Mass. expands tuna salad recall on listeria concerns

Massachusetts health officials are broadly expanding the recall of a ready-to-eat tuna salad that may be contaminated with listeriosis-causing bacteria. Consumers are asked to throw out any deli-prepared tuna salad sold between July 26 and Aug. 10, due to a possible contamination of listeria in tuna salad manufactured by Home Made Brand Foods in Newburyport. This week Stop & Shop pulled the tuna salad from its supermarkets. No cases of listeriosis have been reported. (AP)

Boston Scientific Corp., the second-largest maker of heart devices, sued Medtronic Inc., accusing its rival of infringing 10 patents related to grafts used to repair aneurysms. Natick-based Boston Scientific seeks unspecified damages and an order stopping the infringement, according to the complaint filed in US District Court in Tyler, Texas. The lawsuit comes about three months after a federal jury in Marshall, Texas, told Boston Scientific to pay $250 million to Medtronic for infringing catheter patents. Boston Scientific is challenging that verdict. Medtronic officials didn't immediately return a call. (Bloomberg)

Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. said the drug Sanctura XR, which is used to treat overactive bladder, has received nearly 17 years of patent protection in the United States. The patent protects the once-a-day treatment through January 2025. Lexington-based Indevus licenses rights to the drug from its developer, Supernus Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Rockville, Md. Drug maker Allergan markets the drug in the United States and Canada, under a separate license with Indevus. (AP)

General Motors Corp. said most of the savings from its $10 billion in expense cuts will come in 2009, the second year of the plan. This year's benefits include 10 percent of the gains from paring the salaried payroll and 25 percent of the projected improvements in working capital, GM said. All the benefits from spending reductions will come next year, along with 60 percent of the savings from delaying a payment to a union retirement fund. GM will save about $800 million over two years by cutting a 25-cents-a-share quarterly dividend. (Bloomberg)

EBay Inc. said it is in talks to buy a minority stake in the South Korean online marketplace operator Gmarket. The talks are with Interpark Corp. and its chairman, Ki Hyung Lee, who own a combined 37 percent of Gmarket. Yahoo Inc. also owns a stake in Gmarket. A purchase would be eBay's latest move to capture the online auction market outside the United States. EBay says more than half of its revenue comes from abroad. EBay already runs Korean online auction site Internet Auction. (AP)

China's Qingdao Haier Group Corp. denied reports it might ally with private equity firm Blackstone Group LP to buy General Electric's appliance unit. The Sunday Telegraph of Britain and other reports, citing unnamed executives, had said Haier and Blackstone planned to buy the GE unit for $7 billion. Fairfield, Conn.-based GE has said it wants to spin off its lighting and appliance businesses as it restructures to focus on faster growth businesses. (AP)

A Merrill Lynch & Co. brokerage was sued by St. Paul over claims it breached its fiduciary duty as a financial adviser by allowing the city to invest in a security holding risky mortgage-backed securities. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith failed to disclose the risks of the city's approximate $1 million investment in the Golden Key commercial paper on Aug. 7, 2007, lawyers for St. Paul said in a complaint filed in federal court. A majority of the portfolio was invested in US mortgage securities, according to the complaint, which seeks a judge's order rescinding the purchase and repayment. A Merrill spokesman had no comment. (Bloomberg)

American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia are set to announce today they are applying for antitrust immunity from competition authorities in the United States and Europe in order to form a trans-Atlantic joint venture, the Financial Times reported. If the application is approved, the alliance would share profits for trans-Atlantic routes and cooperatively arrange capacity, networks, pricing, and sales, the report said. (Reuters)