US Airways Group Inc. made a new offer to unionized workers Friday for a labor contract, as the airline tries to avoid a second bankruptcy, The Associated Press reports.

The offer came as the pilots met Friday afternoon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Pittsburgh International Airport.

US Airways Chief Executive Bruce Lakefield said the company offered terms to pilots and flight attendants. The offers, Mr. Lakefield says, are designed to minimize pay cuts by requiring pilots and flight attendants to work more hours and accept other work-rule changes.

The airline will not avoid additional furloughs. Almost 1,900 pilots are already on furlough, according to the Air Line Pilots Association.

Unless US Airways gains relief from its unions, the airline appears certain to seek bankruptcy protection Sunday, The New York Times reported in its Friday editions.

The Arlington, Va.-based airline, which emerged from Chapter 11 in March 2003, is considering a bankruptcy filing without debtor-in-possession financing, a standard feature of most reorganizations.

Instead, the airline would rely on cash on hand to operate and would explore additional financing, the Times reported.

Christopher Chiames, US Airways senior vice president for corporate affairs, declined comment on whether another bankruptcy filing was imminent.

"All along in this process, we've acknowledged that a bankruptcy filing might be necessary, but no decisions have been made," he told the newspaper.

The final say is up to the airline's board, which has not met to discuss the issue, he added. But the board can meet by telephone on short notice.

The carrier says employee concessions are essential to avoid bankruptcy. The airline wants $1.5 billion in overall savings, including $800 million from workers.

The carrier, which dominates traffic at Pittsburgh International, but has drastically cut back its schedule there, faces mid-September deadlines for making nearly $1 billion in payments to cover pension obligations and to meet financial criteria needed to maintain a federal guarantee on loans.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said Friday it would move its 17-bed obstetrics unit at UPMC Shadyside to Magee-Womens Hospital.

The move, which will take place in November, is being made to meet the demand for more medical/surgical beds at UPMC Shadyside.

There will be no job losses as a result of the transfer of services, according to a statement released by the health system. The unit is staffed by 23 full-time employees.

During fiscal year 2004, there were 961 births at UPMC Shadyside and 8,310 births at Magee. Since Magee's merger with UPMC in 2000, there has been an approximate 20 percent increase in its overall admissions.

Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania has spent millions of dollars promoting its name following its late 2001 entry into the state through the acquisition of Mellon Financial Corp.'s retail branches. Now, a federal court has ruled the company can't use the Citizens name in Butler County -- the latest development in more than three years of legal battles initiated by Citizens National Bank of Evans City.

The 18-branch Citizens National, founded in the late 1870s, said the newcomer, which has about 120 of its 400 branches in the Pittsburgh area, caused rampant confusion in the marketplace.

On Sept. 9, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, ruled that Providence, R.I.-based Citizens Financial Group Inc., parent of Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, infringed the trademark of Citizens National Bank of Evans City. The decision means Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania will have to change the name of its branches in Butler County.

The larger bank vowed to fight.

"We disagree with the decision and we will be appealing to the full Third Circuit court," said Pamela Crawley, a Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania spokeswoman.

The decision resulted from an appeal Citizens National filed earlier this year, following a July 2003 ruling in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. A jury determined that Citizens National hadn't been hurt financially by Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania's use of the Citizens name.

The issue of trademark infringement was determined in the July 2003 case by Judge Donetta Ambrose who ruled that Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania had the right to use the name.

The Texas Pacific Group's stake in the Del Monte Foods Co. essentially will fall to zero after affiliates sell their remaining shares of the company.

The affiliates plan to sell 12.3 million shares of Del Monte, a move that will lower their stake in the company from 5.9 percent to zero. A third affiliate will continue to own 6,569 Del Monte shares.

In a statement Friday, Del Monte said it expected the sales to happen around Sept. 15. Thereafter, Texas Pacific, the Forth Worth investment firm, will hold a negligible portion of Del Monte.

