Americans’ demand for foreign-made TVs, toys and clothes waned in April, helping to narrow the U.S. trade deficit. Exports fell for the second month in a row. The country’s trade imbalance shrank to $32.2 billion, a 2.7 percent decrease from March’s $33.1 billion deficit, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Imports, hurt by sagging demand because of the weak U.S. economy, fell more than exports did in April, narrowing the trade gap. The two-month drop in exports reflected the impact of sluggish demand overseas.
Two white managers for Ford Motor Co. are suing the automaker, alleging they were passed over for promotions in favor of women and minorities. The suits, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, accuse Ford of demanding that managers either meet quotas for hiring and promoting women and minorities or risk losing lucrative bonuses. David Murphy, Ford’s vice president of human resources, said there are no quotas per se, but that a manager’s success at hiring and promoting women and minorities is a factor in their performance evaluation.
Several Caspian Sea states have agreed to stop fishing for sturgeon for the rest of the year to protect shrinking stocks of the fish prized for producing caviar, a United Nations agency said Thursday. Poachers have taken a toll on stocks of Caspian sturgeon, which produce the shiny black eggs that can fetch prices of up to $1,000 for half a pound in Western Europe and the United States. Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakstan agreed to the temporary halt at a meeting in Paris.
A Virginia company is recalling about 1,000 chain saws because a missing screw can cause the chain brake to fail, which could result in severe injuries. Stihl Inc. of Virginia Beach, Va., has received no reports of injuries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday. The recalled chain saws are marked with the label STIHL, model number 019T and serial numbers 249129398 through 249956311. The safety commission said people should stop using the saws immediately and return them to a Stihl dealer for repair. Consumers with questions can call Stihl Inc. at 800-467-8445.
Boeing Co. on Thursday said it has formed an aircraft maintenance joint venture with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as it moves into the services business. The plane maker wants to glean more revenue from businesses other than its core aircraft-making operations. But it prefers to enter the maintenance market through joint ventures, rather than competing head-to-head with established airline-servicing operations.
From Herald news services
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