Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

FedEx said yesterday that it would buy Dutch package delivery firm TNT Express for €4.4bn, aiming to take on bigger rivals United Parcel Service (UPS) and Deutsche Post in Europe.

A former UPS employee has told a court he was told he could be "a bomb-maker or an IRA terrorist" when he could not produce evidence of previous employment.

Three people have been killed in a shooting at a United Parcel Service (UPS) facility in Alabama, US police have said.

Service industries expanded in April at the fastest pace in eight months, a sign the biggest part of the US economy will bolster growth this quarter.

A proposed takeover deal between delivery firms United Parcel Service (UPS) and TNT Express collapsed today.

United Parcel Service said today it had agreed to buy TNT Express, Europe’s second-largest express delivery company, for nearly £4.3bn.

THE Irish arm of international delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS) returned to profit last year in spite of a drop in revenues.

London: United Parcel Service, the world’s biggest package-delivery company, said some websites in Britain are “temporarily offline” because of unspecified issues that arose during a scheduled security review.

US law enforcement officials are today investigating reports of suspicious packages on cargo planes in the eastern US cities of Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey.

Wall Street extended its losses today as a rise in oil prices and a profit warning from United Parcel Service raised investors’ anxiety about the well-being of the economy.

The Airbus superjumbo programme suffered a major new setback today as air freight company UPS said it would cancel its order for 10 A380s, leaving the aircraft maker with an empty order book for the cargo version of its much-delayed flagship.

Airbus unions in Europe today ordered a strike to protest against planned job cuts, including 1,600 in the UK, as shares of parent company EADS tumbled on the announcement that work on the A380’s slow-selling freighter version had halted

US stocks closed marginally lower today after a session of seesaw trading and profit-taking following a two-day rally.

The London market ended today in the red despite a rally in New York after better-than-expected earnings numbers.

Customs-related service provider Icarus has signed a new deal with global package delivery giant United Parcel Service.

Wall Street roared back to life today as investors refocused on earnings news, shaking off concerns about rising interest rates that have dogged the market for almost two weeks.

THE crew of a jumbo jet averted disaster in the skies over Dublin when they managed to land the aircraft without knowing how fast it was going or how high it was flying.

Neither turbulence from another jet nor pressure placed on the rudder by a desperate pilot should have been enough to snap off the tail of Flight 587, aviation experts have said.

The pilots on American Airlines Flight 587 probably did not know the tail had broken off as they desperately tried to right the doomed jetliner, a US federal investigator said today.

The identification process on remains of those killed in the World Trade Centre attacks is continuing as more rubble is pulled from Ground Zero.

A woman has been killed and seven people injured after a hijacked bus smashed into traffic as police chased it through Los Angeles.