"This stock sale effectively marks the end of TPG's ownership participation in our company," chairman, president and chief executive Richard Wolford said.

Texas Pacific took a stake in Del Monte during a recapitalization of the company in 1997. In August 2003, Del Monte said Texas Pacific was considering selling its nearly 12 percent stake.

Texas Pacific's stake fell to 5.9 percent after affiliates sold 12 million shares in January 2004.

Del Monte, the San Francisco company that employs around 1,200 at its Pittsburgh operations, will receive no proceeds of the Texas Pacific sales, and the sales will have no effect on the number of outstanding Del Monte shares.

Mr. Wolford said Del Monte viewed the situation as an opportunity to broaden its shareholder base and increase the liquidity of its common stock.

Alcoa Inc. expects third-quarter earnings to come in well below analysts' consensus estimate, the company said Thursday, as it confronts issues ranging from charges for plant closures to the effects of Hurricane Ivan.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa said after trading ended Thursday its third-quarter earnings from continuing operations will be 30 cents to 35 cents a share. Sixteen analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call have an average estimate of 51 cents, and none of them has an estimate lower than 38 cents.

In the comparable quarter last year, Alcoa earned 33 cents a share.

Alcoa said it would book charges of 7 cents to 9 cents a share related to an ongoing strike at its Becancour smelter in Quebec, a fire at its packaging facility in Hazleton, Pa., and plant closures in Wenatchee, Wash., and Northwood, Ohio.

In addition, market softness in the automotive, packaging and European end markets will cut into results, and so will higher input costs, especially for energy in Europe and North America, Alcoa said.

The company added that it shut down its Jamalco alumina refinery in the Caribbean in anticipation of Hurricane Ivan. The temporary shutdown of the plant, which has an annual capacity of 1.25 million metric tons a year, is not yet known, Alcoa said.

Finally, the world's largest aluminum producer said the anticipated sale of its protective packaging business would result in a charge of roughly 2 cents per share. But that charge will be recorded under discontinued operations, and Alcoa did not include it in its forecast for earnings from continuing operations.

Alain Belda, the chief executive, said the primary aluminum market continued to be strong and that many of Alcoa's end markets, especially aerospace and transportation, were showing signs of strength.

"While we are not pleased with the short term impact the labor issues have had on our bottom line, our actions are aimed at enhanced global competitiveness," Mr. Belda said in a statement. "As we address the labor and cost issues," he added, "the company will be well positioned for better operating performance in the future."

Alcoa will report quarterly results on Oct. 7 after the financial markets close.

DeVry University will open at the Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods, its second Pittsburgh-area location.

DeVry, the private postsecondary school based in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., said Thursday it would open the Cranberry Woods location this month. It will offer undergraduate programs in business, technology and management, as well as graduate programs through DeVry's Keller Graduate School of Management.

DeVry opened its first Pittsburgh location, occupying 8,000 square feet in the FreeMarkets building Downtown, in November 2003.

"There has been a substantial increase in recent years in the number of non-traditional college students, including working professionals and parents who are returning to school or entering college for the first time," Jack Flinter, center dean of DeVry's Downtown location, said in a press release.

The Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods is an $18 million, 76,000-square-foot campus in Cranberry Township that will house several educational institutions in one facility with classrooms, technology labs, a career center, a library, a bookstore and on-site child care.

Other local schools involved in the alliance include Slippery Rock University, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Carlow College, Butler Community College, La Roche College and Penn State University. The Art Institute is owned by a DeVry competitor, Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp.

DeVry has 71 locations in 20 states and says enrollment is roughly 49,000 students. Other locations in Pennsylvania include Fort Washington, Valley Forge and Philadelphia.

Conditions improved for manufacturers but worsened for retailers around the region in the last eight weeks, the Cleveland branch of the Federal Reserve says.

"Activity continued to slow in some sectors, while others saw sales and production rebound in recent weeks," according to Cleveland Fed's latest "beige book" economic report released Wednesday.

