Nokia will eliminate 4,000 jobs including at its oldest factory in Finland as it shifts mobile phone manufacturing to Asia, its largest market.

Handset production will end in Hungary, Mexico and Finland, where the plants will focus on final adjustments to finished phones, Nokia said Wednesday. Most of the production will move to existing factories in Beijing and Masan, South Korea, said James Etheridge, spokesman for Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland.

The firings add to at least 14,500 job cuts Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop has announced since Nokia linked up with Microsoft a year ago to fight a loss of smartphone market share to Apple.

French strike cancels hundreds of flights

Air France canceled up to 40 percent of its long-distance flights Wednesday because of a strike by pilots and other personnel over their right to conduct unannounced walkouts.

The airline is recommending that passengers postpone any flights planned through Friday, when the strike is expected to end. It’s costing the company, one of the world’s leading airlines, $10.5 million to $13.1 million a day, an Air France official said.

Flights operated with partner airlines in the Skyteam alliance are also affected by the cancellations, an official with the Paris airport authority said.

As the strike entered its third day Wednesday, Air France said it expected to operate 60 percent of long-haul flights and 70 percent of medium and short-range flights worldwide. The airline typically operates about 1,800 flights a day.

Ally’s ResCap ponders ‘arranged’ bankruptcy

Ally Financial’s mortgage unit is talking to buyout firms including Fortress Investment Group and Cerberus Capital Management about selling itself through a pre-packaged bankruptcy, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The unit, Residential Capital, and its financial advisers also have contacted Centerbridge Capital Partners and Leucadia National Corp. to gauge their interest, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. A prearranged bankruptcy is among options being explored as Ally, ResCap and their advisers aim to craft a plan for the unit by the end of March, before ResCap encounters financing and liquidity deadlines, said the people.

Ally is seeking to limit liabilities at ResCap, which faces at least 22 mortgage-linked securities lawsuits that threaten to wipe out profit at the Detroit-based parent. A pre-packaged bankruptcy would allow ResCap to reach an agreement with creditors and other stakeholders before filing.

Lawsuit seeks to block Google privacy change

A consumer watchdog group is suing the Federal Trade Commission in an attempt to prevent Google from making sweeping changes to its privacy policies next month.

The planned revisions would enable Google to bundle the personal information gathered by its Internet search engine and other services so the company can gain a better understanding of its users and potentially sell more advertising.

But the Electronic Privacy Information Center contends Google’s policy switch will violate restrictions imposed in an agreement reached with the FTC last year. A lawsuit filed Wednesday by the group is trying to force the FTC to enforce those rules.