Reluare luni, 20 decembrie 1993

Japan Losing Lead in Autos

Date: 21 December 1993

For the first time since 1980, car and truck production in the United States next year will exceed vehicle production in Japan, according to a forecast by an automotive trade journal. Citing the weak market in Japan and increased production by Japanese factories in the United States as key causes, Automotive News reported today that production in Japan was expected to decline almost 1 percent in 1994, to 11 million units, while production in the United States will climb 4.6 percent, to 11.2 million units.

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Child-Killer Diseases on Decline, Unicef Reports

Date: 21 December 1993

By Paul Lewis

Paul Lewis

Striking an upbeat note about its struggle to reduce infant mortality, Unicef says "a final offensive" may now be under way against the biggest killers of small children in the world. Its annual report, titled "The State of the World's Children," says that the press tends to dwell on bad news from the third world rather than the good. The report notes that infant deaths from pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, tetanus and whooping cough are all in retreat and that severe malnutrition is being reduced despite a 20 percent rise in the number of children under 5 in the last decade.

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Breaking the Mold in Mexico City

Date: 20 December 1993

By Anthony Depalma

Anthony Depalma

At least 33 daily newspapers are published in Mexico City, but when the newest, Reforma, first hit the streets last month, it was all alone. On that day, Nov. 20, Mexico commemorates the start of its 1910 Revolution. Newspapers are neither published nor distributed. Newsstands are not even open.

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Ameritech and G.E. in Deal

Date: 21 December 1993

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The Ameritech Corporation announced an agreement today to invest $472 million in the information services unit of the General Electric Company. It was the latest investment by a regional Bell operating company outside its core telephone business. Ameritech, based here, plans to buy a four-year note in GE Information Services, a fast-growing unit that had sales of $600 million last year.

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Chip Problems Delay an I.B.M. Upgrade

Date: 21 December 1993

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The IBM Personal Computer Company said today that a plan to upgrade its most advanced PS/2 models would be delayed because of technical problems in developing a new class of chip to power them. IBM PC had expected to announce the replacement of its year-old PS/2 models 76 and 77 next month with models having chips designed by IBM Microelectronics instead of the current 80486 DX chips from the Intel Corporation.

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INVESTMENT GROUP BUYS 6.78% STAKE IN FIBREBOARD

Date: 21 December 1993

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

A group of investors led by Carl Pohlad, who owns the Minnesota Twins baseball team, may seek to gain control of the Fibreboard Corporation, according to documents filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Pohlad's investment group, CRP 3800 Inc., bought 283,900 Fibreboard shares, or a 6.78 percent stake, between Nov. 12 and Dec. 17 for $27.12 to $32.37 a share. Fibreboard is a Concord, Calif., manufacturer of construction materials. Its shares fell 37.5 cents yesterday, to $31.75, on the American Stock Exchange.

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TIES APPROVED BETWEEN PRATT & WHITNEY AND DAIMLER

Date: 21 December 1993

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The European Commission has approved an agreement between Pratt & Whitney and a unit of Daimler-Benz A.G. to link their large commercial aircraft engine operations. Daimler-Benz and the United-Technologies Corporation, the parent of Pratt & Whitney, announced in March 1990 that they would tighten the links between the aircraft units through cross-investment. Under the agreement, the Daimler-Benz unit, MTU Motoren- und Turbinen-Union Munchen G.m.b.H., plans to increase its share in joint programs.

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MCDONNELL AGREES TO PENTAGON PLAN ON C-17 JET

Date: 21 December 1993

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The McDonnell Douglas Corporation said yesterday that it would accept a plan proposed by the Pentagon for the company's C-17 cargo plane. On Wednesday, the Pentagon put the troubled cargo plane program on two-year probation and threatened to buy only 40 of them unless there were improvements. The aircraft has been plagued by cost overruns totaling $1.5 billion, delayed flight tests and wings that failed stress tests. The Air Force had planned to buy 120 C-17's. Under the plan, McDonnell, based in St. Louis, will drop $1.2 billion in claims and will invest at least $456 million to shore up the program. The Pentagon will pay the company $348 million to settle past claims and finance flight-test improvements.

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JURY ORDERS DOMINO'S PIZZA TO PAY $79 MILLION

Date: 21 December 1993

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

A St. Louis County jury has ordered Domino's Pizza Inc. and a local Domino's operator to pay almost $79 million to a woman seriously injured when a delivery driver ran a red light and struck her car broadside, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Sunday. The jury awarded Jean Kinder, 49, $750,000 in actual damages and $78 million in punitive damages. She suffered head and spinal injuries in the January 1989 accident in south St. Louis. A Domino's spokeswoman said the company would appeal, the newspaper reported.

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G.M. DIVISION SELLS AIR PUMP BUSINESS TO COLTEC

Date: 21 December 1993

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The Saginaw division of the General Motors Corporation has sold its mechanical and electric air pump business to Coltec Industries of New York. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Coltec's automotive division will supply G.M. with emission pumps beginning in the second quarter of 1994.

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