international response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the U.S., California reported the fewest new coronavirus cases since June, while Florida and Arizona also saw their infections slow.Elsewhere, oil was steady after climbing to its highest in nearly two weeks as an explosion at Lebanon’s main port rocked the capital Beirut, stoking fears over instability in the region.Here are some key events coming up:Euro-zone PMI reports are scheduled for Wednesday.Reserve Bank of India and Bank of England rate decisions due Thursday.Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan discusses the U.S. economy at Thursday event.July U.S. employment and jobs reports expected Friday.These are some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 7:16 a.m. in London. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.4%.Topix index fell less than 0.05%.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.6%.South Korea’s Kospi index gained 1.2%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3%.Shanghai Composite Index was little changed.Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.3%.CurrenciesThe yen was at 105.67 per dollar.The offshore yuan rose 0.2% to 6.9610 per dollar.The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%.The euro was at $1.1816, up 0.1%.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries held around 0.51%.Australia’s 10-year bond yield held at 0.82%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude oil traded at $41.63 a barrel.Gold was at $2,021.68 an ounce, after a 2.1% increase.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

India's Zydus Cadila said on Wednesday its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was found to be safe and well-tolerated in an early-stage human trial. The company will now start a mid-stage trial of the vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, in over 1,000 healthy adult volunteers from Thursday to test its effectiveness, it said in a regulatory filing. The safety of the vaccine candidate in volunteers enrolled in the early-stage trial, who were administered doses since July 15, was endorsed by an independent data safety monitoring board.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand’s unemployment rate showed a surprising improvement to 4% during the midst of the nation’s virus lockdown, although the headline number doesn’t tell the full story and joblessness is likely to increase in the months ahead.

Still, the figure was far better than most people expected and came as welcome news to the government led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ahead of a general election next month.

The figures from Statistics New Zealand showed the unemployment rate in the quarter ending June fell from 4.2% in the previous quarter. But the number of hours worked also fell a record 10% and the number of people not in the labor force rose.

Because people who aren’t actively seeking work are not counted as unemployed, the figures didn’t reflect many job losses because most people couldn’t search for jobs during the lockdown. And many workers have been protected by a government-funded wage subsidy scheme during the pandemic which is due to expire next month.

___

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Chasm grows between Trump and government coronavirus experts

— ‘We are no less American’: Deaths pile up on Texas border

— ‘Too many are selfish’: US nears 5 million virus cases

— Progress slow as urgency grows on virus relief legislation

— California’s often-forgotten Imperial County is an example of how the coronavirus has been especially damaging to lower-income and Latino households. The county is heavily Hispanic and poor, and has some of California’s highest infection rates.

— Education officials in Alabama say more than 4,000 new laptop computers bound for a school district are being held by customs due to human rights...

New Zealand’s unemployment rate showed a surprising improvement to 4% during the midst of the nation’s virus lockdown, although the headline number doesn’t tell the full story and joblessness is likely to increase in the months ahead. The figures from Statistics New Zealand showed the unemployment rate in the quarter ending June fell from 4.2% in the previous quarter.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday amid investor concern about U.S. stimulus spending and a trade agreement with Beijing.

Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced while Tokyo and Sydney retreated. Gold, which has set a string of records, rose again after a deadly explosion in Beirut.

Investors are watching the stalemate among U.S. legislators over employment benefits for millions of Americans thrown out of work by the coronavirus pandemic and spending to shore up anemic economic growth.

At the same time, news reports from Washington said Chinese and American trade envoys will meet this month to review their “Phase 1” agreement aimed at ending a tariff war. That follows President Donald Trump's threat to discard the agreement over Beijing's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trading in Asia was lackluster, “with the mood darkening on both the U.S. aid package and geopolitics fronts,” said Jingyi Pan of IG in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3% to 3,381.35 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.3% to 22,516.10. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.6% to 25,088.36.

The S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney fell 0.5% to 6,006.60 while Seoul's Kospi gained 1.1% to 2,304.97.

India's Sensex opened up 1% at 38,055.80. New Zealand and Bangkok retreated while Singapore and Jakarta gained.

Overnight on Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.4% to 3,306.51 as a rally eased. The index is within 2.4% of its February record high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6% to 26,828.47. The Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to a record 10,941.17.

Gold rose $16.10 per ounce to $2,037.10.

Investors have been buying gold and silver, usually seen as a store of value if stock prices decline. Forecasters see that as an indicator of rising unease about...

NEW YORK (AP) — Virgin Atlantic, the airline founded by British businessman Richard Branson, filed Tuesday for protection in U.S. bankruptcy court as it tries to survive the virus pandemic that is hammering the airline industry.

