Checklist

Regional

• Falls Church defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. said that the head of the power company Dominion Virginia Power will replace current Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Chabraja when he retires next summer. Jay L. Johnson is a member of General Dynamics board of directors. Under a succession plan, he will become vice chairman of the board and a General Dynamics executive on Sept. 2, then take over as CEO on July 1, 2009, the day after Mr. Chabraja retires.

National

• Ford Motor Co. said yesterday it plans to double the number of six-speed automatic transmissions in its models by the end of next year, increasing fuel efficiency to the point where it’s equal to or better than manual gearboxes. The company also said that 98 percent of its North American transmissions will be six speeds by the end of 2012.

• Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. reportedly wants family members to unite against a challenge to family control of the company. After billionaire Kirk Kerkorian made public his plan to become Ford’s largest private shareholder, heirs of founder Henry Ford met Saturday near Dearborn, Mich., the Detroit News reported. They discussed Mr. Kerkorian’s bid to acquire another 20 million shares of Ford stock — in addition to the 100 million shares he already owns, the newspaper reported.

• Billionaire investor Carl Icahn reported increasing his stake in Motorola Inc. to 7.6 percent from 6.4 percent in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• Comcast Corp., the nation’s second-largest Internet service provider, is considering setting an official limit on the amount of data that the company’s 14.1 million subscribers can download per month and charging a fee for those who go over.

• “Grand Theft Auto IV” raked in more than $500 million in its first week in stores, selling more than 6 million units worldwide, publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said. The video game sold about 3.6 million units on April 29, its opening day, bringing in roughly $310 million. This is $10 million more than what Microsoft Corp.’s “Halo 3” took in during its first week last fall.

• The New York Times confirmed that it had made a limited but unspecified number of involuntary cuts to its newsroom staff in order to meet its goal of reducing head count there by 100.

• Delta Air Lines Inc. is closing nine of its airport VIP lounges in the U.S. and Britain, citing the need to manage costs due to hefty fuel prices. The Atlanta airline said in a posting on its Web site that eight Crown Room Club locations and one BusinessElite Lounge would be shuttered.

• The head of United Airlines’ pilots union said that combining with US Airways should be only a last resort for the carrier and contended it could take as long as seven years to integrate the two. Steve Wallach, who also sits on the board of directors at United parent UAL Corp., reiterated pilots’ “serious concerns” a day after flight attendants of both airlines also questioned the potential deal.

International

• European aircraft maker Airbus said it is outpacing Boeing so far this year, winning 397 orders in the four months to April compared with 346 for its U.S. rival. It said it had 432 orders in all during the period, but 35 cancellations. Medium-haul planes dominated, with 290 of the A320s ordered compared with 235 of Boeing’s 737 workhorse series.

From wire dispatches and staff reports