CHICAGO — Surging demand from the government's "cash for clunkers" program has helped lift Ford Motor Co. to its first monthly sales increase in two years, the company's top sales analyst said yesterday.

July sales results mark the first year-over-year gain for Ford since November 2007, George Pipas said.

He declined to disclose a specific total before sales results are officially reported today. Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford sold a total of 161,071 vehicles in July 2008, down 15 percent from a year earlier.

INDIA SEEKS EX-CEO'S ARREST FOR DISASTER

Union Carbide is defending its former chief executive now wanted for arrest in India, saying managers couldn't have foreseen a gas leak at the chemical company's Bhopal plant that killed 10,000 people 25 years ago.

An Indian court issued a warrant Friday for Warren Anderson and ordered India's government to press Washington for his extradition. Anderson was arrested after the disaster but left the country and now lives in New York.

India's government as of yesterday has not acted on the court's request, and U.S. authorities have not moved to extradite Anderson, now 89 and reportedly in poor health.