New England Electric System bowed out of the bidding for Public Service Co of New Hampshire saying that the risks were too high and the potential payoff too far in the future to justify a higher offer 
The move leaves United Illuminating Co and Northeast Utilities as the remaining outside bidders for PS of New Hampshire which also has proposed an internal reorganization plan in Chapter bankruptcy proceedings under which it would remain an independent company 
New England Electric based in Westborough Mass had offered billion to acquire PS of New Hampshire well below the billion value United Illuminating places on its bid and the billion Northeast says its bid is worth
United Illuminating is based in New Haven Conn and Northeast is based in Hartford Conn
PS of New Hampshire Manchester NH values its internal reorganization plan at about billion 
John Rowe president and chief executive officer of New England Electric said the companys return on equity could suffer if it made a higher bid and its forecasts related to PS of New Hampshire such as growth in electricity demand and improved operating efficiencies didnt come true When we evaluated raising our bid the risks seemed substantial and persistent over the next five years and the rewards seemed a long way out
That got hard to take he added 
Mr Rowe also noted that political concerns also worried New England Electric
No matter who owns PS of New Hampshire after it emerges from bankruptcy proceedings its rates will be among the highest in the nation he said That attracts attention  it was just another one of the risk factors that led to the companys decision to withdraw from the bidding he added 
Wilbur Ross Jr of Rothschild Inc the financial adviser to the troubled companys equity holders said the withdrawal of New England Electric might speed up the reorganization process
The fact that New England proposed lower rate increases  over seven years against around boosts proposed by the other two outside bidders complicated negotiations with state officials Mr Ross asserted Now the field is less cluttered he added 
Separately the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission turned down for now a request by Northeast seeking approval of its possible purchase of PS of New Hampshire
Northeast said it would refile its request and still hopes for an expedited review by the FERC so that it could complete the purchase by next summer if its bid is the one approved by the bankruptcy court 
PS of New Hampshire shares closed yesterday at off cents in New York Stock Exchange composite trading 
The National Association of Securities Dealers the selfregulatory organization for the overthecounter securities markets disciplined a number of firms and individuals for alleged violations of industry rules 
Two firms were expelled from the NASD three were suspended or barred and nine were fined 
First Securities Group of California and a principal of the firm Louis Fernando Vargas of Marina del Rey Calif were jointly fined and expelled for alleged violations of reporting requirements on securities sales
Also Mr Vargas was barred from association with any NASD member
Neither First Securities of Beverly Hills nor Mr Vargas could be reached for comment
A telephoneinformation operator had no listing for either party 
JL Henry Co Miami and a principal of the firm Henry I Otero of Miami were jointly fined and expelled for alleged improper use of a customers funds among other things
Also Mr Otero was barred from association with any NASD member
JL Henry hasnt any Miami telephone listing an operator said
Mr Otero who apparently has an unpublished number also couldnt be reached 
Biscayne Securities Corp of Lauderhill Fla and a principal of the firm Alvin Rosenblum of Plantation Fla were jointly fined and given day suspensions for allegedly selling securities at unfair prices
Biscayne hasnt any telephone listing an operator said
Mr Rosenblum who apparently has an unpublished phone number also couldnt be reached 
Triton Securities of Danville Calif and a principal of the firm Delwin George Chase also of Danville were jointly fined and given day suspensions as part of a settlement
While neither admitting nor denying wrongdoing Triton and Mr Chase consented to findings of violations in connection with limitedpartnership sales
Officials of Triton couldnt be reached for comment
Mr Chase didnt return a telephone call to his office
Crane Co Securities Inc of Mount Clemens Mich and its president Glenn R Crane of Sterling Heights Mich consented to a joint fine of 
Without admitting or denying wrongdoing they consented to findings of violations of escrow and recordkeeping rules
Mr Crane didnt return a call seeking comment 
First Commonwealth Securities Corp of New Orleans and its president Kenneth J Canepa also of New Orleans consented to a fine
Also Mr Canepa received a twoweek suspension in a principal capacity Without admitting or denying wrongdoing they consented to findings that they had inaccurately represented the firms net capital maintained inaccurate books and records and made other violations
Mr Canepa confirmed he had consented to the sanctions but declined to comment further 
Weatherly Securities Corp New York and three of its principals Dell Eugene Keehn and William Northy Prater Jr both of Mercer Island Wash and Thomas Albert McFall of Red Bank NJ consented to a fine of 
Without admitting or denying wrongdoing they consented to findings that they failed to return funds owed to customers in connection with a limitedpartnership offering 
Reached at his office Mr McFall currently chairman said An implication that we failed to return investor funds is inappropriate and inaccurate He described the situation as an escrow problem a timing issue which he said was rapidly rectified with no losses to customers 
WN Whelen Co of Georgetown Del and its president William N Whelen Jr also of Georgetown were barred from transacting principal trades for days and were jointly fined 
The firm and Mr Whelen allegedly sold securities to the public at unfair prices among other alleged violations 
Mr Whelen denied the firm had sold securities at unfair prices and suggested that the examination practices of the NASD need improvement
The firm and the NASD differ over the meaning of markup and markdown he added 
Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc New York which is owned by American Express Co consented to a fine
Without admitting or denying wrongdoing the firm consented to findings that it failed to respond in a timely manner to the NASDs requests for information in connection with a customer complaint
A Shearson spokesman had no comment 
The following individuals were fined as indicated and barred from association with NASD members or where noted suspended
Except where noted none of these people could be reached for comment or had any comment 
Andrew Derel Adams Killeen Texas fined John Francis Angier Jr Reddington Shores Fla Mark Anthony Arlington Heights Ill and day suspension William Stirlen Arlington Heights Ill and day suspension Fred W Bonnell Boulder Colo and sixmonth suspension Michael J Boorse Horsham Pa David Chiodo Dallas barred as a principal Camille Chafic Cotran London John William Curry fined ordered to disgorge oneyear suspension
John William Davis Colonsville Miss fined Jeffrey Gerard Dompierre Valrico Fla and day suspension Eugene Michael Felten La Canada Calif fined ordered to disgorge and suspended one year Marion Stewart Spitler La Canada fined ordered to disgorge and suspended six months 
Mr Felten said We got what amounted to a parking ticket and by complaining about it we ended up with a sizable fine and suspension The matter didnt involve anybodys securities transactions he added 
Victor Stanley Fishman Longwood Fla fined William Harold Floyd Houston Michael Anthony Houston Bronx NY Amin Jalaalwalikraam Glenham NY Richard F Knapp London and day suspension Deborah Renee Martin St Louis Joseph Francis Muscolina Jr Palisades Park NJ Robert C Najarian Brooklyn Park Minn Edward Robert Norwick Nesconset NY 
Charles D Phipps Sr Hermitage Pa fined David Scott Rankin Lake St Louis Mo Leigh A Sanderoff Gaithersburg Md fined ordered to disgorge Sandra Ann Smith Ridgefield NJ James G Spence Aloha Ore and sixmonth suspension Mona Sun Jamaica Estates NY William Swearingen Minneapolis and sixmonth suspension John Bew Wong San Francisco Rabia M Zayed San Francisco 
The following were neither barred nor suspended Stephanie Veselich Enright Rolling Hills Calif fined and ordered to disgorge Stuart Lane Russel Glendale Calif fined and ordered to disgorge Devon Nilson Dahl Fountain Valley Calif fined 
Mr Dahl a registered representative in the insurance business said he screwed up because he didnt realize he was breaking securities laws Insurance agents have been forced by their companies into becoming registered reps he said but they are not providing compliance and securitytype training so that we can avoid stupid mistakes 
The following were barred or where noted suspended and consented to findings without admitting or denying wrongdoing Edward L Cole Jackson Miss fine Rita Rae Cross Denver fine and day suspension Thomas Richard Meinders Colorado Springs Colo fine fiveday suspension and eightmonth suspension as a principal Ronald A Cutrer Baton Rouge La fine and onemonth suspension Karl Grant Hale Midvale Utah fine Clinton P Hayne New Orleans fine and oneweek suspension Richard M Kane Coconut Creek Fla fine John B Merrick Aurora Colo fine and day suspension John P Miller Baton Rouge fine and twoweek suspension Randolph K Pace New York fine and day suspension Brian D Pitcher New Providence NJ fine Wayne A Russo Bridgeville Pa fine and day suspension Orville Leroy Sandberg Aurora Colo fine and day suspension Richard T Marchese Las Vegas Nev and oneyear suspension Eric G Monchecourt Las Vegas and oneyear suspension and Robert Gerhard Smith Carson City Nev twoyear suspension I wasnt ever actively engaged in any securities activities said Mr Cutrer I never had any clients at all
It was just a stupid mistake to get the license he said adding Id just as soon not get into details of the settlement 
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange said it plans to institute an additional circuit breaker aimed at stemming market slides 
Separately John Phelan told a closed House subcommittee meeting in Washington that he would support Securities and Exchange Commission halts of program trading during market emergencies
But the New York Stock Exchange chairman said he doesnt support reinstating a collar on program trading arguing that firms could get around such a limit 
The Chicago Merc said a new onehour price limit would take effect in its Standard Poors stockindex futures pit once SP futures fell index points the equivalent of about a point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
If the point limit is triggered after pm Chicago time it would remain in effect until the normal close of trading at pm 
With the limit in effect members would be able to execute trades at the limit price or at higher prices but not below it 
The exchange said it decided a new circuit breaker was needed following a review of the tumultuous trading in stocks and stockindex futures on Friday Oct when the Dow Jones industrials plunged points and stockindex futures prices skidded as well
Late that afternoon the SP stockindex futures contract fell a total of index points hitting a Merc circuit breaker limit that remained in effect for the rest of the trading session 
The Merc said that its existing minute point limit on SP stockindex futures trading equal to about points on the Dow Jones industrials which was triggered Oct will remain in effect 
Leo Melamed Merc executive committee chairman said that the point limit appeared to lessen the selling panic Oct 
But when the contract reopened the subsequent flood of sell orders that quickly knocked the contract down to the point limit indicated that the intermediate limit of points was needed to help keep stock and stockindex futures prices synchronized 
Several traders maintained that the Mercs point circuitbreaker aggravated the market slide Oct by directing additional selling pressure to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange 
All of the changes require regulatory approval which is expected shortly 
The exchange also said that the point circuit breaker which currently provides only a onehour respite during market selloffs will become the maximum oneday limit for the SP stockindex futures contract the oneday limit now is index points 
A final modification was made to the fivepoint opening limit for the contract
The Merc said that fivepoint limit will remain in effect for the first minutes of trading
The limit lapses under current exchange rules if contracts trade above the limit price during the opening minutes of trading 
In Washington House aides said Mr Phelan told congressmen that the collar which banned program trades through the Big Boards computer when the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved points didnt work well
He said that firms could get around the collar by executing trades manually 
In a posthearing news conference Mr Phelan who has publicly expressed concern about market volatility said he told the House finance and telecommunications subcommittee that he would support the programtrading halt proposal providing the SEC would be comfortable with the language in a bill 
The programtrading issue is heating up on Capitol Hill as it is on Wall Street and several legislators want to grant the SEC the power to shut off the programs when trading becomes too volatile
SEC Chairman Richard Breeden has said he would be willing to consider circuit breakers that have preset trigger points but he doesnt want discretionary power to stop programs 
A House aide suggested that Mr Phelan was so vague and mushy that it was the kind of meeting where people of all viewpoints could come out feeling good At one point Mr Phelan angered the subcommittees chairman Rep Edward Markey D Mass by not going much beyond what already had been reported in the morning newspapers 
Markey said we could have done this in public because so little sensitive information was disclosed the aide said
Mr Phelan then responded that he would have been happy just writing a report to the panel the aide added 
At another point during the hearing Rep Markey asked Mr Phelan what would be discussed at a New York exchange board meeting today
Mr Phelan said the Big Board is likely to study the programtrading issue
That response annoyed Rep Markey House aides said and the congressman snapped back that there had been enough studies of the issue and that it was time for action on the matter 
Fifteen of the subcommittee members attended the hearing most notably Rep John Dingell D Mich the full House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman who has been willing to let Mr Markey carry the legislation in recent months 
Mr Dingell expressed concern sources said about jurisdictional problems in regulating program trading which uses futures to offset stock trades
The futures industry is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which reports to the Agriculture committees in both houses 
Judging from the Americana in Haruki Murakamis A Wild Sheep Chase Kodansha pages baby boomers on both sides of the Pacific have a lot in common
Although set in Japan the novels texture is almost entirely Western especially American
Characters drink Salty Dogs whistle Johnny B Goode and watch Bugs Bunny reruns
They read Mickey Spillane and talk about Groucho and Harpo
They worry about their careers drink too much and suffer through broken marriages and desultory affairs
This is Japan 
For an American reader part of the charm of this engaging novel should come in recognizing that Japan isnt the buttoneddown society of contemporary American lore
Its also refreshing to read a Japanese author who clearly doesnt belong to the selfaggrandizing weJapanese school of writers who perpetuate the notion of the unique Japanese unfathomable by outsiders
If A Wild Sheep Chase carries an implicit message for international relations its that the Japanese are more like us than most of us think 
Thats not to say that the nutty plot of A Wild Sheep Chase is rooted in reality
Its imaginative and often funny
A disaffected harddrinking nearly hero sets off for snow country in search of an elusive sheep with a star on its back at the behest of a sinister erudite mobster with a Stanford degree
He has in tow his prescient girlfriend whose sassy retorts mark her as anything but a docile butterfly
Along the way he meets a solicitous Christian chauffeur who offers the hero Gods phone number and the Sheep Man a sweet roughhewn figure who wears what else a sheepskin 
The yearold Mr Murakami is a publishing sensation in Japan
A more recent novel Norwegian Wood every Japanese under seems to be fluent in Beatles lyrics has sold more than four million copies since Kodansha published it in 
But he is just one of several youthful writers Tokyos brat pack who are dominating the bestseller charts in Japan
Their books are written in idiomatic contemporary language and usually carry hefty dashes of Americana 
In Robert Whitings You Gotta Have Wa Macmillan pages the Beatles give way to baseball in the Nipponese version we would be hard put to call a game As Mr Whiting describes it Nipponese baseball is a mirror of Japans fabled virtues of hard work and harmony Wa is Japanese for team spirit and Japanese ballplayers have miles and miles of it
A players commitment to practice and team image is as important as his batting average
Polls once named Tokyo Giants star Tatsunori Hara a humble uncomplaining obedient soul as the male symbol of Japan 
But other than the fact that besuboru is played with a ball and a bat its unrecognizable Fans politely return foul balls to stadium ushers the strike zone expands depending on the size of the hitter ties are permitted even welcomed since they honorably sidestep the shame of defeat players must abide by strict rules of conduct even in their personal lives players for the Tokyo Giants for example must always wear ties when on the road 
You Gotta Have Wa is the often amusing chronicle of how American ballplayers rationed to two per team fare in Japan
Despite the enormous sums of money theyre paid to stand up at a Japanese plate a good number decide its not worth it and run for home 
Funny Business Soho pages by Gary Katzenstein is anything but
Its the petulant complaint of an impudent American whom Sony hosted for a year while he was on a Luce Fellowship in Tokyo to the regret of both parties 
In sometimes amusing more often supercilious even vicious passages Mr Katzenstein describes how Sony invades even the most mundane aspects of its workers lives at the regimented office where employees are assigned lunch partners and at home in the austere company dormitory run by a prying caretaker 
Some of his observations about Japanese management style are on the mark
Its probably true that many salarymen put in unproductive overtime just for the sake of solidarity that the system is so hierarchical that only the assistant manager can talk to the manager and the manager to the general manager and that Sony was chary of letting a young shortterm American employee take on any responsibility
All of this must have been enormously frustrating to Mr Katzenstein who went to Sony with degrees in business and computer science and was raring to invent another Walkman 
But Sony ultimately took a lesson from the American management books and fired Mr Katzenstein after he committed the social crime of making an appointment to see the venerable Akio Morita founder of Sony
Its a shame their meeting never took place
Mr Katzenstein certainly would have learned something and its even possible Mr Morita would have too 
Ms Kirkpatrick the Journals deputy editorial features editor worked in Tokyo for three years 
More and more corners of the globe are becoming free of tobacco smoke 
In Singapore a new law requires smokers to put out their cigarettes before entering restaurants department stores and sports centers or face a fine
Discos and private clubs are exempt from the ban and smoking will be permitted in bars except during meal hours an official said
Singapore already bans smoking in all theaters buses public elevators hospitals and fastfood restaurants 
In Malaysia Siti Zaharah Sulaiman a deputy minister in the prime ministers office launched a NoSmoking Week at the Mara Institute of Technology near Kuala Lumpur and urged other schools to ban oncampus smoking 
South Korea has different concerns
In Seoul officials began visiting about cigarette stalls to remove illegal posters and signboards advertising imported cigarettes
South Korea has opened its market to foreign cigarettes but restricts advertising to designated places 
A marketing study indicates that Hong Kong consumers are the most materialistic in the major markets where the survey was carried out
The study by the Backer Spielvogel Bates ad agency also found that the colonys consumers feel more pressured than those in any of the other surveyed markets which include the US and Japan
The survey found that nearly half of Hong Kong consumers espouse what it identified as materialistic values compared with about onethird in Japan and the US
More than three in five said they are under a great deal of stress most of the time compared with less than one in two US consumers and one in four in Japan 
The Thai cabinet endorsed Finance Minister Pramual Sabhavasus proposal to build a million conference center for a joint meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund two years from now
The meeting which is expected to draw to Bangkok was going to be held at the Central Plaza Hotel but the government balked at the hotels conditions for undertaking necessary expansion
A major concern about the current plan is whether the new center can be built in such a short time 
Yasser Arafat has written to the chairman of the International Olympic Committee asking him to back a Palestinian bid to join the committee the Palestine Liberation Organization news agency WAFA said
An official of the Palestinian Olympic Committee said the committee first applied for membership in and renewed its application in August of this year
The PLO in recent months has been trying to join international organizations but failed earlier this year to win membership in the World Health Organization and the World Tourism Organization 
A Beijing foodshop assistant has become the first mainland Chinese to get AIDS through sex the Peoples Daily said
It said the man whom it did not name had been found to have the disease after hospital tests
Once the disease was confirmed all the mans associates and family were tested but none have so far been found to have AIDS the newspaper said
The man had for a long time had a chaotic sex life including relations with foreign men the newspaper said 
The Polish government increased home electricity charges by and doubled gas prices
The official news agency PAP said the increases were intended to bring unrealistically low energy charges into line with production costs and compensate for a rise in coal prices
In happier news South Korea in establishing diplomatic ties with Poland yesterday announced million in loans to the financially strapped Warsaw government 
In a victory for environmentalists Hungarys parliament terminated a multibilliondollar River Danube dam being built by Austrian firms 
The Nagymaros dam was designed to be twinned with another dam now nearly complete miles upstream in Czechoslovakia
In ending Hungarys part of the project Parliament authorized Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth to modify a agreement with Czechoslovakia which still wants the dam to be built 
Mr Nemeth said in parliament that Czechoslovakia and Hungary would suffer environmental damage if the twin dams were built as planned 
Czechoslovakia said in May it could seek billion from Hungary if the twindam contract were broken
The Czech dam cant be operated solely at peak periods without the Nagymaros project 
A painting by August Strindberg set a Scandinavian price record when it sold at auction in Stockholm for million Lighthouse II was painted in oils by the playwright in   After years of decline weddings in France showed a upturn last year with more couples exchanging rings in than in the previous year the national statistics office said
But the number of weddings last year  was still well below the registered in the last year of increasing marriages 
RP Scherer Corp said it completed the million sale of its Southern Optical subsidiary to a group led by the units president Thomas R Sloan and other managers 
Following the acquisition of RP Scherer by a buyout group led by Shearson Lehman Hutton earlier this year the maker of gelatin capsules decided to divest itself of certain of its nonencapsulating businesses
The sale of Southern Optical is a part of the program 
McDermott International Inc said its Babcock Wilcox unit completed the sale of its Bailey Controls Operations to Finmeccanica Sp
A for million 
Finmeccanica is an Italian stateowned holding company with interests in the mechanical engineering industry 
Bailey Controls based in Wickliffe Ohio makes computerized industrial controls systems
It employs people and has annual revenue of about million 
Pick a country any country 
Its the latest investment craze sweeping Wall Street a rash of new closedend country funds those publicly traded portfolios that invest in stocks of a single foreign country 
No fewer than country funds have been launched or registered with regulators this year triple the level of all of according to Charles E Simon Co a Washingtonbased research firm 
The turf recently has ranged from Chile to Austria to Portugal
Next week the Philippine Funds launch will be capped by a visit by Philippine President Corazon Aquino the first time a head of state has kicked off an issue at the Big Board here 
The next province Anythings possible how about the New Guinea Fund quips George Foot a managing partner at Newgate Management Associates of Northampton Mass
The recent explosion of country funds mirrors the closedend fund mania of the s Mr Foot says when narrowly focused funds grew wildly popular
They fell into oblivion after the crash 
Unlike traditional openend mutual funds most of these onecountry portfolios are the closedend type issuing a fixed number of shares that trade publicly 
The surge brings to nearly the number of country funds that are or soon will be listed in New York or London
These funds now account for several billions of dollars in assets 
People are looking to stake their claims now before the number of available nations runs out says Michael Porter an analyst at Smith Barney Harris Upham Co New York 
Behind all the hoopla is some heavyduty competition
As individual investors have turned away from the stock market over the years securities firms have scrambled to find new products that brokers find easy to sell
And the firms are stretching their nets far and wide to do it 
Financial planners often urge investors to diversify and to hold a smattering of international securities
And many emerging markets have outpaced more mature markets such as the US and Japan
Country funds offer an easy way to get a taste of foreign stocks without the hard research of seeking out individual companies 
But it doesnt take much to get burned
Political and currency gyrations can whipsaw the funds
Another concern The funds share prices tend to swing more than the broader market
When the stock market dropped nearly Oct for instance the Mexico Fund plunged about and the Spain Fund fell 
And most country funds were clobbered more than most stocks after the crash 
Whats so wild about the funds frenzy right now is that many are trading at historically fat premiums to the value of their underlying portfolios
After trading at an average discount of more than in late and part of last year country funds currently trade at an average premium of 
The reason Share prices of many of these funds this year have climbed much more sharply than the foreign stocks they hold 
Its probably worth paying a premium for funds that invest in markets that are partially closed to foreign investors such as South Korea some specialists say
But some European funds recently have skyrocketed Spain Fund has surged to a startling premium
It has been targeted by Japanese investors as a good longterm play tied to s European economic integration
And several new funds that arent even fully invested yet have jumped to trade at big premiums 
Im very alarmed to see these rich valuations says Smith Barneys Mr Porter 
The newly fattened premiums reflect the increasingly global marketing of some country funds Mr Porter suggests
Unlike many US investors those in Asia or Europe seeking foreignstock exposure may be less resistant to paying higher prices for country funds 
There may be an international viewpoint cast on the funds listed here Mr Porter says 
