Business briefing: Amazon to pay $1.2 million in pesticide settlement

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced a $1.2 million settlement with Amazon over the sale and distribution of illegal pesticides, one of the largest penalties assessed under federal pesticides laws. Federal regulators said the agreement settles allegations that the Seattle-based internet giant committed nearly 4,000 violations between 2013 and 2016 for selling and distributing imported pesticide products not licensed for sale in the United States. The pesticides, including insecticide in the form of chalk and cockroach bait powder, were sold by independent sellers who offered the products through Amazon's website. The products were sold through a program in which sellers provided products to Amazon, which stored them at its warehouses and shipped them after they were purchased, Chad Schulze, an EPA pesticide enforcement team lead, said at a news conference in Seattle Thursday.

A record 30 million people visited the Caribbean last year, despite two devastating hurricanes that hit a region still struggling to recover, regional tourism officials said Thursday. Visitors spent a record total of $37 billion, up nearly 3 percent compared with the previous year, according to Ryan Skeete, acting research director for the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization. The majority of visitors came from the United States, and there was a surge of travelers from Canada and Europe. It is the eighth consecutive year of growth for the Caribbean, although some islands including St. Lucia and Bermuda saw double-digit increases while others reported a nearly 20 percent drop in visitors after hurricanes Irma and Maria hit in September, killing dozens of people and causing billions of dollars in damage.