Business & Finance

Bankrupt United Airlines returned to the federal government with a revised application for a guaranteed bailout loan less than a week after being turned down. Neither the carrier nor the Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) would discuss the ways in which the application was modified. But The Wall Street Journal reported that it seeks $1.1 billion over five years instead of the $1.6 billion, seven-year request rejected by the ATSB June 18.

Struggling Alitalia won a promise of a one-time guaranteed loan from Italy's government, the only form of help the latter is allowed to extend under European Union rules. The amount will be announced later, Industry Minister Antonio Marzano said, but he hinted that it "probably won't exceed" $605 million. The carrier is attempting to stabilize its finances so it can win a place in the new alliance formed by the merger of Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Enron's creditors are expected to ask a bankruptcy court Thursday to allow them to accept a $2.3 billion offer for the energy trader's 9,900-mile natural gas pipeline network from Southern Union Co. and GE Commercial Finance, the Houston Chronicle reported. The bid, made public Tuesday, is $55 million higher than the amount pledged by a group of investors led by Texas energy tycoon Oscar Wyatt when they won the pipeline network at auction last month. Southern Union is based in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Publications giant Hollinger International agreed to sell its two London newspapers, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, and The Spectator magazine to Press Acquisitions Ltd. for $1.2 billion. The latter company is controlled by billionaire British twins David and Frederick Barclay. But ousted Hollinger chief Conrad Black is expected to ask a court to block the deal on grounds that Hollinger should be sold whole, The Times (London) reported.

Two thousand new jobs will be added by Dixons Group PLC, Britain's largest electronics retailer, The Times (London) reported. The company, which also operates in continental Europe, is expanding its PC World and Currys chains by a combined 25 stores, the report said.

Two months after winning five Pulitzer Prizes, The Los Angeles Times said it is cutting 190 jobs and closing suburban newspapers in Claremont and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.. The cuts were ordered by its parent, the Tribune Co. of Chicago, which said last month that more than 200 employees would lose their jobs among its 14 papers.