Amazon launches music serviceNEW YORK — Amazon is launching a paid streaming music service, the latest entry in an increasingly crowded field.Amazon Music Unlimited is being positioned to compete against existing services such as Spotify and Apple Music. It will cost $8 per month, or $80 a year, for members of Amazon’s $99-a-year Prime loyalty program. Non-Prime members will pay $10 a month, the same monthly fee charged by Spotify and Apple Music.Owners of Amazon’s Echo smart speaker, meanwhile, will be able to get the unlimited music service on one device for $4 per month.The steaming service is one more perk — like two-day free shipping and Amazon Video — that the Seattle-based company hopes will attract people to its Prime program and thus encourage them to spend more on its flagship site. Amazon already offers Amazon Prime Music for free to Prime members, but that includes about two million songs, while the new service boasts a catalog of “tens of millions” of songs.

Stanley buys Newell tools unit for $1.95BNEW YORK — Tool company Stanley Black & Decker Inc. is buying Newell Brands’ tools division for $1.95 billion in cash.The unit includes the industrial cutting, hand tool and power tool accessory brands Irwin and Lenox.Newell Brands announced recently that it will be selling several divisions as part of a consolidation move. The move will sell businesses with annual sales of about $1.5 billion. The consolidation move will transform it from a holding company to an operating company.Atlanta-based Newell Brands said that it hopes to complete the sales within the first half of 2017.The transaction between Newell Brands and Stanley Black & Decker is anticipated to result in annual cost savings of about $80 million to $90 million for Stanley Black & Decker by the third year after closing. The buyout is expected to add about 15 cents per share to earnings in the first year after the deal closes, rising to about 50 cents per share by the third year.

Toyota recalls 340K Prius carsTOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. recalled 340,000 gas-electric hybrid Prius cars around the world Wednesday, 212,000 of them in Japan and 94,000 in North America, for a defect in their parking brakes.Toyota acknowledged receiving reports of crashes, injuries and deaths. The Japanese automaker refused to provide details, saying it was still looking into the reports.Toyota said the parking brake cable can disengage unexpectedly, causing the brakes to stop working properly. So if the car is left in any gear other than park, it could start rolling away, and possibly crash.Toyota said 17,000 Prius vehicles were recalled in Europe, and the rest in Australia and other regions. The problem models were manufactured from August 2015 through October 2016.The company said all the vehicles were manufactured at its Tsutsumi plant in Toyota city, Japan, the company’s headquarters, one of a handful of plants around the world that make the Prius.