8B
Friday, March 10, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
New unemployment benefits claims increase
Economists are unsure whether market is slowing
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — New claims for unemployment benefits increased by 4,000 last week, fueling debate among some economists about whether the job market is weakening.
"The initial unemployment claims data continue to indicate a slowdown in the labor market," said Marilyn Shaja, an economist with Donaldson, Lufkn & Jenrette Securities Corp. in New York.
Not so, said economist Samuel D. Kahan of Fuji Securities Inc. in Chicago. Claims tend to jump up in February because of difficulties in adjusting the data for seasonal adjustments.
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment
insurance totaled a seasonally adjusted 336,000 last week,the Labor Department reported yesterday. It was the first increase in three weeks.
"Claims seem to be creeping up into the 330,000 to 340,000 range from the 320,000 to 330,000 range they had been stuck in since the summer," Schaja said.
But Kahan said that with the end of the seasonal adjustment problem, claims would return to the 320,000-330,000 range because nothing has happened to cause an
increase. If claims approach the 350,000 level, a case could be made for a slowing labor market, he said.
The additional claims last week boosted the closely watched, four-week moving average to 340,000, up 4,250 from 335,750 during the period that ended Feb. 25. This average was the highest since 347,750 during the period that ended July 30.
Analysts prefer to track the fourweek average because it smooths out the spikes in the more volatile
weekly reports.
Many analysts expect the jobless rate in the government's February employment report, being released today, to fall back to 5.6 percent. The jobless rate was 5.7 percent in January. The consensus forecast is for a rebound in nonfarm job growth to 225,000 in February, from just 134,000 a month earlier.
In its jobless claims report, the Labor Department said nine states and territories reported increases during the week that ended Feb. 25.
and 44 reported decreases. The state totals lag behind the national figures by a week and are not seasonally adjusted.
The largest increases were in Massachusetts, 3,414; South Carolina, 1,240; Rhode Island, 1,186; Connecticut, 789, and Arkansas, 602.
The largest decreases were in California, 5,468; New York, 4,248; Pennsylvania, 3,932; Tennessee, 2,885, and Ohio, 2,873.
Tiny particles kill even when pollution standards are met
The Associated Press
NEW YORK—Tiny particles from smokestacks, car engines and other sources can kill even when the pollution meets clean air standards, according to a study of more than a half-million Americans.
The new work is a very strong study, virtually unassailable, said Philip Landrigan, a professor of community medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, who wasn't involved in the study.
The study, the largest ever on the topic, found that death rates in the areas most polluted with the particles were 17 percent higher than in the least polluted areas.
That was due to a 31 percent higher rate of death from heart and lung disease. One kind of particle also was associated with more deaths from lung cancer.
Most cities in the study complied with federal standards for particle pollution, said study co-author Douglas Dockery. Cities with average pollution, which complied with federal standards, still had about a 5 percent higher death rate than the cleanest cities, he said yesterday.
The study raises the issue of whether new federal standards are needed to control the tiny particles, which are now treated as part of a category that includes larger ones, said Dockery, an associate professor of environmental epidemiology at the Havard School of Public Health.
The tiny particles measure at most about one-fortieth the width of a human hair.
John Bachmann, of the federal Environmental Protection Agency's office of air quality planning and standards, said similar studies had made EPA take a much harder look at regulating the tiny particles.
The EPA now is reviewing the national standard for particles and may increase controls on the tiny particles, he said.
The new findings are published in the March issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine by scientists from Harvard, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and the American Cancer Society.
The study included 552,138 men and women in 151 metro areas who were followed from 1982 to 1989. Researchers estimated their exposure to the particles from federal air quality data and searched death certificates to see who died and from what cause.
The work confirms results of a 1993 study that included more than 8,000 people in six communities.
The effects of the particle pollution appeared for smokers and for people who had never smoked. Dockery said that the pollution not only affected people who were sick already, but also made initially healthy people ill.
Dockery said researchers studied the very tiny particles because they were small enough to get past the mouth and nose and penetrate deeply into the lungs. They apparently promote disease by damaging lung tissue.
Offensive Bibles are recalled for derogatory stereotypes
The Associated Press
PARIS—A Roman Catholic bishop said yesterday he had ordered the recall of a new Bible that portrays Jews with old-fashioned stereotypes long considered derogatory.
Jean-Charles Thomas, the bishop of Versailles, acknowledged the "Bible for Christian Communities," for which he wrote the preface, had an anti-Semitic aspect.
About 60,000 copies have been sold in France and Belgium since May 1994.
The Bible is the work of Bernard Hurault, a missionary in Chile who intended it for poor people. Eighteen million copies in English and
Spanish have been distributed in South America.
Responding to protests, Thomas withdrew his approval of the text and ordered publishers to make revisions and add his apologies. Dissatisfied with the result, French Jewish leader Jean Kahn complained to the Vatican, which agreed that the text "contradicted the teachings of the Vatican II."
According to the text, the Jewish people killed Christ because they "were not able to control their fanaticism." The Bible also reduced Jewish custom to "folkloric duties involving circumcision and hats."
Thomas then ordered the recall.
Mexico requests freezing of account Former anti-narcotics prosecutor said to have millions in Texas bank
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Attorney General has asked the United States to freeze millions of dollars deposited in U.S. banks by a former anti-narcotics prosecutor accused covering up investigation of his own brother's murder.
The government said former deputy attorney general Mario Ruiz Massieu had at least $6.9 million in the Texas Commerce Bank of Houston.
It said in a statement issued Wednesday night there may be more accounts in other banks. News reports, quoting prosecution sources, have estimated Ruiz Massieu could have deposited from $13 million to $24 million.