In its previous beige book report, released July 28, the Cleveland Fed reported the economy "appeared to slow" across its region.

The Cleveland Fed oversees the central bank's fourth district, which covers Ohio, eastern Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. It compiles its beige book by surveying business executives in the area.

In the fourth district, the Fed found durable goods manufacturers enjoyed increases in production over the last eight weeks. Manufacturers of nondurable goods reported softer demand, and all producers worried about rising costs for fuel and petroleum-based products. Food processing companies reported spikes in the price of ingredients such as milk, chicken and beef.

Retailers reported hard times in August, according to the Cleveland Fed.

"In particular, the back-to-school selling season, which many firms had hoped would revive weak sales, has been disappointing," the report said.

Home builders reported slowing sales, saying conditions were especially weak in the Midwest. Most commercial builders reported fewer inquiries, although some small industrial projects were moving forward.

Banks reported steady demand for consumer loans, although mortgage refinancing dropped off. Deposit levels were flat at small banks but rising at large banks. Banks reported credit delinquencies were at low levels.

Trucking and shipping companies reported strong demand for their services, leading to bottlenecks in some overland distribution channels. Shippers reported higher fuel prices, but said they were able to pass the costs along to customers.

The Federal Reserve also released a beige book for the nation Wednesday.

"Reports from the Federal Reserve banks indicated that economic activity continued to expand in late July and August, although several districts indicated that the pace had slowed since their last reports," the national report said.

Mellon Financial Corp. is reworking its venture capital arm, Mellon Ventures, and announced that it will no longer make new investments. It will continue to support existing portfolio companies.

Mellon said the decision resulted from an annual strategic-planning process, which included a thorough review of all its businesses, including each's ability to succeed and grow.

"We concluded that we will not be making new private equity investments, except in support of the existing portfolio," Mellon said in a statement.

"Mellon will continue to provide follow-on investments, with the objective of maximizing the return on the current portfolio," the company said, "and Larry Mock will continue to lead this effort."

Mellon did not elaborate, and Mr. Mock, president and CEO of Mellon Ventures since its inception, was not available for comment.

The current book value of Mellon Ventures' portfolio is around $600 million. That includes direct portfolio investments of $387 million, and the remainder is in private equity funds.

Mellon Ventures ranks as the second-largest venture capital firm with a Pittsburgh office, according to a Pittsburgh Business Times list published in June 2004. Since its 1996 launch, it has invested in the equity-related securities of more than 130 operating companies across the United States and more than 50 private equity partnerships.

Earlier this year, on the local front, Mellon Ventures was one of the big winners when Network Appliance Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., bought O'Hara-based Spinnaker Networks, one of its portfolio companies, for $300 million. But it made no new investments in the Mid Atlantic region, let alone Western Pennsylvania, in 2003.

It operates four offices currently -- Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York -- and employs 26 people. A Philadelphia site closed in 2000.

Mellon Ventures is unusually structured. Unlike most funds, which are 10-year partnerships, it is a 50-year partnership. It has one institutional limited partner, Pittsburgh-based Mellon Financial, which provided most of the money it has under management.

This structure means Mellon Ventures officials don't have to worry about raising a fund every three to five years, but it also means Mellon Ventures has to be creative about taking investments from and paying back its partners, other than Mellon Financial, because it's unlikely that all of them will want to be involved for a 50-year period.

Joseph Cirelli will retire as president and chief executive officer of the US Airways Federal Credit Union on Oct. 1.

Mr. Cirelli has led the Moon Township, Pa.-based credit union for US Airways employees since 2000. The credit union said on Thursday it named Mark Brennan the new president and CEO.

The US Airways Federal Credit Union has around 80,000 members and $618.3 million in assets, making it the largest credit union in the Pittsburgh region and the third-largest in Pennsylvania. Branch offices are in Philadelphia, Arlington, Va., and Boston.