Nonetheless plenty of US analysts and money managers are aghast at the lofty trading levels of some country funds
They argue that US investors often can buy American depositary receipts on the big stocks in many funds these socalled ADRs represent shares of foreign companies traded in the US
That way investors can essentially buy the funds without paying the premium 
For people who insist on jumping in now to buy the funds Newgates Mr Foot says The only advice I have for these folks is that those who come to the party late had better be ready to leave quickly 
Magna International Inc s chief financial officer James McAlpine resigned and its chairman Frank Stronach is stepping in to help turn the automotiveparts manufacturer around the company said 
Mr Stronach will direct an effort to reduce overhead and curb capital spending until a more satisfactory level of profit is achieved and maintained Magna said 
Stephen Akerfeldt currently vice president finance will succeed Mr McAlpine 
An ambitious expansion has left Magna with excess capacity and a heavy debt load as the automotive industry enters a downturn
The company has reported declines in operating profit in each of the past three years despite steady sales growth 
Magna recently cut its quarterly dividend in half and the companys Class A shares are wallowing far below their week high of Canadian dollars US
On the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday Magna shares closed up Canadian cents to C 
Mr Stronach founder and controlling shareholder of Magna resigned as chief executive officer last year to seek unsuccessfully a seat in Canadas Parliament 
Analysts said Mr Stronach wants to resume a more influential role in running the company
They expect him to cut costs throughout the organization 
The company said Mr Stronach will personally direct the restructuring assisted by Manfred Gingl president and chief executive
Neither they nor Mr McAlpine could be reached for comment 
Magna said Mr McAlpine resigned to pursue a consulting career with Magna as one of his clients 
Clark J Vitulli was named senior vice president and general manager of this US sales and marketing arm of Japanese auto maker Mazda Motor Corp
In the new position he will oversee Mazdas US sales service parts and marketing operations
Previously Mr Vitulli years old was general marketing manager of Chrysler Corp s Chrysler division
He had been a sales and marketing executive with Chrysler for years 
The dollar posted gains against all major currencies yesterday buoyed by persistent Japanese demand for US bond issues 
While market sentiment remains cautiously bearish on the dollar based on sluggish US economic indicators dealers note that Japanese demand has helped underpin the dollar against the yen and has kept the US currency from plunging below key levels against the mark 
At the same time dealers said the US unit has been locked into a relatively narrow range in recent weeks in part because the hefty Japanese demand for dollars has been offset by the marks strength resulting in a stalemate 
Jay Goldinger with Capital Insight Inc reasons that while the mark has posted significant gains against the yen as well the mark climbed to yen from yen late Tuesday in New York the strength of the US bond market compared to its foreign counterparts has helped lure investors to dollardenominated bonds rather than mark bonds 
Dollaryen trade is the driving force in the market said Tom Trettien a vice president with Banque Paribas in New York but Im not convinced it will continue
Who knows what will happen down the road in three to six months if foreign investment starts to erode 
In late New York trading yesterday the dollar was quoted at marks up from marks late Tuesday and at yen up from yen late Tuesday
Sterling was quoted at down from late Tuesday 
In Tokyo Thursday the US currency opened for trading at yen up from Wednesdays Tokyo close of yen 
Douglas Madison a corporate trader with Bank of America in Los Angeles traced the dollars recent solid performance against the yen to purchases of securities by Japanese insurance companies and trust banks and the sense that another wave of investment is waiting in the wings 
He contends that the perception in Japan of a vitriolic US response to Sony Corp s announcement of its purchase of Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc has been temporarily mollified
He cites the recent deal between the Mitsubishi Estate Co and the Rockefeller Group as well as the possible white knight role of an undisclosed Japanese company in the GeorgiaPacific Corp takeover bid for Great Northern Nekoosa Corp as evidence 
The forthcoming maturity in November of a year Japanese government yendenominated bond issue valued at about billion has prompted speculation in the market that investors redeeming the bonds will diversify into dollardenominated instruments according to Mr Madison 
It remains unclear whether the bond issue will be rolled over 
Meanwhile traders in Tokyo say that the prospect of lower US interest rates has spurred dollar buying by Japanese institutions 
They point out that these institutions want to lock in returns on highyield US Treasury debt and suggest demand for the US unit will continue unabated until rates in the US recede 
The market again showed little interest in further evidence of a slowing US economy and traders note that the market in recent weeks has taken its cues more from Wall Street than US economic indicators 
Dealers said the dollar merely drifted lower following the release Wednesday of the US purchasing managers report
The managers index which measures the health of the manufacturing sector stood at in October above Septembers and also above average forecasts for the index of 
Some dealers said the dollar was pressured slightly because a number of market participants had boosted their expectations in the past day and were looking for an index above which indicates an expanding manufacturing economy
But most said the index had no more than a minimal effect on trade 
On the Commodity Exchange in New York gold for current delivery settled at an ounce down cents
Estimated volume was a moderate million ounces 
In early trading in Hong Kong Thursday gold was quoted at an ounce 
Argentina said it will ask creditor banks to halve its foreign debt of billion the thirdhighest in the developing world 
The declaration by Economy Minister Nestor Rapanelli is believed to be the first time such an action has been called for by an Argentine official of such stature
The Latin American nation has paid very little on its debt since early last year 
Argentina aspires to reach a reduction of in the value of its external debt Mr Rapanelli said through his spokesman Miguel Alurralde 
Mr Rapanelli met in August with US Assistant Treasury Secretary David Mulford
Argentine negotiator Carlos Carballo was in Washington and New York this week to meet with banks 
Mr Rapanelli recently has said the government of President Carlos Menem who took office July feels a significant reduction of principal and interest is the only way the debt problem may be solved
But he has not said before that the country wants half the debt forgiven 
FH Faulding Co an Australian pharmaceuticals company said its Moleculon Inc affiliate acquired Kalipharma Inc for million 
Kalipharma is a New Jerseybased pharmaceuticals concern that sells products under the Purepac label 
Faulding said it owns of Moleculons voting stock and has an agreement to acquire an additional 
That stake together with its convertible preferred stock holdings gives Faulding the right to increase its interest to of Moleculons voting stock 
Copperweld Corp a specialty steelmaker said workers at a plant in Shelby Ohio began a strike after the United Steelworkers Local rejected a new contract on Tuesday 
The previous contract between Copperwelds Ohio Steel Tube division and the union expired at midnight Tuesday
The union vote to reject the proposed pact was 
Copperweld said it doesnt expect a protracted strike
It said it has taken measures to continue shipments during the work stoppage 
In another reflection that the growth of the economy is leveling off the government said that orders for manufactured goods and spending on construction failed to rise in September 
Meanwhile the National Association of Purchasing Management said its latest survey indicated that the manufacturing economy contracted in October for the sixth consecutive month
Its index inched up to in October from in September
Any reading below suggests the manufacturing sector is generally declining 
The purchasing managers however also said that orders turned up in October after four months of decline 
Factories booked billion in orders in September nearly the same as the billion in August the Commerce Department said
If not for a surge in orders for capital goods by defense contractors factory orders would have fallen 
In a separate report the department said construction spending ran at an annual rate of billion not significantly different from the billion reported for August
Private construction spending was down but government building activity was up
The figures in both reports were adjusted to remove the effects of usual seasonal patterns but werent adjusted for inflation 
Kenneth Mayland economist for Society Corp a Cleveland bank said demand for exports of factory goods is beginning to taper off
At the same time the drop in interest rates since the spring has failed to revive the residential construction industry 
What sector is stepping forward to pick up the slack he asked I draw a blank 
By most measures the nations industrial sector is now growing very slowly if at all
Factory payrolls fell in September
So did the Federal Reserve Boards industrialproduction index 
Yet many economists arent predicting that the economy is about to slip into recession
They cite a lack of imbalances that provide early warning signals of a downturn 
Inventories are closely watched for such clues for instance
Economists say a buildup in inventories can provoke cutbacks in production that can lead to a recession
But yesterdays factory orders report had good news on that front it said factory inventories fell in September the first decline since February 
This conforms to the soft landing scenario said Elliott Platt an economist at Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette Securities Corp I dont see any signs that inventories are excessive A soft landing is an economic slowdown that eases inflation without leading to a recession 
The department said orders for nondurable goods those intended to last fewer than three years fell in September to billion after climbing the month before
Orders for durable goods were up to billion after rising the month before
The department previously estimated that durablegoods orders fell in September 
Factory shipments fell to billion after rising in August
Shipments have been relatively level since January the Commerce Department noted 
Manufacturers backlogs of unfilled orders rose in September to billion helped by strength in the defense capital goods sector
Excluding these orders backlogs declined 
In its construction spending report the Commerce Department said residential construction which accounts for nearly half of all construction spending was off in September to an annual rate of billion
David Berson economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association predicted the drop in interest rates eventually will boost spending on singlefamily homes but probably not until early next year 
Spending on private nonresidential construction was off to an annual rate of billion with no sector showing strength
Government construction spending rose to billion 
After adjusting for inflation the Commerce Department said construction spending didnt change in September 
For the first nine months of the year total construction spending ran about above last years level 
The governments construction spending figures contrast with a report issued earlier in the week by McGrawHill Inc s FW Dodge Group
Dodge reported an increase in construction contracts awarded in September
The goverment counts money as it is spent Dodge counts contracts when they are awarded
The government includes money spent on residential renovation Dodge doesnt 
Although the purchasing managers index continues to indicate a slowing economy it isnt signaling an imminent recession said Robert Bretz chairman of the associations survey committee and director of materials management at Pitney Bowes Inc Stamford Conn
He said the index would have to be in the low range for several months to be considered a forecast of recession 
The report offered new evidence that the nations export growth though still continuing may be slowing
Only of the purchasing managers reported better export orders in October down from in September
And said export orders were down last month compared with the month before 
The purhasing managers report also added evidence that inflation is under control
For the fifth consecutive month purchasing managers said prices for the goods they purchased fell
The decline was even steeper than in September 
They also said that vendors were delivering goods more quickly in October than they had for each of the five previous months
Economists consider that a sign that inflationary pressures are abating
When demand is stronger than suppliers can handle and delivery times lengthen prices tend to rise 
The purchasing managers report is based on data provided by more than purchasing executives
Each of the surveys indicators gauges the difference between the number of purchasers reporting improvement in a particular area and the number reporting a worsening 
For the first time the October survey polled members on imports
It found that of the who import said they imported more in October and said they imported less than the previous month
While acknowledging one months figures dont prove a trend Mr Bretz said It does lead you to suspect imports are going down or at least not increasing that much 
Items listed as being in short supply numbered only about a dozen but they included one newcomer milk and milk powder Its an odd thing to put on the list Mr Bretz noted
He said that for the second month in a row food processors reported a shortage of nonfat dry milk
They blamed increased demand for dairy products at a time of exceptionally high US exports of dry milk coupled with very low import quotas 
Pamela Sebastian in New York contributed to this article 
Here are the Commerce Departments figures for construction spending in billions of dollars at seasonally adjusted annual rates 
Here are the Commerce Departments latest figures for manufacturers in billions of dollars seasonally adjusted 
Sir Peter Walters yearold chairman of British Petroleum Co until next March joins the board of this cement products company on Dec 
Sir Peter will succeed Sir John Milne who retires as Blue Circle nonexecutive chairman on June 
Japans reserves of gold convertible foreign currencies and special drawing rights fell by a hefty billion in October to billion the Finance Ministry said
The total marks the sixth consecutive monthly decline 
The protracted downturn reflects the intensity of Bank of Japan yensupport intervention since June when the US currency temporarily surged above the yen level 
The announcement follows a sharper billion decline in the countrys foreign reserves in September to billion 
Cathryn Rice could hardly believe her eyes
While giving the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills to ninth graders at Greenville High School last March she spotted a student looking at crib sheets 
She had seen cheating before but these notes were uncanny A stockbroker is an example of a profession in trade and finance  At the end of World War II Germany surrendered before Japan  The SenateHouse conference committee is used when a bill is passed by the House and Senate in different forms 
Virtually word for word the notes matched questions and answers on the socialstudies section of the test the student was taking
In fact the student had the answers to almost all of the questions in that section
The student surrendered the notes but not without a protest My teacher said it was OK for me to use the notes on the test he said 
The teacher in question was Nancy Yeargin considered by many students and parents to be one of the best at the school
Confronted Mrs Yeargin admitted she had given the questions and answers two days before the examination to two lowability geography classes
She had gone so far as to display the questions on an overhead projector and underline the answers 
Mrs Yeargin was fired and prosecuted under an unusual South Carolina law that makes it a crime to breach test security
In September she pleaded guilty and paid a fine
Her alternative was days in jail 
Her story is partly one of personal downfall
She was an unstinting teacher who won laurels and inspired students but she will probably never teach again
In her wake she left the bitterness and anger of a principal who was her friend and now calls her a betrayer of colleagues who say she brought them shame of students and parents who defended her and insist she was treated harshly and of schooldistrict officials stunned that despite the baldfaced nature of her actions she became something of a local martyr 
Mrs Yeargins case also casts some light on the dark side of school reform where pressures on teachers are growing and where highstakes testing has enhanced the temptation to cheat
The statute Mrs Yeargin violated was designed to enforce provisions of South Carolinas schoolimprovement laws
Prosecutors alleged that she was trying to bolster students scores to win a bonus under the states Education Improvement Act
The bonus depended on her ability to produce higher studenttest scores 
There is incredible pressure on school systems and teachers to raise test scores says Walt Haney an education professor and testing specialist at Boston College So efforts to beat the tests are also on the rise And most disturbing it is educators not students who are blamed for much of the wrongdoing 
A state study released in September by Friends for Education an Albuquerque NM schoolresearch group concluded that outright cheating by American educators is common The group says standardized achievement test scores are greatly inflated because teachers often teach the test as Mrs Yeargin did although most are never caught 
Evidence of widespread cheating has surfaced in several states in the last year or so
Californias education department suspects adult responsibility for erasures at schools that changed wrong answers to right ones on a statewide test
After numerous occurrences of questionable teacher help to students Texas is revising its security practices 
And sales of testcoaching booklets for classroom instruction are booming
These materials including MacmillanMcGrawHill School Publishing Co s Scoring High and Learning Materials are nothing short of sophisticated crib sheets according to some recent academic research
By using them teachers with administrative blessing telegraph to students beforehand the precise areas on which a test will concentrate and sometimes give away a few exact questions and answers
Use of Scoring High is widespread in South Carolina and common in Greenville County Mrs Yeargins school district 
Experts say there isnt another state in the country where tests mean as much as they do in South Carolina 
Under the states Education Improvement Act low test scores can block students promotions or force entire districts into wrenching statesupervised interventions that can mean firings
High test scores on the other hand bring recognition and extra money a new computer lab for a school grants for special projects a bonus for the superintendent 
And South Carolina says it is getting results
Since the reforms went in place for example no state has posted a higher rate of improvement on the Scholastic Aptitude Test than South Carolina although the state still posts the lowest average score of the about states who use the SAT as the primary college entrance examination
Critics say South Carolina is paying a price by stressing improved test scores so much
Friends of Education rates South Carolina one of the worst seven states in its study on academic cheating
Says the organizations founder John Cannell prosecuting Mrs Yeargin is a way for administrators to protect themselves and look like they take cheating seriously when in fact they dont take it seriously at all 
Paul Sandifer director of testing for the South Carolina department of education says Mr Cannells allegations of cheating are purely without foundation and based on unfair inferences
Partly because of worries about potential abuse however he says the state will begin keeping closer track of achievementtest preparation booklets next spring 
South Carolinas reforms were designed for schools like Greenville High School
Standing on a shaded hill in a rundown area of this old textile city the school has educated many of South Carolinas best and brightest including the states last two governors Nobel Prize winning physicist Charles Townes and actress Joanne Woodward
But by the early s its glory had faded like the yellow bricks of its broad facade 
It was full of violence and gangs and kids cutting class says Linda Ward the schools principal Crime was awful test scores were low and there was no enrollment in honors programs 
Mrs Ward took over in becoming the schools seventh principal in years
Her immediate predecessor suffered a nervous breakdown
Prior to his term a teacher bled to death in the halls stabbed by a student
Academically Mrs Ward says the school was having trouble serving in harmony its two disparate and evenly split student groups a privileged white elite from old monied neighborhoods and blacks many of them poor from rundown inner city neighborhoods 
Mrs Ward resolved to clean out deadwood in the schools faculty and restore safety and she also had some new factors working in her behalf
One was statewide school reform which raised overall educational funding and ushered in a new public spirit for school betterment
Another was Nancy Yeargin who came to Greenville in full of the energy and ambitions that reformers wanted to reward 
Being a teacher just became my life says the yearold Mrs Yeargin a teacher for years before her dismissal I loved the school its history
I even dreamt about school and new things to do with my students 
While Mrs Ward fired and restructured staff and struggled to improve curriculum Mrs Yeargin worked hour days and fast became a student favorite
In and she applied for and won bonus pay under the reform law
Encouraged by Mrs Ward Mrs Yeargin taught honor students in the state teacher cadet program a reform creation designed to encourage good students to consider teaching as a career
She won grant money for the school advised cheerleaders ran the pep club proposed and taught a new Cultural Literacy class in Western Civilization and was chosen by the school PTA as Teacher of the Year 
She was an inspirational lady she had it all together says Laura Dobson a freshman at the University of South Carolina who had Mrs Yeargin in the teachercadet class last year
She says that because of Mrs Yeargin she gave up ambitions in architecture and is studying to become a teacher
Mary Beth Marchand a Greenville th grader also says Mrs Yeargin inspired her to go into education She taught us more in Western Civilization than Ive ever learned in other classes says Kelli Green a Greenville senior 
In the classroom students say Mrs Yeargin distinguished herself by varying teaching approaches forcing kids to pair up to complete classroom work or using collegebowl type competitions
On weekends she came to work to prepare study plans or sometimes even to polish the furniture in her classroom 
She just never gave it up says Mary Marchand Mary Beths mother Youd see her correcting homework in the stands at a football game 
Some fellow teachers however viewed Mrs Yeargin as cocky and too yielding to students
Mrs Ward says she often defended her to colleagues who called her a grandstander
Pressures began to build
Friends told her she was pushing too hard
Because of deteriorating hearing she told colleagues she feared she might not be able to teach much longer 
Mrs Yeargins extra work was also helping her earn points in the states incentivebonus program
But the most important source of points was student improvement on tests
Huge gains by her students in and meant a total of in bonuses over two years a meaningful addition to her annual salary of 
Winning a bonus for a third year wasnt that important to her Mrs Yeargin insists
But others at Greenville High say she was eager to win if not for money then for pride and recognition
Mary Elizabeth Ariail another socialstudies teacher says she believed Mrs Yeargin wanted to keep her standing high so she could get a new job that wouldnt demand good hearing
Indeed Mrs Yeargin was interested in a possible job with the state teacher cadet program 
Last March after attending a teaching seminar in Washington Mrs Yeargin says she returned to Greenville two days before annual testing feeling that she hadnt prepared her lowability geography students adequately
When test booklets were passed out hours ahead of time she says she copied questions in the social studies section and gave the answers to students 
Mrs Yeargin admits she made a big mistake but insists her motives were correct I was trying to help kids in an unfair testing situation she says Only five of the questions were geography questions
The rest were history sociology finance subjects they never had 
Mrs Yeargin says that she also wanted to help lift Greenville High Schools overall test scores usually near the bottom of district high schools in rankings carried annually by local newspapers
Mostly she says she wanted to prevent the damage to selfesteem that her lowability students would suffer from doing badly on the test These kids broke my heart she says A whole day goes by and no one even knows theyre alive
They desperately needed somebody who showed they cared for them who loved them
The last thing they needed was another dragdown blow 
School officials and prosecutors say Mrs Yeargin is lying
They found students in an advanced class a year earlier who said she gave them similar help although because the case wasnt tried in court this evidence was never presented publicly That pretty much defeats any inkling that she was out to help the poor underprivileged child says Joe Watson the prosecutor in the case who is also president of Greenville High Schools alumni association
Mrs Yeargin concedes that she went over the questions in the earlier class adding I wanted to help all students 
Mr Watson says Mrs Yeargin never complained to school officials that the standardized test was unfair Do I have much sympathy for her Mr Watson asks Not really
I believe in the system
I believe you have to use the system to change it
What she did was like taking the law into your own hands 
Mrs Ward says that when the cheating was discovered she wanted to avoid the moraledamaging public disclosure that a trial would bring
She says she offered Mrs Yeargin a quiet resignation and thought she could help save her teaching certificate
Mrs Yeargin declined She said something like You just want to make it easy for the school I was dumbfounded Mrs Ward recalls It was like someone had turned a knife in me 
To the astonishment and dismay of her superiors and legal authorities and perhaps as a measure of the unpopularity of standardized tests Mrs Yeargin won widespread local support
The schoolboard hearing at which she was dismissed was crowded with students teachers and parents who came to testify on her behalf
Supportive callers decried unfair testing not Mrs Yeargin on a local radio talk show on which she appeared 
The show didnt give the particulars of Mrs Yeargins offense saying only that she helped students do better on the test The message to the board of education out of all this is weve got to take a serious look at how were doing our curriculum and our testing policies in this state said the talkshow host
Editorials in the Greenville newspaper allowed that Mrs Yeargin was wrong but also said the case showed how testing was being overused 
The radio show enraged us says Mrs Ward
Partly because of the show Mr Watson says the district decided not to recommend Mrs Yeargin for a firsttime offenders program that could have expunged the charges and the conviction from her record
And legal authorities cranked up an investigation worthy of a murder case
Over witnesses mostly students were interviewed 
At Greenville High School meanwhile some students especially on the cheerleading squad were crushed Its hard to explain to a yearold why someone they like had to go says Mrs Ward
Soon Tshirts appeared in the corridors that carried the schools familiar redandwhite GHS logo on the front
