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Facing more losses ahead, Sony said it would close three factories in Japan, part of a continuing effort to trim production costs and rebuild a business that has been ravaged by the sharp cutback in consumer spending worldwide.

Sony expects to book a net loss of ¥120 billion, or $1.26 billion, in the business year ending in March 2010, after a loss of ¥98.9 billion in the year that just concluded. That shortfall, while substantial, beat Sony’s forecast of a ¥150 billion loss, partly because of a one-time gain from a change in Japanese tax laws.

Like other Japanese exporters, Sony is reeling from a decline in sales overseas, as well as in Japan, which is mired in its worst recession in decades. A stronger yen, which erodes overseas revenue and inflates production costs at home, has also weighed heavily on its bottom line.

Sales for the 2009 financial year fell 12.9 percent from a year earlier, to ¥7.73 trillion. The slump deepened in the most recent quarter, falling 22 percent to ¥1.52 trillion.

But those factors mask more fundamental problems at the Tokyo-based manufacturer.

A spokeswoman for GM in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports, which were said to be based on a company recovery plan given to U.S. lawmakers.

GM intends to sell 17,335 made-in-China passenger cars in the U.S. market by 2011, the Shanghai Securities News and other reports said. By 2014 exports would triple to more than 51,000, it said.

The main focus would be on exporting small cars similar to the Chevrolet Spark, the reports said.

If true, GM could end up becoming the first automaker to begin exporting to the U.S. from China: previously announced plans by Chinese manufacturers to crack the U.S. market have so far fizzled.

Most Chinese automakers have been daunted by the challenge of meeting stringent U.S. safety standards. They also face the uphill battle of winning consumer confidence for their unfamiliar brand names.

Brand name recognition is perhaps the least of GM’s problems as it faces a June 1 government-imposed deadline to finish a restructuring plan or follow Chrysler LLC into bankruptcy protection.

Opting to export from China would help the company, now surviving on $15.4 billion in federal loans, to slash production costs and make full use of its huge investments in factories here.

But it would likely raise protests from labor unions it has been seeking to win concessions from as part of its restructuring.

Most are simply not that worried about the new flu, which has spread around the globe, killed more than 60 people and brought the world to the brink of a pandemic, the poll of 1,442 adults found.

Only 36 percent said they got a vaccine against seasonal influenza this year, although virtually the whole population, especially everyone over 50, children, pregnant women and people with chronic conditions, are advised to get the immunization every year.

The World Health Organization estimates that seasonal flu is a factor in up to 500,000 deaths every year — 36,000 in the United States alone.

The poll by Zogby International and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston found that 38 percent not only were not vaccinated, but did not follow recommendations to wash or clean their hands frequently to prevent infection and were not restricting travel to Mexico.

Only 18 percent said the flu, which emerged in March, is a severe threat.

The decision was a blow to some liberals in Obama’s Democratic Party who see the photos as part of a broader effort to investigate Bush-era officials and cleanse America’s image abroad.

Just last month the Obama administration had said it would comply with a court order to release the pictures by May 28, saying legal options for appealing the case had been limited.

But Obama shifted gears after senior military commanders and some members of Congress expressed misgivings about the potential for the photos to generate violence against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

GM, facing a U.S. government-imposed deadline of June 1 to restructure or file for bankruptcy, is expected to send termination notices to up to 2,000 dealers — a third of its roughly 6,000 U.S. dealers, the sources told Reuters.

Chrysler, which filed for bankruptcy on April 30, will also tell up to 1,000 of its 3,189 U.S. dealers it is terminating their franchise agreements, according to the sources who asked not to be identified because the controversial closure plans have not been yet announced.

The moves to shut down auto dealerships underscores how the economic pain caused by the downward spiral of both automakers — now operating under U.S. government oversight — is spreading beyond their home base in Detroit.

It dwarfs the 497m euro fine levied on Microsoft in 2004 for abusing its dominant market position.

The Commission found that between 2002 and 2007, Intel had paid manufacturers and a retailer to favour its chips over those of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Intel has announced that it will appeal against the verdict.

“Intel takes exception to this decision. We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor market,” Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said.

“There has been absolutely zero harm to consumers. Intel will appeal,” he added.

The fine was welcomed by AMD, which had lodged complaints in 2000, 2003 and 2006.

“The EU decision will shift the power from an abusive monopolist to computer makers, retailers and above all PC consumers,” said Giuliano Meroni, AMD’s European president.

‘Sustained violation’

The Commission said that personal computer makers Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC had all been given hidden rebates if they only used Intel chips.

It also found that Media Saturn, which owns Europe’s biggest consumer electronics retailer Media Markt, had been given money so that it would only sell computers containing Intel chips.

“Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years,” said Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

A total of 342,038 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized last month, RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, California, said today in a statement. One in 374 households got a filing, the highest monthly rate since the property data service began issuing such reports in 2005.

“What you’re seeing is the inevitable result of severe job losses,” Nicolas Retsinas, director of housing studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “Until we stem the job losses, we can expect to see continuing foreclosures.”

Unemployment is hampering the housing market as property prices fall. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 8.9 percent, the highest in more than a quarter century, the Labor Department said May 9. Home prices fell the most on record in the first quarter to a median $169,000 amid sales of foreclosure properties, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.

“I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and CIA created them together,” Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview.

In the interview, which was given to the NBC on May 7, Zardari also accused the US of supporting the military rule of Pervez Musharraf who was alleged to be taking sides of the Taliban.

He disagreed with the popular belief in the US that the Pakistan military and intelligent services still have sympathies for the Taliban.

“I think General Musharraf may have had a mindset to run head and hand with the hound but certainly not on our watch. We don’t have a tough process at all,” Zardari said.

Asked about the influential role of the Pakistan army, Zardari said he is in control of everything in the country, including the military.

“The Parliament has final say. It’s the Parliament form of government, and I am a product of the Parliament,” he said.

The document, obtained by Cadena SER radio, says the team and the pirates remain in contact by satellite telephone.

It says that pirate groups have “well-placed informers” in London who are in regular contact with control centres in Somalia where decisions on which vessels to attack are made. These London-based “consultants” help the pirates select targets, providing information on the ships’ cargoes and courses.

In at least one case the pirates have remained in contact with their London informants from the hijacked ship, according to one targeted shipping company.

The pirates’ information network extends to Yemen, Dubai and the Suez canal.

The intelligence report is understood to have been issued to European navies.

“The information that merchant ships sailing through the area volunteer to various international organisations is ending up in the pirates’ hands,” Cadena SER reported the report as saying.

This enables the more organised pirate groups to study their targets in advance, even spending several days training teams for specific hijacks. Senior pirates then join the vessel once it has been sailed close to Somalia.

Captains of attacked ships have found that pirates know everything from the layout of the vessel to its ports of call. Vessels targeted as a result of this kind of intelligence included the Greek cargo ship Titan, the Turkish merchant ship Karagol and the Spanish trawler Felipe Ruano.

In each case, says the document, the pirates had full knowledge of the cargo, nationality and course of the vessel.

The national flag of a ship is also taken into account when choosing a target, with British vessels being increasingly avoided, according to the report. It was not clear whether this was because pirates did not want to draw the attention of British police to their information sources in London.