Mr. Cirelli, a 35-year veteran of the credit union industry, said he began considering retirement in February in order to spend more time with his family, many of whom live outside the Pittsburgh region.

Mr. Cirelli joined a predecessor, the Allegheny Airways Federal Credit Union, in 1969 after a tenure at the Western Pennsylvania National Bank. He held positions at the credit union including loan officer, assistant general manager and executive vice president.

Mr. Brennan joined the US Airways credit union in 1991 as assistant vice president of human resources. He was promoted to vice president of human resources and training in 1993.

Earlier, Mr. Brennan was a supervisor and senior employee relations representative for US Airways Inc., the primary operating subsidiary of US Airways Group Inc., based in Arlington.

Prior to joining US Airways, the nation's seventh-largest air carrier and the dominant airline serving Pittsburgh International Airport where it once had its largest hub, Mr. Brennan was manager of human resources for Robert Morris University, also in Moon Township.

Before rising to her current post of deputy administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration, Melanie Sabelhaus was a small business owner.

So, she knows firsthand the unique obstacles women entrepreneurs face. She was turned down six times before being approved for a loan to help finance her $10 million-a-year, short-term furnished housing business.

That was in 1986. And while the business environment has improved for women entrepreneurs since then, Ms. Sabelhaus, speaking to several dozen small business owners in Pittsburgh on Thursday, acknowledged there's still much more improvement that needs to take place -- especially in Western Pennsylvania.

While women own about 40 percent of all small businesses nationwide, the percentage in Pittsburgh is closer to 30, Ms. Sabelhaus said.

That's something she and the SBA want to see increase.

Ms. Sabelhaus was the keynote speaker Thursday at the United Way of Allegheny County's inaugural Business Briefcase breakfast, as well as the United Way's annual Women's Leadership Initiative. The events were held back-to-back at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

The Business Briefcase is a joint effort of the United Way of Allegheny County and the Chambers of Commerce Service Corporation to deliver free business information, growth tips and news to area companies. United Way spokesman Bob De Witt said the Business Briefcase is part of an effort by the organization to reach out to the local small business community.

The Briefcase Web site, www.businessbriefcase.org, was launched earlier this year and provides a business calendar with networking events and free seminars, news from sources including the Pittsburgh Business Times, and an online database of more than 5,000 health and human service programs, among other items.

The Women's Leadership Initiative, launched in 2001, raised $1.4 million in contributions last year -- a 27 percent increase from the previous year -- ranking Pittsburgh 10th in dollars raised among 33 United Way organizations with similar initiatives across the country. More than 750 people attended the Women's Leadership Initiative breakfast on Thursday.

Just as the contributions of the Women's Leadership Initiative have been on the rise, Ms. Sabelhaus said the business sector is increasingly taking notice of the nation's 10 million women entrepreneurs and the $3.6 trillion in annual revenue that they generate.

Women also manage 83 percent of the overall purchases made by U.S. households, Ms. Sabelhaus said.

"And it's not all shoes," she quipped.

The reasons women's business ownership in Pittsburgh lags behind the national average range from a lack of seed money to tax issues, businesswomen in attendance at the Business Briefcase breakfast said.

"This is a tough city for women," said Anna Marie Gire, the publisher of a local women's newspaper, called Women's Independent Press.

Ms. Sabelhaus said the SBA is looking to increase awareness of the financial assistance and counseling and training programs it offers to small businesses, which she called "the backbone" of the nation's economy.

"If we're going to fuel the economy, we need to (provide incentives for) entrepreneurs," she said. "You are the heart and soul of America."

Her advice to fledgling entrepreneurs?

"The No. 1 most important criteria (for a successful small business) is vision," Ms. Sabelhaus said. "No. 2 is having the passion, it's contagious. And then it's thinking big. You've got to think big and bold.

"Get over the failure (sometimes encountered at the start). Be coachable. Be humble and then make sure you have the best people."

The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, which closed last month and laid off its staff because of more than $1 million in debt, will open for limited hours for a limited time this fall.