The airline made the Chapter 15 filing in U.S. federal bankruptcy court in New York after a proceeding in the United Kingdom.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said the bankruptcy filing is part of a court process in the United Kingdom to carry out a restructuring plan that the airline announced last month. The process is supported by a majority of the airline's creditors, and the company hopes to emerge from the process in September, she said.

A Virgin Atlantic lawyer said in a court filing that the company needs an order from a U.S. court to make terms of the restructuring apply in the U.S.

The airline is primarily a long-haul operator, including flights between the U.K. and the U.S. It stopped flying in April due to the pandemic and only resumed flights in July. It closed a base at London's Gatwick Airport and cut about 3,500 jobs.

Branson appealed to the British government for financial help earlier this year — even saying that he would pledge his Caribbean island resort as collateral for a loan — but was rebuffed.

Last month, Virgin Atlantic announced that it had put together a deal to raise 1.2 billion pounds (nearly $1.6 billion at current exchange rates) from private sources, including 200 million pounds from Branson's Virgin Group.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which owns 49% of the airline, agreed to defer payments it was owed, and hedge fund Davidson Kempner agreed to lend Virgin Atlantic 170 million pounds. Virgin Atlantic also delayed deliveries of Airbus jets.

Virgin Atlantic's court moves follow bankruptcy filings in the...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Figures showing California has slowed the rate of coronavirus infections may be in doubt because a technical problem has delayed reporting of test results, the state's top health official said.

For days, California hasn't received full counts on the number of tests conducted nor the number that come back positive for COVID-19, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Tuesday.

He blamed an unspecified technical problem affecting the state's database that provides test results to local health departments. Ghaly said it's unclear when the issue would be fixed, adding that the state is relaying information manually to county health officials.

The announcement came a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom gave his most optimistic report on the state’s virus efforts since a second surge of cases in early June. Newsom said daily cases had dropped by an average of 2,200 in the last week and the infection rate of 6.1% was significantly lower than the nearly 8% recorded last month.

The latest daily tally posted Tuesday on California's COVID-19 data page showed 4,526 additional confirmed positives, the lowest total in more than six weeks and a precipitous drop from the record of nearly 13,000 reported two weeks ago.

However, the page now carries a disclaimer saying the actual daily number of positive cases is being underreported.

At issue is CalREDIE, a state system that electronically receives COVID-19 test data from lab providers. The name is short for the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange.

“There’s a specific component that feeds information from labs to both the state’s system and the local public health system," Ghaly said. “That may actually be the place where data is getting stuck.”

Counties including Orange and...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Virgin Australia plans to scale down its operations under new U.S. owners and shed a third of its staff as the carrier adjusts to the pandemic, the nation’s second-largest airline said on Wednesday.

The Brisbane-based company in April became the world’s largest airline to seek bankruptcy protection after the coronavirus pandemic virtually grounded the aviation industry.

Virgin’s administrator Deloitte’s has entered into a binding agreement to sell the airline to the Boston-based investment firm Bain Capital. The deal will go within weeks for final approval to a meeting of Virgin creditors who are owed 7 billion Australian dollars ($5 billion).

The Virgin Australia Group chief executive and managing director Paul Scurrah announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs plus long-haul flights from Australia to Los Angeles and Tokyo to try to reset the business for lower global demand.

The domestic and short-haul international fleet would become all Boeing 737s, except for regional and charter aircraft. Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s would be shed.

Virgin’s budget subsidiary Tigerair Australia would be discontinued, as would its Airbus A320s.

“Demand for domestic and short-haul international travel is likely to take at least three years to return to pre-COVID-19 levels, with the real chance it could be longer, which means as a business we must make changes to ensure the Virgin Australia Group is successful in this new world,” Scurrah said in a statement.

While the workforce would be slashed to 6,000, the airline hopes to build back up to 8,000 staff as the aviation market recovers.

Backed by Bain Capital, with more than $100 billion assets under management, Virgin Australia would have “a strong balance sheet to withstand material future...

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s hot spot Victoria state announced a new record 725 COVID-19 cases and 15 deaths on Wednesday, while businesses in Melbourne city prepared to draw down their shutters as new pandemic restrictions are enforced.

The new 24-hour record was marginally higher than the 723 cases and 13 deaths reported last Thursday.

From late Wednesday, many non-essential businesses including most detail retailers, hair-dressers and gyms in Australia’s second-largest city will be closed for six weeks. People employed in essential jobs will have to carry passes under Australia’s toughest-ever lockdown restrictions.

