Toshiba cuts 7,000 jobs

Japan's engineering giant Toshiba announced plans Thursday to slash 7,000 jobs and liquidate a unit building a UK nuclear power plant, leaving its fate in doubt.

Toshiba also expects to scrap or consolidate some factories and reduce its subsidiaries by 25 percent -- announcing the withdrawal from a US-based liquid natural gas business.

The liquidation of NuGen, a nuclear subsidiary in Britain, could complicate UK efforts to shift away from polluting power plants that rely on coal, a number of which are slated to close.