The news at a glance

GM: Judge approves federal takeover

The Obama administration advanced its “enormous restructuring of the American auto industry” this week when a federal bankruptcy judge approved General Motors’ plan to sell its most valuable assets to a new, government-owned company, said Michael de la Merced in The New York Times. Judge Robert Gerber said the sale was the bankrupt carmaker’s only viable choice, agreeing with company lawyers who argued that “the only other option would be liquidation.” The ruling clears the way for GM to sell it Chevrolet and Cadillac brands to a new company owned by the American and Canadian governments and a trust fund for the United Automobile Workers union.

Although GM’s emergence from Chapter 11 was approved in near-record time, “restructuring professionals” still have “several years of work to liquidate the leftovers,” said Christopher Scinta in Bloomberg.com. Among the assets on the auction block are 16 plants and associated real estate in seven states. Experts say GM and the government will need as long as three years to sell GM’s castoffs.

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Mining: Rio Tinto sells assets to cut debts

Rio Tinto, the world’s third largest mining company, has sold part of its Alcan packaging unit, said Jesse Riseborough in Bloomberg.com. Bemis, a Wisconsin-based producer of plastic packaging, will pay $1.2 billion for Alcan Packaging’s Food Americas business, which makes plastic packaging for cheeses, meats, and other foods. Rio Tinto’s debt “ballooned” to almost $39 billion last year when it borrowed heavily to buy Alcan. Rio Tinto has since raised $19 billion in asset and stock sales to bring its debt costs under control.

Mortgage lending: Beazer settles fraud charges

Beazer Homes USA, once the nation’s sixth largest mortgage lender, has escaped a criminal fraud charge by agreeing to pay up to $50 million in restitution to those who suffered from its lending practices, said Harry Weber in the Associated Press. Since 2007 Beazer has been under investigation for allegedly deceiving borrowers about “up-front points” that the firm said would lower borrowers’ interest rates. From 2000 to 2006, Beazer allegedly conspired to charge the points “without giving the borrower a bona fide reduction on the interest rate.” Beazer has since “exited the mortgage business.”

Soft drinks: Pepsi expands its Russian front

Pepsi and its largest bottler said it would commit $1 billion in fresh capital to Russia over the next three years, bringing the soft-drink maker’s cumulative investment in Russia to $4 billion, said Marketwatch.com. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has made such developing markets the keystone of the company’s growth strategy. A new bottling plant, the firm’s largest, is set to open this week near Moscow, and a snacks manufacturing plant is scheduled to begin operations later this year in the southern city of Azov.

Newspapers: Washington Post publisher apologizes

The Washington Post issued an unusual apology to its readers this week after a controversy erupted over the company’s plans to organize sponsored “salons” bringing together lobbyists, government officials, and the paper’s own journalists, said Mike Allen and Michael Calderone in Politico.com. Post publisher Katherine Weymouth offered an apology on the paper’s op-ed page for the “astonishing offer,” saying she had not approved the plan to sell access to the paper’s reporters. The original solicitation to potential sponsors promised that the reporters would be “non-confrontational.”