NEW YORK — General Motors Corp. has agreed to take on responsibility for future product liability claims, removing what could have been a sizable roadblock on the automaker's path to a quick sale of its assets and emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a new company.

In a concession to consumer groups and state officials who had threatened to block GM's sale of the bulk of its assets to a new company because of product liability concerns, the new company will now assume responsibility for future claims involving vehicles made by the old company, according to documents filed in federal bankruptcy court in New York on Friday.

JBS SWIFT BEEF CO. EXPANDS RECALL

GREELEY, Colo. — JBS Swift Beef Co. of Greeley, Colo., is expanding its beef recall to include about 380,000 pounds of products because of possible E. coli contamination. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday the beef products in the expanded recall were produced April 21 and are in boxes bearing "EST. 969," a package date of "042109" and a time stamp ranging from "0618" to "1130." The USDA didn't immediately have an update of what states had reported illnesses or received beef products covered by the expanded recall.

N. KOREA ECONOMY SHOWS GROWTH

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's economy grew in 2008 after good weather boosted agricultural production, South Korea's central bank said yesterday.

The North's gross domestic product for last year was estimated at $24.7 billion, a 3.7 percent increase from 2007, Seoul's Bank of Korea said in a news release. The bank said the North's economic growth was mainly because of "temporary factors" such as favorable weather conditions that resulted in an increase in agricultural production.