Another Promising Night for Fox and Its Early Start to TV Season

On its second night of jump-starting the new television season a week before its network competition, the Fox network again got some positive results.

A new comedy, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” got some promising ratings; another, “Dads,” fared well enough to hold out some hope, and one returned comedy, “New Girl,” showed some renewed strength.

Only one comedy, “The Mindy Project,” generated disappointing numbers, probably disappointing as much to critics as to Fox executives because “Mindy” had been widely extolled before its second-season premiere. The premiere also featured a guest appearance by James Franco.

Even so, Fox will probably take the overall performance on a Tuesday night, where it struggled badly last season. Probably the best news was the strong showing for “Brooklyn,” another favorite of critics, which drew six million viewers and a solid 2.5 rating among the group Fox sells to advertisers, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49.

The other new series, “Dads,” which had been excoriated by critics for what they charged was racially insensitive humor, managed a 2.1 in that 18-49 group and 5.6 million viewers, both respectable numbers for a newcomer. “New Girl” returned with 5.6 million viewers and the best 18-49 rating of the night, a 2.9. Both numbers were up slightly from the show’s premiere episode a year ago.

“The Mindy Project” however, showed what may be a worrisome falloff from “New Girl,” dropping to just under four million viewers and a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 group. Fox, which is also offering projections of how its shows will fare when delayed viewing is counted, offered some hope for “Mindy,” suggesting it could eventually reach more than six million viewers and climb to a 2.7 rating among those younger adult viewers.

That would still be a sizable falloff from “New Girl,” which Fox thinks could get as high as more than 10.5 million viewers and perhaps a 4.7 rating in the 18-49 category.

Congressional Talks on Syria Thwart Early Market Surge

The stock market rose modestly on Tuesday as renewed fears about an American military attack on Syria dampened an early rally.

Stocks surged in the opening minutes of trading as investors felt that a military strike on Syria was not imminent after President Obama announced over the weekend that he would seek Congressional approval before taking action. That move is expected to delay any attack until at least next week, when Congress returns from its summer recess.

But the early rally faded after the House speaker, John A. Boehner said he would support Mr. Obama’s call for military action. Mr. Boehner said the United States needed to respond to the Syria’s suspected use of chemical weapons. Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, also voiced support.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 23.65 points, or 0.16 percent, to 14,833.96. The index had climbed as much as 123 points in early trading.

The Dow was also held back by Microsoft and Verizon, which both slumped after announcing deals.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained 6.80 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,639.77. The Nasdaq composite index rose 22.74 points, or 0.63 percent, to 3,612.61.

The stock market also got an early boost from a report showing that manufacturing expanded last month at the fastest pace since June 2011. The report was better than economists had expected, according to estimates compiled by FactSet.

In corporate news, CBS shares rose $2.40, or 4.7 percent, to $53.50, after the broadcaster and Time Warner Cable reached an agreement that ended a blackout of CBS and CBS-owned channels. Time Warner Cable shares rose $1.90, or 1.8 percent, $109.25.

Other corporate news was disappointing. Microsoft stock fell $1.52, or 4.6 percent, to $31.88, after the software company said it would acquire Nokia’s smartphone business and a portfolio of patents and services for about $7.2 billion.

Verizon fell $1.37, or 2.9 percent, to $46.01, after the company agreed to pay $130 billion for Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless.

After a tough August, stocks may struggle to rally in September because of a string of events that could shake investors, said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

The S.& P. 500 logged its worst performance last month since May 2012 as investors became increasingly concerned about when the Federal Reserve would cut its economic stimulus. The Fed’s next meeting, which starts Sept. 17, is when many on Wall Street think it will begin winding down its bond-buying program.

Lawmakers in Washington may also throw investors a curve ball. To keep the government running, Congress needs to pass a short-term spending bill before the fiscal year starts Oct. 1. Then there is the government’s $16.7 trillion borrowing limit. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has warned that unless the debt ceiling is raised soon, the government would lose the ability to pay its bills by the middle of October.

September has often been a losing month for the stock market. Since 1945, the S.& P. 500 has slumped nearly six out of every 10 Septembers, with an average loss of 0.6 percent.

