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■ Lighters
Security rules worry Zippo
Zippo Manufacturing Co, which prides itself on its classic brass-and-chrome lighters, says new US air travel security regulations could cut into sales by as much as 30 percent. The US Transportation Security Administration has announced it will ban butane, electric and absorbed fuel lighters aboard all aircraft and in areas behind airport security gates beginning in April. Zippo uses absorbed fuel. Butane is often used in disposable lighters. Such lighters already were banned in checked baggage because the ignition source is too close to flammable materials to be allowed in cargo holds, but passengers previously had been allowed to have two lighters in their carry-on luggage. Zippo officials will meet with US officials later this month to plead their case. Millions of the metal, rectangular lighters are bought on impulse at duty-free shops and at vacation spots as mementos. The company sold 14 million lighters last year, said Greg Booth, president and chief executive officer.

■ Employment
IBM plans to cut 580 jobs
International Business Machines Corp plans to cut nearly 600 jobs in Germany, a company spokeswoman said on Friday. A total of 580 jobs will be lost as the company closes operations in Hanover and Schweinfurt, both part of IBM Business Services, IBM Germany spokeswoman Ursula Diel told Dow Jones Newswires. The company informed its employees on Thursday of its intention to close down the two sites, but negotiations with the workers council will start only next week, she said. A precise closure date is not known yet.

■ Aerospace
US air force lifts Boeing ban
The US air force on Friday lifted a 20-month ban prohibiting Boeing Co from bidding on satellite launch contracts, saying the company had corrected problems that led to accusations that it stole information from a competitor in 1998. The aerospace giant was suspended in 2003 and stripped of some US$1 billion in launch contracts after it was found in possession of sensitive documents belonging to rival Lockheed Martin. Acting Air Force Secretary Peter Teets said Boeing will reimburse the military US$1.9 million for the cost of investigating the allegations. Boeing will also pay for a special compliance officer, reporting to the air force, who will monitor the company's business ethics for the next three years. In July 2003, the air force banned Boeing from satellite launches after concluding that Boeing committed "serious and substantial violations of federal law" by stealing extensive information from Lockheed.

■ Employment
Singapore to promote hiring
Singapore can expect higher unemployment as it faces competition from China and India, and the government will launch a program to make jobs more attractive for its citizens, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday. Lee's comments at a job creation forum came one day after news that California-based Maxtor Corp, which makes computer hard-disk drives, was reducing its work force by up to 5,500 people at its Singapore manufacturing operations. "Right now our unemployment rate is 3.7 percent. But other developed countries, such as US or Australia, have unemployment rates of around 5 percent even in good years. This could happen to us too, as we develop further," Lee said.

■ Tobacco
Phillip Morris cleared
A Los Angeles jury on Friday cleared tobacco maker Philip Morris of liability in the death of a man who smoked for 35 years and alleged the company misled him by failing to acknowledge the habit was addictive and caused cancer. Fredric Reller, 64, first sued Philip Morris in November 2001. A jury cleared the nation's biggest cigarette maker last August of negligence and misrepresentation in the lawsuit, but deadlocked on one count claiming the company fraudulently concealed the dangers of smoking. Reller died shortly after that verdict, but his widow sought a rehearing on the one deadlocked count and added a count alleging wrongful death. She asked for damages of more than US$17 million. Based on evidence at the trial, "it was clear that the plaintiff's husband made an informed decision as to whether to smoke," said William S. Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris vice president and associate general counsel.

■ Motorcycles
Massive recall for Yamaha
Yamaha Motor Corp. is recalling around 190,000 motorcycles because the passenger seat can fall off the rear fender, federal safety regulators and the company said Friday. The recall affects XV250, XVS11 and XVS65 motorcycles from the 1988-2005 model years, Yamaha spokesman Brad Banister said. The mounting hardware that connects the seat to the fender can loosen when passengers shift their weight, which eventually can cause the seat to fall off, according to a recall notice sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Banister said the company knows of two minor injuries caused by the defect. Banister said Yamaha decided to recall the vehicles after reviewing quality control reports on the motorcycles in Japan. ``We constantly monitor this sort of thing because we do care about the safety of our customers,'' Banister said. Yamaha will notify owners about the recall this spring. Dealers will replace the seat's mounting hardware for free.

■ Electronics
Layoffs in Singapore
Maxtor Corp., which makes hard-disk drives for personal computers, is reducing its work force by up to 5,500 people at its Singapore manufacturing operations, according to a regulatory filing Friday. Maxtor, based in Milpitas, California, said roughly 2,500 of the planned job cuts will be achieved through attrition and the rest by severance, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The reduction stems from its plan to close one of its two plants in Singapore and move its manufacturing of desktop products to China, the filing said. The plant shutdown is expected to be completed by 2006, according to the filing. The severance packages are expected to lower first-quarter earnings by US$12 million.

■ Automobiles
BMW to supply limos
German luxury car maker BMW has tied up with its Singapore dealer to supply 420 chauffeur-driven limousines at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting in September next year. The partnership deal, worth 10 million Singapore dollars (US$6.13 million), was officially marked at a signing ceremony Friday night. The meetings, the world's largest and most comprehensive gatherings of global financial representatives, are held outside the two bodies' Washington base every third year. BMW will provide its 7-series limousines to ferry VIPs from 184 countries for a week of forums and seminars in Singapore.

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