The PCA, an art gallery and arts education venue, received an undisclosed donation from Carnegie Mellon University. The revised hours of operation for the gallery, on Fifth Avenue in Shadyside, are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., from Sept. 30 to Oct. 24 The PCA suggests a donation of $5 from visitors during this period.

The limited operating hours coincide with the PCA's Artist of the Year Exhibition and Fundraiser. That event's opening is Sept. 30, with a reception from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. In addition to celebrating the works of two artists, the reception will serve as a fundraiser, with a suggested donation of $25 at the door, $10 for students.

The Timken Co. agreed to sell the Kilian Manufacturing Corp. and an affiliate in Canada to members of the management team and Genstar Capital LP, a private investment firm.

Timken did not disclose financial terms of the sale, which included Kilian Canada ULC, but said the company had sales of roughly $40 million last year.

Kilian employs 344 at plants in Syracuse, N.Y., and Toronto where it produces ball and roller bearings and assemblies for industrial and automotive applications. Timken bought Kilian from The Torrington Co. in 2003 but said the company is no longer a strategic fit.

"Kilian is an excellent business, and we are pleased to have found a strong buyer that will enable it to continue to grow," Timken president and chief executive James Griffith said in a statement.

Timken is based in Canton, Ohio, and owns Timken Latrobe Steel near Pittsburgh. Timken produces alloy steels and bearings, as well as related products and services, and rang up sales of $3.8 billion last year.

San Francisco-based Genstar has more than $400 million of committed capital under management.

The Black Box Corp. named a pair of directors to its board, including the president of Robert Morris University.

Lawrence, Pa.-based Black Box, a technical services company, said Robert Morris president Edward Nicholson and Richard Crouch, a retired general partner of Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, were elected to the board during the company's annual meeting.

Mr. Nicholson has been president of Robert Morris, a private school in Moon Township, Pa., since 1989. He is a director Shopsmith Inc. and sits on the boards of several regional economic, charitable and cultural groups.

Mr. Morris worked for Pricewaterhouse from 1979 until retiring in July 2004. He served as an audit partner, principally for public companies, and as a regional accounting, auditing and Securities and Exchange Commission services consultant.

Black Box also re-elected several directors at the annual meeting. They included Thomas Golonski, the chairman, president and chief executive of Pittsburgh-based National City Bank of Pennsylvania and executive vice president of parent company National City Corp. in Cleveland.

The West Penn Allegheny Health System will merge two of its hospitals, Allegheny General and Suburban General, into a single entity with separate campuses.

As a result of the merger, Suburban General will be renamed AGH Suburban Campus, and some Allegheny General surgical services will be moved there, West Penn Allegheny said Thursday.

Hospital officials said the merger grew out of a closer collaboration in recent years between Allegheny General and Suburban General, which now share clinical programs including urology, radiology and emergency medicine.

"It became more apparent that a more formal strategic alliance would further advance the clinical capabilities we present to our service area," Suburban General chairwoman Melinda Meighan said.

West Penn Allegheny will merge the corporate structures of the two hospitals, which will have a single board of directors and integrated medical staffs. The health system said it expected to complete the restructuring by Jan. 1. Movement of clinical programs to AGH Suburban will begin in the spring of 2005.

Located in Bellevue, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh, Suburban General has 154 beds and admits more than 4,000 patients each year. The hospital's emergency department treats some 13,000 patients.

West Penn Allegheny, which is based in Pittsburgh, said emergency medicine will continue to be a central component of the services AGH Suburban will offer.

"We maintain, however, that in addition to the current services provided, it has even greater potential as a community resource and value to our system as a center for select specialty services and post-acute care programs," Jerry Fedele, president and chief executive of West Penn Allegheny, said on Thursday.

Several components of Allegheny General's orthopedic-surgery program are planned to move to AGH Suburban, the health system said. Those include Allegheny General's division of adult reconstruction and joint replacement surgery, and the division of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

West Penn Allegheny plans to make a "substantial investment" in the Bellevue campus, including information technology upgrades, infrastructure renovations and clinical improvements, although it did not specify how much money would be involved.

