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Nomura Holdings Inc has agreed to pay $480 million to resolve civil claims by the U.S. government that it misled investors in marketing residential mortgage-backed securities, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.

Nomura knowingly bundled defective mortgage loans into marketable securities from 2006 to 2007 and misled investors about their quality, authorities said. The settlement stems from an investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.

“This settlement holds Nomura accountable for its fraudulent conduct in connection with its residential mortgage-backed securities offerings, which caused substantial harm to investors and contributed to the financial crisis of 2008,” said Richard Donoghue, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, whose office conducted the probe.

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Sears Holdings Corp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday with a plan to close about 142 of its 700 stores by the end of the year, throwing into doubt the future of the century-old retailer that once dominated U.S. malls but has withered in the age of internet shopping.

The bankruptcy filing to reorganize debts of the parent of Sears, Roebuck and Co and Kmart Corp follows a decade of revenue declines, hundreds of store closures, and years of deals by billionaire Eddie Lampert in an attempt to turn around the company he acquired in 2005 for $11 billion.

Lampert, who stepped down as Sears CEO on Monday but will remain chairman, had pledged to restore Sears to its glory days, when it owned the tallest building in the world and companies that included a radio station and Allstate insurance.

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla Inc and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk submitted a joint filing late on Wednesday in support of a settlement, saying the terms were in the best interest of investors.

“We therefore respectfully submit that the court should accept and enter the proposed consent judgments,” they said in a letter filed with the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

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The prospect of a fresh trial that could overturn $250 million damages against Bayer’s (BAYGn.DE) Monsanto unit lifted the German company’s shares, after an August ruling that it failed to warn users of the alleged cancer risks of its weedkillers.

The original verdict wiped 10 percent off the value of the company and marked the first such decision against Monsanto and its glyphosate-containing weedkillers Roundup and Ranger Pro.

Bayer, which bought Monsanto this year for $63 billion, faces more than 8,000 similar lawsuits in the United States.

On Wednesday, in San Francisco’s Superior Court of California, Judge Suzanne Bolanos gave a tentative ruling to grant the company’s motion for a new trial.

Such decisions are usually finalised after a second hearing with few major changes.

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Federal and state courts are announcing closings before Hurricane Michael hits the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday.

If Hurricane Michael hits landfall with predicted 125-mile-an-hour winds, the storm would rival Panhandle hurricanes of 1975 and 1882 for intensity, USA Today reported on Tuesday. The Hurricane was upgraded to Category 4 on Wednesday, and made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles an hour, according to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Federal courts in Panama City, Pensacola and Tallahassee were closing on Tuesday, according to this announcement. Meanwhile Florida state courts in 28 counties had announced closings as of 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday. The Florida Supreme Court and the state’s First District Court of Appeal were also closing.

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