AUTOMOTIVE: Strike at supplier closes GM plants

Detroit —- A strike at an auto parts supplier has forced General Motors Corp. to shut down three more pickup truck factories, idling 12,000 workers, the company said Friday. All four plants now shut down make the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. The strike is against American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.

Honda issues 2 Acura TL recalls

Washington —- Honda Motor Co. issued two separate recalls for its Acura TL sedan Friday to address potential fires under the hood and fix problems with the windshield wiper motor. Honda said it was recalling 273,000 2004-08 TLs because prolonged high temperatures underneath the engine hood could cause the power steering hose to deteriorate. In the second action, Honda said it was recalling 129,600 TLs from the 2004-05 model year to address a potential failure of the circuit breaker inside the windshield wiper motor.

DEALS: Alcoa completes sale of unit

Alcoa Inc. on Friday said that it completed the sale of its packaging and consumer businesses to New Zealand-based Rank Group Ltd. for $2.7 billion in cash.

Goodrich to buy TEAC Aerospace

Goodrich Corp., the world's biggest maker of aircraft landing gear, has agreed to acquire TEAC Aerospace Holdings Inc. Terms weren't disclosed. TEAC, a closely held company that also provides cabin video systems for commercial airlines, generated more than $50 million in revenue last year, Charlottebased Goodrich said Friday in a statement.

FINANCIAL: Earnings rise at Brown-Forman

Louisville, Ky. —- Liquor producer Brown-Forman Corp. reported higher third-quarter profit Friday from global demand for its flagship Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey as well as its Finlandia vodka. The distiller, however, reduced the upper end of its profit range forecast for the full year, and third-quarter profit fell short of Wall Street expectations. For the three months ended Jan. 31, Brown-Forman earned $116 million, or 94 cents a share, compared with $105.1 million, or 85 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Earnings decline at Berkshire

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Friday that fourth-quarter profit fell 18 percent on declining insurance rates. Net income decreased to $2.95 billion, or $1,904 a share, from $3.58 billion, or $2,323 a share, a year earlier, the Omaha, Neb.-based company said in a statement. Berkshire typically gets about half its profit from insurance units. Berkshire has been scaling back coverage of coastal property as rates drop from their highs following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. "The party is over," Buffett said in his annual letter to shareholders. "It is a certainty that insurance industry profit margins, including ours, will fall significantly in 2008. Prices are down."

FOOD / BEVERAGE: Gorton's recalls frozen fish

Harrisburg, Pa. —- Gorton's Inc. recalled about 1,000 cases of frozen fish in 10 states on Friday after confirming a Pennsylvania customer found an undetermined kind of pills in the product. The recall is for Gorton's 6 Crispy Battered Fish Fillets, 11.4 ounces. The fish was sent to nine other states, including Georgia.

MANUFACTURING: Lockheed boss's pay up 66% in '07

Lockheed Martin Corp. increased Chief Executive Robert Stevens' pay 66 percent to $30.9 million in 2007. Stevens' pay package included a salary of $1.63 million; a bonus of $3.9 million; stock awards valued at $3.26 million; and options valued at $10.2 million, Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed said in a regulatory filing Friday. The package also included $8.5 million in incentive plan payments, $1.87 million in deferred compensation and $1.54 million of other payments.

Northrop snags Air Force contract

Washington —- Northrop Grumman and the maker of Airbus planes beat out Boeing Co. to win a $35 billion government contract to build up to 179 military refueling planes, the Air Force said Friday. The selection of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and its European-based partner, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., came as a surprise to industry and government officials. The Air Force said the larger size of the Northrop-EADS aircraft tipped the balance in its favor.

MEDIA: Investor steps up pressure on Times

New York —- A dissident investor stepped up pressure on New York Times Co. Friday, formally proposing its own slate of four directors and saying the company needs to take more drastic action to compete online. Harbinger Capital, an investment firm that now owns about 19 percent of the company, filed its own proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission listing its nominees for directors to be elected at the Times' annual meeting April 22.

REGULATORY: Oversight of plane parts questioned

Washington —- Regulators and aircraft manufacturers are not keeping adequate tabs on the quality of plane parts made domestically and abroad, potentially raising risks for fliers, government investigators said in a report released Friday. The Transportation Department inspector general's office said the Federal Aviation Administration has failed to conduct enough audits to determine whether manufacturers' quality-assurance systems are working.

IBM protests contract award

International Business Machines Corp. has protested the award of a contract valued at as much as $1 billion to Lockheed Martin Corp. by the FBI. IBM's services unit filed the objection Monday, said Michael Golden, a spokesman for the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington.

TECHNOLOGY: Document Web site allowed to reopen

San Francisco —- A federal judge who shuttered the renegade Web site Wikileaks.org reversed the decision Friday and allowed the site to reopen in the United States. In mid-February, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White issued an injunction against Wikileaks after the Switzerland-based Bank Julius Baer accused the site of posting sensitive account information stolen by a disgruntled former employee. White set off storms of protest among free-speech advocates and news organizations when he ordered the disabling of the entire site.

TRANSPORTATION: Leap Day trips United Airlines

Chicago —- Passengers using United Airlines' "Easy Check-In" found it anything but that on Leap Day when the automated system failed, resulting in longer lines at its U.S. airport counters. Thecarrier blamed the service interruption on software issues related to the leap year. Spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said no flights were delayed because of the problem.

Judge rejects bankruptcy fees

Minneapolis —- A bankruptcy judge on Friday rejected almost $4.3 million in "success fees" for consultants in the Northwest Airlines bankruptcy, saying they were paid well enough for their work without the bonuses. Lazard Freres & Co. got $5.6 million in fees and expenses but wanted another $3.25 million as a "completion fee." FTI Consulting Inc. FTI got almost $7 million in fees and expenses and sought another $1 million completion fee. Both worked as financial advisers to the Committee of Unsecured Creditors.