McDonald's settles halal food suit; other business briefs

NATION

McDonald's settles suit

McDonald's and one of its franchise owners agreed to pay $700,000 to members of the Muslim community to settle allegations a Detroit-area restaurant falsely advertised its food as being prepared according to Islamic dietary law. The money will be shared by Dearborn Heights resident Ahmed Ahmed, a Detroit health clinic, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn and lawyers. Ahmed's attorney, Kassem Daklallah, said Monday he's "thrilled" with the deal. McDonald's and the franchise owner deny liability but say the settlement is in their best interests. The lawsuit alleged that Ahmed bought a chicken sandwich in September 2011 at a Dearborn McDonald's but found it wasn't halal -- meaning it didn't meet Islamic requirements. Daklallah alleges the Dearborn location, one of only two U.S. McDonald's that sell halal products, sold non-halal products when it ran out of halal. Overall, the Detroit area is home to about 150,000 Muslims of many different ethnicities. The locations advertise that they exclusively sell halal Chicken McNuggets and McChicken sandwiches and they have to get those products from an approved halal provider, Dakallah said.

Boeing battery probe

Japanese and U.S. investigators began a probe Monday into the maker of the lithium ion batteries used in Boeing's grounded 787 jets. Tsutomu Nishijima, a spokesman for GS Yuasa, the battery manufacturer, said investigators visited the company's headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, and that Yuasa was cooperating with the probe. All 50 of the 787 Dreamliners that Boeing has delivered to airlines were grounded after an overheated battery forced the emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways 787 flight last week in western Japan. Boeing has halted deliveries of new planes until it can address the electrical problems.Two investigators from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and an investigator from Japan's government were conducting the probe into how the batteries are made and assembled and into any quality issues. Nishijima of GS Yuasa said he could not comment on details of the investigation.

WORLD

Exxon exec in Iraq talks

Iraq's prime minister met with the head of Exxon Mobil Monday to discuss the firm's plans in the country, raising the possibility that Baghdad could be mending its dispute with America's largest oil company. Exxon is helping to develop one of Iraq's largest oil fields, but it has infuriated Baghdad by signing separate deals with the OPEC member's largely autonomous Kurdish region to hunt for crude there too. Baghdad and the Kurds have been at loggerheads for years over rights to develop Iraq's vast oil wealth. Iraq's central government does not recognize the Kurdish agreements, which offer more generous terms than its own. -- AP