BUSINESS NOTES.

DELTA TO BUY BOEING JETS: The Atlanta-based airline said it has reached a long-term deal to buy up to $15 billion worth of jets from Boeing Co.

Delta's chairman and chief executive, Ron Allen, said Thursday the deal includes the purchase of 106 aircraft between now and the year 2006 for $6.7 billion. In addition, the airline has an option with Seattle-based Boeing to purchase another 124 aircraft over 25 years.

RESEARCHERS BREAK CELLULAR PHONE CODE: A few minutes work on a computer can break the codes that are supposed to protect new digital cellular phone technology from eavesdroppers, a team of researchers said Thursday.

The cellular phone industry claimed the impact on users would be ``virtually none,'' since engineers were working to strengthen the encryption and since a separate code that scrambles voices was not broken.

But Bruce Schneier, one of the high-tech code breakers, said they were able to break the code that protects transmissions between the cell phone and the central system - including dialed phone digits, credit card numbers, passwords and account numbers.

MOTOROLA MOVES INTO SMART-CARD BUSINESS: The Chicago company, originator of the cellular telephone and other communications innovations, is extending its reach in the nascent smart-card manufacturing business.

Motorola announced Thursday that by year-end it will produce an array of smart-card products aimed at revolutionizing the way Americans handle cash and personal information.

In addition to cards and card readers, Motorola's new business unit, Smartcard Systems Business, will design smart-card software and encryption technology, which scrambles the information on the cards to help ensure privacy.

Smart cards - credit card-like devices containing computer chips that can store large amounts of personal and financial data - are on the verge of ``changing the way the world works,'' Motorola said.

NIKE'S EARNINGS SOAR: The Beaverton, Ore.-based shoe company's earnings soared 77 percent in its third quarter, boosted by a jump in international sales of its athletic shoes and clothing.

Nike said Thursday it earned $237.1 million, or 80 cents per share, in the quarter ended Feb. 28, compared to $133.9 million, or 45 cents per share, for the same period last year.

UPS WON'T HIRE ONE-EYED WORKERS: The United Parcel Service says two eyes are safer than one. The government says that's discrimination.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the Atlanta-based delivery company on Thursday, accusing it of illegally denying jobs as drivers and mechanics to workers who lack vision in one eye but can still drive safely.

EEOC lawyers said it was the agency's first nationwide class-action suit filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It accused the company of violating the ADA by barring vision-impaired drivers without taking into account individual safety records.