West Penn Allegheny added that the "ultimate configuration" of clinical programs at AGH Suburban "still need resolution" but said it expected to maintain, or possibly expand, the Bellevue campus' current staff.

"This move will not only maintain the employee base at Suburban General, but may in fact expand it through the development of new clinical programs," Mr. Fedele said.

Gasoline prices around Western Pennsylvania fell an average of 3 cents a gallon last week, AAA East Central said.

The Pittsburgh area's average gas price shed 3.4 cents to $1.816 a gallon of unleaded self-serve during the week ended Sept. 7, the travel and motor club said. A year ago, local gas averaged $1.696.

The national average gas price fell, too, declining 2.3 cents to $1.837 a gallon, AAA reported.

Gas prices have been helped lower by falling crude oil prices, which have retreated below $45 a barrel from highs near $50 two weeks ago.

There is some worry oil prices could rise with the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Saturday. But oil supplies are currently above demand, and that should help keep crude, and perhaps gas prices lower.

Registered nurses at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh have voted to commence a three-day strike beginning Sept. 10 at 7 a.m.

The 110 registered nurses voted Wednesday to reject the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's offer of a 3 percent, across-the-board wage increase. The nurses were asking for a 6.25 percent increase. The vote was 92 percent in favor of a strike.

UPMC is the parent organization of Western Psychiatric. The nurses are members of union known as JNESO, but are being represented in negotiations by the Service Employees International Union, District 1199P.

Management and nurses have been negotiating over RN wages for the third year of the current four-year contract. The full contract expires on June 30, 2005.

In a written statement Wednesday, UPMC spokeswoman Jane Duffield said, "In the event of a strike, there will be no interruption of services to patients. Their care will be managed by existing WPIC staff." Further details were not immediately available.

But Lois Cusick, president of hospital's nurses union, said that services will be interrupted. Ms. Cusick, who works in the shock-therapy unit, said that outpatient procedures on her unit have been canceled for Sept. 10.

"There will definitely be a disruption to treatment that patients receive," Ms. Cusick said.

She acknowledged that it would be a hardship for patients.

"It's why we worked so hard to avoid this," said Ms. Cusick, a 21-year veteran of the hospital. She said the strike will mark the first walk-out of registered nurses during her tenure at the 270-bed psychiatric hospital in Oakland.

The union contends that inadequate wages have contributed to major retention, recruitment and staffing problems at WPIC. According to the union, WPIC has a 21-percent vacancy rate for registered nurses.

"We'll be picketing in front of Western Psych and reaching out to the community to support us," Ms. Cusick said.

Directors of Mylan Laboratories Inc. on Wednesday temporarily lowered the threshold at which the generic drugmaker's shareholder rights plan would kick in.

That move came as billionaire investor Carl Icahn is buying shares of Mylan's stock and says he opposes the company's pending deal to buy King Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Bristol, Tenn., distributor of brand-name medicines. [See related story, Icahn opposes King acquistion, but Mylan is undeterred.]

Mylan, based in Canonsburg, Pa., said after trading ended Wednesday its board temporarily amended its charter so its shareholder rights plan will take affect if any investor buys 10 percent or more of the company's shares. Earlier, the plan became exerciseable if an investor bought 15 percent of the shares.

Mr. Icahn, meanwhile, has received approval from the Federal Trade Commission to buy a stake in Mylan of up to 11 percent. If Mr. Icahn were to buy the full amount of shares, he would trigger the shareholder rights plan. In turn, that would dilute the value of Mylan's shares as a way to defend against a takeover.

In a statement Wednesday, Mylan said the board's action was intended to deter "certain short-term tactics and strategies, which are inconsistent with the long-term interests of the company and its shareholders."