On the back the shirts read We have all the answers Many colleagues are angry at Mrs Yeargin She did a lot of harm says Cathryn Rice who had discovered the crib notes We work damn hard at what we do for damn little pay and what she did cast unfair aspersions on all of us 
But several teachers also say the incident casts doubt on the wisdom of evaluating teachers or schools by using standardized test scores
Says Gayle Key a mathematics teacher The incentive pay thing has opened up a can of worms
There may be others doing what she did 
Mrs Yeargin says she pleaded guilty because she realized it would no longer be possible to win reinstatement and because she was afraid of further charges
Mrs Ward for one was relieved
Despite the strong evidence against Mrs Yeargin popular sentiment was so strong in her favor Mrs Ward says that Im afraid a jury wouldnt have convicted her 
The Department of Health and Human Services plans to extend its moratorium on federal funding of research involving fetaltissue transplants 
Medical researchers believe the transplantation of small amounts of fetal tissue into humans could help treat juvenile diabetes and such degenerative diseases as Alzheimers Parkinsons and Huntingtons
But antiabortionists oppose such research because they worry that the development of therapies using fetaltissue transplants could lead to an increase in abortions 
James Mason assistant secretary for health said the ban on federal funding of fetaltissue transplant research should be continued indefinitely He said the ban wont stop privately funded tissuetransplant research or federally funded fetaltissue research that doesnt involve transplants 
Department officials say that HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan will support Dr Masons ruling which will be issued soon in the form of a letter to the acting director of the National Institutes of Health
Both Dr Mason and Dr Sullivan oppose federal funding for abortion as does President Bush except in cases where a womans life is threatened 
The controversy began in when the National Institutes of Health aware of the policy implications of its research asked for an HHS review of its plan to implant fetal tissue into the brain of a patient suffering from Parkinsons disease
The department placed a moratorium on the research pending a review of scientific legal and ethical issues 
A majority of an NIHappointed panel recommended late last year that the research continue under carefully controlled conditions but the issue became embroiled in politics as antiabortion groups continued to oppose federal funding
The dispute has hampered the administrations efforts to recruit prominent doctors to fill prestigious posts at the helm of the NIH and the Centers for Disease Control 
Several candidates have withdrawn their names from consideration after administration officials asked them for their views on abortion and fetaltissue transplants
Antonio Novello whom Mr Bush nominated to serve as surgeon general reportedly has assured the administration that she opposes abortion
Dr Novello is deputy director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 
Some researchers have charged that the administration is imposing new ideological tests for top scientific posts
Earlier this week Dr Sullivan tried to defuse these charges by stressing that candidates to head the NIH and the CDC will be judged by standards of scientific and administrative excellence not politics 
But the administrations handling of the fetaltissue transplant issue disturbs many scientists When scientific progress moves into uncharted ground there has to be a role for society to make judgments about its applications says Myron Genel associate dean of the Yale Medical School The disturbing thing about this abortion issue is that the debate has become polarized so that no mechanism exists for finding a middle ground 
Yale is one of the few medical institutions conducting privately funded research on fetaltissue transplants
But Dr Genel warns that Dr Masons ruling may discourage private funding The unavailability of federal funds and the climate in which the decision was made certainly dont provide any incentive for one of the more visible foundations to provide support he said 
Despite the flap over transplants federal funding of research involving fetal tissues will continue on a number of fronts Such research may ultimately result in the ability to regenerate damaged tissues or to turn off genes that cause cancer or to regulate genes that cause Downs syndrome the leading cause of mental retardation according to an NIH summary
The NIH currently spends about million annually on fetaltissue research out of a total research budget of billion 
Investors took advantage of Tuesdays stock rally to book some profits yesterday leaving stocks up fractionally
Bond prices and the dollar both gained modestly 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished less than a point higher to close at in moderate trading
But advancing issues on the New York Stock Exchange were tidily ahead of declining stocks to 
Longterm bond prices rose despite prospects of a huge new supply of Treasury debt this month
Continuing demand for dollars from Japanese investors boosted the US currency 
Analysts were disappointed that the enthusiasm investors showed for stocks in the wake of GeorgiaPacifics billion bid for Great Northern Nekoosa evaporated so quickly
The industrial average jumped more than points Tuesday as speculators rushed to buy shares of potential takeover targets
But with the end of the year in sight money managers are eager to take profits and cut their risks of losing what for many have been exceptionally good returns in 
Economic news had little effect on financial markets
As expected a national purchasing managers report indicated the nations manufacturing sector continues to contract modestly
The Federal Reserves Beige Book a summary of economic conditions across the country indicated that the overall economy remains in a pattern of sluggish growth 
In major market activity 
Stock prices rose fractionally in moderate trading
Big Board volume totaled million shares
Bond prices were up
The Treasurys benchmark year bond gained about a quarter of a point or for each of face amount
The yield fell to 
The dollar rose
In late afternoon New York trading the currency was at marks and yen compared with marks and yen 
Japanese investment in Southeast Asia is propelling the region toward economic integration 
Interviews with analysts and business people in the US suggest that Japanese capital may produce the economic cooperation that Southeast Asian politicians have pursued in fits and starts for decades
But Japans power in the region also is sparking fears of domination and posing fresh policy questions 
The flow of Japanese funds has set in motion a process whereby these economies will be knitted together by the great Japanese investment machine says Robert Hormats vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International Corp 
In the past five years Japanese companies have tripled their commitments in Asia to billion
In Thailand for example the governments Board of Investment approved million of Japanese investment in  times the US investment figure for the year
Japans commitment in Southeast Asia also includes steep increases in foreign assistance and trade 
Asias other cashrich countries are following Japans lead and pumping capital into the region
In Taiwan and South Korea rising wages are forcing manufacturers to seek other overseas sites for laborintensive production
These nations known as Asias little tigers also are contributing to Southeast Asias integration but their influence will remain subordinate to Japans 
For recipient countries such as Thailand and Malaysia the investment will provide needed jobs and spur growth
But Asian nations harsh memories of their military domination by Japan in the early part of this century make them fearful of falling under Japanese economic hegemony now 
Because of budget constraints in Washington the US encourages Japan to share economic burdens in the region
But it resists yielding political ground
In the coming decade analysts say USJapanese relations will be tested as Tokyo comes to terms with its new status as the regions economic behemoth 
Japans swelling investment in Southeast Asia is part of its economic evolution
In the past decade Japanese manufacturers concentrated on domestic production for export
In the s spurred by rising labor costs and the strong yen these companies will increasingly turn themselves into multinationals with plants around the world
To capture the investment Southeast Asian nations will move to accommodate Japanese business 
These nations internal decisions will be made in a way not to offend their largest aid donor largest private investor and largest lender says Richard Drobnick director of the international business and research program at the University of Southern Californias Graduate School of Business 
Japanese money will help turn Southeast Asia into a more cohesive economic region
But analysts say Asian cooperation isnt likely to parallel the European Common Market approach
Rather Japanese investment will spur integration of certain sectors says Kent Calder a specialist in East Asian economies at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and Internatonal Affairs at Princeton University
In electronics for example a Japanese company might make television picture tubes in Japan assemble the sets in Malaysia and export them to Indonesia 
The effect will be to pull Asia together not as a common market but as an integrated production zone says Goldman Sachss Mr Hormats 
Countries in the region also are beginning to consider a framework for closer economic and political ties
The economic and foreign ministers of Asian and Pacific nations will meet in Australia next week to discuss global trade issues as well as regional matters such as transportation and telecommunications
Participants will include the US Australia Canada Japan South Korea and New Zealand as well as the six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Thailand Malaysia Singapore Indonesia the Philippines and Brunei 
In addition the US this year offered its own plan for cooperation around the Pacific rim in a major speech by Secretary of State James Baker following up a proposal made in January by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke 
The Baker proposal reasserts Washingtons intention to continue playing a leading political role in the region In Asia as in Europe a new order is taking shape Mr Baker said The US with its regional friends must play a crucial role in designing its architecture 
But maintaining US influence will be difficult in the face of Japanese dominance in the region
Japan not only outstrips the US in investment flows but also outranks it in trade with most Southeast Asian countries although the US remains the leading trade partner for all of Asia
Moreover the Japanese government now the worlds largest aid donor is pumping far more assistance into the region than the US is
While US officials voice optimism about Japans enlarged role in Asia they also convey an undertone of caution Theres an understanding on the part of the US that Japan has to expand its functions in Asia says J Michael Farren undersecretary of commerce for trade If they approach it with a benevolent altruistic attitude there will be a net gain for everyone 
Some Asian nations are apprehensive about Washingtons demand that Tokyo step up its military spending to ease the US security burden in the region
The issue is further complicated by uncertainty over the future of the USs leases on military bases in the Philippines and by a possible US troop reduction in South Korea
Many Asians regard a US presence as a desirable counterweight to Japanese influence 
No one wants the US to pick up its marbles and go home Mr Hormats says 
For their part Taiwan and South Korea are expected to step up their own investments in the next decade to try to slow the Japanese juggernaut 
They dont want Japan to monopolize the region and sew it up says Chongsik Lee professor of East Asian politics at the University of Pennsylvania 
Investor Harold Simmons and NL Industries Inc offered to acquire Georgia Gulf Corp for a share or about billion stepping up the pressure on the commodity chemicals concern 
The offer follows an earlier proposal by NL and Mr Simmons to help Georgia Gulf restructure or go private in a transaction that would pay shareholders a share
Georgia Gulf rebuffed that offer in September and said it would study other alternatives
However it hasnt yet made any proposals to shareholders 
Late yesterday Georgia Gulf said it reviewed the NL proposal as well as interests from third parties regarding business combinations
Georgia Gulf said it hasnt eliminated any alternatives and that discussions are being held with interested parties and work is also continuing on other various transactions It didnt elaborate 
Analysts saw the latest offer as proof that Mr Simmons an aggressive and persistent investor wont leave Georgia Gulf alone until some kind of transaction is completed He has clamped on their ankle like a pit bull says Paul Leming a vice president with Morgan Stanley Co He appears to be in it for the long haul Mr Simmons and NL already own a stake in Georgia Gulf 
Mr Simmons owns of Valhi Inc which in turn owns twothirds of NL NL is officially making the offer 
Mr Leming wasnt surprised by the lower price cited by NL saying he believes that a share is the most you can pay for Georgia Gulf before it becomes a bad acquisition 
Georgia Gulf stock rose a share yesterday to close at a share while NL shares closed unchanged at and Valhi rose cents to all in New York Stock Exchange composite trading 
J Landis Martin NL president and chief executive officer said NL and Mr Simmons cut the price they were proposing for Georgia Gulf because they initially planned a transaction that included about million in equity and a substantial amount of highyield subordinated debt
However the junkbond market has collapsed in recent weeks lessening the likelihood that such a transaction would succeed 
Now he said the group plans to put in several hundred million dollars in equity and finance the remainder with bank debt
He also said that the group reduced its offer because it wasnt allowed to see Georgia Gulfs confidential financial information without agreeing that it wouldnt make an offer unless it had Georgia Gulfs consent 
In a letter to Georgia Gulf President Jerry R Satrum Mr Martin asked Georgia Gulf to answer its offer by Tuesday 
It wasnt clear how NL and Mr Simmons would respond if Georgia Gulf spurns them again
Mr Martin said they havent yet decided what their next move would be but he didnt rule out the possibility of a consent solicitation aimed at replacing Georgia Gulfs board
In other transactions Mr Simmons has followed friendly offers with a hostile tender offer 
Although Georgia Gulf hasnt been eager to negotiate with Mr Simmons and NL a specialty chemicals concern the group apparently believes the companys management is interested in some kind of transaction
The management group owns about of the stock most purchased at nominal prices and would stand to gain millions of dollars if the company were sold 
In the third quarter Georgia Gulf earned million or a share down from million or a share on fewer shares outstanding
Sales fell to million from million 
Investors unsettled by the stock markets gyrations can take some comfort in the predictable arrival of quarterly dividend checks
That has been particularly true this year with many companies raising their payouts more than 
But dont breathe too easy Those dividend increases may signal trouble ahead for stock prices some analysts warn 
In the past they say the strongest dividend growth has often come at times when the stockmarket party was almost over 
That can be a trap for unwary investors says Richard Bernstein senior quantitative analyst at Merrill Lynch Co Strong dividend growth he says is the black widow of valuation a reference to the female spiders that attract males and then kill them after mating 
Stephen Boesel president of T Rowe Price Growth and Income Fund explains that companies raise their payouts most robustly only after the economy and corporate profits have been growing for some time Invariably those strong periods in the economy give way to recessionary environments he says And recessionary environments arent hospitable to the stock market 
Indeed analysts say that payouts have sometimes risen most sharply when prices were already on their way down from cyclical peaks
In for example dividends on the stocks in Standard Poors stock index soared following much slower growth the year before
The SP index started sliding in price in September and fell in  despite a expansion in dividends that year 
That pattern hasnt always held but recent strong growth in dividends makes some market watchers anxious
Payouts on the SP stocks rose in according to Standard Poors Corp and Wall Street estimates for growth are generally between and 
Many people believe the growth in dividends will slow next year although a minority see doubledigit gains continuing 
Meanwhile many market watchers say recent dividend trends raise another warning flag While dividends have risen smartly their expansion hasnt kept pace with even stronger advances in stock prices
As a result the markets dividend yield dividends as a percentage of price has slid to a level that is fairly low and unenticing by historical standards 
Put another way the decline in the yield suggests stocks have gotten pretty rich in price relative to the dividends they pay some market analysts say
They are keeping a close watch on the yield on the SP 
The figure is currently about up from before the recent market slide
Some analysts say investors should run for the exits if a sustained market rebound pushes the yield below 
A drop below that benchmark has always been a strong warning sign that stocks are fully valued says Mr Boesel of T Rowe Price 
In fact the market has always tanked
Always
Theres never been an exception says Gerald W Perritt a Chicago investment adviser and money manager based on a review of six decades of stockmarket data 
The last time the SP yield dropped below was in the summer of 
Stockholders who took the hint and sold shares escaped the October debacle 
There have been only seven other times in    and  when the yield on the SP dropped below for at least two consecutive months Mr Perritt found
And in each case he says a sharp drop in stock prices began within a year 
Still some market analysts say the current reading isnt as troublesome as it might have been in years past Its not a very meaningful indicator currently because corporations are not behaving in a traditional manner says James H Coxon head of stock investments for Cigna Corp the Philadelphiabased insurer 
In particular Mr Coxon says businesses are paying out a smaller percentage of their profits and cash flow in the form of dividends than they have historically
So while stock prices may look fairly high relative to dividends they are not excessive relative to the underlying corporate strength 
Rather than increasing dividends some companies have used cash to buy back some of their shares notes Steven G Einhorn cochairman of the investment policy committee at Goldman Sachs Co
He factors that into the market yield to get an adjusted yield of about 
That is just a tad below the average of the past years or so he says 
What will happen to dividend growth next year
Common wisdom suggests a singledigit rate of growth reflecting a weakening in the economy and corporate profits 
PaineWebber Inc for instance is forecasting growth in SP dividends of just under in down from an estimated this year
In other years in which there have been moderate economic slowdowns the environment the firm expects in  the change in dividends ranged from a gain of to a decline of  according to PaineWebber analyst Thomas Doerflinger 
The minority argument meanwhile is that businesses have the financial wherewithal this time around to declare sharply higher dividends even if their earnings weaken 
Dividend growth on the order of is expected by both Mr Coxon of Cigna and Mr Einhorn of Goldman Sachs
Those dividend bulls argue that corporations are in the unusual position of having plenty of cash left over after paying dividends and making capital expenditures 
One indicator investors might want to watch is the monthly tally from Standard Poors of the number of public companies adjusting their dividends
A total of companies raised dividends in October basically unchanged from a year ago SP said Wednesday
That followed four straight months in which the number of increases trailed the yearearlier pace 
While the SP tally doesnt measure the magnitude of dividend changes a further slippage in the number of dividend increases could be a harbinger of slower dividend growth next year 
In any case opinion is mixed on how much of a boost the overall stock market would get even if dividend growth continues at doubledigit levels
Mr Einhorn of Goldman Sachs estimates the stock market will deliver a to total return from appreciation and dividends over the next months vs a cash rate of return of perhaps or if dividend growth is weak 
But Mr Boesel of T Rowe Price who also expects growth in dividends next year doesnt think it will help the overall market all that much Having the dividend increases is a supportive element in the market outlook but I dont think its a main consideration he says
With slower economic growth and flat corporate earnings likely next year I wouldnt look for the market to have much upside from current levels 
Michael Henderson yearold group chief executive of this UK metals and industrial materials maker will become chairman in May succeeding Ian Butler who is retiring
Mr Butler will remain on the board as a nonexecutive director 
Michaels Stores Inc which owns and operates a chain of specialty retail stores said October sales rose to million from million a year earlier 
Sales in stores open more than one year rose to million from million 
Rudolph Agnew years old and former chairman of Consolidated Gold Fields PLC was named a nonexecutive director of this British industrial conglomerate 
The Cosby Show may have singlehandedly turned around ratings at NBC since its debut in and the Huxtable family still keeps millions of viewers laughing Thursday night on the network 
But some of the TV stations that bought Cosby reruns for record prices two years ago arent laughing much these days
The reruns have helped ratings at many of the network affiliates and independent TV stations that air the shows
But the ratings are considerably below expectations and some stations say they may not buy new episodes when their current contracts expire 
Meanwhile stations are fuming because many of them say the shows distributor Viacom Inc is giving an ultimatum Either sign new longterm commitments to buy future episodes or risk losing Cosby to a competitor
At the same time Viacom is trying to persuade stations to make commitments to A Different World a spinoff of Cosby whose reruns will become available in 
Viacom denies its using pressure tactics Were willing to negotiate says Dennis Gillespie executive vice president of marketing Were offering this plan now because we feel its the right time 
But says the general manager of a network affiliate in the Midwest I think if I tell them I need more time theyll take Cosby across the street 
Viacoms move comes as the syndication market is being flooded with situation comedies that are still running on the networks
One station manager says he believes Viacoms move is a preemptive strike because the company is worried that Cosby ratings will continue to drop in syndication over the next few years Cosby is down a full ratings point in the week of Oct over the same week a year ago according to AC Nielsen Co 
Mr Gillespie at Viacom says the ratings are rising 
And executives at stations in such major markets as Washington Providence RI Cleveland Raleigh NC Minneapolis and Louisville Ky say they may very well not renew Cosby Dick Lobo the general manager of WTVJ the NBCowned station in Miami for example says the show has been a major disappointment to us At the prices we were charged there should have been some return for the dollar
There wasnt 
Neil Kuvin the general manager of WHAS the CBS affiliate in Louisville says Cosby gets the stations highest ratings and hes pleased But he adds I feel pressured disappointed uncomfortable and frankly quite angry with Viacom 
When its time for their biannual powwow the nations manufacturing titans typically jet off to the sunny confines of resort towns like Boca Raton and Hot Springs 
Not this year 
The National Association of Manufacturers settled on the Hoosier capital of Indianapolis for its fall board meeting
And the city decided to treat its guests more like royalty or rock stars than factory owners
The idea of course to prove to corporate decision makers that the buckle on the Rust Belt isnt so rusty after all that its a good place for a company to expand 
On the receiving end of the message were officials from giants like Du Pont and Maytag along with lesser knowns like Trojan Steel and the Valley Queen Cheese Factory 
For starters the executives joined Mayor William H Hudnut III for an evening of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and a guest pianistcomedian Victor Borge
Champagne and dessert followed 
The next morning with a police escort busloads of executives and their wives raced to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway unimpeded by traffic or red lights
The governor couldnt make it so the lieutenant governor welcomed the special guests
A buffet breakfast was held in the museum where food and drinks are banned to everyday visitors
Then in the guests honor the speedway hauled out four drivers crews and even the official Indianapolis announcer for a lap exhibition race 
After the race Fortune executives drooled like schoolboys over the cars and drivers
No dummies the drivers pointed out they still had space on their machines for another sponsors name or two 
Back downtown the execs squeezed in a few meetings at the hotel before boarding the buses again
This time it was for dinner and dancing a block away 
Under the stars and moons of the renovated Indiana Roof ballroom nine of the hottest chefs in town fed them Indiana duckling mousseline lobster consomme veal mignon and chocolate terrine with a raspberry sauce
Knowing a tasty and free meal when they eat one the executives gave the chefs a standing ovation 
More than a few CEOs say the redcarpet treatment tempts them to return to a heartland city for future meetings
But for now theyre looking forward to their winter meeting Boca in February 
Commonwealth Edison Co was ordered to refund about million to its current and former ratepayers for illegal rates collected for cost overruns on a nuclear power plant 
The refund was about million more than previously ordered by the Illinois Commerce Commission and trade groups said it may be the largest ever required of a state or local utility 
State court Judge Richard Curry ordered Edison to make average refunds of about to each to Edison customers who have received electric service since April including about two million customers who have moved during that period
Judge Curry ordered the refunds to begin Feb and said that he wouldnt entertain any appeals or other attempts to block his order by Commonwealth Edison The refund pool  may not be held hostage through another round of appeals Judge Curry said 
Commonwealth Edison said it is already appealing the underlying commission order and is considering appealing Judge Currys order 
The exact amount of the refund will be determined next year based on actual collections made until Dec of this year
Commonwealth Edison said the ruling could force it to slash its earnings by a share
For Commonwealth Edison reported earnings of million or a share 
A Commonwealth Edison spokesman said that tracking down the two million customers whose addresses have changed during the past  years would be an administrative nightmare 
In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday Commonwealth Edison closed at down cents 
The billion Byron plant near Rockford Ill was completed in 
In a disputed ruling the Commerce Commission said Commonwealth Edison could raise its electricity rates by million to pay for the plant
But state courts upheld a challenge by consumer groups to the commissions rate increase and found the rates illegal
The Illinois Supreme Court ordered the commission to audit Commonwealth Edisons construction expenses and refund any unreasonable expenses
The utility has been collecting for the plants construction cost from its million customers subject to a refund since 
In August the commission ruled that between million and million of the plants construction cost was unreasonable and should be refunded plus interest
