Greece announces reopening of Athens Stock Exchange
ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s government announced that the Athens Stock Exchange will reopen Monday, a big step toward normalcy as talks with international creditors shifted into high gear.
The exchange has been closed since June 29, when the government imposed capital controls to prevent a banking collapse.
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos signed the order Friday that also includes restrictions for Greece-based traders for an unspecified time period. A 60-euro limit on cash machine withdrawals will remain in place.
Tsakalotos met with lead negotiators from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to start negotiations for a third bailout worth $93 billion, following several days of preparatory meetings between lower-level officials on reforming the tax system and labor market regulations.
Verizon strike possible as contract deadline looms
WASHINGTON – Verizon workers in nine states could walk off the job as soon as early Sunday if union negotiators don’t reach an agreement over benefits with the wireless carrier.
A contract covering 39,000 Verizon workers represented by two unions expires at the end of Saturday. Last week the Communication Workers of America announced that 86 percent of Verizon workers covered by the contract voted to strike in a recent poll, if a new agreement isn’t reached.
The contract covers employees in nine states from Massachusetts to Virginia who work for Verizon’s wireline business, which provides fixed-line phone services and FiOS Internet service.
The unions say the telecom giant is demanding that workers sharply increase their health care contributions and make concession on pensions.
WTO rules against China for duties on U.S. steel imports
WASHINGTON – The World Trade Organization says China broke global trade rules by failing to comply with an earlier WTO ruling and continuing to impose duties on specialty steel imports.
The decision announced Friday was a victory for the United States and steelmakers AK Steel in West Chester, Ohio, and Allegheny Ludlum in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.
The case dates back to 2010 when China imposed duties on a high-tech specialty steel used in power plants. Saying the duties violated trade rules, the U.S. took the case to the WTO and won. Despite the ruling, China reintroduced duties on the steel in 2013. The United States went back to the WTO, charging that China was not complying with the earlier decision. China eliminated the duties a few months ago.
The U.S. says the duties cost American steelmakers more than $200 million in annual exports.
CBS to run Super Bowl ads online as well as on TV
LOS ANGELES – Next year, you won’t have to worry about missing the Super Bowl commercials if you can’t get to a TV.
In the past, not all advertisers bought online time along with a pricey 30-second spot during the most-watched TV event of the year. Broadcasters sometimes ran substitute ads online instead.
This time, CBS says it’s making all advertisers buy an online spot with their on-air time, so ads seen during the Feb. 7 online simulcast will be the same as the ones on TV.
It’s not known whether this policy will continue after that, as CBS rotates the broadcast with Fox and NBC.
During this year’s game, 30-second ads were selling for $4.5 million. CBS is aiming to increase that to $4.7 million, not including what they can get for online playback.