In government bond trading, the price of the 10-year Treasury note fell 20/32, to 96 28/32, while its yield rose to 2.86 percent, from 2.79 percent late Friday.

Business Briefing | Company News: Early Date Set for U.S. Suit to Block Airlines’ Merger

The Egyptian authorities are spinning conspiracy theories to intimidate dissenters and rally the public.

Which makes more sense for most students?

Early Short Story by Stieg Larsson to Be Published

A short story by the 17-year-old Stieg Larsson will be published in English for the first time next year, possibly enticing fans of the best-selling Millennium trilogy that was released after Mr. Larsson’s death in 2004.

Stieg Larsson, the Swedish writer who died in 2004, is shown in a 1998 photograph. An early short story of his is set to be published.

The unpublished story is part of a new anthology of crime fiction, “A Darker Shade of Sweden,” scheduled for release in February. Mysterious Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired the collection.

“Sweden’s most distinguished and best-loved crime writers have contributed stories to an anthology that promises to sate the desire to read about the dark side of Sweden,” the publisher said in a statement.

The anthology collects stories from 20 Swedish writers, including Henning Mankell, Asa Larsson, Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo and Sara Stridsberg. Eva Gabrielsson, Mr. Larson’s companion, has also written a story that will be published in the collection.

John-Henri Holmberg, a writer and close friend of Mr. Larsson, edited the anthology.

Mr. Larsson’s series, which began with “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and chronicles the adventures of the computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, is one of the most successful ever published.

DealBook: William Heinecke, an Early Entrepreneur in Asia, Is Still Finding Success

William Ellwood Heinecke, the billionaire chairman of Minor International.

William Ellwood Heinecke has always followed his instincts.

He started his first businesses, cleaning offices and selling advertising, as an expatriate high school student in Bangkok. He was a millionaire before he reached voting age.

Defying conventional wisdom at the time about overseas appetites, he introduced pizza to Asians in the early 1980s, the start of an empire of retailers, restaurants and resorts built around classic brands like Pizza Hut, Sizzler, Marriott and Esprit. It encompasses more than 10,000 rooms and 1,400 restaurants across 22 countries. He has moved up the value chain, developing his own successful brands.

Now Mr. Heinecke, the billionaire chairman of Minor International, has aggressively steered expansion into the Middle East, Africa, Australia and emerging markets across Asia, flying around the region in corporate jets, swooping in on huge deals.

Maintaining the spirit of American entrepreneurship, Mr. Heinecke has kept his mantra the same: find a gap and fill it.

“The stakes are bigger perhaps,” he said. “Now we’re dealing with a bigger playing field. It’s a more complex world. But the skills of being an entrepreneur haven’t changed, and probably won’t change.”

Mr. Heinecke has long stood out as an entrepreneur here, and not just because of his unusual upbringing and appearance — he is six feet tall and has worn a beard since he started his first businesses as a teenager.

Asia is among the world’s biggest source of new billionaires, but most expand or refocus family wealth. Outside of mushrooming markets like technology and real estate, few are self-made successes like Mr. Heinecke.

Fewer still are Western-born. “You can probably put him among a handful of expats in Asia,” says Kevin Whitcraft, another American businessman raised in Thailand, who has franchised one of Mr. Heinecke’s companies in frontier markets like Laos and Cambodia.

“What really stands out about Bill is that he could have made it anywhere in the world,” Mr. Whitcraft added. “He’s always been a great salesman. He’s just a born businessman and entrepreneur.”

Mr. Heinecke, 64, grew up in Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. His father, Roy, was a United States diplomat in Asia. His mother, Constance, worked for for American magazines. The family moved to Bangkok 50 years ago.

He always seemed in a hurry. Starting with go-carts as a boy, he geared up to the racetrack, then rallies on dirt roads through the jungles. He set many Asian records, and survived several near-fatal crashes. He keeps a collection of vintage cars including a 1963 Shelby Cobra worth $3 million, and a Ferrari that once belonged to Clint Eastwood.

He says he believes he was in the right place at the right time, before the Asian boom. Yet he was not only driven, he had an innate sense of direction. As fellow students traveled West to attend college, Mr. Heinecke stayed in Thailand. “I always knew what I wanted to do, and where to do it. I just saw so much opportunity here,” he explained.

