Ford to pay fine
on Brook Park plant

Ford Motor Co. will pay a $1.4 million fine to the state for failing to upgrade pollution controls at its Cleveland Casting Plant in Brook Park, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday.

The automaker and the state reached a settlement after Ford stopped building and installing a cleaner furnace system. Ford in 2007 said it plans to shutter the casting plant in 2010.

Emissions at the casting plant have decreased in recent years as operations there have been winding down, the Ohio EPA said.
Wendy's earnings
miss expectations

Wendy's International Inc. reported lower second-quarter profits on expenses from restructuring and a special committee formed a year ago to seek a possible sale. The results missed Wall Street expectations.

Wendy's earned $19.9 million, or 22 cents per share, down from $29.3 million, or 33 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue edged lower to $632 million from $633 million.
Schaeffler to press
Continental AG offer

Schaeffler Group, the family owned ball-bearing maker bidding to take over German tire company Continental AG, said Tuesday any measures intended to block its offer, such as a share sale, would be ''unjustifiable.'' Continental acquired General Tire of Akron years ago and owns a factory in Mount Vernon, Ill.

Cablevision Systems
might sell holdings

Nine months after shareholders rejected the Dolan family's latest bid to take Cablevision Systems Corp. private, the cable operator said it is considering options to sell some of its diverse holdings.

Analysts consider its cable franchise, which serves the affluent New York suburbs, one of the best in the business. The unit is the country's fifth-largest cable system and accounts for 75 percent of company revenue.

The company runs several cable television stations, including AMC, IFC and WE tv, as part of its Rainbow Media Holdings LLC unit.

The company also owns Madison Square Garden and the three sports teams that play there: basketball's New York Knicks and New York Liberty, and hockey's New York Rangers.

Drop in oil helps
Bridgestone shares

Shares of Bridgestone Corp., the world's largest tire maker by sales, rose the most in two months in Tokyo after the price of crude oil dropped. Bridgestone rose as much as 4.5 percent. Yokohama Rubber Co., Japan's second-largest tire maker, rose as much as 4.2 percent.

Analysts predict
automaker default

One of America's three biggest automakers is almost certain to default within the next five years, according to a UniCredit SpA analysis of the market for credit-default ''swaps.''

Contracts to insure $10 million of General Motors Corp. debt cost a record $4.7 million up front plus $500,000 a year, indicating an 84 percent chance of default, while Ford Motor Co. has at least a 75 percent risk, according to UniCredit data. Combined with Chrysler LLC, the probability that one of the three will be unable to fund its business is more than 95 percent.

''There might be a default at any time,'' said Jochen Felsenheimer, the Munich-based head of credit strategy at UniCredit of Europe.

Malaysia says levy
on workers is $32

Malaysia's government rejected reports that foreign workers at a garment factory contracted by Nike Inc. were mistreated and had their wages garnisheed. The 1,145 workers from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Myanmar are each paid between 840 and 1,500 ringgit ($262 and $469) a month, with only 100 ringgit ($32) deducted for an immigration levy, a human resources minister said.

Nike said many of the migrant labors paid a fee to agents in their home country to get the jobs, but once in Malaysia, the factory took their passports and withheld their wages to repay a government levy.