2
Nation/World
University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 1985
News Briefs
Smoking ban costly economist testifies
WASHINGTON — Witnesses told a Senate panel yesterday that restricting smoking in federal buildings would save money and lives, but an economist for the tobacco industry said there would be hidden costs in such a move.
NEW YORK - About half of the estimated 5 million to 6 million regular cocaine users in the United States are believed to be women and the use by women is increasing. Advertising Age magazine reported yesterday.
French actress dies
AUTHEUIL-AUTHOULELFT,
France — Simone Signoret, one of
the great actresses of French
cinema known for the sensuality
and gutty wisdom of her roles and
for her spirited defense of human
rights, died yesterday of cancer.
She was 64.
The tab for productivity lost by providing smoking breaks for smokers and putting up no smoking signs would be a half billion dollars, said Robert Tollison, a professor at George Mason University.
Signoret won widespread acclaim in the United States for the British film "Room at the Top." She won the 1959 Oscar for best actress for her performance in that film.
Female coke use up
The rapid rise in cocaine use by women was attributed to their influx into the workplace, where exposure to cocaine use is more likely. The magazine also said heightened career aspirations was a cause for the increase.
Oil spill still spreads
CLAYMONT, Del. — A 25-mile-long oil slick oozed down the Delaware River yesterday despite the efforts of three states and the Coast Guard to contain 435,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled from a ground tanker.
From staff and wire reports.
Indicators promise strong economy
Economists are optimistic
United Press international
WASHINGTON — The government's sensitive index of leading economic indicators went up 0.7 percent in August, the same as July, in a reassuring statement that there is no impending recession, government economists said yesterday.
"My own feeling is we are going to avoid a recession this year and in 1886," economist Lawrence Chimerine said after the report was issued.
"I think things are picking up a little bit," said Chimerine, head of the Chase Econometrics analysis firm.
The moderately healthy increases for the past two months coincide with a new optimism by Chimerine and many other analysts that stems not from the pace of business, but from what appears to be a long-term Federal Reserve policy of stable interest rates.
The recent U.S. declaration that it is cooperating with four other industrialized countries to knock
down the value of the dollar seems to require that the Fed not let the dollar become more attractive to investors by letting rates go up, they say. That would be a boon for the auto and housing industries.
The August increase in the index and an upward revision for July produced the strongest gains since February yet fell short of January's 1.3 percent increase. In fact, good economic news has been so hard to find that January still is the best month in the past year and a half for the index.
Six of August's individual indicators promise a stronger economy later this year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its report. However, the strongest indicator of all, an expanding money supply, is hardly a guarantee of anything, analysts point out, because the money supply and the economy seem to be on different tracks in recent months.
Also contributing to the August strength of the index were an increase in building permits, a lengthening of the average work week, the
formation of more new businesses than the month before and higher orders for consumer goods.
A slowdown in claims for unemployment benefits also was counted on the plus side.
"Although the rise in the leading indicators confirms that the economy will grow somewhat more rapidly during the final quarter, there is little evidence that this will translate into vigorous expansion," economist Gordon Richards said, speaking for the National Association of Manufacturers.
Manufacturing has lost jobs and almost all of its growth in the past year while service businesses such as health care and engineering have boomed.
A survey of nearly 350 business economists yesterday showed that a majority still expected a recession sometime in the next two years but that the majority was only 52 percent, slimmer than in recent past surveys.
Alien workers favored in bill
WASHINGTON - Administration officials told a House hearing yesterday that it favored allowing foreign farm workers into the country but proposed an alternative to a Senate-passed immigration bill to bring in 350,000 aliens.
United Press International
the administration proposal was criticized by several panel members, with Rep. Howard Berman, D-Callif, branding it "an unprincipled, hypocritical statement" reflecting the political power of the growers' lobby.
Botha invites blacks to talks
Growers largely dependent on aliens to harvest their crops, especially in the West, oppose employer sanctions and won approval of the new foreign labor force when the Senate passed its version of the immigration reform bill.
Alan Nelson, head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said the administration would support a foreign worker program for growers of perishable crops if it is capped in a realistic manner and eventually phased down.
