WASHINGTON — More people applied for unemployment benefits last week, one week after claims had fallen to the lowest level in nearly three years.

The big drop a week earlier had occurred largely because bad weather in many parts of the country had kept people from applying for benefits.

The Labor Department said Thursday that 410,000 people sought unemployment assistance last week, a jump of 25,000 from the previous week. The rise was much larger than economists had expected.

Applications are well below their peak of 651,000, reached in March 2009, when the economy was in the depths of the recession.

SHANGHAI — Chinese passenger car sales by manufacturers rose 16 percent in January from a year earlier as dealers restocked following a year-end buying spree, a report said today, but automakers already are feeling pressure from weakening demand.The quasi-official China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said sales of passenger cars in the world's largest market hit a record of 1.5 million last month, also rising 16.8 percent from the month before. But that was a sharp drop from the nearly 27 percent increase in December.Total vehicle sales, including large buses, rose 13.8 percent to 1.89 million units in January, the report said. That compared with an 18 percent increase in December, to 1.7 million vehicles, when car buyers rushed to beat the expiration of the government buying incentives, mainly for purchases of energy-efficient small cars.

NEW YORK — Ford plans to team up with Sollers to make and distribute cars in Russia. The announcement came shortly after Italian automaker Fiat SpA backed out of a potential partnership with the Russian company.Fiat and Russian automaker Sollers said in a joint statement today that they would “pursue independent strategies.”Ford and Sollers said they will have equal stakes in their Russian joint venture called Ford Sollers. Local plants in the St. Petersburg region and the Republic of Tatarstan will make Ford passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.

TOKYO — Sony is doing booming business in India, dominating in flat-panel TVs and digital cameras, and is in good shape to keep growing in coming years, a top executive said today.Sony’s success in India — where a new middle class is snatching up gadgets — is a bright spot for the Japanese electronics maker that’s getting beaten in North America by U.S. rival Apple and Samsung Electronics of South Korea.Sony has No. 1 market share in flat-panel TVs in India at 34 percent and digital cameras at 40 percent, according to the maker of Bravia TVs and Cybershot cameras. Sony is also No. 1 in India in home theaters and camcorders.