■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.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: The group is proposing a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, and possibly a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Nissan Motor Co shares jumped after the Financial Times reported that a high-level Japanese group has drawn up plans to seek investment from Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc to aid the struggling automaker. The group believes the electric vehicle (EV) maker is interested in acquiring Nissan’s plants in the US, the newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify. The proposal envisions a consortium of investors, with Tesla as the largest backer, but also includes the possibility of a minority investment by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to prevent a full takeover by the Apple supplier, the report said. The group is
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