Auto-makers: GM to cut 10,000 salaried jobs this year, Nissan to slash 20,000 jobs and sees annual loss...

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors says it's cutting 10,000 salaried jobs, blaming the need to restructure the company amid the continued drop in new vehicle sales. The Detroit-based automaker says it will reduce its total number of salaried workers to 63,000 from 73,000 this year. About 3,400 of GM's 29,500 salaried U.S. jobs are expected to be eliminated. The job cuts are part of the restructuring plan GM submitted to Congress late last year. Most of the cuts are expected to take place by May 1.

TOKYO (AP) -- Nissan announced 20,000 job cuts Monday, the deepest reduction among Japan's automakers in battling the global downturn, as it forecast its first annual loss in nine years. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said the latest problems were industrywide and due to the global economic slump and the appreciating yen. They didn't mean Nissan Motor Co. was reverting to its money-losing status that required a bailout from alliance partner Renault SA in 1999, he said.