BRIEFCASE EAGLE TO LAUNCH SERVICE AT LAX.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

American Eagle announced Monday that it will launch jet service from Los Angeles International Airport beginning in February, with service to Albuquerque, Phoenix and Oakland.

Eagle's LAX service will expand to Sacramento in early March, at the same time the carrier establishes service between Phoenix and San Jose.

The 44-seat Embraer ERJ-140 jets will operate out of LAX Terminal 3, according to the regional affiliate of American Airlines.

``Eagle has a long history of service with turboprop aircraft into LAX, and with a regional jet fleet of more than 100, it's long overdue that we brought this level of service to California, Arizona and New Mexico,'' said Eagle President Peter Bowler.

CEO Levin leaving to restore poetry

WASHINGTON _ He doesn't expect anyone to believe him, but AOL Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin steadfastly maintains that he is stepping down because of tragedies, personal and public, and a desire to return the poetry to his life.

The attack on the World Trade Center solidified his decision to move on and spend more time with his family, Levin said at the National Press Club on Monday night. So last week he announced that he was stepping down in May. ``I want to bring joy to my family,'' he said.

His timing took colleagues and industry watchers by surprise. The retirement announcement was met by media reports that Levin had a falling out with Steve Case, AOL Time Warner's chairman.

Bank appoints vice president

Manufacturers Bank announced Monday that it has appointed Mark Chen as vice president and international marketing officer in the bank's International Services Department.

Chen will be responsible for generating deposits and fee-income-driven international and trade finance business from the Pacific Rim market segment, focusing on companies in Southern California that do business with China.

Chen joins Manufacturers Bank following eight years as vice president and international marketing manager at United California Bank, formerly Sanwa Bank, in Monterey Park.

Prior to that, Chen worked at Far East National Bank in Los Angeles and also spent four years at the Bank of China's Los Angeles office.

He began his career with a 13-year term at the Bank of China in Guangzhou, China.

Universal mulls China park site

HONG KONG - Universal Studios is considering construction of a theme park in southern China that would compete with a Disneyland set to open in Hong Kong in 2005, executives said Monday.

Officials in the border city of Shenzhen have been in talks with Universal Studios for almost a year, said Zhang Yuhua, a marketing executive at the Shenzhen Tourism Bureau.

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong border has seen an explosion of traffic since Britain returned Hong Kong to China in July 1997.

Universal Studios in Universal City confirmed it was considering a park in southern China as part of its exploration for new sites worldwide.

Interest rates mixed on T-bills

WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction, with the rate on three-month bills falling to the lowest level in 43 years.

The Treasury Department auctioned $14 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.675 percent. An additional $16 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 1.765 percent.

The three-month rate was down from 1.735 percent last week and was the lowest since three-month bills averaged 1.524 percent on Aug. 11, 1958. The six-month rate was unchanged at 1.765 percent, which represents the lowest rate since the government began auctioning six-month bills in 1958.

In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills, the most popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, edged down to 2.21 percent last week from 2.23 percent the previous week.