Earth Fare grocery chain may close all stores

Another grocery company is headed for the compost heap.

The North Carolina-based organic grocery chain Earth Fare, which has stores in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and other southeastern states, said it has kicked off liquidation sales as it tries to sell its assets. But all the stores will close and Earth Fare’s roughly 3,000 employees will lose their jobs if no buyers emerge, according to Jennifer Mercer, a spokeswoman for the company.

“Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate on a go-forward basis,” the company said in a statement.

Earth Fare has tried to grow and expand in recent years by implementing “numerous strategic initiatives,” it said, but broader headwinds in the retail industry made it harder for the company to refinance its debt. Mercer declined to disclose how much debt the privately held company has.

Earth Fare’s announcement came less than two weeks after Fairway Market filed for bankruptcy as it unveiled a deal to sell five of its New York City locations for about $70 million. Lucky’s Market, another organic-focused chain with more than 30 stores, also filed for bankruptcy last week.

Earth Fare said it has notified employees about the impending closures of its stores and its corporate office.

“Earth Fare has been proud to serve the natural and organic grocery market, and the decision to begin the process of closing our stores was not entered into lightly,” the company said in its statement. “We’d like to thank our team members for their commitment and dedication to serving our customers, and our vendors and suppliers for their partnership.”

Alibaba, Baidu among Chinese internet stocks rallying on U.S. markets

U.S.-listed Chinese internet stocks rallied in Monday trading after the People’s Bank of China said it would intervene to help stimulate the Chinese economy as the coronavirus continues to spread, stalling business operations in the company. The rally for U.S.-listed internet stocks comes as the Shanghai Composite index dropped about 8% after it reopened Monday at the culmination of the Lunar New Year holiday, though the decline was not as steep as some had feared. Among the U.S.-listed shares trading higher in Monday’s session are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA, +3.48%, JD.com Inc. JD, +4.07%, and Qutoutiao Inc. QTT, +6.07% Shares of Baidu Inc. BIDU, +5.92% and iQiyi Inc. IQ, +8.05% are also up sharply after Baidu raised its outlook late Friday but said it would be delaying its earnings report due to the outbreak. The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF KWEB, +3.26% is up 2.9% in Monday trading, though it has fallen 3.3% over the past month.

Nektar Publishes Two Manuscripts On Its Immuno-oncology Candidate, Bempeg

Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), a biopharmaceutical company, published preclinical data on its lead immuno-oncology candidate, NKTR-214, bempegaldesleukin (bempeg), an investigational CD122-preferential interleukin-2 pathway agonist designed to provide activation and proliferation of cancer-killing immune cells. The company said the data showed that bempeg, in combination with immune-based therapies including checkpoint inhibition, antigen-specific vaccination and adoptive cell transfer therapy, enhanced T-cell mediated tumor control.

Bempeg in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and other immune-mediating agents is being evaluated in clinical trials, Nektar Therapeutics noted.

Brazil posts January trade deficit of $1.745 bln -Economy Ministry

BRASILIA, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Brazil posted a trade deficit of $1.745 billion in January, official data showed on Monday, a large shortfall when compared with the median consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of economists of a $100 million surplus.

Exports totaled $14.43 billion and imports were $16.175 billion, the Economy Ministry said, adding that this was the first deficit in the month of January since 2015.

London’s Soho Evacuated After Unexploded WWII Bomb Discovered 

London’s media center Soho has been evacuated after police discovered an unexploded World War II-era bomb in the area.

The bomb was discovered near the Soho Hotel, a popular location for film and TV junkets, including a recent screening of Little Women with James Norton, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet attending. It’s also where a number of BAFTA attendees stayed Sunday night.

“Police were called at approximately 1:42 p.m. on Monday, 3 February to reports of a suspected WWII ordnance discovered at a building site near Dean Street, Soho,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said. “Cordons are in place, and the item will be assessed. The cordons are in place between Oxford St, Charing Cross Road, Shaftesbury Avenue, Lexington Street & Poland Street. All roads in between those mentioned are closing, and evacuations will be taking place shortly.”

Soho is the center of the film and TV industry in London with a number of production companies and post-production firms. Offices have been evacuated as has the Soho Hotel, the Soho Theatre and media members club the Groucho Club.

Children die in stampede in Kenya as they leave at end of school day

Thirteen children have died in a stampede at a Kenyan primary school as they were let out of class to go home this afternoon, police have said.

Kenyan authorities said more than 20 other students were injured.

The country’s Red Cross tweeted that it was responding to the incident.

Toddler’s headstone recovered in Penticton, police searching for family

Penticton RCMP are hoping to reunite a found headstone dating back to the 1990s with the loved ones who commissioned the grave marker.

On Jan. 14, officers came into possession of a headstone. The family of the deceased, a toddler, hasn’t been identified, according to police.

The headstone reads: “Our little angel. Mary Ann Heath 1993-1995 asleep in Jesus”.