Month: August 2022

US & China reach deal in dispute over Chinese company audits

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FILE – In this Sept. 19, 2014, photo, the Alibaba logo is displayed during the company’s IPO at the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. and China have reached a preliminary agreement to allow U.S. regulators to inspect the audits of China-based companies whose stocks are traded on U.S. exchanges. The deal was announced Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

By MARCY GORDON and JOE MCDONALD AP Business Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and China have reached a tentative agreement to allow U.S. regulators to inspect the audits of Chinese companies whose stocks are traded on U.S. exchanges. In a long-festering dispute, U.S. regulators have threatened to boot a number of Chinese companies off the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq if China doesn’t permit inspections.

The deal announced Friday by market regulators in the U.S. and China is preliminary. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said, “The proof will be in the pudding.”

“While important, this framework is merely a step in the process,” Gensler said in a prepared statement. “This agreement will be meaningful only if (U.S. regulators) actually can inspect and investigate completely audit firms in China. If (they) cannot, roughly 200 China-based issuers will face prohibitions on trading of their securities in the U.S. if they continue to use those audit firms.”

An agreement would mean that U.S. investors will maintain access to shares of important Chinese companies while at the same time being protected by the integrity of company audits. Continue reading

Cineworld considers bankruptcy as cinema struggles continue

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FILE – A man walks past a Cineworld cinema in Leicester Square, London, on Oct. 5, 2020. Cineworld Group PLC, the world’s second-largest chain of movie theaters, said Monday Aug. 22, 2022 that it is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and similar actions elsewhere. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

The Associated Press undefined

LONDON (AP) — Conditions are dimming at many movie theaters around the world.

Cineworld Group PLC, one of the industry’s biggest theater operators, confirmed Monday that it’s considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., as it contends with billions of dollars in debt and more empty seats in front of its screens than expected.

The British company, which owns Regal Cinemas in the United States and operates in 10 countries, said its theaters remain “open for business as usual” as it considers options for relief from its debt load. Cineworld said it expects to continue operating even after any potential filing, though its stock investors could face steep or total losses on their holdings.

Cineworld faces challenges specific to itself after building up $4.8 billion in net debt, not including lease liabilities. But the entire industry is navigating a tenuous recovery after the pandemic shut theaters worldwide. Continue reading

Did Amazon Buy iRobot to Spy on You?

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By Dane Dickerson

By now, you’ve likely heard about Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot, makers of Roomba Vacuums, with the insidious motive of mapping consumer homes for valuable marketing data. But what’s really behind this brow-raising deal is not so conclusive amongst field experts.

Amazon’s press release on August 5th stated they would purchase iRobot for $61 per share, including iRobot’s net debt, which approximates to a $1.7 billion deal. They refer to the deal as a “definitive merger agreement.”

The current CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle, will retain his position. The senior vice president of Amazon Devices, Dave Limp, advertises wholesome intentions for the deal that has nothing to do with using Roomba’s as tiny data spies.

“We know that saving time matters, and chores take precious time that can be better spent doing something that customers love,” says Limp. “I’m excited to work with the iRobot team to invent in ways that make customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable.” Continue reading

Italy’s Lake Garda shrinks to near-historic low amid drought

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A view of the peninsula of Sirmione, on Garda lake, Italy, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. Lake Garda water level has dropped critically following severe drought resulting in rocks to emerge around the Sirmione Peninsula. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

By ANDREA ROSA and LUIGI NAVARRA Associated Press

SIRMIONE Italy (AP) — Italy’s worst drought in decades has reduced Lake Garda, the country’s largest lake, to near its lowest level ever recorded, exposing swaths of previously underwater rocks and warming the water to temperatures that approach the average in the Caribbean Sea.

Tourists flocking to the popular northern lake Friday for the start of Italy’s key summer long weekend found a vastly different landscape than in past years. An expansive stretch of bleached rock extended far from the normal shoreline, ringing the southern Sirmione Peninsula with a yellow halo between the green hues of the water and the trees on the shore.

“We came last year, we liked it, and we came back this year,” tourist Beatrice Masi said as she sat on the rocks. “We found the landscape had changed a lot. We were a bit shocked when we arrived because we had our usual walk around, and the water wasn’t there.” Continue reading

At 75, India seeks way forward in big but job-scarce economy

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, unveils the logo of ‘Make in India’ initiative in New Delhi, India, Sept. 25, 2014. India’s phenomenal transformation from an impoverished nation in 1947 into an emerging global power whose $3 trillion economy is Asia’s third largest has made it a major exporter of things like software and vaccines. The country marks 75 years of independence from British rule on Aug. 15. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)

By KRUTIKA PATHI and BHUMIKA SARASWATI Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — As India’s economy grew, the hum of factories turned the sleepy, dusty village of Manesar into a booming industrial hub, cranking out everything from cars and sinks to smartphones and tablets. But jobs have run scarce over the years, prompting more and more workers to line up along the road for work, desperate to earn money.

Every day, Sugna, a young woman in her early 20s who goes by her first name, comes with her husband and two children to the city’s labor chowk — a bazaar at the junction of four roads where hundreds of workers gather daily at daybreak to plead for work. It’s been days since she or her husband got work and she has only five rupees (six cents) in hand.

Scenes like this are an everyday reality for millions of Indians, the most visible signs of economic distress in a country where raging unemployment is worsening insecurity and inequality between the rich and poor. It’s perhaps Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s biggest challenge as the country marks 75 years of independence from British rule on Monday. Continue reading