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Friday, November 13, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Delay of cost of living increases may occur to decrease spending
WASHINGTON — White House and congressional budget negotiators, with a deficit-reduction blueprint suddenly slipping from their grasp, yesterday considered a delay in cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients and federal workers.
Trying to come up with more spending cuts to satisfy administration demands, the negotiators considered imposing a three-month delay for the cost-of-living
increases scheduled in January for federal pay and retirement benefits.
Such a move would cut the deficit by about $2 billion in fiscal 1988.
Several sources close to the negotiations said the idea was favorably received but no agreement was reached. There were doubts about the political viability of a move that could affect so many people.
4 reported killed in Bangladesh violence
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Youths hurling rocks and homemade bombs clashed with police firing guns and tear gas yesterday during nationwide demonstrations against President Hussain Muhammad Eradh. Three civilians and an officer were reported killed.
Dhaka's shops remained closed in observance of a general strike called by Ershad's opponents.
One policeman was killed and another seriously injured by a bomb thrown at a truck carrying police officers near the state-run television station, the Home Ministry said in a statement.
In Rajbari, 50 miles west of Dhaka, three people were killed when police opened fire on demonstrators, reporters at the scene said.
Church settles quarrel over singer's tomb
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — A year and a half after her death led to a squabble over the size of her tomb, singer Kate Smith will be entounded Saturday in a slightly shaved version of the huge pink granite mausoleum specified in her will.
Miss Smith was known for her contrallo warble, her large frame and her trademark rendition of "God Bless America."
Miss Smith's will requested a $40,000 mausoleum.
From The Associated Press.
Ortega has cease-fire plan
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said yesterday that he had a concrete proposal for achieving a cease-fire with the contras.
Ortega, here for a meeting of the Organization of American States, told reporters he would announce his plan today.
Ortega also accused President Reagan of reneging on a promise Reagan was alleged to have made last August to hold direct talks with Sandinista authorities.
"We are making an appeal for the president to keep his word," Ortega said.
Ortega said that pledge was contained in the bipartisan agreement Reagan signed with House Speaker Jim Wright in an effort to broaden the base of support for administration policy in Central America.
Ortega renewed his call for direct talks with Reagan, even though he described the president in scathing terms, at one point calling him an executioner.
There were strong hints that the cease-fire proposal would include a role for Wright, D-Texas, in the efforts to reach a cease-fire, but Ortega said he could not provide details because the plan was still being refined.
"We want the proposal to be realis- and effective. We want the coas-
ture (pp. 15)."
diary between the Sandinistas and the contras because he did not have the time and felt that such a role was inappropriate for someone outside of Central America.
Congressional sources said last week that Wright had declined an offer to join the board.
But meetings Wednesday and yesterday between Wright and Ortega left the impression that Wright may have agreed to play a role. Last week, Wright said he might be willing to send a congressional delegation to Nicaragua to verify the cease-fire.
"I'm encouraging both sides to be forthcoming," Wright said as he entered a session with contra leaden counsel's it’s its direction of getting a cease-fire."
Wright has been an influential figure on the Central American issue.
Trade deficit shrinks $1.6 billion
WASHINGTON — The nation's trade deficit eased to 1.41 billion in September, the government reported yesterday in statistics that suggested the U.S. import-export picture was better even before the stock market crash
The Associated Press
The report, marking the lowest trade shortfall in four months, touched off a rally in the financial markets.
improvement came from a decline in oil imports, imports of manufactured goods also fell, and exports of U.S. made products rose sharply.
Economists took this as a sign that the long-awaited turnabout in trade accounts from a declining dollar finally may have begun and that it started weeks before the Oct. 19 stock market collapse.
The Commerce Department said
A lower-valued dollar makes imports more expensive and U.S. goods more competitive abroad.
that the merchandise trade deficit,
the gap between imports and
exports, decreased by $1.6 billion in
September from $15.7 billion in
August.
Nominee wins early attention
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 61.01 points, and the dollar, which sank to new 40-year lows earlier in the week, rallied in New York, rising nearly a yen to 135.83 yen. It also was sharply higher against European currencies.
The Associated Press
Although much of the trade
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Anthony M. Kennedy won words of support from former opponent Jesse Helms yesterday in a day of White House peacemaking sessions free of the bitterness that followed President Reagan's previous two nominations.
"I think he'll make a fine member of the Supreme Court," Helms, R.N.C., an outspoken member of the Senate's conservative wing, told reporters after meeting separately with Reagan and with the federal appellate judge. However, a spokeswoman said Helms wouldn't make a decision until after confirmation hearings.
Late last month, after the Senate voted down Reagan nominee Robert H. Bork, Kennedy was considered the front-runner for the court vacancy until Helms said there was no way he would support a Kennedy nomination and other conservatives also indicated displeasure. Reagan then nominated Douglas H. Ginsburg, who withdrew last weekend after admitting past marijuana use.
The president also met with Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, as Kennedy made courtesy calls.
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