Like Melbourne hospitals, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews announced that non-emergency surgeries will be restricted in hospitals in regional Victoria, where infections rates are lower.

“It will be very challenging, but it is necessary to drive these numbers down,” Andrews said of the new restrictions.

He added that the “notion of more than 700 cases is not sustainable.”

In other developments in Asia and the Pacific:

— India has reported more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases for an eighth straight day, taking the country's number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began past 1.9 million. The Health Ministry on Wednesday reported a spike of 52,509 new cases and 857 new deaths in the past 24 hours. The ministry said India’s recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has touched 66.31%. It also said a record 661,892 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative testing to more than 2 million. It also said that 50% of deaths have happened in the age group of 60 years and above, 37% deaths in 45-60 age group while 11% in 26-44 years age group. In the gender distribution, 68% of people who died were men and 32%...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Frustrated Senate Republicans re-upped their complaints that Democratic negotiators are taking too hard a line in talks on a sweeping coronavirus relief bill, but an afternoon negotiating session brought at least modest concessions from both sides, even as an agreement appears far off.

Top Democrats emerged from a 90-minute meeting Tuesday with Trump administration officials to declare more progress. The Trump team agreed with that assessment and highlighted its offer to extend a moratorium on evictions from federally subsidized housing through the end of the year.

“We really went down, issue by issue by issue slogging through this. They made some concessions which we appreciated. We made some concessions that they appreciated," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “We’re still far away on a lot of the important issues but we’re continuing to go back.”

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Tuesday's session was “probably the most productive meeting we've had to date." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the two sides set a goal of reaching an agreement by the end of the week to permit a vote next week.

“I would characterize concessions made by Secretary Mnuchin and the administration as being far more substantial than the concessions that had been made by the Democrat negotiators," Meadows said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a pointed reminder that she and Schumer are “legislators with long experience" and a track record of working complicated deals — a rejoinder to critics complaining that they are being too tough and that the talks are taking too long.

“We agree that we want to have an agreement," Pelosi said. “Let’s engineer back from there as to what we have to do to get that...

BEIJING (AP) — Major Asian stock markets declined Wednesday amid investor concern about U.S. stimulus spending and a trade agreement with Beijing.

Market benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined.

Investors are watching the stalemate among U.S. legislators over employment benefits for millions of Americans thrown out of work by the coronavirus pandemic and spending to shore up anemic economic growth.

At the same time, news reports from Washington said Chinese and American trade envoys will meet this month to review their “Phase 1” agreement aimed at ending a tariff war. That follows President Donald Trump's threat to discard the agreement over Beijing's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The price of gold rose again after a deadly explosion in Beirut. The precious metal has hit a string of record highs, rising $12.20 to $2,033.20 per ounce.

The explosion killed at least 70 people, injured more than 3,000 and flattened much of the Lebanese capital’s port. The cause of the most destructive blast in the country’s history was unclear.

Investors have been buying gold and silver, usually seen as a store of value if stock prices decline. Forecasters see that as an indicator of rising unease about the global economic outlook.

Wednesday's trading in Asia was lackluster, “with the mood darkening on both the U.S. aid package and geopolitics fronts,” said Jingyi Pan of IG in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5% to 3,354.92 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 0.7% to 22,426.91. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off less than 0.1% at 24,934.14.

The S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney fell 0.9% to 5,981.50 while Seoul's Kospi gained 0.7% to 2,296.98. New Zealand and Jakarta retreated while Singapore gained.

Overnight on Wall Street, the benchmark S&P...

TOKYO — A governor in Japan is drawing skeptical criticism after he touted a gargling product as effective against the coronavirus, an assertion that, despite its dubiousness, emptied some store shelves of the medicine.

Shares of Shionogi & Co. and Meiji Holdings Co., which make Isojin, soared in Tokyo Tuesday trading after Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura made the comments.

Yoshimura referred to a study carried out by the Osaka regional government on a sample of just 41 people. Experts said such a study is inconclusive.

Shionogi and Meiji shares were already coming down Wednesday, as subsequent Japanese media reports debunked Yoshimura’s claim.

Daily confirmed cases of the coronavirus have been shooting up in Japan, to more than 1,000 people. The nation had previously scored success in containing the cases, compared to harder hit nations like the U.S., Mexico and Brazil. Japan has recorded 1,023 cumulative deaths linked to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins.

The high expectations on cures and vaccines underline the widespread worries in Japan, where there has been no lockdown but a series of warnings, asking people to wear masks, wash hands, social distance and gargle, even as businesses and restaurants stay open.