As soon as news broke in August that Mr. Icahn had clearance to buy the stake in Mylan, speculation began that he might try to derail the King acquisition, worth about $4 billion when it was announced in July.

Investors' reaction to the deal has been mixed, with some concerned Mylan is paying too much for King. Some shareholders are puzzled by Mylan's decision to pay for King with stock rather than cash or a combination of the two.

Mr. Icahn said in a regulatory filing earlier this week that he and related investors had amassed a 6.8 percent stake in Mylan, worth about $307 million, and that they opposed Mylan's plan to buy King. Mr. Icahn and his group will work to prevent the deal from going through, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If the deal were to fall apart and relieved investors bid up Mylan's shares to a higher price, Mr. Icahn might stand to make a notable profit.

Mylan hopes buying King will offset weakness in the company's generics business, which has been under pressure from recent regulatory decisions. In addition, Mylan wants to take advantage of King's established sales force for selling branded drugs.

Mylan and King have vowed to see the deal through to the end. Mylan said Wednesday the amendments to the shareholder rights plan would remain in effect until the King deal closes or is terminated.

The country's largest local telephone company, Verizon Communications Inc., on Wednesday agreed to sell its directory business in Canada to Bain Capital for $1.54 billion.

Verizon, based in New York with regional offices in Pittsburgh, said the sale to Bain, a private investment firm in Boston, was subject to regulatory approvals but expected to conclude by the end of 2004.

The directory operations, SuperPages Canada, is that country's second-largest directories publisher. The sale includes online directory operations, according to Verizon, which is also the United States' third-largest provider of long-distance service.

SuperPages Canada, which is an affiliate of Verizon Information Services, had revenue in 2003 of $293 million. The company will continue using the SuperPages name after the sale to Bain.

"SuperPages Canada is a highly regarded, stable franchise with an outstanding history of service to its customers," said Ian Loring, a managing director at Bain.

Bain has more than $26 billion in assets under management. The firm was founded in 1984 and says it has made investments or acquisitions involving some 225 companies worldwide.

A group of investors led by Carl Icahn has accumulated a 7 percent stake in Mylan Laboratories Inc. and said Tuesday it opposed the company's $4 billion takeover of King Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Mr. Icahn and the other investors hold 18.312 million shares of Mylan, a Canonsburg, Pa., pharmaceuticals company. That stake represents 6.8 percent of Mylan's outstanding shares and is worth $307.1 million, according to a filing Mr. Icahn made Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Icahn received permission from the Federal Trade Commission in August to buy around 11 percent of Mylan's shares. That news helped Mylan's stock recover losses incurred after the King deal was announced, but there has been considerable speculation Mr. Icahn might try to block the acquisition.

In his filing Tuesday, Mr. Icahn said he and other members of his group bought Mylan shares because they felt the stock was undervalued and that, indeed, they did oppose the deal to buy King.

"The registrants' present intention," the filing said, "is to oppose and solicit proxies against the issuer's proposed merger with King Pharmaceuticals Inc."

Mylan said in July it had agreed to buy King in a stock-swap transaction that was worth roughly $4 billion at the time. Under the terms of the deal, Mylan will exchange 0.9 of its shares for each share of King, which is based in Bristol, Tenn.

Mylan is one of the largest producers of generic drugs but believes the business is under pressure from regulatory decisions that favor brand-name pharmaceuticals companies. King's business centers on acquiring rights to sell branded medicines, and Mylan said buying King would provide diversification and growth opportunities.

In particular, Mylan hopes to take advantage of the sales network King has in place for distributing Altace, a blood pressure drug with sales near $500 million last year. Mylan is preparing to take its own blood pressure medicine to market, an endeavor it believes would be easier using King's existing sales force.

But investors have been wary of the plan, concerned Mylan might be overpaying and questioning why the company chose to buy King for stock instead of cash or a combination of the two. They sent Mylan's shares down 16 percent to $15.51 when the deal was announced. The shares have traded as low as $14.75 since then.

