Business News Archive - October 03, 2009

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that its members at Bridgestone-Firestone ratified by more than a 2:1 ratio new four-year contracts covering 4,500 workers at seven tire and rubber product plants.

The private equity firm Blackstone Group is negotiating to buy SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and other Anheuser-Busch InBev theme parks, officials said. As of Friday, the proposed sale price stood at between $2.5 billion to $3 billion, sources close to the negotiations told The New York Times in a story published Saturday. Anheuser has been expected to sell the theme parks to help pay for the $52 billion Anheuser-Busch InBev merger, The Times reported.

The financial sector could be taxed to prevent another severe economic downturn, the head of the International Monetary Fund said in Turkey. Having some money coming from the financial sector to create a kind of fund for insurance or funding for low-income countries is something that we are going to consider, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Friday in Istanbul before the IMF-World Bank annual meeting. Strauss-Kahn predicted global growth will return at a lower level than before the crisis and warned against jettisoning a stimulus strategy too early, The (London) Independent reported Saturday. Addressing the effects of the downturn on the Caucasus and Central Asia, IMF Director Masood Ahmed said the region likely would see growth drop from 6.6 percent in 2008 to 1.5 percent in 2009. The region as a whole should see a modest recovery in 2010, although the degree of the upturn will vary among countries, Ahmed said in a release Saturday.

A federal judge has fined Southern Union $18 million for illegally storing mercury at a company-owned site in Pawtucket, R.I., authorities said.

MONTVALE, N.J., Oct.

CREVE COEUR, Mo., and CHICAGO, Oct.

Bidding wars have broken out in the Boston area, as first-time home buyers eager to take advantage of tax credits compete for houses, real estate agents say. The $8,000 tax credit is to expire next month, creating a sense of urgency, The Boston Globe reported. Since sales must be finalized by Nov.