Somalia pirates strike again

Somalia pirates who seized a ship laden with tanks off the Horn of Africa were seeking ransom and keeping most of the 35 people aboard in a single stuffy room.Pirates are now holding 14 ships and more than 300 crew members.The Russian navy has sent a warship to Somalia's coast after pirates there seized a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying tanks and other military hardware, as well as crew. A multinational taskforce based in Djibouti has been patrolling parts of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, where a pirate mother ship is believed to be operating.

Top airports in the world

Portland, Oregon scored top marks as the favorite U.S. airport for business travelers, while Singapore was the number one destination for international travel, according to a new survey.Tampa, Florida and Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., rounded out the top three domestic choices in the Conde Nast Traveler poll.Singapore's airport received the poll's highest scores in location and access, ease of connections, customs and baggage, as well as food, shops, amenities and comfort design.

China sends Shenzhou-7 spacecraft

The Shenzhou (Divine Vessel) Seven carries Chinese astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng.The highlight of their mission is a spacewalk.The Shenzhou-7 will fly in a circular orbit 343 kilometers above the Earth after an orbit transfer from an elliptical orbit.This is China's third manned moon mission.The spaceship will be carried into orbit at about 583 seconds after a blast-off with the Long March II-F rocket.

JPMorgan buys Washington Mutual's assets

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc.acquired the banking operations of Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu), the largest thrift in the United States, in a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.WaMu has suffered an exodus of 16.7 billion dollars in deposits.WaMu was in "an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business.WaMu, specialized in providing home mortgages, credit cards and other retail lending products and services, has more than 43,000 employees, more than 2,200 branch offices in 15 states and 188.3 billion in deposits.

$700 bln bailout plan to address financial crisis

The Bush administration is planning to buy 700 billion dollars of bad debt from financial institutions in efforts to deal with the financial crisis.The plan, part of the government's largest financial bailout since the Great Depression, would give the administration broad power to buy the bad debt of any U.S. financial institutions for the next two years.The administration is working with Congress to quickly pass a financial bailout bill.

Efforts on for saving Lehman Brothers

An investment banking official said Bank of America Corp. and Britain's Barclays Plc have emerged as the front runners for Lehman Brothers after a possible cash injection from its rival Wall Street banks and brokerages.Top officials from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department and executives from several Wall Street banks met at the New York Fed's downtown Manhattan headquarters Saturday for the second day in a row try to hash out a deal to rescue Lehman Brothers.The financial world is watching.

Alaska Airlines to cut up to 1,000 jobs

Alaska Airlines said it will reduce its work force by up to 10 percent and cut flights due to high oil prices, a softening economy and increased competition.Alaska previously announced that 80 management jobs would be cut and on Friday said 850 to 1,000 operational positions will also be eliminated, including pilots, attendants, technicians and customer service staff.Amidst high fuel prices and a slowing economy, major U.S. airlines have been cutting routes, capacity and jobs, raising fares.