In his ruling Judge Curry added an additional million to the commissions calculations
Last month Judge Curry set the interest rate on the refund at 
Commonwealth Edison now faces an additional courtordered refund on its summerwinter rate differential collections that the Illinois Appellate Court has estimated at million
And consumer groups hope that Judge Currys Byron order may set a precedent for a second nuclear rate case involving Commonwealth Edisons Braidwood plant
Commonwealth Edison is seeking about million in rate increases to pay for Braidwood 
The commission is expected to rule on the Braidwood case by year end 
Last year Commonwealth Edison had to refund million for poor performance of its LaSalle I nuclear plant 
The Transportation Department responding to pressure from safety advocates took further steps to impose on light trucks and vans the safety requirements used for automobiles 
The department proposed requiring stronger roofs for light trucks and minivans beginning with models
It also issued a final rule requiring auto makers to equip light trucks and minivans with lapshoulder belts for rear seats beginning in the model year
Such belts already are required for the vehicles front seats 
Todays action Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner said represents another milestone in the ongoing program to promote vehicle occupant safety in light trucks and minivans through its extension of passenger car standards 
In September the department had said it will require trucks and minivans to be equipped with the same frontseat headrests that have long been required on passenger cars 
The Big Three auto makers said the rule changes werent surprising because Bush administration officials have long said they planned to impose car safety standards on light trucks and vans 
Safety advocates including some members of Congress have been urging the department for years to extend carsafety requirements to light trucks and vans which now account for almost onethird of all vehicle sales in the US
They say that many vehicles classed as commercial light trucks actually carry more people than cargo and therefore should have the same safety features as cars 
They didnt have much luck during the Reagan administration But now there seems to be a fairly systematic effort to address the problem said Chuck Hurley vice president of communications for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Were in a very different regulatory environment Sen John Danforth R Mo praised the departments actions noting that rollover crashes account for almost half of all lighttruck deaths We could prevent many of these fatalities with minimum roofcrush standards he said 
Sen Danforth and others also want the department to require additional safety equipment in light trucks and minivans including air bags or automatic seat belts in front seats and improved sidecrash protection 
The departments roofcrush proposal would apply to vehicles weighing pounds or less
The roofs would be required to withstand a force of times the unloaded weight of the vehicle
During the test the roof couldnt be depressed more than five inches 
In Detroit a Chrysler Corp official said the company currently has no rearseat lap and shoulder belts in its light trucks but plans to begin phasing them in by the end of the model year
He said Chrysler fully expects to have them installed across its lighttruck line by the Sept  deadline
Chrysler said its trucks and vans already meet the roofcrush resistance standard for cars 
John Leinonen executive engineer of Ford Motor Co s autosafety office said Ford trucks have met car standards for roofcrush resistance since 
Ford began installing the rearseat belts in trucks with its Fseries Crew Cab pickups in the model year
The new Explorer sportutility vehicle set for introduction next spring will also have the rearseat belts
Mr Leinonen said he expects Ford to meet the deadline easily 
Italian chemical giant Montedison Sp
A through its Montedison Acquisition NV indirect unit began its ashare tender offer for all the common shares outstanding of Erbamont NV a maker of pharmaceuticals incorporated in the Netherlands 
The offer advertised in todays editions of The Wall Street Journal is scheduled to expire at the end of November 
Montedison currently owns about of Erbamonts common shares outstanding 
The offer is being launched pursuant to a previously announced agreement between the companies 
Troubled NBI Inc said it fired more than half its work force and is discontinuing its hardware business to focus on its software and service operations 
The ailing company which has reported net losses for consecutive quarters said it wont manufacture network computer systems any more and will greatly reduce its costly direct sales force 
Altogether NBI said it will eliminate jobs at its Boulder headquarters field sales jobs and jobs at its Canadian and United Kingdom headquarters
The companys work force will fall to about people 
Stephen G Jerritts president and chief executive officer said customers werent willing to commit to an expensive NBI hardware systems because of the companys financial troubles
Further he said the company doesnt have the capital needed to build the business over the next year or two 
We flat ran out of financing resources Mr Jerritts said We had to do something structurally and radically different 
As a result he said NBI will focus on servicing its installed base of systems trying to provide maintenance for other manufacturers and expanding its software business using some of the applications it developed for its hardware
The company currently offers a wordprocessing package for personal computers called Legend 
The company which recently said it lacked the profits and capital to pay dividends on its Series A convertible preferred stock said it has hired an investment banker to help it raise additional cash 
In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday NBI common closed at cents a share up cents 
BRAMALEA Ltd said it agreed to issue million Canadian dollars US million of senior debentures due Nov  together with bond purchase warrants
The Torontobased real estate concern said each bond warrant entitles the holder to buy C principal amount of debentures at par plus accrued interest to the date of purchase
The warrants expire Nov 
The issue will be swapped into fixedrate US dollars at a rate the company said is less than a spokesman declined to elaborate
Lead underwriters for the issue are Scotia McLeod Inc and RBC Dominion Securities Inc both Torontobased investment dealers
Bramalea said it expects to complete the issue by the end of the month 
A seat on the Chicago Board of Trade was sold for down from the previous sale last Friday 
Seats currently are quoted at bid and asked 
The record price for a full membership on the exchange is set Aug  
A form of asbestos once used to make Kent cigarette filters has caused a high percentage of cancer deaths among a group of workers exposed to it more than years ago researchers reported 
The asbestos fiber crocidolite is unusually resilient once it enters the lungs with even brief exposures to it causing symptoms that show up decades later researchers said
Lorillard Inc the unit of New Yorkbased Loews Corp that makes Kent cigarettes stopped using crocidolite in its Micronite cigarette filters in 
Although preliminary findings were reported more than a year ago the latest results appear in todays New England Journal of Medicine a forum likely to bring new attention to the problem 
A Lorillard spokewoman said This is an old story
Were talking about years ago before anyone heard of asbestos having any questionable properties
There is no asbestos in our products now 
Neither Lorillard nor the researchers who studied the workers were aware of any research on smokers of the Kent cigarettes We have no useful information on whether users are at risk said James A Talcott of Bostons DanaFarber Cancer Institute
Dr Talcott led a team of researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the medical schools of Harvard University and Boston University 
The Lorillard spokeswoman said asbestos was used in very modest amounts in making paper for the filters in the early s and replaced with a different type of filter in 
From to  billion Kent cigarettes with the filters were sold the company said 
Among men who worked closely with the substance have died more than three times the expected number
Four of the five surviving workers have asbestosrelated diseases including three with recently diagnosed cancer
The total of deaths from malignant mesothelioma lung cancer and asbestosis was far higher than expected the researchers said 
The morbidity rate is a striking finding among those of us who study asbestosrelated diseases said Dr Talcott 
The percentage of lung cancer deaths among the workers at the West Groton Mass paper factory appears to be the highest for any asbestos workers studied in Western industrialized countries he said
The plant which is owned by Hollingsworth Vose Co was under contract with Lorillard to make the cigarette filters 
The finding probably will support those who argue that the US should regulate the class of asbestos including crocidolite more stringently than the common kind of asbestos chrysotile found in most schools and other buildings Dr Talcott said 
The US is one of the few industrialized nations that doesnt have a higher standard of regulation for the smooth needlelike fibers such as crocidolite that are classified as amphobiles according to Brooke T Mossman a professor of pathlogy at the University of Vermont College of Medicine
More common chrysotile fibers are curly and are more easily rejected by the body Dr Mossman explained 
In July the Environmental Protection Agency imposed a gradual ban on virtually all uses of asbestos
By almost all remaining uses of cancercausing asbestos will be outlawed 
About workers at a factory that made paper for the Kent filters were exposed to asbestos in the s
Areas of the factory were particularly dusty where the crocidolite was used
Workers dumped large burlap sacks of the imported material into a huge bin poured in cotton and acetate fibers and mechanically mixed the dry fibers in a process used to make filters
Workers described clouds of blue dust that hung over parts of the factory even though exhaust fans ventilated the area 
Theres no question that some of those workers and managers contracted asbestosrelated diseases said Darrell Phillips vice president of human resources for Hollingsworth Vose But you have to recognize that these events took place years ago
It has no bearing on our work force today 
The Internal Revenue Service has threatened criminal sanctions against lawyers who fail to report detailed information about clients who pay them more than in cash 
The warnings issued to at least criminal defense attorneys in several major cities in the last week have led to an outcry by members of the organized bar who claim the information is protected by attorneyclient privilege 
The IRS warnings stem from a law that requires anyone who receives more than in cash from a client or customer in one or more related transactions in the course of trade or business to report the payment on a document known as Form 
The form asks for such details as the clients name Social Security number passport number and details about the services provided for the payment 
Failure to complete the form had been punishable as a misdemeanor until last November when Congress determined that the crime was a felony punishable by up to years in prison 
Attorneys have argued since when the law took effect that they cannot provide information about clients who dont wish their identities to be known
Many attorneys have returned incomplete forms to the IRS in recent years citing attorneyclient privilege
Until last week the IRS rarely acted on the incomplete forms 
This form forces a lawyer to become in effect a witness against his client said Neal R Sonnett president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers The IRS is asking lawyers to redflag a criminal problem to the government added Mr Sonnett a Miami lawyer who has heard from dozens of attorneys who received letters in recent days and has himself received the computergenerated IRS forms sent by certified mail 
Mr Sonnett said that clients who pay cash may include alleged drug dealers who dont have domestic bank accounts
These individuals may not necessarily be under investigation when they hire lawyers
Mr Sonnett said there also may be other circumstances under which individuals wouldnt want the government to know they had retained criminal defense lawyers
Filling out detailed forms about these individuals would tip the IRS off and spark action against the clients he said
The defense lawyers group formed a task force this week chaired by New York attorney Gerald Lefcourt to deal with the matter 
The American Bar Associations House of Delegates passed a resolution in condemning the IRS reporting requirement
Michael Ross a New York lawyer who heads the ABAs grand jury committee said that lawyers are prohibited by the ABAs code of ethics from disclosing information about a client except where a court orders it or to prevent the client from committing a criminal act that could result in death 
Mr Ross said he met with officials of the IRS and the Justice Department which would bring any enforcement actions against taxpayers to discuss the issue last May
At that meeting he said the Justice Department assured him that enforcement procedures wouldnt be threatened against attorneys without further review and advance notice
Mr Ross said IRS officials opposed the Justice Departments moderate stance on the matter 
But in the letters sent in recent days Christopher J Lezovich of the IRS computing center in Detroit told attorneys that failing to voluntarily submit the requested information could result in summons enforcement action being initiated In some cases the IRS asked for information dating back to forms it received in 
A spokesman for the IRS confirmed that there has been correspondence mailed about incomplete s but he declined to say why the letters were sent to lawyers now
Individuals familiar with the Justice Departments policy said that Justice officials hadnt any knowledge of the IRSs actions in the last week 
Lawyers worry that if they provide information about clients that data could quickly end up in the hands of prosecutors
Prosecutors need court permission to obtain the tax returns of an individual or a business
But they have obtained forms without court permission and used the information to help develop criminal cases 
Some criminal lawyers speculated that the IRS was sending the letters to test the issue
In a number of recent cases federal courts have refused to recognize attorneys assertions that information relating to fees from clients should be confidential 
THE WAR OVER FEDERAL JUDICIAL SALARIES takes a victim 
Often judges ease into more lucrative private practice with little fanfare but not federal Judge Raul A Ramirez in Sacramento Calif
On Tuesday the judge called a news conference to say he was quitting effective Dec to join a San Francisco law firm
The reason the refusal of Congress to give federal judges a raise 
A couple of my law clerks were going to pass me in three or four years and I was afraid I was going to have to ask them for a loan the judge quipped in an interview
Federal judges make annually in February Congress rejected a bill that would have increased their pay by 
Judge Ramirez said it is unjust for judges to make what they do Judges are not getting what they deserve
You look around at professional ballplayers or accountants  and nobody blinks an eye
When you become a federal judge all of a sudden you are relegated to a paltry sum 
At his new job as partner in charge of federal litigation in the Sacramento office of Orrick Herrington Sutcliffe he will make out much better 
The judge declined to discuss his salary in detail but said Im going to be a highpriced lawyer 
DOONESBURY CREATORS UNION TROUBLES are no laughing matter 
Cartoonist Garry Trudeau is suing the Writers Guild of America East for million alleging it mounted a campaign to harass and punish him for crossing a screenwriters picket line 
The dispute involves Darkhorse Productions Inc a TV production company in which Mr Trudeau is a coowner
Mr Trudeau a Writers Guild member also was employed as a writer for Darkhorse which was covered by a guild collectivebargaining agreement 
The guild began a strike against the TV and movie industry in March 
In his lawsuit Mr Trudeau says the strike illegally included Darkhorse and the cartoonist refused to honor the strike against the company
A spokesman for the guild said the unions lawyers are reviewing the suit
He said disciplinary proceedings are confidential and declined to comment on whether any are being held against Mr Trudeau 
Mr Trudeaus attorney Norman K Samnick said the harassment consists mainly of the guilds yearlong threats of disciplinary action
Mr Samnick said a guild disciplinary hearing is scheduled next Monday in New York
Mr Samnick who will go before the disciplinary panel said the proceedings are unfair and that any punishment from the guild would be unjustified 
In addition to the damages the suit seeks a court order preventing the guild from punishing or retaliating against Mr Trudeau 
ABORTION RULING UPHELD A federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that the US can bar the use of federal funds for familyplanning programs that include abortionrelated services
A Department of Health and Human Services rule adopted in prohibits the use of socalled Title X funds for programs that assist a woman in obtaining an abortion such as abortion counseling and referrals
The rule also prohibits funding for activities that encourage promote or advocate abortion Title X funds are the single largest source of federal funding for familyplanning services according to the opinion by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York
The panel ruled that the restrictions dont violate the freedom of speech of health care providers and that the limits on counseling services dont violate the rights of pregnant women 
INQUIRY CLEARS TEXAS JUDGE of bias in comments on homosexual murder victims 
Dallas District Judge Jack Hampton had sparked calls for a judicial inquiry with his remarks to the press last December two weeks after sentencing an yearold defendant to years in state prison for killing two homosexual men in a city park
The judge was quoted as referring to the victims as queers and saying they wouldnt have been killed if they hadnt been cruising the streets picking up teenage boys 
But Robert R Murray a special master appointed by the Texas Supreme Court said Judge Hampton didnt breach any judicial standards of fairness although he did violate the states judicial code by commenting publicly on a pending case
Observing that the judge has never exhibited any bias or prejudice Mr Murray concluded that he would be impartial in any case involving a homosexual or prostitute as a victim
Mr Murray also said Judge Hamptons comments didnt discredit the judiciary or the administration of justice 
The report is subject to review by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct which is empowered to impose sanctions 
GAF TRIAL goes to round three
Attorneys in the third stockmanipulation trial of GAF Corp began opening arguments yesterday in the Manhattan courtroom of US District Judge Mary Johnson Lowe
In an eightcount indictment the government has charged GAF a Wayne NJ specialty chemical maker and its Vice Chairman James T Sherwin with attempting to manipulate the common stock of Union Carbide Corp in advance of GAFs planned sale of a large block of the stock in November 
The first two GAF trials ended in mistrials earlier this year
This trial is expected to last five weeks 
SWITCHING TO THE DEFENSE A former member of the prosecution team in the IranContra affair joined the Chicago firm of Mayer Brown Platt
Michael R Bromwich a member since January of the threelawyer trial team in the prosecution of Oliver North became a partner in the Washington DC office of the lawyer firm
He will specialize in whitecollar criminal defense work
Mr Bromwich also has served as deputy chief and chief of the narcotics unit for the US attorneys office for the Southern District of New York based in Manhattan 
Lancaster Colony Corp said it acquired Reames Foods Inc in a cash transaction
Terms werent disclosed 
Reames a maker and marketer of frozen noodles and precooked pasta based in Clive Iowa has annual sales of about million Lancaster said 
In this era of frantic competition for ad dollars a lot of revenuedesperate magazines are getting pretty cozy with advertisers fawning over them in articles and offering pages of advertorial space
So can a magazine survive by downright thumbing its nose at major advertisers 
Garbage magazine billed as The Practical Journal for the Environment is about to find out 
Founded by Brooklyn NY publishing entrepreneur Patricia Poore Garbage made its debut this fall with the promise to give consumers the straight scoop on the US waste crisis
The magazine combines howto pieces on topics like backyard composting explanatory essays on such things as what happens after you flush your toilet and hardhitting pieces on alleged environmental offenders 
Garbage editors have dumped considerable energy into a whirling rampage through supermarket aisles in a bid to identify corporate Americas good guys and bad boys
In one feature called In the Dumpster editors point out a product they deem to be a particularly bad offender
From an advertising standpoint the problem is these offenders are likely to be some of the same folks that are major magazine advertisers these days 
With only two issues under its belt Garbage has alienated some wouldbe advertisers and raised the ire of others
Campbell Soup for one is furious its Souper Combo microwave product was chastised in the premiere In the Dumpster column
The magazines editors ran a giant diagram of the product with arrows pointing to the packagings polystyrene foam polyproplene and polyester film all plastic items they say are nonbiodegradable Its precisely the kind of product thats created the municipal landfill monster the editors wrote 
I think that this magazine is not only called Garbage but it is practicing journalistic garbage fumes a spokesman for Campbell Soup
He says Campbell wasnt even contacted by the magazine for the opportunity to comment
Modifications had been made to the Souper Combo product at the time the issue was printed he says making it less an offender than was portrayed
He admits though it isnt one of Campbell Soups better products in terms of recyclability 
Campbell Soup not surprisingly doesnt have any plans to advertise in the magazine according to its spokesman 
Some media experts question whether a young magazine can risk turning off Madison Avenues big spenders You really need the Campbell Soups of the world to be interested in your magazine if youre going to make a run of it says Mike White senior vice president and media director at DDB Needham Chicago The economics of magazine publishing pretty much require that you have a pretty solid base of bigtime ad spenders he adds 
The first two issues featured ads from only a handful of big advertisers including General Electric and Adolph Coors but the majority were from companies like Waste Management Inc and Bumkins International firms that dont spend much money advertising and cant be relied on to support a magazine over the long haul 
A Waste Management spokeswoman says its ad in the premiere issue was a onetime purchase and it doesnt have any plans to advertise in future issues We dont spend much on print advertising she says 
But Ms Poore the magazines editor and publisher contends Garbage can survive at least initially on subscription revenues
Individual copies of the magazine sell for and yearly subscriptions cost It is of course printed on recycled paper 
According to Ms Poore OldHouse Journal Corp her publishing company printed and sold all copies of the premiere issue
The first and second issues sold out on newsstands she says and the magazine has orders for subscriptions 
Asked whether potential advertisers will be scared away by the magazines direct policy Ms Poore replies I dont know and I dont care
Im not saying advertising revenue isnt important she says but I couldnt sleep at night if the magazine bowed to a company because they once took out an ad 
Ad Notes  
INTERPUBLIC ON TV Interpublic Group said its television programming operations which it expanded earlier this year agreed to supply more than hours of original programming across Europe in 
It said the programs largely game shows will be provided by its EC Television unit along with Fremantle International a producer and distributor of game shows of which it recently bought 
It said that volume makes it the largest supplier of original TV programming in Europe
Interpublic is providing the programming in return for advertising time which it said will be valued at more than million in and million in 
It plans to sell the ad time to its clients at a discount
NEW ACCOUNT CoreStates Financial Corp Philadelphia named Earle Palmer Brown Spiro Philadelphia as agency of record for its million account
The business had been handled by VanSant Dugdale Baltimore 
ATT FAX American Telephone Telegraphs General Business Systems division New York awarded the ad account for its Fax product line to Ogilvy Mather New York a WPP Group agency
Billings werent disclosed for the small account which had been serviced at Young Rubicam New York 
FIRST CAMPAIGN Enterprise RentACar Inc breaks its first national ad campaign this week
The St Louis firm specializes in replacementcar rentals those provided by insurance companies for cars damaged in accidents
Developed by Avrett Free Ginsberg New York the million campaign pitches Enterprises consumerdriven service and its free pickup and dropoff service 
LANDOR ASSOCIATES Young Rubicam said it completed its acquisition of Landor Associates a San Francisco identitymanagement firm 
ACQUISITION Ketchum Communications Pittsburgh acquired Braun Co a Los Angeles investorrelations and marketingcommunications firm
Terms werent disclosed 
The House voted to boost the federal minimum wage for the first time since early casting a solid vote for a compromise measure backed by President Bush 
The vote came after a debate replete with complaints from both proponents and critics of a substantial increase in the wage floor
Advocates said the centanhour rise to an hour by April is too small for the working poor while opponents argued that the increase will still hurt small business and cost many thousands of jobs 
But the legislation reflected a compromise agreed to on Tuesday by President Bush and Democratic leaders in Congress after congressional Republicans urged the White House to bend a bit from its previous resistance to compromise 
So both sides accepted the compromise which would lead to the first lifting of the minimum wage since a fouryear law was enacted in raising the wage to an hour from 
Under the measure passed yesterday the minimum wage would rise to next April 
The Senate plans to take up the measure quickly and is expected to pass it 
There are no smiles about this bill Rep Pat Williams D Mont said during House floor debate yesterday
But because its all weve got Im going to vote for it 
While the minimum wage had traditionally been pegged at half the average US manufacturing wage the level of an hour in will still be less than of average factory pay Mr Williams said 
But Rep Marge Roukema R NJ instead praised the Houses acceptance of a new youth training wage a subminimum that GOP administrations have sought for many years
Adopting a trainingwage policy means getting beyond the nickel and diming of the minimum wage Mrs Roukema said 
Policy makers regard the youth wage as helping to limit the loss of jobs from an increase in the minimum wage but they have lately touted it as necessary to help impart job skills to entrants into the work force 
Labor unions and Democrats long fought the idea but recently acceded to it in the face of Bush administration insistence
The compromise sets the training wage at an hour next April and at an hour or of the minimum wage in April 
Employers can pay the subminimum for days without restriction to workers with less than six months of job experience and for another days if the company uses a governmentcertified training program for the young workers
The training wage covers only workers who are to years old 
The White House previously insisted on an unrestricted sixmonth training wage that could be paid any time a worker of any age took a new job 
The US Chamber of Commerce still opposed to any mininumwage increase said the compromise plan to lift the wage floor in two stages between April and April will be impossible for many employers to accommodate and will result in the elimination of jobs for American workers and higher prices for American consumers 
