IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Tough year ahead for VW

Volkswagen, the world's third-largest carmaker, said again that vehicle sales, revenue and earnings would all decline this year as a crisis in the auto industry continues.

"A difficult 2009 lies ahead of us, one of the most difficult years in our company's history," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said in a speech ahead of the group's annual news conference in Wolfsburg.