NEW YORK — A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of most of Chrysler's assets to Fiat, clearing the way for the American automaker to exit court protection shortly.

Judge Arthur Gonzalez said in a court filing that he approved the sale, the major piece of a plan orchestrated by a federal auto task force. The plan gives a 55 percent stake of the new company to a union-run trust for retirees, a 20 percent stake to Fiat that can ultimately grow to 35 percent and smaller stakes to the U.S. and Canadian governments.

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The price of gasoline jumped 19 cents a gallon during the past two weeks, but remains well below prices from a year ago.That's according to the national Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday.The average price of regular gasoline was $2.49 a gallon Friday, when the survey was completed. That's up 54 cents from 10 weeks ago, with most of the rise occurring during May.The average for a gallon of midgrade was $2.62. Premium was at $2.73. Tucson had the country's lowest price — $2.22 for regular. The highest was in Chicago, at $2.76.