Rekindled hope that two New England states will allow broader interstate banking boosted Nasdaqs bank stocks but the overthecounter market was up only slightly in lackluster trading 
The Nasdaq composite index added to on paltry volume of million shares
In terms of volume it was an inauspicious beginning for November
Yesterdays share turnover was well below the years daily average of million
In October the busiest month of the year so far daily volume averaged roughly million shares 
The Nasdaq index of the biggest nonfinancial stocks gained to 
The index of the largest Nasdaq financial stocks rose modestly as well gaining to 
But the broader Nasdaq bank index which tracks thrift issues jumped to 
The bank stocks got a boost when Connecticut Bank Trust and Bank of New England said they no longer oppose pending legislation that would permit banks from other regions to merge with Connecticut and Massachusetts banks
The two banks merged in 
Bank of New Englands shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange 
The stocks of banking concerns based in Massachusetts werent helped much by the announcement traders said because many of those concerns have financial problems tied to their realestate loan portfolios making them unattractive takeover targets 
But speculators anticipating that Connecticut will approve a law permitting such interstate banking soon immediately bid up shares of Connecticut banks on the news A lot of the stocks that have been under water finally saw a reason to uptick said George Jennison head trader of banking issues in Shearson Lehman Huttons OTC department 
The biggest beneficiary was Northeast Bancorp which surged  to 
The Stamford Conn concern has agreed to a buyout by Bank of New York in a transaction with an indicated value of about a share that expires next August
Ed Macheski a Wilton Conn money manager who follows bank stocks said the announcement effectively gives the deal the green light 
Mr Jennison said Northeast Bancorp also fared well because takeover stocks have returned to favor among investors
Another OTC bank stock involved in a buyout deal First Constitution Financial was higher
It rose to 
First Constitution has signed a merger agreement with WFRR LP and GHKM Corp under which all of its common shares will be acquired for each or million 
Among other Connecticut banks whose shares trade in the OTC market Society for Savings Bancorp based in Hartford saw its stock rise  to 
Centerbank added to  shares of NESB a New Londonbased bank holding company rose to  
Among other banking issues Pennview Savings Association leapt more than with a gain of  to 
The Pennsylvania bank agreed to be acquired in a merger with Univest Corp of Pennsylvania for a share
Valley Federal Savings Loan a California thrift issue gained to  after reporting a thirdquarter loss of million after an million pretax charge mostly related to its mobile home financing unit 
Dan E Nelms Valley Federals president and chief executive officer said the onetime charge substantially eliminates future losses associated with the unit
He said the companys core business remains strong
He also said that after the charges and assuming no dramatic fluctuation in interest rates the company expects to achieve nearrecord earnings in 
Weisfields surged  to  and Ratners Groups American depositary receipts or ADRs gained to 
The two concerns said they entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Ratners will begin a tender offer for all of Weisfields common shares for each 
Also on the takeover front Jaguars ADRs rose to  on turnover of million
Since the British auto maker became a takeover target last month its ADRs have jumped about 
After troubled Heritage Media proposed acquiring POP Radio in a stock swap POP Radios shares tumbled to 
Heritage Media which already owns about of POP Radio proposed paying POP Radio shareholders with shares of a new class of Heritage Media preferred stock that would be convertible into four shares of Heritage Medias common 
Rallys lost  to 
The restaurant operator said it has redeemed its rights issued Monday under its shareholder rights plan 
The fastfood company said its decision was based on discussions with a shareholder group Giant Group Ltd in an effort to resolve certain disputes with the company 
Giant Group is led by three Rallys directors Burt Sugarman James M Trotter III and William E Trotter II who earlier this month indicated they had a stake in Rallys and planned to seek a majority of seats on Rallys ninemember board 
SCI Systems slipped to on volume of shares
The Huntsville Ala electronic products maker said it expects to post a significant loss for its fiscal first quarter ended Sept 
In the yearearlier period SCI had net income of million or cents a share on revenue of million 
The Life Insurance Co of Georgia has officially opened an office in Taipei 
David Wu the companys representative in Taiwan said Atlantabased Life of Georgia will sell conventional lifeinsurance products 
Life of Georgia is part of the Nationale Nederlanden Group based in the Netherlands 
PAPERS Backe Group Inc agreed to acquire Atlantic Publications Inc which has community papers and annual sales of million
Terms werent disclosed
Backe is a closely held media firm run by former CBS Inc President John Backe 
TV Price Communications Corp completed the sale of four of its TV stations to NTG Inc for million in cash and notes retaining a equity stake in the new concern
NTG was formed by Osborn Communications Corp and Desai Capital 
James L Pate yearold executive vice president was named a director of this oil concern expanding the board to members 
Texas Instruments Japan Ltd a unit of Texas Instruments Inc said it opened a plant in South Korea to manufacture control devices 
The new plant located in Chinchon about miles from Seoul will help meet increasing and diversifying demand for control products in South Korea the company said 
The plant will produce control devices used in motor vehicles and household appliances 
Pierre Vinken years old will join the board as a nonexecutive director Nov 
Mr Vinken is chairman of Elsevier NV the Dutch publishing group 
Your Oct article Japans Financial Firms Lure Science Graduates states Industrial companies are accusing financial institutions of jeopardizing Japans economy by raising the salary stakes for new employees The Japanese industrial companies should know better
They are barking up the wrong tree because it is basically their fault they cant attract new employees 
Takuma Yamamoto president of Fujitsu Ltd believes the money worship among young people  caused the problem He is just passing the buck to young people
Whats wrong with asking for more money
Money is not everything but it is necessary and business is not volunteer work
It is not unethical to choose a highersalaried job 
Unfortunately Japanese manufacturers have neither good working conditions nor good compensation packages
I get the impression that some Japanese managers believe working harder for less money is beautiful
I visited a lot of major Japanese manufacturers but I never felt I would want to be employed by any of them 
Many of them recently have been spending a lot of money on public relations and advertising to improve their images but they should realize that the most important thing is real change not changing peoples perceptions 
If the Japanese companies are seriously considering their survival they could do at least three things to improve the situation raise salaries higher than those of financial institutions improve working conditions better offices and more vacations for example accept and hire more labor from outside Japan 
Hiroshi Asada 
Washington 
South Korea registered a trade deficit of million in October reflecting the countrys economic sluggishness according to government figures released Wednesday 
Preliminary tallies by the Trade and Industry Ministry showed another trade deficit in October the fifth monthly setback this year casting a cloud on South Koreas exportoriented economy 
Exports in October stood at billion a mere increase from a year earlier while imports increased sharply to billion up from last October 
South Koreas economic boom which began in stopped this year because of prolonged labor disputes trade conflicts and sluggish exports
Government officials said exports at the end of the year would remain under a government target of billion 
Despite the gloomy forecast South Korea has recorded a trade surplus of million so far this year 
From January to October the nations accumulated exports increased from the same period last year to billion
Imports were at billion up 
The US claiming some success in its trade diplomacy removed South Korea Taiwan and Saudi Arabia from a list of countries it is closely watching for allegedly failing to honor US patents copyrights and other intellectualproperty rights 
However five other countries China Thailand India Brazil and Mexico will remain on that socalled priority watch list as a result of an interim review US Trade Representative Carla Hills announced
Under the new US trade law those countries could face accelerated unfairtrade investigations and stiff trade sanctions if they dont improve their protection of intellectual property by next spring 
Mrs Hills said many of the countries that she placed under varying degrees of scrutiny have made genuine progress on this touchy issue
She said there is growing realization around the world that denial of intellectualproperty rights harms all trading nations and particularly the creativity and inventiveness of an offending countrys own citizens 
US trade negotiators argue that countries with inadequate protections for intellectualproperty rights could be hurting themselves by discouraging their own scientists and authors and by deterring US hightechnology firms from investing or marketing their best products there 
Mrs Hills lauded South Korea for creating an intellectualproperty task force and special enforcement teams of police officers and prosecutors trained to pursue movie and book pirates
Seoul also has instituted effective searchandseizure procedures to aid these teams she said 
Taiwan has improved its standing with the US by initialing a bilateral copyright agreement amending its trademark law and introducing legislation to protect foreign movie producers from unauthorized showings of their films
That measure could compel Taipeis growing number of small videoviewing parlors to pay movie producers for showing their films 
Saudi Arabia for its part has vowed to enact a copyright law compatible with international standards and to apply the law to computer software as well as to literary works Mrs Hills said 
These three countries arent completely off the hook though
They will remain on a lowerpriority list that includes other countries
Those countries including Japan Italy Canada Greece and Spain are still of some concern to the US but are deemed to pose lessserious problems for American patent and copyright owners than those on the priority list 
Gary Hoffman a Washington lawyer specializing in intellectualproperty cases said the threat of US retaliation combined with a growing recognition that protecting intellectual property is in a countrys own interest prompted the improvements made by South Korea Taiwan and Saudi Arabia What this tells us is that US trade law is working he said
He said Mexico could be one of the next countries to be removed from the priority list because of its efforts to craft a new patent law 
Mrs Hills said that the US is still concerned about disturbing developments in Turkey and continuing slow progress in Malaysia She didnt elaborate although earlier US trade reports have complained of videocassette piracy in Malaysia and disregard for US pharmaceutical patents in Turkey 
The trade act requires Mrs Hills to issue another review of the performance of these countries by April 
So far Mrs Hills hasnt deemed any cases bad enough to merit an accelerated investigation under the socalled special provision of the act 
SHAREDATA Inc said it will amend a registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to delete a plan to sell newly issued common shares
The Chandler Ariz company said it will resubmit the registration to cover only the million warrants each exercisable for the purchase of one common share
Currently ShareData has about million common shares outstanding
ShareData develops and markets lowcost software peripheral equipment and accessories for computers 
JP Bolduc vice chairman of WR Grace Co which holds a interest in this energyservices company was elected a director
He succeeds Terrence D Daniels formerly a WR Grace vice chairman who resigned
WR Grace holds three of Grace Energys seven board seats 
Five things you can do for or less 

Buy a new Chevrolet 

Take a Hawaiian vacation 

Send your child to a university 

Buy a diamond necklace 

Make a lasting difference in the regulatory life of an American savingsandloan association through the Foster Corporate Parents Plan 
Americans today spend like pocket change they dont think much about it
But for an ailing savingsandloan association teetering on insolvency it can lead to safety from imminent demise and to a future full of promise 
Your will help keep a needy savings and loan solvent and out of the federal budget deficit 
As a Foster Corporate Parent youll be helping a neighborhood SL in areas crucial to its survival
Like healthy regulatory capital
A steady deposit base
Performing loans
At the same time youll give your Foster Savings Institution the gift of hope and freedom from the federal regulators who want to close its doors for good 
As a Foster Corporate Parent you will experience the same joy felt by Robert Bass Lewis Ranieri William Simon and others who find ways to help troubled savings institutions and their employees help themselves
That builds confidence self sufficiency not to mention critical regulatory net worth 
Dont wait a savings institution needs your help now 
Every day you delay a savings institutions health and the federal budget deficit grows worse
Think about the good you can do for just a month about the cost of a midsize Chevrolet or two semesters at a state university
Then send your support to a savings institution that has taken a bad rap in the press and on its bottom line
Every you send will go a long way to boost sagging net worth and employee morale and keep your Foster Savings Institution off the federal budget deficit 
Mr Baris is a lawyer in New York 
A licensing company representing the University of Pennsylvania added Johnson Johnson to its lawsuit challenging a university faculty member over rights to RetinA acne medicine 
University Patents Inc based in Westport Conn said it seeks Johnson Johnsons profits from sales of RetinA estimated at million a similar amount of punitive damages and the right to license RetinA elsewhere 
In May University Patents filed a suit in federal court in Philadelphia against Albert M Kligman a researcher and professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine who developed RetinA in the s to combat acne
Dr Kligman patented the medicine while employed by the University but later licensed the RetinA to a division of Johnson Johnson 
In New Brunswick NJ a Johnson Johnson spokesman declined comment 
During its centennial year The Wall Street Journal will report events of the past century that stand as milestones of American business history 
THREE COMPUTERS THAT CHANGED the face of personal computing were launched in 
That year the Apple II Commodore Pet and Tandy TRS came to market
The computers were crude by todays standards
Apple II owners for example had to use their television sets as screens and stored data on audiocassettes
But Apple II was a major advance from Apple I which was built in a garage by Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs for hobbyists such as the Homebrew Computer Club
In addition the Apple II was an affordable 
Crude as they were these early PCs triggered explosive product development in desktop models for the home and office 
Big mainframe computers for business had been around for years
But the new PCs unlike earlier builtfromkit types such as the Altair Sol and IMSAI had keyboards and could store about two pages of data in their memories
Current PCs are more than times faster and have memory capacity times greater than their counterparts 
There were many pioneer PC contributors
William Gates and Paul Allen in developed an early languagehousekeeper system for PCs and Gates became an industry billionaire six years after IBM adapted one of these versions in 
Alan F Shugart currently chairman of Seagate Technology led the team that developed the disk drives for PCs
Dennis Hayes and Dale Heatherington two Atlanta engineers were codevelopers of the internal modems that allow PCs to share data via the telephone 
IBM the world leader in computers didnt offer its first PC until August as many other companies entered the market
Today PC shipments annually total some billion worldwide 
Signs of a slowing economy are increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut shortterm interest rates but it isnt clear whether the central bank will do so 
A survey by the Feds district banks shows economic growth has been sluggish in recent weeks while upward pressures on prices have moderated The economy is clearly slowing says Robert Black president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank 
If you look at the third quarter as posting roughly growth I do see some slowing in the fourth quarter agrees Kansas City Fed President Roger Guffey 
Nevertheless both Mr Guffey and Mr Black say the slowdown so far is no cause for concern Were coming closer to achieving the stated objective of slowing the economy to a point where hopefully some downward trend in prices will occur said Mr Guffey 
Bush administration officials are looking to the Fed to bring down rates and financial markets seem to be expecting easier credit as well I think the market had been expecting the Fed to ease sooner and a little more than it has to date said Robert Johnson vice president of global markets for Bankers Trust Co 
The Fed cut the key federal funds interest rate by about percentage point to after the Oct stock market plunge but has shown no sign of movement since 
The report from the Fed found that manufacturing in particular has been weak in recent weeks
The Philadelphia Fed for instance reported that manufacturing activity continues to decline for the fourth month in a row
And in the Chicago district the report said a manufacturer of capital goods noted slower orders for some types including defense equipment petroleum equipment food packaging machinery and material handling equipment Retail sales also were reported slow in most districts particularly for discretionary bigticket items such as furniture home appliances and consumer electronics And construction also was described as slow in most areas 
Despite the economic slowdown there are few clear signs that growth is coming to a halt
As a result Fed officials may be divided over whether to ease credit
Several Fed governors in Washington have been pushing for easier credit but many of the regional Fed presidents have been resisting such a move 
Mr Black said he is pleased with the economys recent performance and doesnt see a lot of excesses out there that would tilt us into recession 
There is always a chance of recession added Mr Guffey but if you ask me to put a percentage on it I would think its well below a chance 
Your Oct pageone story on the renewed plight of Western Union says that Western Union had lost its chance to be in the telephone business by turning down Alexander Graham Bells offer to it of his invention because it supposedly felt that voice communication would never replace the telegraph 
Such is hardly the case
Bells fatherinlaw Gardner G Hubbard wealthy and wellconnected obtained financing to start the American Bell Telephone Co in Boston which even had a subsidiary in New York called the Telephone Co of New York
This is where Bells patents went 
Western Union indeed wanted to get into the telephone business
It acquired Thomas Edisons microphone patent and then immediately sued the Bell Co claiming that the microphone invented by my grandfather Emile Berliner which had been sold to Bell for a princely infringed upon Western Unions Edison patent
When Bell established that the Berliner patent caveat was registered days before Edisons application Western Union dropped the lawsuit and agreed never to enter the telephone business the basis for the companys current plight 
Oliver Berliner 
Beverly Hills Calif 
Lord Chilver yearold chairman of English China Clays PLC was named a nonexecutive director of this British chemical company 
Boeing Co said it is discussing plans with three of its regular Japanese suppliers to possibly help build a larger version of its popular twinjet 
The discussions are still in preliminary stages and the specific details havent been worked out between the Seattle aerospace company and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd 
The three Japanese companies build the body sections of the accounting for a combined of the aircraft
Japanese press reports have speculated that the Japanese contribution could rise to between and under the new program 
If Boeing goes ahead with the larger the plane could hit the market in the mids 
In reference to your Oct pageone article Barbara Bush Earns Even Higher Ratings Than the President it is regrettable that you must continually define blacks by our negatives Among liberals have positive views of her while approve of the presidents job performance
In part this may reflect the fact that she speaks a more progressive language than her husband as Columbias Prof Ethel Klein puts it
Among professionals have a favorable opinion of her compared to who approve of her husbands performance
While a quarter of black voters disapprove of Mr Bushs handling of his job only have a negative view of his spouse 
The statistics imply that threequarters of blacks approve of Mr Bushs job performance and of blacks approve of Mrs Bush
If the assumption is that it is surprising that so few blacks find Mr and Mrs Bush distasteful the positive view is even more newsworthy
Such an editorial point of view perpetuates an insidious stereotyped perspective
Why are we blacks continually defined by our minority and the lowest common denominator 
Preston G Foster 
Birmingham Ala 
Program traders are fond of predicting that if they are blocked in the US they will simply emigrate to foreign stock markets
But in London and Tokyo where computerdriven trading now plays a small but growing role traders say a number of hurdles loom 
Government officials especially in Japan probably would resist any onslaught of program trading by players trying to shrug off the US furor over their activities and marching abroad with their business
Japan is very concerned about the possible effects of program trading a senior Japanese official said after the Oct stock plunge in New York 
US stockindex futures arent even traded in Japan now
And because of the time difference the Japanese and the US markets trading hours dont overlap
It all adds up to a barrier to Americanstyle index arbitrage the most popular form of US program trading that seeks to exploit brief differences between prices of stocks in New York and the price of a futures contract in Chicago based on those stocks 
About of all program trading by New York Stock Exchange firms in September took place in foreign markets according to Big Board data 
Yet it is difficult to imagine Japan racing to introduce Chicagostyle stockindex futures
Japans Finance Ministry already is scrutinizing institutional investors activity to see whether policy changes are needed to cope with the current level of program trading said Makato Utsumi vice minister for international finance 
Program trading has taken off in Japan since last years introduction of homemarket stockindex futures trading on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges
But regulators are wary
They havent forgotten the leap in share prices last Dec when the first bout of foreignled index arbitrage drove stocks skyward in the last halfhour of trading startling regulators who thought they had written enough rules to prevent such a swing
Japans Finance Ministry had set up mechanisms to limit how far futures prices could fall in a single session and to give market operators the authority to suspend trading in futures at any time Maybe it wasnt enough a Finance Ministry official noted after the Dec surge
Japans regulators have since tightened controls on indexrelated stock purchases 
Tokyos leading program traders are the big US securities houses though the Japanese are playing catchup
Some US firms notably Salomon Inc and Morgan Stanley Group Inc have reaped a hefty chunk of their Japanese earnings from index arbitrage both for customers and for their own accounts Morgan Stanley last week joined a growing list of US securities firms that have stopped doing index arbitrage for their own accounts 
Both Deryck C Maughan who heads Salomon in Tokyo and John S Wadsworth who heads Morgan Stanley there ascribe a good part of their firms success in Tokyo to their ability to offer sophisticated futuresrelated investment strategies to big institutional clients
They dont have plans to cut back 
It has not been disruptive in the markets here Mr Maughan said The real difference seems to be that the cash market here  is big enough and liquid enough that the futures market isnt having the same impact it does in America 
The British also are scrutinizing program trades
Indexarbitrage trading is something we want to watch closely an official at Londons Stock Exchange said We dont think there is cause for concern at the moment 
London serves increasingly as a conduit for program trading of US stocks
Market professionals said London has several attractions 
First the trading is done over the counter and isnt reported on either the US or London stock trading tapes
Second it can be used to unwind positions before US trading begins but at prices pegged to the previous sessions Big Board close
In addition to the extra privacy of these trades the transactions can often be less expensive to execute because the parties dont have to pay a floor brokerage fee or a specialists fee 
Still Much less indexarbitrage activity is done over here than in the US said Richard Barfield chief investment manager at Standard Life Assurance Co which manages about billion billion in United Kingdom institutional funds 
Britain has two main indexarbitrage instruments
A Financial TimesStock Exchange share index option contract is traded on the London Stock Exchanges Traded Options Market
And an FTSE futures contract is traded on the London International Financial Futures Exchange
Both contracts have gained a following since the global market crash 
The average number of FTSE option contracts traded on the London exchange has surged nearly tenfold since the contracts launch in 
This year the average of daily contracts traded totaled up from a year earlier and from in 
But a survey early this summer indicated that the volume of indexoptions trading was only of the size of the underlying equity market exchange officials said
This compares with estimates that the US derivatives market is perhaps four times as large as the underlying domestic market 
Norman Ricken years old and former president and chief operating officer of Toys R Us Inc and Frederick Deane Jr chairman of Signet Banking Corp were elected directors of this consumer electronics and appliances retailing chain
They succeed Daniel M Rexinger retired Circuit City executive vice president and Robert R Glauber US Treasury undersecretary on the member board 
Consolidated Rail Corp said it would spend more than million on enclosed railcars for transporting autos 
The multilevel railcars scheduled for delivery in will be made by Thrall Manufacturing Co a Chicago Heights Ill division of closely held Duchossois Industries Inc Elmhurst Ill
This year the railroad holding company acquired such railcars 
As an actor Charles Lane isnt the inheritor of Charlie Chaplins spirit
Steve Martin has already laid his claim to that 
But it is Mr Lane as movie director producer and writer who has been obsessed with refitting Chaplins Little Tramp in a contemporary way
In as a film student at the Purchase campus of the State University of New York Mr Lane shot A Place in Time a minute blackandwhite film about a sketch artist a man of the streets
Now years later Mr Lane has revived his Artist in a fulllength movie called Sidewalk Stories a poignant piece of work about a modernday tramp
Of course if the film contained dialogue Mr Lanes Artist would be called a homeless person
So would the Little Tramp for that matter 
I say contained dialogue because Sidewalk Stories isnt really silent at all
