BUSINESS DIGEST || Ribbon-cutting set

Ribbon-cutting set

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A ribbon-cutting will take place at 10:30 a.m. Friday for Pure Organic Beauty at 5000 E. Market St.

Pure Organic’s eco-friendly operation sources the organic beauty-products industry, providing a wide range of skin care, hair care, cosmetic and bath products for women, men and children.

It uses 100 percent recyclable packaging and supplies where possible and encourages recycling by offering discounts to customers who bring back empty product containers purchased from its store.

EU, US to start free-trade talks

BRUSSELS

The European Union confirmed Tuesday that free-trade negotiations with the United States should kick off as planned next week, despite widespread concerns over the purported eavesdropping of EU diplomats.

The Commission, the EU’s executive branch that leads the negotiations on behalf of its 28 members, said the planned start of talks in Washington on Monday “should not be affected” by the surveillance scandal that has emerged in recent days.

However, it insisted that the trans-Atlantic atmosphere needed to clear up for the talks to be successful.

“For such a comprehensive and ambitious negotiation to succeed, there needs to be confidence, transparency and clarity among the negotiating partners,” it said in a statement.

The talks are likely to take at least a few years.

GM, Honda to team on fuel-cell vehicles

NEW YORK

General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co. are joining forces to develop hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

The two companies said Tuesday they plan to develop new hydrogen- storage and fuel-cell technologies by 2020. They also will push for more hydrogen fueling stations.

Fuel-cell vehicles have electric motors that are powered by a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The only byproducts are water vapor and heat, so there’s no pollution. But the lack of infrastructure to transport and store liquid hydrogen has been a barrier to the cars’ development.

GM and Honda already have more than 1,200 fuel- cell patents between them, and both companies have experimental-vehicle fleets.

Horse-slaughter foes sue USDA

COLUMBIA, Mo.

Animal-protection groups are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to try to block the revival of domestic horse slaughter at commercial processing plants.

The Humane Society of the United States, Front Range Equine Rescue of Larkspur, Colo., three other groups and five individuals filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking an emergency injunction to overturn the USDA’s recent permit approval for a horse meat plant in Roswell, N.M.

On Tuesday, the federal agency approved a horse- slaughter plant in Sigourney, Iowa, and expects to endorse another request later this week.

Vindicator staff/wire reports