■AUTOMOBILES
GM recalls 5,000 vans
General Motors Co (GM) is recalling about 5,000 heavy-duty Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans because of a faulty alternator. The automaker also halted sales of the vans on Friday. It has also stopped production of them until it can fix the problem. GM spokesman Alan Adler says there have been no injuries related to the recall. The recalled vans were built in February and March.
■HOUSING
US moves on foreclosures
After months of criticism that it hasn’t done enough to prevent foreclosures, the Obama administration is announcing a plan to reduce the amount some troubled borrowers owe on their home loans. The multifaceted effort will let people who owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth get new loans backed by the US Federal Housing Administration. That would be funded by US$14 billion from the administration’s existing US$75 billion foreclosure-prevention program.
■AVIATION
EU seeks to end dispute
The EU’s trade commissioner said on Friday he hopes the EU and the US can solve a trade dispute over illegal subsidies to aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing. Karel De Gucht told reporters after talks with the US’ trade representative Ron Kirk that he wanted a “negotiated settlement” to avoid “mutual retaliation.” The WTO last week backed a US complaint over EU subsidies for Airbus and is expected to rule by the end of June on a parallel European complaint over US payments to Boeing.
■RECYCLING
US trails on can recycling
The US trails Brazil, Germany, Russia and some other countries in its rate of recycling aluminum beverage cans and Alcoa Inc.’s chief executive said Friday that needs to change. The Pittsburgh-based aluminum maker dedicated a US$24 million expansion project of its can recycling operation in east Tennessee. Alcoa president and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said the expansion will help support a goal of boosting the current 54 percent rate of recycling beverage cans in the US to 75 percent by 2015. The rate in Russia is currently 75 percent, 91 percent in Germany and 95 percent in Brazil, Alcoa said.
■ENERGY
BP Solar closes plant
BP Solar said on Friday it is closing its landmark Frederick manufacturing plant as part of a reshaping of the US solar industry in a cost-cutting move that will eliminate 320 jobs. The company, a San Francisco-based unit of London-based BP PLC, said the sharply falling price of solar-power modules prompted it to shift its remaining in-house production to lower-cost joint ventures in China and India and contract with other manufacturers for the rest. The company said solar panel prices have fallen nearly 50 percent in the past 18 months.
■COMPUTERS
Fujitsu cedes iPad rights
Japan’s Fujitsu has ceded rights to the “iPad” name to Apple, just in time for the tablet computer from the California company to hit US stores next month. Fujitsu originally registered the iPad name with the Patent and Trademark Office in March 2003 in connection with a handheld scanner for retailers made by the Japanese company. The US Patent and Trademark Office records, obtained on Friday by technology blogs and PatentAuthority.com, show that the iPad trademark was assigned to Apple on March 17. The details of the transaction between Fujitsu and Apple were not available.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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