Composer Marc Marder a college friend of Mr Lanes who earns his living playing the double bass in classical music ensembles has prepared an exciting eclectic score that tells you what the characters are thinking and feeling far more precisely than intertitles or even words would 
Much of Mr Lanes film takes a highly romanticized view of life on the streets though probably no more romanticized than Mr Chaplins notion of the Tramp as the goodhearted free spirit
Filmed in lovely black and white by Bill Dill the New York streets of Sidewalk Stories seem benign
On Wall Street men and women walk with great purpose noticing one another only when they jostle for cabs
The Artist hangs out in Greenwich Village on a strip of Sixth Avenue populated by jugglers magicians and other goodnatured hustlers This clearly is not real life no crack dealers no deadeyed men selling fouryearold copies of Cosmopolitan no one curled up in a cardboard box 
The Artist has his routine
He spends his days sketching passersby or trying to
At night he returns to the condemned building he calls home
His life including his skirmishes with a competing sketch artist seems carefree
He is his own man 
Then just as the Tramp is given a blind girl to cure in City Lights the Artist is put in charge of returning a twoyearold waif Nicole Alysia whose father has been murdered by thugs to her mother
This cute child turns out to be a blessing and a curse
She gives the Artist a sense of purpose but also alerts him to the serious inadequacy of his vagrant life
The beds at the Bowery Mission seem far drearier when he has to tuck a little girl into one of them at night 
To further load the stakes Mr Lane dreamed up a highly improbable romance for the Artist with a young woman who owns her own childrens shop and who lives in an expensive highrise apartment building
This story line might resonate more strongly if Mr Lane had as strong a presence in front of the camera as he does behind it 
Mr Lanes final purpose isnt to glamorize the Artists vagabond existence
He has a point he wants to make and he makes it with a great deal of force
The movie ends with sound the sound of street people talking and there isnt anything whimsical or enviable in those rough beaten voices 
The French film maker Claude Chabrol has managed another kind of weird achievement with his Story of Women He has made a harsh brilliant picture one thats captivating about a character who viewed from the most sympathetic angle would seem disagreeable 
Yet this woman MarieLouise Giraud carries historical significance both as one of the last women to be executed in France and as a symbol of the Vichy governments hypocrisy
While Vichy collaborated with the Germans during World War II in the deaths of thousands of Resistance fighters and Jews its officials needed a diversionary symbolic traitor
MarieLouise a smalltime abortionist was their woman 
She became an abortionist accidentally and continued because it enabled her to buy jam cocoa and other warrationed goodies
She was untrained and in one botched job killed a client
Her remorse was shallow and brief
Although she was kind and playful to her children she was dreadful to her wardamaged husband she openly brought her lover into their home
As presented by Mr Chabrol and played with thinlipped intensity by Isabelle Huppert MarieLouise called Marie Latour in the film was not a nice person
But she didnt deserve to have her head chopped off 
There is very little to recommend Old Gringo a confused rendering of the Carlos Fuentes novel of the Mexican Revolution
Most of the picture is taken up with endless scenes of many people either fighting or eating and drinking to celebrate victory
I mention the picture only because many bad movies have a bright spot and this one has Gregory Peck in a marvelously loose and energetic portrayal of an old man who wants to die the way he wants to die 
Video Tip Before seeing Sidewalk Stories take a look at City Lights Chaplins Tramp at his finest 
Fujitsu Ltd s top executive took the unusual step of publicly apologizing for his companys making bids of just one yen for several local government projects while computer rival NEC Corp made a written apology for indulging in the same practice 
Meanwhile business and government leaders rebuked the computer makers and fretted about the broader statement the companies actions make about Japanese cutthroat pricing 
Fujitsu said it bid the equivalent of less than a US penny on three separate municipal contracts during the past two years
The company also disclosed that during that period it offered yen or about for another contract 
But Fujitsu Japans No computer maker isnt alone
NEC one of its largest domestic competitors said it bid one yen in two separate public auctions since 
In both cases NEC lost the contract to Fujitsu which made the same bid and won a tiebreaking lottery
All the contracts were for computersystemdesign contracts and involved no hardware or software 
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry summoned executives from the companies to make sure they understood the concern about such practices according to a government spokesman These cases lead to the loss of the firms social and international credibility a ministry statement said 
Japans Fair Trade Commission has said it is considering investigating the bids for possible antitrustlaw violations 
We would like to apologize for having caused huge trouble Fujitsu President Takuma Yamamoto read from a prepared statement as he stood before a packed news conference at his companys downtown headquarters
The bids he added were contrary to common sense 
NEC released a statement saying We feel sorry for having caused trouble to society a form of apology common in Japan for companies caught in embarrassing situations 
Japanese companies have long had a reputation for sacrificing shortterm profits to make a sale that may have longterm benefits
But the growing controversy comes as many practices historically accepted as normal here such as politicians accepting substantial gifts from businessmen or having extramarital affairs are coming under close ethical scrutiny 
The fire is also fueled by growing international interest in Japanese behavior
So far there have been no public overseas complaints about the issue
But in one of the auctions in question International Business Machines Corp made a bid substantially higher than the Fujitsu offer according to the municipality
The lowball bids touch on issues central to the increasingly tense trade debate 
Foreigners complain that they have limited access to government procurement in Japan in part because Japanese companies unfairly undercut them
The US government in recent years has accused Japanese companies of excessively slashing prices on semiconductors and supercomputers products Fujitsu and NEC make 
Asked whether the bidding flap would hurt USJapan relations Mr Yamamoto said this will be a minus factor 
The oneyen controversy first came to a head last week when the city of Hiroshima announced that Fujitsu won a contract to design a computer system to map its waterworks
The city had expected to pay about million yen but Fujitsu essentially offered to do it for free 
Then Wednesday Fujitsu said it made a similar bid to win a library contract in Nagano prefecture two weeks earlier
It also said that in July it bid yen to design a system for the Saitama prefectural library and two years ago it bid one yen to plan the telecommunications system for Wakayama prefecture 
The company said it has offered to withdraw its bids in Hiroshima and Nagano
The municipalities said they havent decided whether to try to force the company to go through with the contracts 
Fujitsu and NEC said they were still investigating and that knowledge of more such bids could emerge
Mr Yamamoto insisted that headquarters hadnt approved the bids and that he didnt know about most of the cases until Wednesday 
Other major Japanese computer companies contacted yesterday said they have never made such bids 
One yen is not ethical Michio Sasaki an official at Keidanren the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations said Profit may be low but at least costs should be covered 
When Warren Winiarski proprietor of Stags Leap Wine Cellars in Napa Valley announced a price tag for his Cask Cabernet this fall few wine shops and restaurants around the country balked This is the peak of my winemaking experience Mr Winiarski declared when he introduced the wine at a dinner in New York and I wanted to single it out as such 
It is in my estimation the best wine Stags Leap has produced and with fewer than cases available it is sure to sell quickly
The price is a new high for California Cabernet Sauvignon but it is not the highest
Diamond Creek Lake Vineyard Cabernet weighed in this fall with a sticker price of a bottle 
One of the fastest growing segments of the wine market is the category of superpremiums wines limited in production of exceptional quality or so perceived at any rate and with exceedingly high prices
For years this group included a stable of classics Bordeaux first growths LafiteRothschild Latour HautBrion Petrus Grand Cru Burgundies RomaneeConti and La Tache deluxe Champagnes Dom Perignon or Roederer Cristal rarefied sweet wines Chateau Yquem or Trockenbeerenauslesen Rieslings from Germany and BiondiSanti Brunello Riserva from Tuscany
These first magnitude wines ranged in price from to a bottle 
In the last year or so however this exclusive club has taken in a host of flashy new members
The classics have zoomed in price to meet the competition and it almost seems that theres a race on to come up with the priciest single bottle among current releases from every major wine region on the globe 
France can boast the lions share of highpriced bottles
Bordeauxs first growths from and are to each except for the smallest in terms of production Chateau Petrus which costs around 
These prices seem rather modest however in light of other French wines from current vintages
Chateau Yquem the leading Sauternes now goes for well over a bottle for a lighter vintage like the spectacularly rich runs 
In Champagne some of the prestige cuvees are inching toward a bottle
The first Champagne to crack that price barrier was the Salon de Mesnil Blanc de Blancs
The Salon is 
Roederer Cristal at a bottle sells out around the country and Taittingers Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs is encroaching upon that level
The great reds of the Rhone Valley have soared in price as well
E Guigals Cote Rotie La Landonne for example is 
None of Frances wine regions can steal a march on Burgundy however
The six wines of the Domaine de la RomaneeConti of the most precious acres of vineyard anywhere in the world have commanded threedigit price tags for several years now
With the vintage they soared higher La Tache Richebourg RomaneeConti 
Another small Burgundy estate CocheDury has just offered its CortonCharlemagne for 
From Italy there is Angelo Gaja Barbaresco at a bottle Piero Antinoris La Solaia a Cabernet from Tuscany and BiondiSanti Brunello at 
Spains Vega Secilia Unico released only in its th year is as is Australias Grange Hermitage 
There are certain cult wines that can command these higher prices says Larry Shapiro of Martys one of the largest wine shops in Dallas Whats different is that it is happening with young wines just coming out
Were seeing it partly because older vintages are growing more scarce 
Wine auctions have almost exhausted the limited supply of those wines Mr Shapiro continued Weve seen a dramatic decrease in demand for wines from the s and s which go for to a bottle
Some of the newer wines even at to a bottle or so almost offer a bargain 
Take Lake Vineyard Cabernet from Diamond Creek
Its made only in years when the grapes ripen perfectly the last was and comes from a single acre of grapes that yielded a mere cases in 
Owner Al Brownstein originally planned to sell it for a bottle but when a retailer in Southern California asked Is that wholesale or retail he rethought the matter
Offering the wine at roughly a bottle wholesale retail he sent merchants around the country a form asking them to check one of three answers no the wine is too high responses yes its high but Ill take it responses Ill take all I can get responses
The wine was shipped in sixbottle cases instead of the usual but even at that it was spread thin going to retailers in states 
We thought it was awfully expensive said Sterling Pratt wine director at Schaefers in Skokie Ill one of the top stores in suburban Chicago but there are people out there with very different opinions of value
We got our two sixpacks and theyre gone 
Mr Pratt remarked that he thinks steeper prices have come about because producers dont like to see a hit wine dramatically increase in price later on
Even if there is consumer resistance at first a wine that wins high ratings from the critics will eventually move There may be stickershock reaction initially said Mr Pratt but as the wine is talked about and starts to sell they eventually get excited and decide its worth the astronomical price to add it to their collection 
Its just sort of a oneupsmanship thing with some people added Larry Shapiro They like to talk about having the new Red Rock Terrace one of Diamond Creeks Cabernets or the Dunn Cabernet or the Petrus
Producers have seen this market opening up and theyre now creating wines that appeal to these people 
That explains why the number of these wines is expanding so rapidly
But consumers who buy at this level are also more knowledgeable than they were a few years ago They wont buy if the quality is not there said Cedric Martin of Martin Wine Cellar in New Orleans Or if they feel the wine is overpriced and they can get something equally good for less Mr Martin has increased prices on some wines like Grgich Hills Chardonnay now just to slow down movement but he is beginning to see some resistance to highpriced red Burgundies and Cabernets and Chardonnays in the to range 
Image has of course a great deal to do with what sells and what doesnt and it cant be forced
Wine merchants cant keep Roederer Cristal in stock but they have to push Salon le Mesnil even lowering the price from to 
Its hardly a question of quality the Salon is a beautiful wine but as Mr Pratt noted people have their own ideas about value 
Its interesting to find that a lot of the expensive wines arent always walking out the door
In every major market in the US for instance you can buy La Tache or Richebourg virtually all of the first growth Bordeaux except Petrus as well as Opus One and Dominus from California and at the moment the Stags Leap Cask 
With the biggest winebuying period of the year looming as the holidays approach it will be interesting to see how the superpremiums fare
By January it should be fairly clear whats hot and whats not 
Ms Ensrud is a freelance wine writer in New York 
LTV Corp said a federal bankruptcy court judge agreed to extend until March  the period in which the steel aerospace and energy products company has the exclusive right to file a reorganization plan 
The company is operating under Chapter of the federal Bankruptcy Code giving it court protection from creditors lawsuits while it attempts to work out a plan to pay its debts 
Japanese investors nearly singlehandedly bought up two new mortgage securitiesbased mutual funds totaling million the US Federal National Mortgage Association said 
The purchases show the strong interest of Japanese investors in US mortgagebased instruments Fannie Maes chairman David O Maxwell said at a news conference
He said more than of the funds were placed with Japanese institutional investors
The rest went to investors from France and Hong Kong 
Earlier this year Japanese investors snapped up a similar million mortgagebacked securities mutual fund
That fund was put together by Blackstone Group a New York investment bank
The latest two funds were assembled jointly by Goldman Sachs Co of the US and Japans Daiwa Securities Co 
The new sevenyear funds one offering a fixedrate return and the other with a floatingrate return linked to the London interbank offered rate offer two key advantages to Japanese investors
First they are designed to eliminate the risk of prepayment mortgagebacked securities can be retired early if interest rates decline and such prepayment forces investors to redeploy their money at lower rates
Second they channel monthly mortgage payments into semiannual payments reducing the administrative burden on investors 
By addressing those problems Mr Maxwell said the new funds have become extremely attractive to Japanese and other investors outside the US 
Such devices have boosted Japanese investment in mortgagebacked securities to more than of the billion in such instruments outstanding and their purchases are growing at a rapid rate
They also have become large purchasers of Fannie Maes corporate debt buying billion in Fannie Mae bonds during the first nine months of the year or almost a tenth of the total amount issued 
Mitsui Mining Smelting Co posted a rise in pretax profit to billion yen million in its fiscal first half ended Sept compared with billion yen a year earlier 
Net income more than tripled to billion yen from billion yen a year earlier 
The Treasury said it plans to sell billion in notes and bonds next week but said the auctions will be postponed unless Congress acts quickly to lift the federal debt ceiling 
Michael Basham deputy assistant secretary for federal finance said the Treasury may wait until late Monday or even early Tuesday to announce whether the autions are to be rescheduled
Unless it can raise money in financial markets Mr Basham said the federal government wont have the cash to pay off billion in Treasury bills that mature on Thursday 
Without congressional action the Treasury cant sell any new securities even savings bonds
But despite partisan bickering over the debt ceiling which has become entangled in the fight over cutting capitalgains taxes Congress is almost certain to act in time to avoid default 
Each day that Congress fails to act  will cause additional disruption in our borrowing schedule possibly resulting in higher interest costs to the taxpayer Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady said in a speech prepared for delivery last night to a group of bankers To avoid these costs and a possible default immediate action is imperative 
The securities to be sold next week will raise about billion in cash and redeem billion in maturing notes 
The new securities part of the federal governments regular quarterly refunding will consist of 
 billion of threeyear notes to be auctioned Tuesday and to mature Nov  
 billion of year notes to be auctioned Wednesday and to mature Nov  
 billion of year bonds to be auctioned Thursday and to mature Aug 
The Treasury also said it plans to sell billion in day cash management bills on Thursday
They will mature Dec 
None of the securities will be eligible for whenissued trading until Congress approves an increase in the debt ceiling clearing the way for a formal offering Mr Basham said 
The Treasury said it needs to raise billion in the current quarter in order to end December with a billion cash balance
Auctions held in October and those scheduled for next week will raise a total of billion 
The remaining billion could be raised through the sale of shortterm Treasury bills twoyear notes in November and fiveyear notes in early December the Treasury said 
In the first three months of the Treasury estimates that it will have to raise between billion and billion assuming that it decides to aim for a billion cash balance at the end of March 
The art of changeringing is peculiar to the English and like most English peculiarities unintelligible to the rest of the world 
 Dorothy L Sayers The Nine Tailors 
ASLACTON England Of all scenes that evoke rural England this is one of the loveliest An ancient stone church stands amid the fields the sound of bells cascading from its tower calling the faithful to evensong 
The parishioners of St Michael and All Angels stop to chat at the church door as members here always have
In the tower five men and women pull rhythmically on ropes attached to the same five bells that first sounded here in 
But there is also a discordant modern note in Aslacton though it cant be heard by the churchgoers enjoying the peal of bells this cool autumn evening 
Like most of the other churches in Britain with sets of bells St Michael once had its own band of ringers who would herald every Sunday morning and evening service
Now only one local ringer remains yearold Derek Hammond 
The others here today live elsewhere
They belong to a group of ringers including two octogenarians and four youngsters in training who drive every Sunday from church to church in a sometimesexhausting effort to keep the bells sounding in the many belfries of East Anglia 
To ring for even one service at this tower we have to scrape says Mr Hammond a retired waterauthority worker Weve tried to train the youngsters but they have their discos and their dances and they just drift away 
Mr Hammond worries that old age and the flightiness of youth will diminish the ranks of the East Anglian group that keeps the Aslacton bells pealing
History after all is not on his side
According to a nationwide survey taken a year ago nearly a third of Englands church bells are no longer rung on Sundays because there is no one to ring them 
It is easy to see why the ancient art is on the ropes
The less complicated version of playing tunes on bells as do the carillons of continental Europe is considered by the English to be childish fit only for foreigners
Changeringing a mindboggling exercise the English invented years ago requires physical dexterity some bells weigh more than a ton combined with intense mental concentration 
Proper English bells are started off in rounds from the highestpitched bell to the lowest a simple descending scale using in larger churches as many as bells
Then at a signal the ringers begin varying the order in which the bells sound without altering the steady rhythm of the striking
Each variation or change can occur only once the rules state
Ringers memorize patterns of changes known as methods which have oddsounding names like Kent Treble Bob Major or Grandsire Caters
A series of or so changes is a peal and takes about three hours 
A look at a Thursday night practice at St Mary Abbot church in the Kensington district of London gives an idea of the work involved
Ten shirtsleeved ringers stand in a circle one foot ahead of the other in a prizefighters stance each pulling a rope that disappears through a small hole in the high ceiling of the ringing chamber
No one speaks and the snaking of the ropes seems to make as much sound as the bells themselves muffled by the ceiling
Totally absorbed the ringers stare straight ahead using peripheral vision they call it ropesight to watch the other ropes and thus time their pulls 
Far above in the belfry the huge bronze bells mounted on wheels swing madly through a full degrees starting and ending surprisingly in the inverted or mouthup position
Skilled ringers use their wrists to advance or retard the next swing so that one bell can swap places with another in the following change 
In a wellknown detectivestory involving church bells English novelist Dorothy L Sayers described ringing as a passion that finds its satisfaction in mathematical completeness and mechanical perfection Ringers she added are filled with the solemn intoxication that comes of intricate ritual faultlessly performed 
Ringing does become a bit of an obsession admits Stephanie Pattenden master of the band at St Mary Abbot and one of Englands best female ringers 
It is a passion that usually stays in the tower however
More often than not ringers think of the church as something stuck on the bottom of the belfry
When their changes are completed and after they have worked up a sweat ringers often skip off to the local pub leaving worship for others below 
This does not sit well with some clerics
With membership of the Church of England steadily dwindling strongwilled vicars are pressing equally strongwilled and often nonreligious ringers to attend services
Two years ago the Rev Jeremy Hummerstone vicar of Great Torrington Devon got so fed up with ringers who didnt attend service he sacked the entire band the ringers promptly set up a picket line in protest They were a selfperpetuating club that treated the tower as sort of a separate premises the Vicar Hummerstone says 
An entirely new band rings today at Great Torrington several of whom are members of the congregation
But there still arent enough ringers to ring more than six of the eight bells 
At St Marys Church in Ilminster Somerset the bells have fallen silent following a dustup over church attendance
The vicar WD Jones refuses to talk about it saying it would reopen the wound But CJB Marshall vicar of a nearby church feels the fault is in the stairs from the bell tower that are located next to the altar So crunch crunch crunch bang bang bang here come the ringers from above making a very obvious exit while the congregation is at prayer he says 
Vicar Marshall admits to mixed feelings about this issue since he is both a vicar and an active bellringer himself The sound of bells is a net to draw people into the church he says I live in hopes that the ringers themselves will be drawn into that fuller life 
The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers a sort of parliament of ringing groups aims to improve relations with vicars says John C Baldwin president
It hopes to speak to students at theological colleges about the joys of bell ringing and will shortly publish a booklet for every vicar in the country entitled The Bells in Your Care Says Mr Baldwin We recognize that we may no longer have as high a priority in church life and experience 
Mr Baldwin is also attacking the greater problem lack of ringers
One survey says that of the trained bellringers in England today only of them still ring
Also ringers dont always live where the bells need to be rung like in small rural parishes and innercity churches 
But the councils program to attract and train ringers is only partly successful says Mr Baldwin Right now were lucky if after five years we keep one new ringer out of he adds 
One bright sign is that a growing number of women have entered the once maledominated field more than a third of the ringers today are women
They arent accepted everywhere however
The oldest bellringing group in the country the Ancient Society of College Youths founded in remains maleonly a fact thats particularly galling to women because the group is the sole source of ringers for Britains most prestigious churches St Pauls Cathedral and Westminster Abbey 
This being Britain no woman has filed an equalopportunity suit but the extent of the problem surfaced this summer in a series of letters to The Ringing World a weekly newspaper for ringers
One writer signing his letter as Redblooded balanced male remarked on the frequency of women fainting in peals and suggested that they settle back into their traditional role of making tea at meetings 
In the torrent of replies that followed one woman ringer from Solihull observed that the average male ringer leaves quite a lot to be desired badly dressed decorated with acne and a large beerbelly frequently unwashed and unbearably flatulent in peals Another women wrote from Sheffield to say that in her years of ringing I have never known a lady to faint in the belfry
I have seen one or two men die bless them 
The US and Soviet Union are holding technical talks about possible repayment by Moscow of million in preCommunist Russian debts owed to the US government the State Department said 
If the debts are repaid it could clear the way for Soviet bonds to be sold in the US However after two meetings with the Soviets a State Department spokesman said that its too early to say whether that will happen 
Coincident with the talks the State Department said it has permitted a Soviet bank to open a New York branch
The branch of the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs was approved last spring and opened in July 
But a Soviet bank here would be crippled unless Moscow found a way to settle the million debt which was lent to the countrys shortlived democratic Kerensky government before the Communists seized power in 
Under a law the Johnson Debt Default Act as amended its illegal for Americans to extend credit to countries in default to the US government unless they are members of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
The USSR belongs to neither organization 
Moscow has settled pre debts with other countries in recent years at less than face value 
The State Department stressed the pre debts as the key to satisfying the Johnson Act
But the Soviets might still face legal obstacles to raising money in the US until they settle hundreds of millions of dollars in additional debt still outstanding from the World War II lendlease program 
Bank of New England Corp said it has held talks with potential merger partners outside New England although it added that nothing is imminent and it hasnt received any formal offers 
