Airports at Houston were planning to reopen on Monday as Hurricane Ike forced flight operations to be temporarily suspended on Saturday and Sunday.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike some flights were likely to be delayed or canceled to and from the Bush International Airport on Monday. Food service would also be modified on some flights. Passengers were being requested by officials to check the status of their flight with the concerned airlines before heading for the airport while. Travelers without confirmed same-day reservations were being asked not to arrive at the airport as the airlines were still not ready to accommodate stand-by passengers or itinerary changes.

However the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security has informed airlines like Continental that the curfew imposed in Houston does not apply to customers or airline employees driving or being driven to and from the Bush International Airport.

Over the weekend Hurricane Ike developed into a Category 2 hurricane and hit the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. Thousands of residents at low-lying areas were affected, their houses flooded and some destroyed by fires breaking out due to damaged power lines. Even though large scale evacuations had been ordered in Texas, many had decided to stay in their homes and ride out the storm.

US federal regulators have warned parents and caregivers not to feed babies with any infant formula made in China as the product might be contaminated with the chemical melamine.

The warning comes after several bottles of infant formula in China were reported to have been contaminated with melamine. The contamination has led to the death of one infant while several others have been hospitalized with kidney troubles. Melamine is often artificially added to infant formula in order to increase the apparent protein content of the milk. Last year the industrial chemical melamine was also held responsible for several cases of contaminated animal feed in the US.

The Food and Drug Administration in the US has asked parents and storeowners not to buy or stock any infant formula made in China, regardless of melamine content. Even though no Chinese infant formula manufacturer is approved by the FDA to sell its product in the US, the agency has nevertheless issued the warnings so as to deter customers and store-owners of specialty Asian markets from buying or selling any suspect, Chinese-made infant formula.

An FDA probe in 2004 came across Chinese formula being sold by an ethnic retailer in the US even though the agency has no current evidence of Chinese supplies in the country.

Faltering under foreclosures and a general economic slowdown, many homeowners in the US are increasingly finding it difficult to meet mortgage payments. Here is a small guide on how to save your home and pay the mortgage bills.

The first step is to keep track of due dates of your mortgage bills. Shifting economic conditions may mean that the rate has gone up and the payments schedule has changed. It serves no purpose to be willfully ignorant, rather buck up and make sure you pay your bills on time to avoid further penalties.

Trim your budget to the necessities if you are having trouble paying your mortgage bills. Cut back on luxuries and see if you can do without certain comforts for the time being.

Go over the terms of mortgage and see if you can find a deal that will lower the repayment amount. Alternatively if you are suffering from sudden rise in ARM check out the pros and cons of a fixed rate mortgage which will offer more predictability in rates over time.

Take your lender into confidence if you are in a situation, such as a job loss, which will make it temporarily impossible for you to pay mortgage bills. Your lender might be able to extend forbearance or restructure your loans.

Finally seek advice from Dept of Housing and Urban Development-approved counseling agencies who might be able to tell you about useful government policies like the FHA-insurance fund which makes a one time payment under certain conditions.

Gold prices in the US sank below $750 an ounce on Thursday, which was the lowest in the last one year. The fall in gold prices was attributed to a resurgent dollar and easing oil prices which made investors pull out of commodities.

The price of gold for December delivery initially dropped as far as $739.80 which was the lowest since September 2007. However, then it rallied to settle at $745.50 an ounce at the New York Mercantile Exchange which marked an overall decline of $17. This is a fall of almost 30% from the record-high prices in March this year when it had surged above $1000 an ounce.

The dollar on the other hand climbed to almost a one-year high against the Euro as Euro fell from Wednesday’s rate of $1.4033 to $1.3946 late Thursday evening. Prices of crude Oil for December delivery too reached below $100 a barrel despite fears of Hurricane Ike affecting installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The dollar’s resurgence has led to a withdrawal from commodities by large institutional investors who had purchased positions in gold, oil and other hard assets as a way of securing interests against inflationary conditions and a faltering dollar amidst continuing stagnation in the US economy.

The Campbell Soup Company came up with better-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday as profits rode on higher prices and new products like low sodium soup.

While announcing its quarterly results, Campbell revealed that it had earned $89 million or 24 cents a share in the period as compared to $61 million or 16 cents a share in the corresponding period last year. The company also predicted that sales growth in the current fiscal year would outrun long-term expectations since its earnings have increased by 5 to 7 percent with the exception of one-time items.

The results announced by Campbell were based on its sales performance in the quarter ending on August 3 which is the fourth quarter of the company’s fiscal year. The most recent quarter also had an extra week as compared to the last period.

In a conference call the chief executive of Campbell, Douglas Conant said that the increase in sales could be attributed to various new measures taken last year like the introduction of lower-priced meal options and new products like low-sodium soup which was launched to cater to the health conscious consumers. The new prices as well as fresh products enabled the company to offset higher commodity costs and reap profits.