Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with words major+reported. 2 news.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Arizona puts into effect on Jan. 1 a law that punishes businesses that knowingly employ illegal workers, the toughest such law in the U.S., the Arizona Republic reported. Only about 6% of the state's 150,000 employers have so far signed up for E-Verify, an Internet database the U.S. federal government operates to enable employers to determine whether a person is eligible to work, the paper reported. Arizona's new law requires employers to use E-Verify; the database is voluntary at the federal level, the paper reported. While the new law has survived two legal challenges, many employers are waiting to see whether the law is ultimately upheld, the paper reported. Arizona has more than 500,000 undocumented immigrants, and many employers are reluctant to use the database, the Republic reported, because screening out the workers cuts off a major supply of low-cost labor.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is moving closer to a run for president, as he schedules bipartisan meetings with major U.S. political figures and his aides study how to mount independent campaigns in the 50 states, The New York Times reported. The mayor has suggested that he might be a viable candidate if, for example, the Democratic and Republican nominees come from the furthest poles of their respective parties, the Times reported. And Bloomberg has developed his own domestic platform on gun control, the environment and other issues while being briefed on foreign policy by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and by Nancy Soderberg, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration, the Times reported.