The discussions were disclosed as the bank holding company said that it has dropped its longstanding opposition to full interstate banking bills in Connecticut and in Massachusetts
Later yesterday a Massachusetts senate committee approved a bill to allow national interstate banking by banks in the state beginning in 
Currently both Massachusetts and Connecticut where most of Bank of New Englands operations are allow interstate banking only within New England 
Richard Driscoll vice chairman of Bank of New England told the Dow Jones Professional Investor Report Certainly there are those outside the region who think of us prospectively as a good partner
We have and Im sure others have considered what our options are and weve had conversations with people who in the future might prove to be interesting partners He added Theres nothing very hot 
Mr Driscoll didnt elaborate about who the potential partners were or when the talks were held
A bank spokeswoman also declined to comment on any mergerrelated matters but said the company decided to drop its opposition to the interstate banking legislation because prevailing sentiment is in favor of passage 
Bank of New England has been hit hard by the regions realestate slump with its net income declining to million or cents a share in the first nine months of from the yearearlier period
The company recently said it would sell some operations and lay off of its work force altogether reducing employment to less than from about 
It recently signed a preliminary agreement to negotiate exclusively with the Bank of Tokyo Ltd for the sale of part of its leasing business to the Japanese bank 
For years Genie Driskill went to her neighborhood bank because it was convenient
A highbalance customer that banks pine for she didnt give much thought to the rates she was receiving nor to the fees she was paying 
But in August First Atlanta National Bank introduced its Crown Account a package designed to lure customers such as Ms Driskill
Among other things it included checking safe deposit box and credit card all for free plus a good deal on installment loans
All she had to do was put in a certificate of deposit or qualify for a personal line of credit 
I deserve something for my loyalty she says
She took her business to First Atlanta 
So it goes in the competitive world of consumer banking these days
For nearly a decade banks have competed for customers primarily with the interest rates they pay on their deposits and charge on their loans
The competitive rates were generally offset by hefty fees on various services 
But many banks are turning away from strict price competition
Instead they are trying to build customer loyalty by bundling their services into packages and targeting them to small segments of the population 
Youre dead in the water if you arent segmenting the market says Anne Moore president of Synergistics Research Corp a bank consulting firm in Atlanta 
NCNB Corp of Charlotte NC recently introduced its Financial Connections Program aimed at young adults just starting careers
The program not only offers a preapproved car loan up to but throws in a special cashflow statement to help in saving money 
In September Union Planters Corp of Memphis Tenn launched The Edge account a package designed for the thirtysomething crowd with services that include a credit card and line of credit with no annual fees and a full percentage point off on installment loans
The theory Such individuals many with young children are in their prime borrowing years and having borrowed from the bank they may continue to use it for other services in later years 
For some time banks have been aiming packages at the elderly the demographic segment with the highest savings
Those efforts are being stepped up
Judie MacDonald vice president of retail sales at Barnett Banks Inc of Jacksonville Fla says the company now targets subsegments within the market by tailoring its popular Seniors Partners Program to various life styles 
Varying age geography and lifestyle differences create numerous submarkets Ms MacDonald says
She says individual Barnett branches can add different benefits to their Seniors Partners package such as athletic activities or travel clubs to appeal to local market interests An active yearold in Boca Raton may care more about Senior Olympic games while a yearold in Panama City may care more about a seminar on health she says 
Banks have tried packaging before
In Wells Fargo Co of San Francisco launched the Gold Account which included free checking a credit card safedeposit box and travelers checks for a monthly fee 
The concept begot a slew of copycats but the banks stopped promoting the packages
One big reason thin margins
Many banks particularly smaller ones were slow to computerize and couldnt target market niches that would have made the programs more profitable
As banks earnings were squeezed in the mids the emphasis switched to finding ways to cut costs 
But now computers are enabling more banks to analyze their customers by age income and geography
They are better able to get to those segments in the wake of the deregulation that began in the late s
Deregulation has effectively removed all restrictions on what banks can pay for deposits as well as opened up the field for new products such as highrate CDs
Where a bank once offered a standard passbook savings account it began offering moneymarket accounts certificates of deposit and interestbearing checking and staggering rates based on the size of deposits 
The competition has grown more intense as bigger banks such as Norwest Corp of Minneapolis and Chemical Banking Corp of New York extend their marketshare battles into small towns across the nation Today a banker is worrying about local regional and moneycenter banks as well as thrifts and credit unions says Ms Moore at Synergistics Research So people who werent even thinking about targeting years ago are scrambling to define their customer base 
The competition has cultivated a much savvier consumer The average household will spread accounts over a dozen financial institutions says Michael P Sullivan who runs his own bank consulting firm in Charlotte NC This much fragmentation makes attracting and keeping todays ratesensitive customers costly 
Packages encourage loyalty by rewarding customers for doing the bulk of their banking in one place
For their troubles the banks get a larger captive audience that is less likely to move at the drop of a rate
The more accounts customers have Mr Sullivan says the more likely they are to be attracted to a package and to be loyal to the bank that offers it
That can pay off down the road as customers especially the younger ones change from borrowers to saversinvestors 
Packaging has some drawbacks
The additional technology personnel training and promotional effort can be expensive
Chemical Bank spent more than million to introduce its ChemPlus line several packages aimed at different segments in according to Thomas Jacob senior vice president of marketing Its not easy to roll out something that comprehensive and make it pay Mr Jacob says 
Still bankers expect packaging to flourish primarily because more customers are demanding that financial services be tailored to their needs These days banking customers walk in the door expecting you to have a package especially for them Ms Moore says
Some banks are already moving in that direction according to Alvin T Sale marketing director at First Union Corp in Charlotte
First Union he says now has packages for seven customer groups
Soon it will split those into 
Says Mr Sale I think more banks are starting to realize that we have to be more like the department store not the boutique 
IRAs 
IntegraA Hotel Restaurant Co said its planned rights offering to raise about million was declared effective and the company will begin mailing materials to shareholders at the end of this week 
Under the offer shareholders will receive one right for each common shares owned
Each right entitles the shareholder to buy face amount of bonds due and warrants to buy common shares at cents a share
The rights which expire Nov can be exercised for each 
Integra which owns and operates hotels said that Hallwood Group Inc has agreed to exercise any rights that arent exercised by other shareholders
Hallwood a Cleveland merchant bank owns about of Integra 
GOODY PRODUCTS Inc cut its quarterly dividend to five cents a share from cents a share
The reduced dividend is payable Jan to stock of record Dec 
The Kearny NJbased maker of hair accessories and other cosmetic products said it cut the dividend due to its thirdquarter loss of or cents a share
In the yearago quarter the company reported net income of million or cents a share
The company also adopted an antitakeover plan 
Alleghany Corp said it completed the acquisition of Sacramento Savings Loan Association from the HN Frances C Berger Foundation for million 
The Sacramentobased SL which has branch offices in north central California had assets of billion at the end of September
New Yorkbased Alleghany is an insurance and financial services concern
The purchase price includes two ancillary companies 
Furukawa Co of Japan said it will acquire two construction machinery plants and a sales unit in France formerly belonging to Dresser Industries Inc of the US 
The company said it made the purchase in order to locally produce hydraulically operated shovels 
Last October the company also bought a wheelloader manufacturing plant in Heidelberg West Germany from Dresser 
Furukawa said the purchase of the French and German plants together will total about billion yen million 
This is the year the negative ad for years a secondary presence in most political campaigns became the main event 
The irony is that the attack commercial after getting a boost in last years presidential campaign has come of age in an offoff election year with only a few contests scattered across the country 
But in the three leading political contests of the negative ads have reached new levels of hostility raising fears that this kind of mudslinging empty of significant issues is ushering in a new era of campaigns without content 
Now says Joseph Napolitan a pioneer in political television the idea is to attack first last and always 
A trend that started with the first stirrings of politics accelerated with the dawn of the television age and became a sometimestawdry art form in has reached an entirely new stage 
To get peoples attention these days says Douglas Bailey a political consultant your TV ad needs to be bold and entertaining and more often than not that means confrontational
And unlike a few years ago you dont even have to worry whether the ad is truthful 
In as often as not the principal fights in the major campaigns are prompted by the ads themselves 
Take a look then at the main attack commercials that set the tone for Tuesdays elections in New York City New Jersey and Virginia 
New York City The screen fills with a small tight facial shot of David Dinkins Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City David Dinkins failed to file his income taxes for four straight years says a disembodied male voice 
And then this television commercial paid for by Republican Rudolph Giulianis campaign and produced by Roger Ailes the master of negative TV ads really gets down to business
Mr Dinkins the ad charges also failed to report his campaign contributions accurately hid his links to a failing insurance company and paid a convicted kidnapper through a phony organization with no members no receipts and no office 
David Dinkins says the kicker Why does he always wait until hes caught 
Nasty innuendoes says John Siegal Mr Dinkinss issues director designed to prosecute a case of political corruption that simply doesnt exist 
Stung by the Giuliani ads Mr Dinkinss TV consultants Robert Shrum and David Doak finally unleashed a negative ad of their own
The screen shows two distorted unrecognizable photos presumably of two politicians Compare two candidates for mayor says the announcer One says hes for banning copkiller bullets
The other has opposed a ban on copkiller bullets
One claims hes prochoice
The other has opposed a womans right to choose 
Funny thing says the kicker both these candidates are named Rudolph Giuliani 
Whos telling the truth
Everybody and nobody
Its a classic situation of ads that are true but not always fully accurate 
Mr Dinkins did fail to file his income taxes for four years but he insists he voluntarily admitted the oversight when he was being considered for a city job
He was on the board of an insurance company with financial problems but he insists he made no secret of it
The citys Campaign Finance Board has refused to pay Mr Dinkins in matching funds because his campaign records are incomplete
The campaign has blamed these reporting problems on computer errors
And says Mr Dinkins he didnt know the man his campaign paid for a getoutthevote effort had been convicted of kidnapping
But say Mr Dinkinss managers he did have an office and his organization did have members 
Mr Giulianis campaign chairman Peter Powers says the Dinkins ad is deceptive The other side he argues knows Giuliani has always been prochoice even though he has personal reservations
They know he is generally opposed to copkiller bullets but that he had some reservations about the language in the legislation 
Virginia Democratic Lt Gov Douglas Wilder opened his gubernatorial battle with Republican Marshall Coleman with an abortion commercial produced by Frank Greer that analysts of every political persuasion agree was a tour de force
Against a shot of Monticello superimposed on an American flag an announcer talks about the strong tradition of freedom and individual liberty that Virginians have nurtured for generations
Then just as an image of the statue of Thomas Jefferson dissolves from the screen the announcer continues On the issue of abortion Marshall Coleman wants to take away your right to choose and give it to the politicians 
That commercial which said Mr Coleman wanted to take away the right of abortion even in cases of rape and incest a charge Mr Coleman denies changed the dynamics of the campaign transforming it at least in part into a referendum on abortion
The ad prompted Mr Coleman the former Virginia attorney general to launch a series of advertisements created by Bob Goodman and designed to shake Mr Wilders support among the very women who were attracted by the abortion ad 
The Coleman counterattack featured a closeup of a young woman in shadows and the ad suggested that she was recalling an unpleasant courtroom ordeal
A voice says Cmon now dont you have boyfriends Then an announcer interjects It was Douglas Wilder who introduced a bill to force rape victims age and younger to be interrogated about their private lives by lawyers for accused rapists
So the next time Mr Wilder talks about the rights of women ask him about this law he tried to pass 
Mr Wilder did introduce such legislation years ago but he did so at the request of a constituent a common legislative technique used by lawmakers
The legislation itself noted that it was introduced by request and in Mr Wilder introduced a bill to protect rape victims from unfounded interrogation 
People have grown tired of these ads and Coleman has gotten the stigma of being a negative campaigner says Mark Rozell a political scientist at Mary Washington College Wilder has managed to get across the idea that Coleman will say anything to get elected governor and more important has been able to put the onus for all the negative campaigning on Coleman 
Mr Coleman said this week that he would devote the remainder of the political season to positive campaigning but the truce lasted only hours
By Tuesday night television stations were carrying new ads featuring Mr Coleman himself raising questions about Mr Wilders sensitivity to rape victims 
New Jersey The attacks began when Democratic Rep James Florio aired an ad featuring a drawing of Pinocchio and a photograph of Mr Florios rival Republican Rep Jim Courter Remember Pinocchio says a female voice Consider Jim Courter 
And then this commercial produced by Bob Squier gets down to its own mean and dirty business
Pictures of rusted oil drums swim into focus and the female voice purrs That hazardous waste on his Mr
Courters property the neighbors are suing for consumer fraud And the nose on Mr Courters face grows 
The only fraud involved cry Mr Courters partisans is the Florio commercial itself and so the Courter campaign has responded with its own Pinocchio commercial produced by Mr Ailes
In this one the screen fills with photographs of both candidates Whos really lying asks a female voice Florios lying the voice goes on because the barrel on Courters land  contained heating oil was cleaned up and caused no pollution 
Mr Courters long nose shrinks while Mr Florios grows 
Whos telling the truth
Stephen Salmore a political scientist at New Jerseys Eagleton Institute says its another example of an ad thats true but not fully accurate
Barrels were dumped on the Courter property a complaint was made but there is no evidence the barrels were a serious threat to the environment 
Even so according to Mr Salmore the ad was devastating because it raised questions about Mr Courters credibility
But its building on a long tradition
In on route to a reelection rout of Democrat Frank OConnor GOP Gov Nelson Rockefeller of New York appeared in person saying If you want to keep the crime rates high OConnor is your man 
Structural Dynamics Research Corp which makes computeraided engineering software said it introduced new technology in mechanical design automation that will improve mechanical engineering productivity 
John R Stevens years old was named senior executive vice president and chief operating officer both new positions
He will continue to report to Donald Pardus president and chief executive officer
Mr Stevens was executive vice president of this electricutility holding company
Arthur A Hatch was named executive vice president of the company
He was previously president of the companys Eastern Edison Co unit
John D Carney was named to succeed Mr Hatch as president of Eastern Edison
Previously he was vice president of Eastern Edison
Robert P Tassinari was named senior vice president of Eastern Utilities
He was previously vice president 
Oil production from Australias Bass Strait fields will be raised by barrels a day to about barrels with the launch of the Whiting field the first of five small fields scheduled to be brought into production before the end of 
Esso Australia Ltd a unit of New Yorkbased Exxon Corp and Broken Hill Pty operate the fields in a joint venture 
Esso said the Whiting field started production Tuesday
Output will be gradually increased until it reaches about barrels a day
The field has reserves of million barrels
Reserves for the five new fields total million barrels 
The Perch and Dolphin fields are expected to start producing early next year and the Seahorse and Tarwhine fields later next year
Esso said the fields were developed after the Australian government decided in to make the first million barrels from new fields free of excise tax 
Japans domestic sales of cars trucks and buses in October rose from a year earlier to units a record for the month the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said 
The strong growth followed yeartoyear increases of in August and in September
The monthly sales have been setting records every month since March 
October sales compared with the previous month inched down 
Sales of passenger cars grew from a year earlier to units
Sales of mediumsized cars which benefited from price reductions arising from introduction of the consumption tax more than doubled to units from in October 
Newsweek trying to keep pace with rival Time magazine announced new advertising rates for and said it will introduce a new incentive plan for advertisers 
The new ad plan from Newsweek a unit of the Washington Post Co is the second incentive plan the magazine has offered advertisers in three years
Plans that give advertisers discounts for maintaining or increasing ad spending have become permanent fixtures at the news weeklies and underscore the fierce competition between Newsweek Time Warner Inc s Time magazine and Mortimer B Zuckermans US News World Report 
Alan Spoon recently named Newsweek president said Newsweeks ad rates would increase in January
A full fourcolor page in Newsweek will cost 
In midOctober Time magazine lowered its guaranteed circulation rate base for while not increasing ad page rates with a lower circulation base Times ad rate will be effectively higher per subscriber a full page in Time costs about 
US News has yet to announce its ad rates 
Newsweek said it will introduce the Circulation Credit Plan which awards space credits to advertisers on renewal advertising The magazine will reward with page bonuses advertisers who in meet or exceed their spending as long as they spent in and in 
Mr Spoon said the plan is not an attempt to shore up a decline in ad pages in the first nine months of Newsweeks ad pages totaled a drop of from last year according to Publishers Information Bureau What matters is what advertisers are paying per page and in that department we are doing fine this fall said Mr Spoon 
Both Newsweek and US News have been gaining circulation in recent years without heavy use of electronic giveaways to subscribers such as telephones or watches
However none of the big three weeklies recorded circulation gains recently
According to Audit Bureau of Circulations Time the largest newsweekly had average circulation of a decrease of 
Newsweeks circulation for the first six months of was flat from the same period last year
US News circulation in the same time was down 
LSI Logic Corp reported a surprise million thirdquarter net loss including a special restructuring charge that reflects a continuing industrywide slowdown in semiconductor demand 
In September the customchip maker said excess capacity and lagging billings would result in an estimated million to million net loss for the third quarter
But company officials said yesterday that they decided to take a million pretax charge for the period to cover a restructuring of worldwide manufacturing operations citing extended weakness in the market as well as a decision to switch to more economical production techniques 
Over the summer months there has been a slowing in the rate of new orders from the computer sector our primary market said Wilfred J Corrigan chairman and chief executive officer In addition recent industry forecasts for indicate a slow environment at least until midyear As a result the company said it decided to phase out its oldest capacity and make appropriate reductions in operating expenses 
The million net loss equals cents a share
Not counting the extraordinary charge the company said it would have had a net loss of million or seven cents a share
A year earlier it had profit of million or cents a share
Revenue rose to million from million 
The charge partly reflects a switch from older fiveinch to moreefficient sixinch silicon wafers with which to fabricate chips
Related to that decision the company said it was converting its Santa Clara Calif factory to a research and development facility
A spokesman declined to speculate about possible reductions in force 
This is a company that has invested in capacity additions more aggressively than any other company in the industry and now the industry is growing more slowly and they are suddenly poorly positioned said Michael Stark chip analyst at Robertson Stephens Co I think the stock is dead money for a while Yesterdays announcement was made after markets closed 
US chip makers are facing continued slack demand following a traditionally slow summer
Part of the problem is that chip buyers are keeping inventories low because of jitters about the course of the US economy 
Pacific First Financial Corp said shareholders approved its acquisition by Royal Trustco Ltd of Toronto for a share or million 
The thrift holding company said it expects to obtain regulatory approval and complete the transaction by yearend 
Zenith Data Systems Corp a subsidiary of Zenith Electronics Corp received a million Navy contract for software and services of microcomputers over an month period 
Rockwell International Corp won a million Air Force contract for ACU gunship replacement aircraft 
Martin Marietta Corp was given a million Air Force contract for lowaltitude navigation and targeting equipment 
Federal Data Corp got a million Air Force contract for intelligence data handling 
The federal government suspended sales of US savings bonds because Congress hasnt lifted the ceiling on government debt 
Until Congress acts the government hasnt any authority to issue new debt obligations of any kind the Treasury said 
The governments borrowing authority dropped at midnight Tuesday to trillion from trillion
Legislation to lift the debt ceiling is ensnarled in the fight over cutting capitalgains taxes 
The House has voted to raise the ceiling to trillion but the Senate isnt expected to act until next week at the earliest
The Treasury said the US will default on Nov if Congress doesnt act by then 
The survival of spinoff Cray Computer Corp as a fledgling in the supercomputer business appears to depend heavily on the creativity and longevity of its chairman and chief designer Seymour Cray 
Not only is development of the new companys initial machine tied directly to Mr Cray so is its balance sheet
Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the pending spinoff disclosed that Cray Research Inc will withdraw the almost million in financing it is providing the new firm if Mr Cray leaves or if the productdesign project he heads is scrapped 
The documents also said that although the yearold Mr Cray has been working on the project for more than six years the Cray machine is at least another year away from a fully operational prototype
Moreover there have been no orders for the Cray so far though the company says it is talking with several prospects 
While many of the risks were anticipated when Minneapolisbased Cray Research first announced the spinoff in May the strings it attached to the financing hadnt been made public until yesterday 
We didnt have much of a choice Cray Computers chief financial officer Gregory Barnum said in an interview The theory is that Seymour is the chief designer of the Cray and without him it could not be completed
Cray Research did not want to fund a project that did not include Seymour 
The documents also said that Cray Computer anticipates needing perhaps another million in financing beginning next September
But Mr Barnum called that a worstcase scenario 
The filing on the details of the spinoff caused Cray Research stock to jump yesterday to close at in New York Stock Exchange composite trading 
Analysts noted yesterday that Cray Researchs decision to link its million promissory note to Mr Crays presence will complicate a valuation of the new company It has to be considered as an additional risk for the investor said Gary P Smaby of Smaby Group Inc Minneapolis Cray Computer will be a concept stock he said You either believe Seymour can do it again or you dont 
Besides the designers age other risk factors for Mr Crays new company include the Crays tricky unproven chip technology
The SEC documents describe those chips which are made of gallium arsenide as being so fragile and minute they will require special robotic handling equipment
In addition the Cray will contain processors twice as many as the largest current supercomputer 
Cray Computer also will face intense competition not only from Cray Research which has about of the worldwide supercomputer market and which is expected to roll out the C machine a direct competitor with the Cray in 
The spinoff also will compete with International Business Machines Corp and Japans Big Three Hitachi Ltd NEC Corp and Fujitsu Ltd 
The new company said it believes there are fewer than potential customers for supercomputers priced between million and million presumably the Cray price range 
Under terms of the spinoff Cray Research stockholders are to receive one Cray Computer share for every two Cray Research shares they own in a distribution expected to occur in about two weeks
No price for the new shares has been set
Instead the companies will leave it up to the marketplace to decide
Cray Computer has applied to trade on Nasdaq 
Analysts calculate Cray Computers initial book value at about a share
Along with the note Cray Research is transferring about million in assets primarily those related to the Cray development which has been a drain on Cray Researchs earnings 
Proforma balance sheets clearly show why Cray Research favored the spinoff
Without the Cray research and development expenses the company would have been able to report a profit of million for the first half of rather than the million it posted
On the other hand had it existed then Cray Computer would have incurred a million loss 