___

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Florida daily deaths at 245, nearly 5,500 new cases

— Arizona reports 66 more deaths, 1,000 new cases

— Wisconsin mask requirement aims to stem surging virus

— Education officials in Alabama say more than 4,000 new laptop computers bound for a school district are being held by customs due to human rights concerns.

— Possible wave of evictions expected in U.S. as moratoriums end in many states. Some 23 million people nationwide are at risk of being evicted, according to The...

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — A former Google engineer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing trade secrets before joining Uber's effort to build robotic vehicles for its ride-hailing service.

The sentence handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge William Alsup came more than four months after former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski reached a plea agreement with the federal prosecutors who brought a criminal case against him last August.

Levandowski, who helped steer Google's self-driving car project before landing at Uber, was also ordered to pay more than $850,000.

Alsup had taken the unusual step of recommending the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into Levandowski while presiding over a high-profile civil trial between Uber and Waymo, a spinoff from a self-driving car project that Google began in 2007 after hiring Levandowski to be part of its team.

Levandowski eventually became disillusioned with Google and left the company in early 2016 to start his own self-driving truck company, called Otto, which Uber eventually bought for $680 million.

Before leaving Google, though, Levandowski downloaded a trove of Google's self-driving car technology, resulting in him facing 33 counts of intellectual property theft. He wound up pleading guilty to one count, culminating in Tuesday's sentencing.

The accusations turned Levandowski, once highly regarded for his early inroads into self-driving cars, into a notorious figure “almost synonymous with greed run amok in Silicon Valley," his own lawyers acknowledged in court documents filed last week.

The lawyers argued Levandowski deserved some leniency because there was never any evidence that he used Google's trade secrets while overseeing Uber's self-driving car division. He...

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce Wednesday that it will start the school year with all-remote learning in response to coronavirus concerns, according to published reports.

The Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, citing unnamed sources, said the announcement will be made ahead of a deadline Friday when parents were to decide on whether they wanted to start the year learning from home or a hybrid plan of remote and classroom learning.

The newspapers earlier Tuesday reported that the Chicago Teachers Union may convene its House of Delegates next week to consider a plan of action that could lead to a strike if the public schools do not institute an all-remote learning plan for the start of the school year.

Chicago teachers walked off the job for 11 days in October, winning a 16% raise during a five-year contract and funding to add social workers and nurses to the city’s schools.

Messages left by The Associated Press with Chicago school officials were not immediately returned.

The decision would come as school districts around the country are deciding how to teach children during the pandemic.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has decided against reopening later this month for in-person learning. School officials say it would not be safe for students to do so while the coronavirus continues to spread.

The New York City Department of Education has yet to come up with a plan to reopen its schools. Jim Malatras, an aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said Sunday the district has come up an outline to reopen the city’s schools, but not a plan.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump's eldest son agreed Tuesday with calls to block a proposed copper and gold mine near the headwaters of a major U.S. salmon fishery in southwest Alaska.

Donald Trump Jr. responded to a tweet by Nick Ayers, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence and a senior adviser to the Trump campaign. Ayers, in his tweet, said he hoped the president would direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to block the proposed Pebble Mine.

Trump Jr., in response, said: “As a sportsman who has spent plenty of time in the area I agree 100%. The headwaters of Bristol Bay and the surrounding fishery are too unique and fragile to take any chances with.”

This comes as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers weighs a key permitting decision for the project, which is being pursued by the Pebble Limited Partnership. The Pebble partnership is owned by Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.

An environmental review released by the corps last month stated that under normal operations, the alternatives it looked at “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers and result in long-term changes to the health of the commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay.”

The review shows that Trump Jr. and Ayers are wrong, the Pebble partnership said in a statement, adding it is confident the corps will issue a final decision “in the next few months. We do not believe that the President will interfere with this statutory process.”

The EPA has said the Bristol Bay watershed supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world and contains significant mineral resources. Under the Obama administration, the agency proposed restricting development in the region, though those restrictions were never finalized. The EPA retains the option to invoke that so-called veto process again if it...

Eastman Kodak's potentially lucrative deal to help the U.S. government make more generic drugs domestically is threatening to turn into a regulatory headache for the fallen photography giant.

Kodak's depressed stock price surged last week before the company announced its plans to work with President Donald Trump's administration in exchange for a $765 million loan. That prompted Sen. Elizabeth Warren to send a Monday letter asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether insider trading laws have been broken.

The SEC is now in the early stages of a probe, according to a report published Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper cited unidentified people familiar with the matter.

The SEC declined to comment on the report.

Kodak said Tuesday that the Rochester, New York, company intends to cooperate with any potential inquiries, without saying whether it has been contacted by the SEC.

