Image source, Reuters

American farmers caught in the crossfire of the Trump administration's trade war are to receive $4.7bn in compensation.

The aid package was announced by the US Department of Agriculture on Monday, external, "in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation by foreign nations".

The vast majority will go to soybean farmers, who have been hard hit by retaliatory tariffs by China. Pork, dairy and wheat producers are among those sharing the rest.

Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter

Workers at a company that prints cheques are awaiting a fresh offer from management after calling off strike action scheduled for today and tomorrow.

Some 79 members of the Unite union at Communisis in Crewe, where cheques have been printed for more than 100 years, are in dispute with the company over pay.

They were set to halt work for two days in each of the next six weeks, printing cheques for High Street banks.

Which begs the question of how much demand their still is for chequebooks. Is it just the window cleaner who demands payment in this way?

In fact, 405 million cheques were processed in the UK last year. Did you write one of them?

Let us know when you last used a cheque and why at bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

Image source, Hargreaves Lansdown

Struggling estate agency Countrywide is leading the market's fallers today. Shares in the firm have fallen almost 7% to 13.96p ahead of its £140m shareholder cash-call this morning.

A year ago shares in the company stood at around 130p.

Image source, Getty Images

Asia's main stock markets rallied once again on Tuesday, taking the lead from Wall Street after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record closing highs.

Markets opened strongly after the US and Mexico agreed to revamp Nafta, the North American Free Trade Agreement, in what Donald Trump called a "really good deal" for both countries.

But some of those gains were pared back by the close.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng clocked the biggest rise of the day, with 0.2% increase at 28,313.04.

It was a different story on the Chinese mainland where the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.1% at 2,777.98.

While Seoul's Kospi climbed nearly 0.2% and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended the day 0.1% higher.

One of Japan's biggest winners this Tuesday was Toyota Motor Corp. It surged nearly 1.6% after it said it would invest $500m (£387m) into ride hailing startup, Uber.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the Metal and Engineering Corporation (Metec) of lacking the relevant experience to work on Ethiopia's $4bn project on the River Nile.

The Grand Renaissance Dam, which is set to be Africa's biggest hydro-power plant, is one of a number of large-scale infrastructure projects aimed at putting Ethiopia on course to become a middle-income nation by 2025.

Straddling the Nile, the dam has been called the most ambitious infrastructure project ever achieved on the continent. Once built, the 1.8km (1.1 mile) wide and 155m (500ft 5in) high dam will triple the country's electricity production.

It is mainly being built by an Italian firm. But Metec, which comes under the Ministry of Defence, has now lost the contract to install the vast turbines for the delayed project. The move is the latest in a raft of reforms carried out by Mr Abiy since he came to power in April.

Earlier this year, Simegnew Bekele, a project manager on the dam, was found dead in his vehicle in Addis Ababa.

Here's something you can't unsee...

Distribution firm Bunzl is leading the FTSE 100 risers this morning after announcing a Norway acquisition. The company's shares are up 3.18% at 2,404.

But outside the blue chip index, sweetener firm Purecircle is up more than 5% at 330.25 while finance company Investec has risen 4.37% to 525.2.

PR Rachel Whetstone is leaving her role as head of corporate communications at Facebook to join Netflix.

Ms Whetstone had previously been in charge of comms at Uber. Her tenure at Facebook marred, of course, by the company’s response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal for which she took partial blame, along with Facebook’s policy and comms head Elliot Schrage, who has also since left.

Before Uber, Ms Whetstone was at Google. At Netflix, she replaces Jonathan Friedland, who was fired after twice using the "N-word" during company meetings.

As our technology correspondent reminds us - Ms Whetstone is part of a power couple. She's married to former government advisor Steve Hilton, who is now a presenter on Fox News.

Image source, Getty Images

China has set its sights on one of the most unwelcome threats to its economy - peer-to-peer lending, or online banking platforms which claim to connect investors with borrowers over the internet.

The platforms give non traditional money lenders an opportunity to generate some income, while offering credit to many Chinese people who cannot get bank loans.

But the country’s top financial regulator does not want them left unchecked any longer and has called for urgent steps to tackle the internet-based lending platforms.

The Financial Stability and Development Commission (FSDC) wants an inventory of the thousands of peer-to-peer lending platforms operating in China and the risks they pose.

The proposal comes as China's leaders seek to stabilise the economy amid the ongoing trade war with the United States.

Image source, Reuters

Commenting on the growing criticism of auditors this year in the wake of the Carillion collapse, Deloitte UK chief David Sproul said:

Image source, Getty Images

Big Four accountants Deloitte said revenue climbed 5.9% to £3,580m in the year to 31 May.

It said it was the eighth consecutive year of growth.

Its audit and risk advisory revenues grew by 10.2% to £1,027m, consulting increased by 1.7% to £873m, and tax saw its revenue rise by 5.8% to £732m.

David Sproul, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte North West Europe, said: “Tax revenues have been boosted by demand for M&A, private client and employment-related services work, as well as demand for digital solutions to global compliance obligations."

The FTSE 100 has opened up 0.77%, or 58 points, at 7,634.51 this morning.

The FTSE 250 has also opening in positive territory, rising 0.46%, or 96 points, at 20,789.63.

Image source, GLHF Game Bar

A major eSports tournament has been suspended by games publisher Electronic Arts (EA) after a shooting that saw two competitors killed on Sunday.

Three events have been cancelled while the firm conducts a "comprehensive review of safety protocols”.

EA’s chief executive Andrew Wilson said , externalhe was “filled with shock and grief” over the killings in Florida.

Read the full story

Image source, Bunzl

That Bunzl acquisition mentioned earlier is the distribution group's first move into Norway.

It's snapped up Oslo catering equipment supplier Enor, whose customers include hotels, restaurants, hospitals, municipalities, contract caterers and fast food chains.

Revenue for the company last year was NOK294 million ( around £27m).

Bunzl, which didn't disclose the cost of the purchase, now has operations in 31 countries.

Image source, Bunzl

Distribution group Bunzl has reported a 4% climb in pre-tax profits to £257.9m for the half-year to the end of June.

Boss Frank van Zanten said: The prospects for the group are positive and the company will continue to develop the business and build shareholder value through a combination of organic growth and further acquisitions."

It made four acquisitions in the period, including one announced today, spending £132m.

The interim dividend has been increased by 9% to 15.2p