Mr Cray who couldnt be reached for comment will work for the new Colorado Springs Colo company as an independent contractor the arrangement he had with Cray Research
Regarded as the father of the supercomputer Mr Cray was paid at Cray Research last year
At Cray Computer he will be paid 
Besides Messrs
Cray and Barnum other senior management at the company includes Neil Davenport president and chief executive officer Joseph M Blanchard vice president engineering Malcolm A Hammerton vice president software and Douglas R Wheeland vice president hardware
All came from Cray Research 
Cray Computer which currently employs people said it expects a work force of by the end of 
The White House said President Bush has approved dutyfree treatment for imports of certain types of watches that arent produced in significant quantities in the US the Virgin Islands and other US possessions 
The action came in response to a petition filed by Timex Inc for changes in the US Generalized System of Preferences for imports from developing nations
Previously watch imports were denied such dutyfree treatment 
Timex had requested dutyfree treatment for many types of watches covered by different US tariff classifications
The White House said Mr Bush decided to grant dutyfree status for categories but turned down such treatment for other types of watches because of the potential for material injury to watch producers located in the US and the Virgin Islands 
Timex is a major US producer and seller of watches including lowpriced batteryoperated watches assembled in the Philippines and other developing nations covered by the US tariff preferences 
US trade officials said the Philippines and Thailand would be the main beneficiaries of the presidents action 
Imports of the types of watches that now will be eligible for dutyfree treatment totaled about million in a relatively small share of the billion in US watch imports that year according to an aide to US Trade Representative Carla Hills 
Yields on moneymarket mutual funds continued to slide amid signs that portfolio managers expect further declines in interest rates 
The average sevenday compound yield of the taxable funds tracked by IBCDonoghues Money Fund Report eased a fraction of a percentage point to from for the week ended Tuesday
Compound yields assume reinvestment of dividends and that the current yield continues for a year 
Average maturity of the funds investments lengthened by a day to days the longest since early August according to Donoghues
Longer maturities are thought to indicate declining interest rates because they permit portfolio managers to retain relatively higher rates for a longer period
Shorter maturities are considered a sign of rising rates because portfolio managers can capture higher rates sooner 
The average maturity for funds open only to institutions considered by some to be a stronger indicator because those managers watch the market closely reached a high point for the year  days 
Nevertheless said Brenda Malizia Negus editor of Money Fund Report yields may blip up again before they blip down because of recent rises in shortterm interest rates
The yield on sixmonth Treasury bills sold at Mondays auction for example rose to from 
Despite recent declines in yields investors continue to pour cash into money funds
Assets of the taxable funds grew by billion during the latest week to billion 
Typically moneyfund yields beat comparable shortterm investments because portfolio managers can vary maturities and go after the highest rates
The top money funds are currently yielding well over 
Dreyfus WorldWide Dollar the topyielding fund had a sevenday compound yield of during the latest week down from a week earlier
It invests heavily in dollardenominated securities overseas and is currently waiving management fees which boosts its yield
The average sevenday simple yield of the funds was down from 
The day simple yield fell to an average from the day compound yield slid to an average from 
INGERSOLLRAND Co Woodcliff Lake NJ William G Kuhns former chairman and chief executive officer of General Public Utilities Corp was elected a director of this maker of industrial and construction equipment increasing board membership to 
Rallys Inc said it has redeemed its rights outstanding issued Monday in its shareholder rights plan
The company said holders of stock of record Nov will receive th of one cent a share as the redemption payment 
The fastfood company said its decision was based upon discussions with a shareholder group Giant Group Ltd in an effort to resolve certain disputes with the company 
Giant Group is led by three Rallys directors Burt Sugarman James M Trotter III and William E Trotter II who last month indicated they hold a stake in Rallys and plan to seek a majority of seats on Rallys ninemember board 
Hudson General Corp s president and chief executive officer Alan J Stearn resigned 
Mr Stearn years old couldnt be reached for comment
A company spokesman declined to elaborate on the departure 
Hudson General which provides maintenance fueling and other services to airlines and airports reported a loss for its most recent fiscal year and last month omitted the semiannual dividend on its common shares 
Mr Stearn who had been with the company more than years and had been president since will act as a consultant to Hudson General
His duties as chief executive will be assumed by Chairman Jay B Langner 
 Money Market Depositsa 
aAverage rate paid yesterday by large banks and thrifts in the largest metropolitan areas as compiled by Bank Rate Monitor 
bCurrent annual yield
Guaranteed minimum 
While worry grows about big Japanese investments in the US Japans big trading companies are rapidly increasing their stake in Americas smaller business 
For Japan the controversial trend improves access to American markets and technology
But for small American companies it also provides a growing source of capital and even marketing help 
Take the deal with Candela Laser Corp a Wayland Mass manufacturer of hightech medical devices which three years ago set its sights on Japan as an export market
Partly to help clear the myriad obstacles facing any overseas company trying to penetrate Japan tiny Candela turned to Mitsui Co one of Japans largest trading companies for investment 
In a jointventure deal Mitsui guided Candela through Tokyos bureaucratic maze
It eventually secured Ministry of Health import approval for two Candela laser products one that breaks up kidney stones and another that treats skin lesions
At last count Candela had sold million of its medical devices in Japan 
The deal also gave Mitsui access to a hightech medical product They view this as a growth area so they went about it with a systematic approach says Richard Olsen a Candela vice president
Indeed for many Japanese trading companies the favorite US small business is one whose research and development can be milked for future Japanese use 
The Japanese companies bankroll many small US companies with promising products or ideas frequently putting their money behind projects that commercial banks wont touch
Japanese companies have financed small and mediumsized US firms for years but in recent months the pace has taken off 
In the first half of alone Japanese corporations invested million in minority positions in US companies a rise from the figure for all of reports Venture Economics Inc
The Needham Mass concern tracks investments in new businesses
In addition of course some of the Japanese investments involved outright purchase of small US firms 
Heightened Japanese interest in American small business parallels an acceleration of investments giving Japanese companies control of large highly visible US corporations such as Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc Only this week it was announced that Mitsubishi Estate Co had acquired a stake in Rockefeller Group which owns New Yorks prestigious Rockefeller Center 
While the small deals are far less conspicuous they add to Japanese penetration of the US market
As the deals also improve Japanese access to American technology and market knowledge they feed American anxieties in this area too 
Even a lowtech product like plate glass can catch a trading companys fancy if theres a strategic fit
Free State Glass Industries of Warrenton Va a small fabricator of architectural glass was foundering under its original management
Last year Mitsubishi International Corp the New Yorkbased arm of Mitsubishi Corp bought controlling interest in the glass company in a joint venture with Ronald Bodner a glass industry executive and Mitsubishi consultant 
The deal is chiefly designed to give Mitsubishi a window on the US glass industry says Ichiro Wakui an executive in Mitsubishis general merchandise department in New York Its not just a simple investment in a small company Mr Wakui says We want to see the glass market from the inside not the outside 
Mitsubishis investment in Free State is very small  less than million Mr Wakui says
Mr Bodner declines to comment on the arrangement 
Trading companies such as Mitsubishi Mitsui C Itoh Co and NisshoIwai Corp which make many of the Japanese investments in small US concerns have no US counterpart
These vertically integrated combines some of which got their start in Japans feudal period deal globally in commodities construction and manufacturing
They operate ships and banks 
All the sogoshosha are looking for new business says Arthur Klauser adviser to the president of Mitsui USA using the Japanese term for the largest of the global trading houses 
Adds Takeshi Kondo senior vice president of C Itoh America Inc We have a great interest in making investments particularly in new ventures 
A host of electronics firms in Californias Silicon Valley were financed with tradingcompany venture capital
Profit at least in the short term is usually a secondary goal Strategic objectives not financial return drive many of the deals says a Venture Economics spokesman 
In investing on the basis of future transactions a role often performed by merchant banks trading companies can cut through the logjam that smallcompany owners often face with their local commercial banks Its the classic problem of the small businessman says Malcolm Davies managing director of Trading Alliance Corp of New York People are queuing at the door to take his product but he doesnt have the working capital to make the thing and commercial banks are very unsympathetic
They want assets they want a balance sheet which has no relation to the business a company can generate 
Adds Mitsuis Mr Klauser Unlike corporations in this country trading companies arent so much interested in a high return on investment as they are on increasing trade flows
To the extent they can do this theyre quite content to get a return on investment of to 
Mr Klauser says Mitsui has US subsidiaries in which it holds interest or more and the trading company hopes to double the number of its US affiliates in 
Sales by these subsidiaries in the fiscal year ending last March were more than billion
A to return on billion aint hay Mr Klauser says 
It was Richard Nixons first visit to China in that set in motion the historic rapprochement between Beijing and Washington
But the former US presidents sixth visit to China during which he spoke at length with Chinese leaders was nowhere near as successful at easing strains that have recently afflicted the SinoUS relationship 
Mr Nixon the most prominent American to come to China since Beijings bloody suppression of prodemocracy demonstrators in June harped on international outrage over the massacre
The Chinese in turn took aim at American interference in Chinas domestic affairs 
One official newspaper Legal Daily even directly criticized Mr Nixon who is normally referred to here as an old friend The paper accused him of being a leading proponent of peaceful evolution a catch phrase to describe what China believes is the policy of Western countries to seduce socialist nations into the capitalist sphere 
The tension was evident on Wednesday evening during Mr Nixons final banquet toast normally an opportunity for reciting platitudes about eternal friendship
Instead Mr Nixon reminded his host Chinese President Yang Shangkun that Americans havent forgiven Chinas leaders for the military assault of June that killed hundreds and perhaps thousands of demonstrators 
Many in the United States including many friends of China believe the crackdown was excessive and unjustified Mr Nixon told Mr Yang who was directly involved in ordering the attack The events of April through June damaged the respect and confidence which most Americans previously had for the leaders of China 
The Chinese responded in an equally undiplomatic fashion
In talks with Mr Nixon Chinese leaders expressed no regret for the killings and even suggested that the US was prominently involved in the demonstrations this spring
In a meeting Tuesday supreme leader Deng Xiaoping told Mr Nixon Frankly speaking the US was involved too deeply in the turmoil and counterrevolutionary rebellion which occurred in Beijing not long ago
China was the real victim and it is unjust to reprove China for it 
Despite the harsh exchanges the US and China still seem to be looking for a way to mend relations which have deteriorated into what Mr Nixon referred to as the greatest crisis in ChineseAmerican relations since his initial visit to China years ago
In his return toast to Mr Nixon Mr Yang said the relationship had reached a stalemate 
Relations between China and the US have been tense since June when Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi and his wife Li Shuxian took refuge in the US Embassy in Beijing
Shortly afterwards Mr Bush imposed a series of antiChina sanctions including suspension of most highlevel talks which could be codified in US congressional legislation in the coming weeks 
Mr Nixon is traveling in China as a private citizen but he has made clear that he is an unofficial envoy for the Bush administration
Mr Nixon met Mr Bush and his national security adviser Brent Scowcroft before coming to China on Saturday
And he plans to brief the president at the end of the week US sources said
Mr Nixon was to leave China today 
According to an American member of the Nixon party the former president raised a number of controversial issues in his hours of talks with toplevel Chinese officials
These included Chinas economic policies human rights and the question of Mr Fang
Mr Nixon also proposed that China restore its participation in the Fulbright Program a US governmentfunded academic exchange
China pulled out of the program in July 
In his talks the former president urged Chinas leaders to acknowledge that their nation is part of the world community and welcome the infusion of outside contacts and ideas Ideas are going over borders and theres no SDI ideological weapon that can shoot them down he told a group of Americans at the US Embassy on Wednesday 
There are no signs however of Chinas yielding on key issues
But in one minor matter Mr Nixon appears to have gained a concession
In a meeting with Premier Li Peng on Monday Mr Nixon said that he hoped he wouldnt encounter guards with machine guns during his visit to the US Embassy 
Sure enough when he arrived at the embassy two days later the machineguntoting guards were gone for the first time in five months
A few blocks away at the US ambassadors residence the guards encircling the compound also had discarded their Uzimodel arms for the first time since early June 
But the guards there retained their pistols and a large contingent of plainclothes police remained nearby in unmarked cars
Moreover police and soldiers continue to harass Americans who have filed several protests with the Foreign Ministry in the past week
Several times Chinese guards have pointed their automatic rifles at young children of US diplomats and clicked the trigger
The rifles werent loaded 
Since chalk first touched slate schoolchildren have wanted to know Whats on the test
These days students can often find the answer in testcoaching workbooks and worksheets their teachers give them in the weeks prior to taking standardized achievement tests 
The mathematics section of the widely used California Achievement Test asks fifth graders What is another name for the Roman numeral IX It also asks them to add twosevenths and threesevenths 
Worksheets in a testpractice kit called Learning Materials sold to schools across the country by MacmillanMcGrawHill School Publishing Co contain the same questions
In many other instances there is almost no difference between the real test and Learning Materials
Whats more the test and Learning Materials are both produced by the same company MacmillanMcGrawHill a joint venture of McGrawHill Inc and Macmillans parent Britains Maxwell Communication Corp 
Close parallels between tests and practice tests are common some educators and researchers say
Testpreparation booklets software and worksheets are a booming publishing subindustry
But some practice products are so similar to the tests themselves that critics say they represent a form of schoolsponsored cheating 
If I took these preparation booklets into my classroom Id have a hard time justifying to my students and parents that it wasnt cheating says John Kaminski a Traverse City Mich teacher who has studied test coaching
He and other critics say such coaching aids can defeat the purpose of standardized tests which is to gauge learning progress 
Its as if France decided to give only French history questions to students in a European history class and when everybody aces the test they say their kids are good in European history says John Cannell an Albuquerque NM psychiatrist and founder of an educational research organization Friends for Education which has studied standardized testing 
Standardized achievement tests are given about million times a year across the country to students generally from kindergarten through eighth grade
The most widely used of these tests are MacmillanMcGraws CAT and Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills the Iowa Test of Basic Skills by Houghton Mifflin Co and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc s Metropolitan Achievement Test and Stanford Achievement Test 
Sales figures of the testprep materials arent known but their reach into schools is significant
In Arizona California Florida Louisiana Maryland New Jersey South Carolina and Texas educators say they are common classroom tools 
MacmillanMcGraw says well over million of its Scoring High testpreparation books have been sold since their introduction years ago with most sales in the last five years
About sets of Learning Materials teachers binders have also been sold in the past four years
The materials in each set reach about students
Scoring High and Learning Materials are the bestselling preparation tests 
Michael Kean director of marketing for CTB MacmillanMcGraw the MacmillanMcGraw division that publishes Learning Materials says it isnt aimed at improving test scores
He also asserted that exact questions werent replicated
When referred to the questions that matched he said it was coincidental 
Mr Kaminski the schoolteacher and William Mehrens a Michigan State University education professor concluded in a study last June that CAT test versions of Scoring High and Learning Materials shouldnt be used in the classroom because of their similarity to the actual test
They devised a point scale awarding one point for each subskill measured on the CAT test to rate the closeness of test preparatives to the fifthgrade CAT 
Because many of these subskills the symmetry of geometrical figures metric measurement of volume or pie and bar graphs for example are only a small part of the total fifthgrade curriculum Mr Kaminski says the preparation kits wouldnt replicate too many if their real intent was general instruction or even general familiarization with test procedures
But Learning Materials matched on of subskills
Scoring High matched on 
In CAT sections where students knowledge of twoletter consonant sounds is tested the authors noted that Scoring High concentrated on the same sounds that the test does to the exclusion of other sounds that fifth graders should know 
Learning Materials for the fifthgrade contains at least a dozen examples of exact matches or close parallels to test items 
Rick Brownell senior editor of Scoring High says that Messrs
Kaminski and Mehrens are ignoring the need students have for becoming familiar with tests and testing format He said authors of Scoring High scrupulously avoid replicating exact questions but he doesnt deny that some items are similar 
When Scoring High first came out in it was a publication of Random House
McGrawHill was outraged
In a advisory to educators McGrawHill said Scoring High shouldnt be used because it represented a parallel form of the CAT and CTBS tests
But in McGrawHill purchased the Random House unit that publishes Scoring High which later became part of MacmillanMcGraw
Messrs
Brownell and Kean say they are unaware of any efforts by McGrawHill to modify or discontinue Scoring High 
Criticism in the US over recent Japanese acquisitions is looming ever larger in the two countries relations 
Officials from both nations say the US publics skittishness about Japanese investment could color a second round of bilateral economic talks scheduled for next week in Washington
Not that Washington and Tokyo disagree on the Japanese acquisitions indeed each has come out in favor of unfettered investment in the US 
Where they disagree is on the subject of US direct investment in Japan
The US wants the removal of what it perceives as barriers to investment Japan denies there are real barriers
The heated talk stirred up by recent Japanese investments in the US is focusing attention on the differences in investment climate even though its only one of many subjects to be covered in the bilateral talks known as the Structural Impediments Initiative 
The Japanese should see this rhetoric as a signal of the need for a change in their own economy says Charles Dallara US assistant Treasury secretary who has been in Tokyo this week informally discussing the impending negotiations with government and business leaders 
We have a long history of maintaining an open directinvestment policy Mr Dallara says US investors should have a greater opportunity at direct investment in Japan 
The Japanese fret openly about the US publics rancor
One clear sign of Japans nervousness came this week when a spokesman for Japans Foreign Ministry devoted nearly all of a regular halfhour briefing for foreign journalists to the subject of recent Japanese investments in the US 
We believe that it is vitally important for those Japanese business interests in the US to be more aware of the emotions and concerns of the American people said the spokesman Taizo Watanabe
At the same time though he chastised the media for paying such close attention to Japanese investment when other foreign countries notably Britain are acquiring more American assets 
Fears that Japanese investors are buying up America have escalated sharply in the past several weeks with Sony Corp s purchase of Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc from CocaCola Co and Mitsubishi Estate Co s acquisition of a holding in Rockefeller Group the owner of some of midtown Manhattans most exclusive real estate 
Even before those moves added fuel the fires of discontent had been well stoked by the highly publicized experience in Japan of one US investor T Boone Pickens Jr
The Texas oilman has acquired a stake valued at more than billion in an automotivelighting company Koito Manufacturing Co
But he has failed to gain any influence at the company
Koito has refused to grant Mr Pickens seats on its board asserting he is a greenmailer trying to pressure Koitos other shareholders into buying him out at a profit 
Mr Pickens made considerable political hay with his troubles in Japan
The Senate Finance Committee chaired by a fellow Texan Democratic Sen Lloyd Bentsen last month urged US Trade Representative Carla Hills to use Mr Pickenss experience in talks with Tokyo to highlight this problem facing Americans who seek access to the Japanese capital markets 
While Mr Dallara and Japanese officials say the question of investors access to the US and Japanese markets may get a disproportionate share of the publics attention a number of other important economic issues will be on the table at next weeks talks
Among them are differences in savings and investment rates corporate structures and management and government spending
Each side has a litany of recommendations for the other 
The US says it is anxious for results We feel very strongly that we really need action across the full range of issues weve identified and we need it by next spring Mr Dallara says 
Both sides have agreed that the talks will be most successful if negotiators start by focusing on the areas that can be most easily changed
But they havent clarified what those might be 
After the first set of meetings two months ago some US officials complained that Japan hadnt come up with specific changes it was prepared to make
The Japanese retort that the first round was too early to make concessions 
Just to say the distribution system is wrong doesnt mean anything says a Ministry of International Trade and Industry official We need to clarify what exactly is wrong with it 
That process of sorting out specifics is likely to take time the Japanese say no matter how badly the US wants quick results
For instance at the first meeting the two sides couldnt even agree on basic data used in price discussions
Since then a team of about MITI and US Commerce Department officials have crossed the globe gauging consumer prices
By Monday they hope to have a sheaf of documents both sides can trust 
Little by little there is progress says the MITI official Both sides are taking action 
Elisabeth Rubinfien contributed to this article 
Sea Containers Ltd said it might increase the price of its ashare buyback plan if pressed by Temple Holdings Ltd which made an earlier tender offer for Sea Containers 
Sea Containers a Hamilton Bermudabased shipping concern said Tuesday that it would sell billion of assets and use some of the proceeds to buy about of its common shares for apiece 
The move is designed to ward off a hostile takeover attempt by two European shipping concerns Stena Holding AG and Tiphook PLC
In May the two companies through their jointly owned holding company Temple offered a share or million for Sea Containers
In August Temple sweetened the offer to a share or million 
Yesterday Sea Containers chief executive officer James Sherwood said in an interview that under the assetsale plan Sea Containers would end up with a cash surplus of approximately million
About million of that would be allocated to the buyback leaving about million he said 
That million Mr Sherwood said gives us some flexibility in case Temple raises its bid
We are able to increase our price above the level if necessary He declined to say however how much Sea Containers might raise its price 
Mr Sherwood speculated that the leeway that Sea Containers has means that Temple would have to substantially increase their bid if theyre going to top us 
Temple however harshly criticized Sea Containers plan yesterday characterizing it as a highly conditional device designed to entrench management confuse shareholders and prevent them from accepting our superior cash offer 
A spokesman for Temple estimated that Sea Containers plan if all the asset sales materialize would result in shareholders receiving only to a share in cash
The lower figures the spokesman said would stem from preferred shares being converted to common stock and the possibility that Sea Containers subsidiaries might be required to place their shares in the open market 
Temple added that Sea Containers is still mired in legal problems in Bermuda where the Supreme Court has temporarily barred Sea Containers from buying back its own stock in a case brought by Stena and Tiphook The court has indicated it will rule on the case by the end of the month 
Temple also said Sea Containers plan raises numerous legal regulatory financial and fairness issues but didnt elaborate 
Mr Sherwood said reaction to Sea Containers proposal has been very positive In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday Sea Containers closed at up cents 
Cooper Tire Rubber Co said it has reached an agreement in principle to buy buildings and related property in Albany Ga from BridgestoneFirestone Inc Terms werent disclosed 
The tire maker said the buildings consist of million square feet of office manufacturing and warehousing space on acres of land 
Eaton Corp said it sold its Pacific Sierra Research Corp unit to a company formed by employees of that unit
Terms werent disclosed 
Pacific Sierra based in Los Angeles has about employees and supplies professional services and advanced products to industry
Eaton is an automotive parts controls and aerospace electronics concern