The company's stock soared on the July 28 news about the $765 million loan from the federal government to help Kodak make factory changes necessary to make pharmaceutical ingredients in short supply in the U.S. Its shares rocketed from around $2 to as high as $60 before some of its former debt was converted into stock as part of a complex arrangement.

The conversion resulted in Kodak issuing nearly 30 million additional shares, undercutting the value of the stock already outstanding. Kodak's stock closed at $14.40 after falling 3.6% in Tuesday's trading.

Any investigation is likely to focus in an abrupt rally and trading frenzy in Kodak's stock before the company and the Trump administration made their announcement. The rally may have triggered by some of the news being shared online on Twitter and websites by at least two reporters in Rochester and two...

About 4,000 new laptop computers bound for an Alabama school district were held up over issues with manufacturers, weeks before the school year was set to begin with increased online learning amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to education officials.

Etowah County Schools Superintendent Alan Cosby said Tuesday that his district ordered the Chromebook computers in June through a reseller called Trinity3 Technology, which helps supply schools with remote learning technology. He said the district ended up canceling the order after attempting to resolve the delay.

The laptops were scheduled for delivery to his system this week, but the reseller informed district officials that the computers, manufactured by Lenovo, were being held by the U.S. Department of Commerce in customs because they also involved a separate electronics company that was accused of involvement in human rights violations in China, Cosby said.

That company was Hefei Bitland Information Technology Company, one of 11 Chinese companies that the U.S. imposed trade sanctions on last month as the Commerce Department cracked down on imports made with suspected forced labor, as well as companies implicated in other human rights abuses in China’s Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang, officials said.

But the U.S. Department of Commerce said late Tuesday that it had not seized any laptops.

“The Department of Commerce recently added Hefei Bitland Information Technology Company to the Entity List because of human rights abuses including forced labor in the Xinjiang region of China," according to the statement. "The Entity List establishes a license requirement for the export of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and does not apply to the importation of Chromebooks from China. While there are nuances in the policy that this issue...

DETROIT (AP) — Jim Farley will lead Ford Motor Co. into the future as the global auto industry faces a new era of autonomous and electric vehicles.

The company named Farley, 58, as its new CEO effective Oct. 1, replacing Jim Hackett, who will retire after three years at the helm. Farley, who has been with Ford for more than a decade, had been chief operating officer since February and clearly was being groomed for the top position.

He faces tough challenges as the industry emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Ford is losing money and is transitioning from an aging model lineup to new vehicles, including those powered by electricity. It's also in the midst of an $11 billion restructuring plan to cut costs and bureaucracy and make money off its autonomous vehicle unit.

Executive Chairman Bill Ford, the great grandson of founder Henry Ford, said the board briefly discussed looking outside for a CEO, but was inspired by Farley's leadership and felt the company is moving in the right direction. “We talked about it and we did throw some names around,” he said on a conference call Tuesday. “Every time we did that, we always felt that Jim Farley rose to the top.”

As COO, Farley led the company's global markets and product development. He was in charge as Ford rolled out a revamped F-150 pickup — the country's best-selling vehicle — the new Bronco off-road SUV brand and the electric Mustang Mach-E SUV.

Farley, who was hired away from Toyota by then-CEO Alan Mulally in 2007 to run Ford's marketing operations, said Tuesday that his main goal is for a smooth transition, but he has plans for the future that will be announced later.

The company, he said, would continue on the path set by Hackett, with priorities of reaching a 10% profit margin in North America, seeking immediate material and warranty cost...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian police raided the office of news broadcaster Al Jazeera and two local TV stations on Tuesday, seizing computers as part of an investigation into a documentary on undocumented migrants that enraged the government.

Al Jazeera, a Qatari-state owned broadcaster, said in a statement that police seized two computers during the raid, which it called a “troubling escalation" in a government crackdown on media freedom. It urged Malaysian authorities to cease the criminal investigation.

Police opened an investigation last month into the Al Jazeera documentary on the treatment of undocumented migrants after officials complained it was inaccurate and biased. Seven Al Jazeera staff members have been grilled by police as part of the probe for alleged sedition, defamation and violating the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Police obtained court warrants to search the offices of Al Jazeera as well as local broadcasters Astro and Unifitv, criminal investigation chief Huzir Mohamed said in a statement. The two local TV stations had reportedly aired the video.

Huzir said the raids were conducted jointly with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which is also investigating the stations.

He said police seized computers which will be sent for further analysis and took statements from witnesses during the raids. “No individual or entity will be spared from action if they have violated the law," he said.

