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HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Clorox says its bottom line hurt by cyberattack
Clorox warned on Monday that a cyberattack it had originally reported last month will have a material impact on its earnings, marking the first time the consumer products company has disclosed the extent of the attack. Clorox said it has resumed production at the “vast majority” of its manufacturing sites since the attack, which was disclosed on Aug. 14, and expects to transition to normal, automated order processing starting next week. It didn’t give a timeframe for when operations would be completely restored. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ECONOMY
National debt tops $33 trillion for first time
America’s gross national debt exceeded $33 trillion for the first time Monday, providing a stark reminder of the country’s shaky fiscal trajectory at a moment when Washington faces the prospect of a government shutdown this month amid another fight over federal spending. The Treasury Department noted the milestone in its daily report detailing the nation’s balance sheet. It came as Congress appeared to be faltering in its efforts to fund the government before a Sept. 30 deadline. Unless Congress can pass a dozen appropriations bills or agree to a short-term extension of government funding at existing levels, the United States will face its first federal shutdown since 2019. Debt is on track to top $50 trillion by the end of the decade, even after newly passed spending cuts are taken into account, as interest on the debt mounts and the cost of the nation’s social safety net programs keeps growing. — NEW YORK TIMES
AVIATION
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Bogus airplane parts keep turning up
Virgin Australia Airlines found a second suspected unapproved plane part from obscure UK supplier AOG Technics Ltd., as the industry continues to hunt down bogus components that have spread across the global fleet. The Australian airline discovered a seal with false certification documents on an inner high-pressure turbine nozzle on a Boeing 737 jet, according to a person familiar with the matter. The aircraft is under maintenance in Brisbane, where the part is being removed, said the person, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. The discoveries show how the bogus parts have infiltrated planes from the United States to Australia. Southwest Airlines has removed two “suspect parts” traced to closely held AOG Technics from one of its Boeing 737s, and engine makers General Electric Co. and Safran have sued AOG after finding that parts with falsified certificates had found their way into engines. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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INTERNATIONAL
To keep Indian mothers on the job, companies offer perks
HSBC pays for bankers’ nannies in India for up to six years. Morgan Stanley allows pregnant staff to expense cab rides, and Citigroup lets new moms work from home for a year after their maternity leave runs out. Across India, global financial firms are expanding maternity benefits to include perks rarely seen elsewhere, part of an effort to attract and retain female employees. Overall, less than a quarter of adult women in India work, among the lowest rates in the world. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
VACCINES
Pfizer predicts that nearly a quarter of those eligible will get new COVID shot
Pfizer is forecasting that 24 percent of the US population recommended to take newly approved COVID-19 vaccinations will decide to roll up their sleeves, representing a slight increase from the previous round of boosters. The drug maker is launching ads to encourage people to get the vaccine, which targets the XBB.1.5 subvariant, and is available commercially, Pfizer chief financial officer David Denton said at a JPMorgan Chase & Co. conference. Only about 17 percent of eligible Americans took the previous bivalent booster released last fall as of May. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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INTERNATIONAL
Last call for hundreds of pubs in the UK
The number of pubs that are closing rose dramatically in the first half of the year in England and Wales. A total of 383 pubs were demolished or converted to other businesses, from January to June 2023, compared to 386 in the entirety of 2022, according to data from real estate company Altus Group. The sharp drop meant that on average, more than two pubs closed every single day in England and Wales. After the closures, the overall number of pubs in England and Wales stood at 39,404 at the end of the second quarter of 2023. Wales was the worst affected region: 52 pubs shut in the first half of the year. Also badly impacted was London, where 46 closed. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
WORKPLACE
Remote work is good for the planet
Want to work fewer days from the office? You could be doing the planet a favor. Fully remote workers could produce less than half the climate-warming emissions of people who spend their days in offices, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In an analysis of various work scenarios, people’s behaviors, and sources of emissions, researchers found that switching from working onsite to working from home full-time may reduce a person’s carbon footprint by more than 50 percent. Hybrid schedules where people work remotely for two to four days a week could also cut emissions by 11 to 29 percent, according to the study. — WASHINGTON POST
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RIDE HAILING
Lyft to pay penalty to SEC for former board member’s part in stock sale
Lyft agreed to pay a $10 million penalty to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission claims that it failed to disclose a board director’s involvement in a share sale just before the company’s initial public offering in 2019. The person, who resigned from the board at the time of the transaction in March 2019, arranged for a Lyft investor to sell $424 million worth of private shares before the company’s IPO, the SEC said on Monday. The regulator said that the San Francisco-based ride-sharing firm, which didn’t admit to or deny the allegations in settling the case, failed to properly disclose details of the transaction. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
TECHNOLOGY
Australian government orders online dating firms to become safer
Australia’s government demanded online dating firms boost safety practices by mid-next year or face regulation, after research showed a spate of sexual violence against users of such platforms. The government called Monday for a voluntary code from the industry that included commitments for better engagement with law enforcement, supporting at-risk users, stronger safety policies, and greater transparency about harm. The move comes after Australian Institute of Criminology research, released last October, found that three-in-four people using dating apps or websites experienced some form of sexual violence in the five years up to 2021. This included sexual harassment, abusive or threatening language, image-based sexual abuse, and stalking. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
Monaco bankers on trial for helping Italian businessman hide assets
Inside three of Monaco’s private banks, an Italian businessman had become a valuable client. At Banque Havilland, authorities say a manager suggested “quietly” storing money in a safe deposit box rather than a regular account after too many €150,000 cash drops. A short walk away, an Edmond de Rothschild employee told investigators that he saw Fabrizio Amore enter the office near Port Hercule with a bag full of banknotes and walk out empty-handed. At Societe Generale, officials reportedly discovered the man had two boxes in the vault stuffed with nearly €800,000 in currency, $474,000 in diamonds and 132 watches. Now, six bankers face a criminal trial in the city-state on the Mediterranean Sea, where some are charged with helping Amore launder money and others are accused of failing to alert the government about suspicious transactions. Even as the Monaco bankers welcomed Amore, police in Italy were investigating him. For years, gangsters and builders had bribed and threatened politicians in Rome to win contracts for municipal construction projects and services, known as the Mafia Capitale case. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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