RICHMOND When Richard Diamonstein's family started Paramount Sleep in the 1930s, selling mattresses made in Norfolk to far-away places was unthinkable.

NORFOLK A day after state officials announced that a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group had submitted an unsolicited proposal to operate the terminals of the Virginia Port Authority, reaction to the idea was mixed.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran and an American-led naval coalition each said Thursday they responded to a distress call by a U.S.-flagged cargo ship that came under fire from gunmen in the Gulf of Oman a day earlier. But a Navy spokesman cast some doubt about whether the attack was piracy.

Who's offering what? APM Terminals Inc., a unit of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk Group and an operator of marine terminals worldwide, has submitted a proposal to the state to take over the operations of the Port of Virginia for 48 years. What would change?

China has lifted - at least temporarily - its year-old ban on imports of logs from Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Wednesday.

NORFOLK The port of Hampton Roads could be on the verge of a financial and operational makeover, if a multibillion-dollar offer to the state from a unit of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk Group is accepted.

NORFOLK The crew of a Norfolk-based Maersk cargo ship thwarted a pirate attack Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman. The Maersk Texas, owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk's U.S. subsidiary, Maersk Line Ltd., was crossing the gulf around noon local time when armed pirates approached on several skiffs, the company said in a statement.

NORFOLK As it turns out, the Virginia Port Authority stands to get a bit more than $1 by letting the builders of a new Midtown Tunnel use part of its Portsmouth Marine Terminal property as a "laydown" area for equipment and materials.

NORFOLK Fibrek Inc., a Montreal-based company, plans to export nearly 7,200 tons of wood pulp from West Virginia through the port of Hampton Roads next month, a top port executive said Monday.

APPOMATTOX An empty freight train has derailed in Appomattox County. Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller says police were notified just after 4 p.m. Wednesday that approximately 18 cars derailed at a railroad crossing at Route 628 in the county. No injuries were reported. No other vehicles were involved.