Al Jazeera said the raid was “an attack on press freedom as a whole" and urged Malaysian authorities to cease the criminal investigation.

“Conducting a raid on our office and seizing computers is a troubling escalation in the authorities’ crackdown on media freedom and shows the lengths they are prepared to take to try...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California prosecutors on Tuesday asked the NFL to remove a video produced as part of the league's Inspire Change campaign, saying it misrepresents the circumstances leading to the fatal shooting of a Black man in 2018.

The video shows Sequette Clark speaking about the death of her son, Stephon Clark, who was killed in the backyard of his grandparents’ home. The shooting led to weeks of protests in Sacramento and across the nation, sometimes disrupting games by the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

“Though well-intentioned, the video performs a disservice instead of a public service by omitting the crucial facts which preceded Mr. Clark’s tragic death,” California District Attorneys Association president Vern Pierson said in a statement.

Among other things, the video doesn't mention that he was suspected of vandalism and was running from police, he noted. Clark turned toward them holding what the two officers said they thought was a gun, but it was a cellphone.

NFL officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Attorney Brian Panish, who represented Sequette Clark and other family members in a lawsuit against the city, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“My family will never be the same without Stephon,” she says in the video.

But she applauded a new California law that attempts to deter shootings by police by setting a higher standard for when officers can use lethal force.

“That’s the ultimate goal, to make change,” she says.

The association said in a letter Tuesday to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that it applauds the league's Inspire Change initiative, which provides grants to nonprofit organizations and showcases players' community involvement. The grants focus in part on promoting...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Black-owned businesses have been almost twice as likely to fail as businesses overall during the current pandemic, according to a study released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

The study determined that a major reason for this was that Black-owned businesses are heavily concentrated in cities that have been hardest hit by the virus and they entered the pandemic with weaker financial conditions.

The study found a “disturbing relationship" between areas that have been hard-hit by COVID-19 and the economic health of Black-owned businesses, said Clair Kramer Mills, assistant vice president of the New York Fed.

The Black-owned businesses “had weaker financial conditions, weaker bank relationships and preexisting funding gaps prior to the pandemic,”she noted.

The New York Fed study found that 40% of the revenue from Black-owned businesses is concentrated in just 30 counties, roughly 1% of all the counties in the United States. And among these counties, about two-thirds are those that had the highest level of COVID-19 cases.

The report found that between April and June, nearly $521 billion in loans in the Paycheck Protection Program to support businesses had been distributed but that the support did not reach some of the hardest hit areas.

“Businesses in the hardest hit communities have witnessed huge disparities in access to federal relief funds and a higher rate of business closures,” Mills said.

The New York Fed report said that in the 30 counties where Black-owned businesses were seen as particularly susceptible to closures, about 15% to 20% of the businesses received PPP loans.

The report said while those rates were not too different from the national business estimate of 17.7% of businesses receiving PPP loans, there was a...

American Airlines has reached a deal with its pilots’ union designed to reduce the number of job losses in October as the airline shrinks because fewer people are flying during the pandemic.

American had previously offered early retirement to pilots and other employees. But, Senior Vice President Kimball Stone said Tuesday, “we still had many more people than necessary to run our operation."

The agreement with the Allied Pilots Association would let pilots work every other month through next May, or take leave while receiving training so they could be rehired if travel demand recovers.

It is the latest among a number of deals negotiated by airlines and their unions to limit or avoid job cuts in October. That is when federal relief for airline labor costs and a ban on layoffs end. Congress is considering giving passenger airlines another $25 billion to avoid layoffs shortly before the Nov. 3 election.

Last month, American, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, warned 25,000 employees, including about 2,500 pilots, that they could be furloughed, or laid off with rehiring rights. More than 800 American pilots took early retirement.

Delta Air Lines, which sent furlough warnings to more than 2,500 pilots, got 2,200 to take early retirement. United Airlines warned 36,000 employees that they could lose their jobs.

A hoped-for recovery in air travel leveled off in June and July as the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. surged. Passenger traffic is down more than 70% from a year ago.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal is having company-wide layoffs, a spokeswoman confirmed.

The layoffs affect less than 10% of the company's employees, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. NBCUniversal has 35,000 full-time employees.

The coronavirus is hurting NBC's business. In its most recent quarter, revenue slid 25% to $6.1 billion as the coronavirus pandemic shut down Hollywood and live sports. Advertisers have pulled back from TV, movies are delayed as theaters are largely shut down and theme parks were closed for most of the quarter. NBC reopened two of its parks, Universal Studios Japan and its Universal park in Orlando, Florida, in early June.

