■ Food
Hershey products recalled
A variety of Hershey chocolate products and candies in Canada were voluntarily recalled on Sunday because of fears of salmonella contamination at a factory. There have been no reported illnesses associated with the products, Hershey Co said in a statement. Hershey brand chocolate bars, chocolate chips, Oh Henry! bars, Reese Peanut Butter Cups and Cherry Blossom sweets were among the products recalled. Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials said they were told by Hershey that it did not appear there was a widespread delivery of the affected products to stores. The recall involves chocolate produced at the Smiths Falls, Ontario, factory between Oct. 15 and Nov. 10.
■ Telecoms
Motorola nails China order
Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest maker of cellphones, said it received a US$1.6 billion order to sell handsets to China Telling Communications Co (天音通信). The contract for the order was to be signed yesterday in Beijing, Michael Tatelman, Motorola's North Asia general manager, said without giving details.
■ Energy
Hitachi, GE in nuke venture
Japan's Hitachi and US-based General Electric (GE) plan to form a joint venture in the nuclear power business in Japan and US, Hitachi said yesterday in a statement. The two companies had signed a letter of intent for a joint strategic tie-up on advanced boiling water reactors. Hitachi will own 80 percent of the Japan-based venture, compared with 20 percent by GE. Hitachi will hold 40 percent in the US-based business, while GE will have 60 percent, the company said. The release did not give details on how much money the companies would be investing. Other details on how the venture will be set up or what the timeline will be will be worked out later, Hitachi said.
■ Japan
Current account surplus up
The nation's current account surplus in September rose 9.4 percent from a year ago, expanding for a third straight month owing in part to healthy exports as the country's economy recovers, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of Japan's trade with the world, rose to ?2.025 trillion (US$17.3 billion) in September before seasonal adjustment, the data showed. That increase was larger than expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones, who forecast an increase of 8.5 percent. The jump followed increases of 22.2 percent in August and 7.1 percent in July. The current account measures trade in goods, services, tourism and investment.
■ Construction
CEO quits over options
KB Home, the fifth-largest US homebuilder by revenue, said CEO Bruce Karatz is leaving after an internal investigation found he incorrectly dated stock-options grants. Chief operating officer Jeffrey Mezger will succeed Karatz as CEO, Los Angeles-based KB Home said in a statement sent by Business Wire yesterday. Karatz, who spent 34 years at the company, has agreed to pay back about US$13 million to KB Home, it said in the statement. In August, the company started reviewing options awarded in 1999 to Karatz. The probe found that Karatz and Gary Ray, head of human resources, selected grant dates for options, KB Home said yesterday. Ray was fired and Richard Hirst resigned as chief legal officer, according to the statement.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies sought to show a united front in Canada yesterday after seven weeks of rising tensions between US allies and US President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs. The G7 ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, along with the EU, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face. Top of the agenda for Washington’s partners would be getting a
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