State Street expects enforcement action by regulators
State Street Corp. said it expects to face an enforcement action by the Federal Reserve and the Massachusetts Division of Banks after it failed to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering rules, and US economic sanctions. As part of a written agreement, the bank expects to be required to improve its compliance program and retain an independent company to review account and transaction data, Boston-based State Street said Thursday in a regulatory filing. State Street in recent years has faced regulatory investigations on issues including foreign-exchange trading and soliciting business from public pension plans. In November, State Street disclosed it was responding to subpoenas from the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission on its use of consultants and lobbyists to solicit business from pension plans. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Burger-hot dog duo weighs in at 1,030 calories
NEW YORK — Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are cramming a summer cookout into one burger. An upcoming menu item is made with a beef patty that's topped by a split hot dog. The meaty duo sits on a layer of Lay's potato chips between hamburger buns. Ketchup, mustard, tomato, red onion, pickles and American cheese. The meal will have 1,030 calories and 64 grams of fat. Unfortunately for Bostonians, neither Hardee's nor Carl's Jr. has an outlet in New England. The closest Hardee's is 205 miles away, in Lake Katrine, N.Y.; the closest Carl's Jr. is a 553-mile drive to Toronto. Both chains are owned by CKE Restaurants. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
troubled three-town development project gets a new developer
LStar Management, an investment company that hopes to draw more development to the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, has taken the project's reins. The state approved its purchase of the SouthField development on May 11, the company said Thursday. A spokeswoman said she could not disclose financial terms. SouthField, a development that will be partly in Weymouth, Abington, and Rockland, was originally envisioned as a $1.5 billion mixed-use community, with easy access to major highways and parkland. But the project stalled amid disagreements between the state and the former master developer, Starwood Land Ventures. LStar, based in North Carolina, says it has turned around other stalled residential and commercial developments across the country. — JACK NEWSHAM
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Label debuts for GMO-free products
WASHINGTON — The Department of Agriculture has developed a certification and labeling program for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients. The USDA's move comes as some consumer groups push for mandatory labeling of the genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. The certification is the first of its kind and would be voluntary — and companies would have to pay for it. If approved, the foods would be able to carry a ''USDA Process Verified'' label, along with a claim that they are free of GMOs. Currently, no government-approved labels certify any food as GMO-free. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Honda recalls 4.9m more cars for air bag problems
TOKYO — Honda Motor Co. recalled an additional 4.9 million vehicles around the world Thursday for a new type of problem in Takata air bag inflators, a problem for which its Japanese rivals Toyota and Nissan have already carried out recalls. Honda also announced a global recall of 47,800 Acura and other model vehicles for a defect in the radar system that stops a car automatically before it can crash. With Thursday's announcement, recalls related to the Takata Corp. air bag problems ballooned to 19.6 million vehicles for Honda. On Wednesday, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. expanded their Takata-related recalls by 6.5 million vehicles to take care of the new problem. It involved a leak that can happen while a vehicle is in use, causing a rupture that could let an air bag explode. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Avon stock surges after a takeover bid now seen as a hoax
An iconic American company. A mysterious private investment firm. An outlandish takeover offer. All that converged in a purported buyout offer for Avon Products Inc. that sent Avon's stock on a white-knuckled ride before the hoax was evident. The offer, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, contained typos and two names of the supposed bidder. The filing came from "PTG Capital Partners Ltd.," which said it was offering to buy the ailing company for $18.75 a share — three times what Avon was trading at the day before — or about $8.2 billion. If it seemed too good to be true, investors didn't seem to care. The stock shot up about 20 percent, though no one had heard of PTG, which botched its own name: PTG was twice written as TPG. (In 2010, TPG Capital, a real firm, acquired Avon Japan from the company.) A call to the legal adviser listed on the filing, Michael Trose of Trose & Cox, was answered by a woman who said there was no record of him or the firm. The London postal code was also wrong. Avon said it got no takeover offer and could not confirm that PTG exists. Trading in Avon stock was halted three times due to volatility. — GLOBE WIRES
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Harvard says sites stole exam questions
Harvard University has sued the owners of dozens of websites for allegedly selling copyrighted testing material from its online business education program, HBX. HBX offers 8- to 12-week programs on business fundamental that students can take for a credential. The university claims the websites — with names like cheat-test.com and examcertify.com — "accessed and copied" questions from HBX final exams. The websites named in the complaint primarily sell "brain dumps," which are study materials obtained by taking a test and remembering or copying the questions. — JACK NEWSHAM
data breached, again
DENTON, Texas — The Sally Beauty chain has confirmed it suffered its second data breach in just over two years. The beauty products seller notified customers earlier this month that it was investigating reports of unusual activity on payment cards used at some US locations. A breach in March 2014 affected the credit and debit card accounts of thousands of customers. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Plant would turn Manure into gas
SALISBURY, Vt. — A natural gas company is petitioning to build a renewable gas plant at a Salisbury farm. Lincoln Renewable Natural Gas wants the Vermont Public Service Board to approve its plans. The plant would be the second of its kind in the United States. Lincoln's president, Dan Smith, told Vermont Public Radio that traditional methane digesters would process manure at the plant to produce bio-gas, which would be upgraded to bio-methane to make it interchangeable with pipeline natural gas. Most of the plant's output would serve Middlebury College. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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RadioShack name goes to Standard General for $26.2m
The dismantling of RadioShack Corp. grew closer to completion with the auctioning of the 94-year-old electronics retailer's name to hedge fund Standard General LP for $26.2 million. Standard General, which bought hundreds of RadioShack store leases in March, prevailed this week in the bidding for the bankrupt chain's brand name, a trove of customer data and other intellectual property, the hedge fund said Wednesday. Any transaction is subject to approval by the court in Wilmington, Del., where the bankruptcy was filed in February. A sale-approval hearing for the name is set for May 20. — BLOOMBERG NEWS