Other entertainment companies are also feeling the effects of the pandemic. Disney reported Tuesday that its revenue fell 42% to $11.8 billion in its most recent quarter.

Let’s face it: ensuring maximum employee efficiency is one of the biggest concerns of many Business owners and Managers these days.

It is practically impossible to lead a team with different temperament and views and not have any clashes and miscommunication. All this hinders the efficiency of the employees. Needless to say, getting everyone on the same page is not a piece of cake.

So, how do you ensure optimum efficiency from the employees?

Here are 8 proven ways you need to know about how to increase productivity at work.

1. Provide your team with proper Communication apps

It does not matter whether your team is working remotely or under the same roof, having proper communication tools can help the team members to be on the same page.…

The post 8 Proven Ways to Increase Employee Productivity at work appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Did you know that losing power for just one hour causes the average American commercial customer over $1,800? Considering that power outage in the United States lasts nearly 198 minutes, this could be a huge cost burden.s

Blackouts and power outages are often a result of a myriad of causes that range from unintended human errors to works of God.

For an average business, a power loss can cripple operations and bring an enterprise to a standstill. However, with the right generator, you don’t need to worry about power losss

Here’s how to buy a generator and escape the inevitable cost implications that follow power interruptions.…

The post How to Buy a Generator That’s Right for Your Business appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone and a large percentage of the workforce in the United States and lots of people have been laid off. This has contributed to an economic crisis that has only compounded the public health crisis.

There have been numerous reports of furloughs, pay cuts, and even people getting laid off. In many cases, these people have been the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has given rise to a number of legal questions. In particular, many individuals want to know if they have been terminated wrongfully. This is where it is important to take a look at the employment contract or agreement.…

The post An Overview of Key Employment Contract Issues Due to COVID   appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Getting charged with a Driving Under The Influence (DUI) will always face you with a lot of legal trouble and serious consequences. More so when you’ve been charged abroad. When you’re traveling abroad, this isn’t one that you’d exactly like to take home as a souvenir. In fact, it can be one of the worst news that you can ever receive. Plus, the fines can be severe, too.

Since you’re in a foreign country, you don’t know anyone or the legalities of their local laws. Perhaps, you could even be confused as to which lawyer you’re going to hire.

These tips can guide you on what you should do if you get caught with a DUI abroad:

1.

…

The post Rome DUI Tips: What To Do If You Get Caught Abroad appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Selling your house is a big deal. Let’s be real, it’s a decision that can’t be made easily. You are selling something you once called home. It maybe took you years to decorate and make it your own cozy space, so it can take a lot of time, energy, and effort to let it go and sell it.

Once you finally decide that this is something you want to do, you should consider your options and find the easiest way to sell it. Selling property online is a great way to put your house out there and reach a bigger pool of buyers.…

The post How to Sell Property Online for a Good Price appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Your business faces competition from other companies in the market, and it’s your duty as a smart businessman to create a different brand that stands out. The big question is how do you increase your brand awareness?

Here are six ingenious steps you can take to improve your brand image, and once you employ them, you are sure of yielding better results.

1. Use Search Engine Optimizations

SEOs are critical in driving organic traffic, and by placing it on Search engine result pages, you can get better traffic and improve your business brand awareness. SEOs enable you to have better SERP ratings, and you can use it on social media platforms, websites, among other online platforms.…

The post Increase Brand Awareness With These 6 Ingenious Ways appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Remote work was already a growing trend long before the COVID-19 pandemic came about and flipped the whole world upside down. When the virus changed everything, the meaning of remote work was included in those changes. It was no longer a choice whether employees could or would work from home. It simply became the only option.

While plenty of people couldn’t be happier to adjust to new, remote lifestyles, for many, working from home was not a choice they ever would have wanted.

Working from home has always come with its challenges for the freelancers, entrepreneurs, and employees that have done it.…

The post Seeing the Benefits of Coworking Spaces After No Choice But To Work from Home appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Over 627,000 new businesses are created each year, and only 51% of enterprises last beyond five years. Opening a business is tough, but the good news is that companies should have, on average, 15-45% year-over-year growth. Thus, it helps to know strategies that you can apply to make your business grow.

photo credit: Charles Deluvio / Unsplash

Building a solid business requires accurate data to guide you in making smart decisions. From infusing capital to hiring new talent, there are several ways to scale up your entrepreneurial activity.

