BRIEFCASE AIMS MULTIMEDIA TO BE TAKEN OVER.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

CHATSWORTH - AIMS Multimedia announced Friday that it is being bought by Discovery Communications Inc.

Terms of the deal were not announced, but co-President David Sherman said business should continue as usual. He and his brothers Jeff and Biff, who bought the company in 1982 and built it into an online school curriculum provider, will consult with Discovery's education division for three years.

Discovery has hired 10 of AIMS' 43 employees, with the remainder on four-month independent contracts. Sherman said he expects the offices to remain in Chatsworth for at least six months to a year.

Iraq unrest sets off oil-price jump

NEW YORK - Oil prices climbed closer to $50 a barrel Friday before retreating as traders reacted to reports on the conflict in Iraq, concerned that growing unrest might interrupt crude oil exports.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil settled at $47.86 a barrel, the last day of the September futures contract. Earlier, the contract rose as high as $49.40 a barrel. Prices fell in afternoon trading amid conflicting reports over whether Iraqi police were in control of the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, Iraq, the scene of fierce fighting the past two weeks.

Still, the price of a futures contract can be distorted as it nears its expiration.

Oil has gained 51 percent so far this year, reaching records every day except one since July 30.

United's pension strategy stands

CHICAGO - A bankruptcy judge refused to block United Airlines' interim financing plan Friday, rejecting union arguments that United didn't try hard enough to come up with an alternative that would continue company contributions to employee pension funds.

The hearing came a day after the release of court papers in which United warned it ``likely'' will need to terminate those pension funds to secure loans and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Such a default by the nation's second-largest airline would be the largest ever by a U.S. company, affecting about 119,000 employees and retirees.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff approved United's amended financing plan, which gives United an additional $500 million and allows the airline six months longer to pay it off, through June 2005.

Lay, Skilling seek separated trials

HOUSTON - Enron founder Kenneth Lay doesn't want to go to trial alongside his one-time protege, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. The feeling is mutual.

Both argue in court filings - Skilling in papers filed Friday, Lay last week - that the allegations against them thinly overlap if at all, so they should be tried separately.

The government wants to try them and the third co-defendant in their pending indictment, former Enron chief accounting officer Richard Causey, together in March next year. Lay wants a trial as soon as possible, and Skilling and Causey want a year and a half longer to prepare.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake said he would rule on all the separate trial requests by early October.

Alaska to cut back by up to 150 jobs

SEATTLE - Alaska Airlines plans to cut up to 150 jobs, or 9 percent of its management staff, as it seeks to reduce layers of management and cut costs.

The airline said Friday that it hopes to save between $5 million and $10 million annually after the cuts are completed in spring 2005.

The Seattle-based airline is hoping some managers will elect to take voluntary severance packages that include two weeks of pay for each year of service, a bonus, one year of health care coverage and travel benefits.

Alaska Airlines had 10,996 employees, including 1,674 management positions, as of the end of 2003.

The cuts will not affect Alaska's sister company, Horizon Air.