Also . . .

Kaiser Permanente Group, the No. 1 U.S. health-maintenance organization, said it will close its international unit and fire 16 workers as it struggles to return to profitability after two years of losses. Nonprofit Oakland-based Kaiser is shutting down the unit, which employed 16 of the HMO’s 90,000 employees, as it conducts a strategic review of its operations. The company has said the sale of other unprofitable businesses, firings and cutbacks in charitable contributions could be in store as it seeks to improve its HMO business.

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Calabasas-based THQ Inc., a maker of interactive game software, said it has acquired German competitor Rushware Microhandelsgesellschaft and its subsidiaries for $6 million in cash and stock in a bid to expand in Europe.

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Vons Cos., a unit of Pleasanton-based Safeway Inc., said it plans to acquire eight Ralphs/Hughes stores in Southern California, mostly in the San Fernando Valley and Orange County, for an undisclosed amount. Ralphs and Hughes were required to divest the stores as a condition of the merger of the companies.

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