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GM teetering on brink of bankruptcy

DETROIT, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. corporate icon General Motors Corp. is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as auto sales shrink and the company burns through cash, the company revealed.

Company officials unveiled a grim forecast Friday that threatened to put the 100-year-old, one-time flagship symbol of the United States' economic dominance into bankruptcy court, the Detroit Free Press reported.

GM's sales were at a 25-year low, and it revealed it was burning through $2 billion in cash each month to maintain operations. The company warned that its cash reserves could sink below the minimum operational levels within weeks, unless it gets federal aid or can find new investors.

"We're convinced that the consequences of bankruptcy would be dire," GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner told reporters. "We need to find a way to get through this, and that's really our focus."

Even with $5 billion in savings from new moves to lay off 3,600 factory workers, cut white-collar jobs and idle plants from Lansing, Mich., to Lordstown, Ohio, the automaker could still have trouble paying its bills, the Detroit News reported, adding it has called off a possible merger with rival Chrysler LLC.

Japan's Panasonic to buy rival Sanyo

TOKYO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Japanese consumer electronics company Panasonic Corp. has agreed to buy rival Sanyo Electric Co., the firms have announced.

The move comes as Japanese consumer product makers brace for an anticipated sales slowdown in the wake of the global financial crisis and an expected worldwide recession, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

A final sale price must still be agreed upon, the two sides said. It's likely, however, that Sanyo, which specializes in products for fast-growing sectors like solar power and batteries for electronics and cars, could fetch as much as $8.77 billion, analysts told the newspaper.

Panasonic has indicated it is looking for new growth strategies as it seeks to make up for sluggish demand for consumer electronics in its main Japanese market.

"After the financial crisis that hit in September, I felt the need to come up with specific solutions, and quickly," Seiichiro Sano, chief executive of Sanyo, told reporters Friday.

United drops checked bag fee hike

CHICAGO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- United Airlines says it has withdrawn a planned fee hike for second checked bags after other airlines failed to match it.

The nation's No. 3 airline, based in Chicago, announced earlier it would raise its fee for a second checked bag from $25 to $50 each way as of Nov. 10. But when no other carriers reciprocated the move, the airline canceled its plans, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

Instead, United is offering a 20 percent discount for the first checked bag for passengers who pay for their tickets online.

The airline's move is being seen as part of a move by carriers to rein in the imposition of new fees as the hard-hit traveling public is showing signs of rebellion by defecting to discount carriers such as Southwest Airlines, analysts told the Tribune.

Southwest is heavily advertising its no-fee policy and has set up "No-Fee Zones" around its airport ticket counters in advance of the holiday travel season, the newspaper said, noting Southwest's October passenger traffic increased slightly while United's traffic fell 10 percent.

Frozen Chicken Kiev products recalled

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A Maine food products maker is recalling approximately 41,415 pounds of frozen stuffed chicken products that may contain rubber pieces, officials said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Friday that Barber Foods Co. of Portland, Maine, was recalling 20-ounce cartons of #584 Schwan's stuffed Chicken Kiev produced on May 17, June 2 and August 4, and made available for catalog or Internet purchase from Schwan's Home Service.

USDA officials said Schwan's had received consumer complaints of finding pieces of rubber in the product. The USDA said it had not received any reports of injuries.