However, news that Mr. Icahn could buy Mylan stock pushed the shares up more than 10 percent. On Sept. 7, the stock closed at $18.03.

Mylan insists the King deal is in its best interests and issued a statement Tuesday saying Mr. Icahn's efforts to block the acquisition did not dilute its resolve.

"It is unfathomable that Mr. Icahn, a Mylan shareholder for little more than one month, could reasonably conclude what is in the best long-term interest for all Mylan shareholders," vice chairman and chief executive officer Robert Coury said.

"Mr. Icahn, to our knowledge, has never owned Mylan shares prior to our announcement to acquire King, nor has he ever met with management to discuss its business, the generics industry, or more recently, the benefits of the King transaction," Mr. Coury added.

He and Mr. Icahn have scheduled a face-to-face meeting for later in the week.

Mr. Coury said Mylan had held more than 100 meetings with institutional investors and other major shareholders to pitch the King deal. Feedback from those meetings has been positive, with a "growing appreciation of the compelling logic" behind the deal, he said.

King followed Wednesday afternoon with its own endorsement of the sale, saying it "is moving forward with integration plans and looks forward to closing the transaction as soon as possible."

Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Jerry Grinstein met with the carrier's top management Wednesday to outline plans to transform the struggling airline, including more job cuts and the closure of at least one hub.

Delta said it will redesign its hub operation in Atlanta, downgrade its Dallas/Ft. Worth operation from a hub, add 31 new nonstop flights to 19 l destinations, grow its Song low-fare carrier, reduce fleet complexity and eliminate 6,000-7,000 jobs over the next 18 months.

Those actions are part of a bid to save $5 billion in cash each year by 2006, including $2.3 billion this year. Delta has already cut 16,000 jobs since 2001.

In terms of its service from Delta, the country's No. 3 airline, Dallas/Ft. Worth finds itself in a similar position to the one Pittsburgh International Airport is in. As part of a cost-cutting plan intended to stave off a second trip to bankruptcy court, US Airways has reduced Pittsburgh International from its largest hub to a mere focus site. [See related story, Standard & Poor's says US Airways running out of time.]

Delta's announcement Wednesday contained a bit of good news for Pittsburgh, though. The company said it would add a second flight between New York's JFK airport and Pittsburgh, which will double the frequency of that service to two daily flights. US Airways has cut hundreds of flights from Pittsburgh as part of the downsizing, and local officials have been working to attract additional flights from other carriers already serving the airport, as well as flights from new airlines.

Delta's plan calls for more than 51 percent of the company's network to be restructured by Jan. 31, 2005, resulting in "the largest single-day schedule transformation in Delta's history." It also calls for immediate improvements to its product and services, network and fleet, and operational efficiencies and productivity, as well as improvements over the next 36 months, Mr. Grinstein said.

Speaking to the company's top executives Wednesday, Mr. Grinstein described the top-to-bottom overhaul as a "comprehensive, 360-degree plan that reinvents Delta."

The Atlanta-based company also said it intends to file for new U.S.-China service in order to expand its global network.

Some analysts predict Delta may file for bankruptcy protection this fall, depending on how much more cash the carrier burns through during the sluggish September and October travel months. Delta started this year with $2.7 billion in cash; it now has $2 billion in cash remaining and may end this year with as little as $1.3 billion, it has warned.

Mr. Grinstein said a bankruptcy filing is a real possibility.

"We're working hard and fast to avoid it," Grinstein said, "but if the pilot early retirement issue is not resolved before the end of the month, or if all of the pieces don't come together in the near term, we will have to restructure through the courts."

Delta must drastically lower its costs in the near term to better compete with low-fare carriers such as AirTran Airways Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. Delta's single largest cost is labor, and management has not yet reached a wage concession deal with its pilots union, a move analysts say is critical if Delta is to survive. Delta is seeking $1 billion in salary cuts and productivity gains, and the union has offered about $700 million in cuts plus profit sharing and other incentives.