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The British/Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro has been named winner of the 2017 Nobel prize for literature, with the Swedish Academy praising the writer “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”. Ishiguro, who was born in Japan but grew up in England after this family moved there when he was five, is know for his novel, “The Remains of the Day,” a moving account of the life of a loyal butler serving an English earl who hosts meetings between Nazi sympathizers and English aristocrats in the years leading up to the outbreak of World War II. The novel was made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins as the butler. His novel “Never let me go” was made into a film starring Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield.

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L Brands Inc. , the parent of Victoria’s Secret, said September sales rose 1.1% to $981.6 million, from $971.4 million in the same period a year ago. Same-store sales fell 2%. The apparel retailer said the exit of the swim and apparel categories reduced total sales by about 2 percentage points and lowered same-store sales by about 3 percentage points. That follows the company’s August sales report, in which total sales fell 1% to $842.1 million and same-store sales declined 4%. For the fiscal third-quarter which ends in October, the FactSet consensus for total sales is a decline of 0.6% to $2.57 billion and for same-store sales is down 2.5%. L Brands’ stock was still inactive in premarket trade. It has plunged 24% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has gained 3.1% and the S&P 500 has climbed 4.3%.

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Johnson & Johnson’s Animas Corp. said Thursday it plans to close operations and exit the insulin pump business. The company will discontinue the manufacturing and sale of its Animas, Vibe and OneTouch Ping insulin pumps. Animas said Medtronic PLC will help facilitate a transition for the 90,000 patients who use Animas pumps, and who will be offered the option to transfer to a Medtronic pump. Animas employs 410 people around the world. The move comes as part of J&J’s strategic review announced in January, in which it is continuing to evaluate options for LifeScan, a blood glucose monitoring company with the OneTouch brand of products. J&J’s stock was inactive in premarket trade. It has slipped 0.6% over the past three months, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has gained 3.9% and the S&P 500 has advanced 4.3%.

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Tropical Depression 16, the storm that formed Wednesday over the western Caribbean, was approaching the coast of Nicaragua early Thursday, and may strengthen and become a tropical storm later in the day, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The storm will be named “Nate” once it strengthens to tropical storm level. A hurricane watch is in effect for parts of Mexico, and a tropical storm warning is in effect for parts of Nicaragua and Honduras. “The depression could
still become a tropical storm before the center moves over
northeastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras later today,” said the NHC. “After the cyclone moves north of Honduras, it will traverse the warm waters of the northwestern Caribbean Sea, where the upper-level environment is also forecast to be conducive for strengthening.” The storm could affect parts of the northern Gulf Coast by the weekend, although it is still to early to forecast the timing of magnitude, it said.

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Drivers for Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. won’t have to submit their fingerprints to the state under proposed new regulations in California, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday night. The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates ride-hailing companies, is instead asking for proof of annual background checks, which both companies already do. Both Uber and Lyft are vehemently opposed to fingerprint requirements, and briefly abandoned Austin, Texas, over the issue. While taxi drivers in California must submit fingerprints, Uber and Lyft claim the requirement would be discriminatory and too onerous for their drivers. After studying the issue, the CPUC concluded “doing so would not add a greater level of safety,” the agency told the Chronicle. The CPUC proposal would maintain current requirements banning drivers who are registered sex offenders or have been convicted of violent crimes or DUI.

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The U.S. Interior Department has been ordered to reinstate Obama-era regulations restricting methane emissions from gas and oil rigs on federal land, the Associated Press reported late Wednesday. The Interior Department was hoping to delay implementation of the rules until January 2019, claiming they hurt the energy industry. Energy-industry lobbyists backed the delay. But in a ruling Wednesday, a federal judge said the government did not give a “reasoned explanation” into why the rules should be put off, and ordered them reinstated immediately. The regulations, approved in November 2016, require gas and oil companies operating on federal land to prevent leaking, flaring and venting of harmful methane gas. Separately Wednesday, the Trump administration moved to roll back Obama-era clean-energy regulations concerning carbon emissions.

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Three U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed and another two wounded in an ambush in the West African nation of Niger, according to reports late Wednesday. The New York Times reported the soldiers were on a routine patrol while training Nigerien troops. Reuters reported five Nigerien soldiers were killed as well. “We can confirm reports that a joint U.S. and Nigerien patrol came under hostile fire in southwest Niger,” a U.S. military spokesman said. The attack apparently took place near the border with Mali, where Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qaida and the Islamic State have been operating. The U.S. reportedly has hundreds of troops deployed across West Africa, largely to train counter-terrorism tactics to local forces. The deaths were the first U.S. casualties reported in Niger.

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Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares rose in the extended session Wednesday after the biotech company said the Food and Drug Administration granted its dementia-related psychosis treatment a special designation to aid in the approval process. Acadia shares advanced 4.4% to $40.86 after hours. The company said the FDA granted a “Breakthrough Therapy Designation” to its drug pimavanserin to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with dementia-related psychosis. Under the designation, the FDA expedites the approval process for drugs that address serious conditions for which there are few to no treatments. Pimavanserin is already FDA-approved to treat hallucinations and delusions in patients with Parkinson’s disease psychosis under the trade name Nuplazid. Acadia said it plans to begin a late-stage clinical trial of pimavanserin in a study expected to enroll about 360 patients with dementia-related psychosis.

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