Toyota will pay $1.2bn (€860m) to settle US criminal charges that it lied to safety regulators and the public as it tried to cover up deadly accelerator defects.

The US government has announced a 1.2 billion US dollar settlement with Toyota and filed a criminal charge alleging the company defrauded consumers by issuing misleading statements about safety issues.

Toyota was preparing today to announce plans to deal with braking problems in its prized Prius hybrid amid reports it had decided to issue a recall for the vehicle in Japan.

The United States may be unable to finance a pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

California’s attorney general is suing the six largest US and Japanese carmakers, including General Motors, Ford and Toyota, for damages related to greenhouse gas emissions.