Good morning. Employers across the U.S. are being sued by the families of workers who contend their loved ones contracted lethal cases of Covid-19 on the job. The cases are part of an unfolding liability threat facing U.S. companies of all industries as many resume operations.

Walmart, Safeway, Tyson Foods and some health-care facilities have been sued for gross negligence or wrongful death since the coronavirus pandemic began unfolding in March. Employees’ loved ones contend the companies failed to protect workers from the deadly virus and should compensate their family members as a result. Workers who survived the virus also are suing to have medical bills, future earnings and other damages paid out.

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In responding to the lawsuits, employers have said they took steps to combat the virus, including screening workers for signs of illness, requiring they wear masks, sanitizing workspaces and limiting the number of customers inside stores. Some point out that it is impossible to know where or how their workers contracted Covid-19, particularly as it spreads more widely across the country.

The coronavirus relief bill that Senate Republicans unveiled this week would make it harder for workers to sue their employer if they get sick on the job. The proposed legislation protects companies, schools and churches from being held liable for coronavirus infections beginning in December 2019, unless they acted with willful misconduct or engaged in grossly negligent behavior. The bill would cap punitive damages, set a clear-and-convincing-evidence burden of proof and raise requirements for personal-injury lawsuits. It would also push such lawsuits to federal courts, which potentially are more favorable to defendants.

The U.K.’s major economic crimes investigator has charged Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project Management Ltd. and three individuals in connection with a defense contract the country arranged with Saudi Arabia.

The charges represent a step forward in one of the Serious Fraud office’s most politically sensitive cases. Launched in 2012, the investigation was viewed as a potential threat to the country’s relationship with a key ally in the Middle East.

• A former manager of oil-services company Unaoil Group has been sentenced to three years in prison following a conviction related to a bribery scheme to secure a contract in Iraq, U.K. prosecutors said Thursday. Stephen Whiteley, a former Iraq territory manager for Unaoil, was found guilty this month of one count of conspiracy to give corrupt payments.

A special prosecutor in Switzerland has opened criminal proceedings against the president of soccer’s world governing body, Gianni Infantino, for alleged collusion with the country’s attorney general Michael Lauber during a Swiss federal investigation into FIFA.

The proceedings, announced by authorities on Thursday, allege that Infantino and Lauber held secret meetings in 2017 while Lauber was looking into possible corruption at the highest levels of soccer. The special prosecutor, Stefan Keller, deemed that the meetings constituted “abuse of public office,” “breach of official secrecy,” and “assisting offenders.” The special prosecutor is also requesting that the Swiss government lift Lauber’s immunity so that criminal proceedings may be opened against him as well.

Cfius reviewed 325 business transactions that involved foreign money, topping the number of deals the panel has reviewed each year since 2010, according to its annual report to Congress. By comparison, in 2018 the panel reviewed 249 transactions.

The national-security review panel has taken a higher profile in recent years on heightened concerns that China has been trying to acquire U.S. technology. Its work has been in the spotlight recently for its investigation into popular Chinese video-sharing app TikTok.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. is planning measures to address alleged human-rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region, furthering the Trump administration’s recent confrontation with Beijing.
   
• The FBI said that errors found in the files of dozens of applications to monitor Americans suspected of having links to foreign intelligence or terrorism didn’t ultimately undermine those applications, disclosing the results of a review sparked by mistakes identified earlier this year.
   
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he initially challenged government officials when they recommended awarding a lucrative government contract to a charity with financial ties to his family.
   
• Media companies in Australia will be able to seek payment from Facebook and Google for news articles that are posted on their platforms, according to new rules, which could set a precedent for other countries seeking to compel tech giants to compensate local publishers.
   
• Two former senior Mexican police officials, top aides of the man who ran the country’s drug war for six years, were indicted Thursday in New York on charges of taking millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for protection and allowing tons of its cocaine to flow through Mexico unhindered.

The economy contracted at a record rate last quarter and July setbacks for the jobs market added to signs of a slowing recovery as the country faces a summer surge in coronavirus infections.

“We’re expecting a longer and slower climb from the bottom unfortunately, and here the virus will dictate the terms,” Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global Ratings, said.

• Eurozone Economy Contracts by Record 40%
• Mexican Economy Suffers Record Drop in Second Quarter
• British Banks Have Worries Beyond Coronavirus

“Through these purchases, the [Federal Reserve] Board is potentially exposing the public to financial losses through credit risk, market risk, and operational risk due to exacerbation of the climate crisis,” according to a letter signed by several groups and that will be sent to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and John Williams, leader of the New York Fed.

The hackers behind the high-profile online break-in at Twitter earlier this month talked their way onto the company’s network using the telephone, the company said.

“This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems,” Twitter said Thursday via tweet.

Twitter didn’t spell out how exactly the attack was carried out or how its employees were fooled. The company previously said the hackers used “social engineering” to gain access to its tools. Once the hackers tricked employees into giving them access to Twitter’s systems, they learned more about how the company worked and used that information to target other employees, Twitter said in its latest disclosure on the event.

Some advertisers that left Facebook for July to protest the proliferation of hate speech on its platforms say they are coming back, while the tech giant’s financial outlook suggested the boycott isn’t taking a major financial toll.

VF Corp.’s North Face, arguably the first widely known brand to join the campaign, said it would resume doing business with Facebook in August. “We are encouraged by the initial progress and recognize that change doesn’t happen overnight,” said a spokeswoman for North Face. Marketers including brewer Heineken, sportswear maker Puma and spirits giant Pernod Ricard also said they would return to Facebook.

Other brands said they would extend their planned July boycotts into August at least, however, calling Facebook’s moves insufficient. They include packaged-goods marketer J.M. Smucker, spirits maker Beam Suntory, retailer Eddie Bauer, business-software company SAP and Boston Beer Co.

• Tyson Foods said it has created a chief medical officer position and plans to hire nearly 200 nurses and administrative personnel as part of its Covid-19 monitoring program. The meatpacking giant said its program involves screening employees daily as they arrive at work and testing for Covid-19, including those without symptoms. An algorithm-based process will select a number of employees each week to be tested based on factors such as the number of positive cases involving plant workers as well as the surrounding community, it said.
   
• Enterprise information-technology firms are rolling out digital tools designed to help employers deal with a range of workplace issues arising from Covid-19, as companies begin planning for an eventual return to the office. They include workplace apps for employee health checks and contact tracing, among other on-site tools.
   
• Pharmaceutical companies that are racing to develop vaccines for the coronavirus are already working behind the scenes to build the supply chains needed to deliver their drugs to billions of people as rapidly as possible.

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is placing China at the center of its own global lending effort and casting itself as a champion of multilateralism—even as China’s diplomats stake out a more assertive position on Beijing’s overseas interests.
   
• BuzzFeed has long recommended products to its audience, earning a cut of the revenue when readers click the links in its articles and buy from the sites that actually sell the goods. The digital publisher has now introduced a standalone website called BuzzFeed Shopping that lets visitors complete purchases without going anywhere else.