Wal-Mart inks a Union Deal?? and Friday Morning One Liners

Morning Readme: 07/25/08

Wal-Mart has signed union contracts in China?!

Here's more Bloomberg News: Wal-Mart inks two Union Deals.

Stop & Shop is suing Whole Foods.

Here's more on the lawsuit.

Sen. John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” made a stop at a Weis Markets-owned King’s grocery store in P.A. Wednesday where he addressed food cost inflation

Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover are planning to expand their “Affordable Food Summits,” where local politicians and economists visit stores to describe how consumers can best save money on groceries. Stop & Shop has staged three such events so far at stores in New York and New Jersey, but plans to schedule four more by September in New England and Baltimore,

The upcoming season of Top Chef takes place in NYC, contestants have been seen at Whole Foods.

NJ-Local officials have given their initial approval for a 280,000-sf shopping center at the intersection of Route 9 and Lanes Mill Road here. Proposed by YCC Development Inc., a locally based group, the project named Tropicana Commercial Center would be anchored by an 118,000-sf BJ's Wholesale Club.

A BJs employee triggered a dry chemical at a BJs Gas pump.

An analyst downgraded shares of BJ's Wholesale Club on Wednesday after rival Costco Wholesale Corp. offered an earnings outlook below Wall Street expectations, citing rising energy costs and plans to refrain from raising prices.Shares of BJ's fell $3.86, or 9.5 percent, to $36.89, while rival Costco declined $8.57, or 11.9 percent, to $63.43.

Costco Wholesale Corp. here yesterday saw its stock plummet more than 12% after it issued a warning that its net income for the current quarter will fall short of expectations, in part due to its effort to keep prices down amid rising product costs

A strike by United Parcel Service workers could hit the Chicago metropolitan area next week.

NYC is world's 22nd most expensive city; The only North American city to make the top 50, New York City fell seven spots; Moscow retained the top spot for the third consecutive year, followed by Tokyo and London.

PARIS — For Senator Barack Obama, who came to Europe once in the last four years, making a stop in London on his way to Russia, the response of many Europeans to his potential presidency has been gratifying — emotional, responsive, replete with the sense of hope he seeks to engender about a more flexible, less ideological America. (Pictured Below)

AP: Testing the waters for a swim in the Hudson The Hudson River is scenic, historic -- but swimmable?

Newsday writes on the 15th Leg District in Suffolk County.