In 1980, he introduced pizza to Asians. Experts predicted that they would never take to Western fare, but he added local ingredients and quickly became Asia’s pizza king. He initially franchised for Pizza Hut, but when the parent company tried to restrict his other restaurant efforts, a battle ensued, and Mr. Heinecke boldly started his own Pizza Company, instantly becoming the regional giant.

He spied a related opportunity and moved into dairy production, churning out cheese to top all those pies. He melts 1,000 tons of mozzarella annually, just in his Thailand pizza parlors.

Mr. Heinecke expanded into hotels, running properties under the Marriot, Sheraton and Four Seasons banners. His hotels typically feature an array of retail shops and dining, mainly from the Minor portfolio. Call it old-fashioned synergy.

Some point to construction of the Four Seasons Tented Camp in the Golden Triangle, where Thailand borders Laos and Myanmar, as a transformational project in Mr. Heinecke’s career. Jason Friedman worked closely with Mr. Heinecke a decade ago on the small collection of luxury tents in an elephant sanctuary financed by Mr. Heinecke. Many thought it a vanity project — contrasting Mr. Heinecke’s reputation for frugality.

“Bill is quite well known for being conservative, almost formulaic, by the numbers,” said Mr. Friedman, former manager at the camp, but now the manager of the Siam, an upscale boutique lodge in Bangkok. “The tented camp was really a passion for him. He was involved in all the details, right down to the number of animals in the park.

“I saw a very different side of Bill than many see, and the project really put him out there not only as an entrepreneur but also an innovator.”

The camp became a global sensation, generating more publicity than any previous Four Seasons opening, he said. Minor later started Anantara, which has become one of the fastest-growing Asia-based resort chains. Much of that growth has been in the Middle East, China and the Maldives.

“Now, we are recognized for our expertise, our own intellectual property,” Mr. Heinecke said. Anantara is like a franchiser. Owners finance the projects and pay Minor management fees. “This allows us to grow the brand much faster.” Revenue for the company’s hotel division was up 80 percent in 2012 over the previous year.

Mr. Heinecke has also expanded Minor by canny acquisition. His takeover of Oaks Hotels and Resorts in Australia doubled hospitality operations in 2011. While he had ample success with his own Pizza Company, he bought Australia’s Coffee Club to take prominence in another market many said would never gain traction in Asia.

Minor is now ideally positioned just as coffee consumption soars across the increasingly affluent region.

Yet there have been missteps, as Mr. Heinecke is the first to recount. “You don’t succeed without stumbling,” he said.

Mr. Heinecke was probably the first to bring fast food to China — too early, as it turned out. He was also a pioneer with hotels in Vietnam, building in the 1980s, before the boom. That first hotel in Vietnam, he conceded, still has not turned a profit. Several other properties in Vietnam are doing well, however. He chalked that up to lessons learned and diligence, something he stresses in every aspect of his operation. Before he signed on the Oaks deal, he said, he visited most of the hotels, staying in many.

Outside forces have also buffeted his operations. Mr. Heinecke was nearly crushed by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. The 2004 tsunami wiped out an entire hotel. Coups, flooding and SARS have also hit his businesses hard, particularly those heavily dependent on tourism.

Through it all, Mr. Heinecke remains focused on the next deal, and improving efficiency. “He’s constantly on the move, doing business all the time,” said Joe Cummings, a Bangkok author who is writing a book about the Anantara hotels and destinations. “He’s like a shark, very opportunistic. And he really knows every detail about his businesses, right down to the price of a candy bar in the minibar.”

Unemployment Compensation: Early Retirement Acceptance Doesn't Preclude Benefits

An employee who accepts an early retirement package may collect unemployment benefits under the "voluntary layoff option" proviso in the state's Unemployment Compensation Law, the state Supreme Court has ruled, overruling a string of Pennsylvania cases along the way.

Amici's Early Appeals to Justices Fall on Deaf Ears - or Do They?

Like a trial lawyer who knowingly makes a remark before the jury that's sure to draw an objection, amicus curiae filers often seek to get the ear of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court before the procedural rules clearly allow, hoping to make an impression before the court decides the fate of the petition for review.

F.D.A. Gives Early Approval to Leukemia Drug Iclusig

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