Update Information Technology (IT) Equipment and Software

A shrewd business owner uses tools to track and analyze cash flow.…

The post 3 Ways To Grow Your Business appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

The Port of Kennewick is asking the public to weigh in as it updates its plan for the downtown waterfront. The planning area covers Clover Island and other port-owned property along East Columbia Drive in Kennewick. The port will give virtual overviews at 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, and noon Tuesday, Aug. 11. The public…

The post Help shape the future of Kennewick’s waterfront appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Starting a business is a dream for millions of people, and yet very few actually succeed. Those that put in the planning and effort before launching are those most likely to thrive.

It might surprise you, but part of planning for your business success includes some attention to your personal finances. Getting those squared away can have a positive impact on your business.

How Your Personal Finances Affect Your Business

It seems like your personal and your business finances would be two separate things, right? In fact, because your business is new (or nonexistent), many lenders and vendors will look at your personal credit scores to determine your creditworthiness.…

The post 4 Steps to Prepare Your Personal Finances for Starting a Business appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Being stuck in a financial rut can feel overwhelming at times. It’s like, no matter what you do or how hard you work, the situation never seems to change. There are ways to dig yourself out of a hole and in this post, we’ll look at some great tips on how to get back on top of your finances.

You Need a Plan

Sometimes all it takes to get on top of your finances is a plan on how to do it. You might want to consider enlisting the help of a financial adviser or an accountant. They’re experts at helping people with their finances but not only that, a fresh mind that’s not personally involved in the situation will usually see things more clearly.…

The post Dig Yourself Out Of a Financial Hole With These Handy Tips appeared first on SMALL BUSINESS CEO.

Richland taps former employee as next leader A former Richland educator will return as the district’s next superintendent. Shelley Redinger, who led the Spokane School District for the past eight years, is the district’s new choice to succeed longtime superintendent Rick Schulte, who retired June 30. Two prior superintendent picks did not pan out. Redinger…

The post Business Briefs – July 2020 appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Home furnishings retailer Tuesday Morning will close its Kennewick store after filing for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in May.  Dallas-based Tuesday Morning Corp. (NASDAQ: TUES) informed customers of the decision via email on July 23. The company is conducting a store closing sale at 7411 W. Canal Drive until it shutters its doors.  The off-price retailer specializes in home furnishings, seasonal decor and other…

The post Bankrupt Tuesday Morning closing Kennewick store  appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Tri-City mayors expressed a collective desire to move beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and return to the workaday world of potholes, parks and police budgets during their annual “State of the Cities” address.  The mayors of the four cities delivered their traditional overview of municipal government on July 22. The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce puts on the annual event, typically…

The post Tri-City mayors dream of returning focus to potholes, parks and police  appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Benton County Auditor Brenda Chilton is heading into a busy presidential election season with plenty of room to spread out in both Prosser and the Tri-Cities.  The auditor’s office signed temporary leases for a fruit warehouse in Prosser and a former restaurant in Richland to carry out election work through the 2020 season, funded with a $250,000…

The post Pair of leases lets Benton County elections spread out for 2020 cycle  appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Seattle Children’s will move its Tri-City clinic to larger offices in Kennewick next spring.  The Seattle nonprofit with a mission to provide care to “anyone who needs it” leased a 13,000-square-foot building at 8232 W. Grandridge Blvd. It will move once its facilities crews renovate the space.   The move is driven by growing demand for the wide variety of medical services Seattle Children’s provides to…

The post Seattle Children’s moving Tri-City clinic to bigger spot next spring  appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Bookwalter Winery in Richland will begin its pandemic-delayed expansion this summer.  The family-owned winery and restaurant secured permits for the $4 million project in late June. It initially intended to break ground in February but “hit the brakes” when the Covid-19 crisis took hold earlier this year.  John Bookwalter leads the winery his father, Jerry,…

The post Richland winery restarts expansion delayed by Covid-19 appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

The state can file lawsuits against people or businesses that do not pay taxes, resulting in a judgment against property that person or business owns. Judgments are filed in Benton and Franklin Superior Court. The following is from the Franklin County Superior Court Clerk’s Office. Ram General Contractor LLC, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries…

The post Judgments – July 2020 appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

The jobless rate fell sharply in June across Washington and in the Tri-Cities as local economies partly reopened under the Safe Start program, according to figures released July 21 by the Washington Employment Security Department.  In the Tri-Cities, unemployment fell to 9.1%, down three full points from the 12.3% rate posted in May and four points off the…

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Brad Fisher, a wealth manager, former Kennewick mayor and unflagging advocate for Tri-City control of the Columbia River shoreline, died July 19, 14 months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.  He was 63.  Fisher’s daughter, Chelsea Goff, announced his death Monday on Facebook.  Goff said her father intended to retire when he was 70. Instead, doctors told him “to…

The post Tri-City champion Brad Fisher dies from brain cancer appeared first on Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.