Instead of the 350,000 that would be allowed to enter under an amendment by Sen. Pete Wilson, R-Calif., the administration proposal would let a special commission determine the number. It also calls for annual reductions.
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa — President Pieter W. Botha invited black leaders yesterday to negotiate with him on the future of South Africa and for the first time offered to bring them into the nation's highest advisory body.
United Press International
Addressing a crowd of 1,300 supporters and delegates to a provincial congress of his ruling National Party, Botha said tribal, political, church or business leaders of the black communities who "indicated they want to participate in negotiations on the future of the country . . . will be expected to make 2 a choice."
"Leaders cannot pay lip service to the principle of negotiation while at the same time attempting to cover their rears against radical elements who do not wish to
negotiate. One cannot serve two masters at the same time." Robta said.
Botha has previously insisted that anyone he talks to about the future of the country should first repudiate political violence but — perhaps significantly — did not bring up the condition yesterday.
Under international and domestic pressure to reform South Africa's apartheid laws, Botha also offered — for the first time — to bring blacks into the country's highest advisory body, the president's council.
"If the need exists among the leaders of black communities to participate within the president's council, I am willing to reconsider the structuring and functions of the president's council to make provision for their participation," he said.
Israeli-Jordanian talks may open
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan met with Jordan's King Hussein yesterday and expressed confidence that the complex issues foiling direct negotiations between Jordan and Israel could be resolved and that the peace talks could be opened by year's end.
Reagan also spoke out in support of a $1.9 billion package of arms sales to Jordan he formally requested last week as a sign of the U.S. support for the moderate monarch, whose peace
plans have angered more radical Arab elements.
"There are complex issues which must be resolved before negotiations begin, but I believe these issues can be resolved." he said.
"These arms are important in meeting Jordan's proven defense needs and as evidence that those who seek peace will not be left at the mercy of those who oppose it," the president said during a ceremony marking Hussein's departure from the White House.
"But peace, not arms, has been the focus of our discussions with our Jordanian friends," Reagan said. "All share the same objective, direct negotiations under appropriate auspices before the end of this year."
A key issue that needs to be resolved is Hussein's position, repeated during the meeting, that Israeli-Jordanian talks should be conducted within an international framework that would include the Soviet Union.
Reagan said direct negotiations should be held: "under appropriate auspices before the end of the year," but did not elaborate.
Russians abducted in Beirut
United Press International
The fundamentalist Islamic Jihad terror organization, responsible for a series of terrorist bombings and abductions against Western targets in the Middle East, took credit for the kidnappings and threatened to kill the men.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Gunmen armed with Soviet AK-47 submachine guns kidnapped four Russians from two Soviet Embassy cars in Moslem west Beirut yesterday, spiriting them away to undisclosed locations. It was the first reported abductions of Soviets in Beirut.
Seized by two gangs of gunmen were second secretary Valery Kornev, commercial attache Oleg Spir, cultural attachie Arkady Katakov and embassy physician Nikolai Steering, diplomatic sources said.
A caller to a Western news agency said the Soviets would be killed unless Moscow "exerts pressure to end the genocide in Tripoli," the northern port city where four leftist and communist militias, supported by Syrian rebels, were fighting to oust fundamentalist Moslem fighters.
The four men were abducted in two separate incidents within hours of each other.
Kornev and Siveski were taken from one car while Spirin and Katakov were forced from another vehicle. The captives were forced into other vehicles and driven away.
"The death sentence will be carried out soon against Valery' Kornev, Oleg Spirin, Arkady Kat'akov and Dr. Steering if Moscow does not exert pressure against the concerned parties to stop the annihilation of Mosiems in Tripoli," the caller said.
The kidnapping was the first involving Soviets in Beirut, where Moslem gunmen have snatched and are still holding 14 Westerners — six, Americans, four Frenchmen, three Britons and one Italian.
There was no further word yesterday on when the Islamic Jihad, which says it is holding the Americans and two Frenchmen, would hold a news conference with the hostages as it promised to do Sunday.
SUA EVENTS FOR OCTOBER