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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Business briefs: New Spokane Target store plans to open July 27

From Staff And Wire Reports

The new Target store on South Palouse Highway and Regal Street plans to open July 27, developer Dave Black said.

The 135,000-square-foot retail center will anchor Regal Plaza, a project with four other retail stores.

Those four store tenants will occupy about 38,500 square feet, Black said.

Café Rio and Petsmart are the two tenants that have been confirmed. Black said deals are being negotiated for the two remaining stores.

The Target store will include a grocery and the typical selection of items found in the retail chain’s urban locations. Black said the company has dropped the designation of “Super” Target for its larger stores. That term was formerly applied to stores larger than 175,000 square feet.

Bernardo-Wills Architects, of Spokane, is designing the plaza’s main features, including a community plaza, an art fountain, benches, pavers and outdoor seating. The architecture firm is also designing the four pad buildings.

World Vision to hire married gay Christians

NEW YORK – One of the most prominent evangelical charities in the country will start hiring Christians in same-sex marriages.

The president of World Vision announced the new policy for the U.S. in a letter to staff Monday. President Richard Stearns said the board of the Christian group has prayed about the issue for years. They made the change hoping to avoid a divisive fight that would distract from service to the poor.

World Vision, based in Federal Way, Wash., has an operating budget of nearly $1 billion and has humanitarian relief and economic development projects around the world. About one-third of its funding comes from the federal government.

Nokia, Microsoft deal delayed until April

HELSINKI – Nokia Corp. said the sale of its mobile phone unit to Microsoft will be delayed until next month because it is still waiting for approval from regulatory authorities in Asia.

The Finnish company said Monday that the $7.3 billion deal announced in September and expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014 has been approved by the EU and U.S. authorities but “certain antitrust authorities in Asia” were still reviewing the deal.

Cisco to spend $1 billion to build cloud network

NEW YORK – Cisco says it plans to spend more than $1 billion over the next two years to build up its cloud computing network.

Cisco plans to use the money to expand its data centers for the new service, to be called Cisco Cloud Services.

The move makes the San Jose, Calif.-based networking company the latest to enter an arena that caters to the growing number of companies that would rather rent computing space than build their own.

New currency market unveiled in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Nicolas Maduro’s cash-strapped government unveiled a new currency market Monday that allows Venezuelans to buy and sell dollars legally for the first time since 2010.

Opposition leader Gov. Henrique Capriles said the so-called Sicad 2 exchange system is akin to a devaluation and will eat away at the savings of poor families.

Maduro’s government has been increasingly safeguarding its shrinking supply of dollars as oil production declines and deficit spending remains high. That’s led it to fall behind on payments to foreign airlines and carmakers, exacerbating a shortage of imported goods.