MLB Says 31 Players Have Tested Positive for COVID-19

Commerzbank Fined 650,000 Euros for Deals With Defunct Cypriot Bank

Cyprus’s securities regulator on Friday imposed a 650,000-euro ($730,800) fine on Germany’s Commerzbank for its role in transactions carried out by a local bank that collapsed during the country’s 2013 financial crisis. The country’s CySEC commission said Commerzbank had been sanctioned over investment operations conducted by the now-defunct Laiki鈥攁lso known as Cyprus Popular Bank鈥攊n 2011, following Laiki’s merger with Greece’s Marfin-Egnatia Bank. Commerzbank declined to comment on the case, which followed an eight-year probe by Cypriot authorities. The investigation, which was launched following calls by left-wing AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides, looked into whether the Cypriot deals may have broken laws prohibiting a company from buying its own stock. CySEC said Laiki invested in two structured products issued by Commerzbank in 2008. Marfin-Egnatia, which was at that time a Laiki subsidiary,…

Major League Baseball, which plans to begin its regular season in three weeks’ time, said on July 3, 31 players have tested positive for COVID-19.

In addition to the players, seven staff members have also tested positive, MLB said in a statement revealing the results from its first set of mandatory tests.

The combined 38 positive tests equates to 1.2 percent of the 3,185 samples collected.

MLB Says 31 Players Have Tested Positive for COVID-19

The tests were conducted as part of the mandatory intake screening process prior to the workouts and full baseball activities that began on Friday.

According to MLB, 19 of its 30 clubs had one or more individuals test positive. Names of the individuals who tested positive and the affected teams were not revealed.

MLB and its players’ association last week agreed to a shortened, 60-game 2020 campaign that would begin on either July 23 or 24 with no fans in attendance.

MLB was scheduled to open its 162-game regular season in late March but delayed the campaign due to the pandemic.

By Frank Pingue

Focus News: MLB Says 31 Players Have Tested Positive for COVID-19

Lucky Brand Files for Bankruptcy as Latest Retail Casualty of Coronavirus

Apparel company Lucky Brand Dungarees is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it said on July 3, becoming the latest retailer to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic. The firm said it had entered into a “stalking horse asset purchase agreement” with SPARC Group LLC, which owns brands such as Aeropostale and Nautica, for the sale of “substantially all” its operating assets. Such a pact sets a starting bid or minimally accepted offer as a threshold for other potential buyers if they want to bid. Lucky Brand estimated both assets and liabilities in the range of $100 million to $500 million, its filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware showed. A view of a temporarily closed JCPenney store at The Shops at Tanforan Mall in San Bruno, Calif., on May…