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Matson will provide ships to move soldiers

Matson Navigation Co. has been awarded a contract worth up to approximately $22.3 million to provide three ships for a U.S. Maritime Administration program that transports soldiers and equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under the contract, Matson will provide two vehicle-carrying, roll-on, roll-off ships and a break-bulk vessel for the Ready Reserve Fleet.

The roll-on, roll-off contracts are for four years with two three-year extensions. The contract for the break-bulk vessel is for one year with two one-year extensions.

The company will be responsible for keeping the ships ready for operations and crewing the ships when the government needs them.

Northwest mechanics leave talks

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. » Negotiations between Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union stalled yesterday morning in Washington, D.C., when mechanics walked away from the talks after management refused to budge from its $176 million concessionary target.

"The chances for a strike just went way up," Jeff Mathews, contract coordinator for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said yesterday after leaving the bargaining table.

Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said management was "disappointed by AMFA's decision to leave the negotiating table." The news came midday, and by the market close, Northwest shares had dropped 41 cents, or 8.6 percent, to $4.37.

But labor experts say there is still some possibility of reaching a deal by an Aug. 19 strike deadline.

Stewart's confinement extended

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. » Martha Stewart's release from home confinement and her electronic anklet has been delayed three weeks to the end of the month, her lawyer said yesterday.

Attorney Walter Dellinger said in a one-sentence letter that the home-and-hearth marketing queen "has agreed to an extension of the terms of her home confinement until Aug. 31."

Those conditions include staying inside her home north of New York City except for 48 hours a week of employment, food shopping, doctor appointments and church. And Stewart must always wear the anklet, about which she has repeatedly complained, saying it irritates her skin.

It wasn't revealed what Stewart did to earn the extra three weeks of confinement. Dellinger's assistant, Ann Kienlen, said he would not elaborate beyond his one-sentence announcement.

Regulators OK Sprint-Nextel deal

WASHINGTON » Sprint Corp.'s $35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc. got the go-ahead yesterday from regulators, bolstering Sprint's status as the No. 3 wireless company in the United States.

After the Federal Communications Commission approved the deal, the Justice Department gave its blessing a short time later.