Ruiz Massieu was arrested at Newark International Airport last week for failing to declare about $30,000 in cash to U.S. customs. There's been no official explanation of where the money came from, but Ruiz Massieu's job as top drug enforcement officer has led to speculation he might have been taking payoffs from traffickers.
The Mexican government is seeking his extradition, saying he covered up investigations into the murder of his brother.
Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, the No.2 man of Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, was shot to death last September as he was leaving a Mexico City restaurant.
The former prosecutor apparently ignored depositions naming Raul Salinas de Gortari, brother of then-President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, as the mastermind of the crime. The former president has not been implicated.
Mario Ruiz Massieu resigned in November, accusing top ruling party officials of trying to block his investigation of the murder, which he said was motivated by attempts to prevent reform of the party.
Officials now say the killing could have been motivated by personal conflicts between Raul Salinas and the victim.
Peso now worth less than half of its December value
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — The peso plunged sharply today from Wednesday's record low, meaning its value is less than half what the currency was worth before the disastrous slide that began in December.
Apparently hoping to stem the collapse, the central bank announced at midday that the government's long-awaited economic plan would be announced "very shortly." Delays in the plan have helped depress the economy.
"The program centers on strengthening public finances, maintaining the credit of the central bank within narrow limits (and to) ensure that financial institutions are able to fully comply with their obligations and improve the position of debtors," a central bank bulletin said.
"The program does not contemplate the introduction of any restriction on external payments or moratoria of any kind," said the bulletin, which — in an unusual step — was released in English, apparently aimed at mollifying foreign investors who are increasingly pessimistic about keeping their money in Mexico.
The Mexican currency closed at 6.995 to the dollar Wednesday, below Tuesday's record low, 6.795. By midday today it took 7.5 pesos to purchase $1.
Put another way, the peso, worth about 29 cents on Dec. 19, is now worth 13 cents.
The peso's plunge helped drag down the dollar in global foreign exchange trading, extending the slide of the U.S. currency.
Traders said they were concerned about repeated delays in government announcement of a new emergency economic plan.
Mexico's Congress voted Tuesday to accept the $20 billion U.S. loan package intended to stop the peso's plunge. The package passed despite opposition criticism of its high interest rates and mandatory spending cuts, and complaints that it gives Washington too much control over Mexico's economy.
President Ernesto Zedillo said he was waiting for the congressional vote before announcing his plans for wage and price controls intended to stop the economic slide, but there was no word Wednesday on when he would release it.
Repeated delays in releasing the plans would suggest Zedillo can't agree on common goals with Mexico's powerful labor movement.
At a bond auction Wednesday, the Treasury raised rates paid on its 28-day bond by 8.29 percent to 57.99 percent in an attempt to attract investors.
goals with Mexico's powerful labor movement.
At a bond auction Wednesday, the Treasury raised rates paid on its 28-day bond by 8.29 percent to 57.99 percent in an attempt to attract investors.
Ferrari introduces $500,000 speed monster
The Associated Press
GENEVA — Imagine a Ferrari on steroids, and you'll begin to picture the new F50: a speed monster with an authentic Formula One racing engine at a turbo-charged price — $500,000.
Of course, that includes seats custom-made for each buyer, a special pair of driving shoes and a souvenir photo album of each step of your car's construction.
The Ferrari F50, which made its debut yesterday at the Geneva Motor Show, was designed to commemorate Ferrari's 50th anniversary next year.
Typically air-lung with huge forward air intakes, sleek lines sweeping gracefully up to the rear airfoil and aerodynamic slopes behind both seats, the F50 is part Batmobile, part ballistic missile.
The 12-cylinder, 4.75-liter rear mounted engine generates 520
By contrast, a 1994 Chevrolet Corvette LT1 moves from 0 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and has a top speed of 170 mph, according to Road & Track magazine. Of course, that car sells for about $460,000 less than the F50.
horsepower, moving the car from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and taking the carbon-fiber body to a top speed of 203 mph.
Only 349 F508 will be made in Ferrari's factory near Moderna in northern Italy. Those who are tempted should act fast — Ferrari says half already have been reserved.
"Our studies showed a market for 350 cars like this," said Ferrari representative Antonio Ghini. "But Ferraris are something cultural, a monument. They must be hard to find, so we will produce one less car than the market."
Ferrari is not the first carmaker to generate this type of sticker shock.
Fifty F50s each will be sold in the United States, Germany and Italy, Ferrari's biggest markets. Most of the others will sell in Asia and elsewhere in Europe.
The F50 doesn't require special gasoline, meets current U.S. emission standards and Ferrari guarantees that maintenance by specially trained crews will be available in each market.
"We have, in 50 years of racing, won every kind of victory: Formula One, Le Mans, Dayton, Sebring." President Luca di Montezemolo said. "In this car we put 50 years of know-how."
But he said the F50 was the first and last car Ferrari would build based on a Formula One engine due to tougher emission standards going into effect in the next few
In 1992 came the list-price $645,000
Jaguar XJ220; last year, it was the
$406,000 Bugatti EB-110.
Sinking from a record high 4,612 sales in 1991, Ferrari sold 2,800 cars last year and hopes to increase to 3,000 this year. The carmaker recently opened a showroom in Beijing.
"It will be impossible to do again," he said.
And what does the president of Ferrari roar off in when he gets behind the wheel? Di Montezemolo says he liked the 456GT 2+2 four-seater with its own 436-horsepower, 5.5-liter power plant.
But he also drives a white Panda made by Fiat, which is Ferrari's parent company. The chunky little city car is a step below a Ford Fiesta.
"It's comfortable driving around town, and it has four-wheel drive, nice for where I live," di Montezolo said. "And it's easier to park."
years in the United States and elsewhere.