28th of October 1995 News
Zprávy, jak se objevily na titulní stránce New York Times dne 28. října 1995
Journal; Good Night, David
Date: 28 October 1995
By Frank Rich
Frank Rich
To me, a fledgling news junkie growing up in Washington in the 50's and 60's, they were unmistakably giants. David Brinkley, who happened to live around the corner, turned TV news into a compulsory nightly ritual by bringing wit and skepticism to a trade in which most of the competitors sounded like ham actors auditioning for the role of Moses. Ben Bradlee, rising from the ashes of Camelot, refurbished a newspaper worth reading mainly for its comics with peppery new urban voices who finally woke up Washington's sleepy provincial culture. And Watergate was still to come. Hard to believe that both these vital men have now reached the valedictory stage that requires full-dress memoirs. Their charming new books -- the eponymous "David Brinkley" and Mr. Bradlee's "A Good Life" -- are as idiosyncratic as their authors, especially when professional autobiography gives way to personal preoccupations (wives for Mr. Bradlee, taxes for Mr. Brinkley). The occasional overlaps are revealing, too, whether it's their mutual detestation of Joseph McCarthy, affection for Barry Goldwater or surprise at the posthumous revelations of President Kennedy's sex life.
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INTERNAL INQUIRY TAKES TOLL ON SUNRISE MEDICAL SHARES
Date: 28 October 1995
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Shares of Sunrise Medical Inc., based in Carlsbad, Calif., tumbled yesterday after the company said it might have to restate its financial results after an internal investigation of its Bio Clinic unit. As a result of the investigation, the company's president, Larry Buckelew, and two other unidentified executives previously associated with Bio Clinic have been placed on paid leave. The medical equipment maker said its Bio Clinic subsidiary may have overstated net income and assets. The possible overstatements could force Sunrise to restate its results for several years.
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PULLMAN HIRES MERRILL LYNCH TO EXPLORE SALE STRATEGY
Date: 28 October 1995
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
The Pullman Company, based in Lebanon, N.J., said yesterday that it had hired Merrill Lynch & Company to help it explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of all or a portion of the company. The company, a maker of automotive components, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December. Pullman, best known for the railroad coaches it once made, now makes suspension bushings, high- pressure hoses and fittings, specialty wear-resistant components and multi-purpose storage tanks.
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Dollar Benefits From Recoveries In Mexican Peso and the Franc
Date: 28 October 1995
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
The dollar ended higher yesterday, benefiting from recoveries in the Mexican peso and the French franc. The dollar rose in early New York trading after a report showed that the United States economy grew more strongly than expected in the third quarter. The Commerce Department said gross domestic product expanded at a 4.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, well above analysts' expectations of 2.6 percent.
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Japanese Cite Merrill Lynch, and Some See Retaliation for Daiwa
Date: 28 October 1995
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Japanese securities regulators said today that Merrill Lynch Japan Inc. had violated a regulation to prevent brokerage firms from manipulating stocks during new-securities sales. They recommended that the Finance Ministry punish the brokerage house, a unit of the American firm. Japanese regulators have been criticized in the United States for their handling of the disclosure that Daiwa Bank Ltd. of Japan had incurred $1.1 billion in losses run up by a bond trader based in New York. Some analysts said they viewed today's announcement by the securities commission as a response. "It may be some sort of retaliatory reaction," said John Keefe, an independent securities analyst in New York. Officials of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission said Merrill Lynch broke a rule that prohibits an underwriter from buying the shares of a client while the underwriter is soliciting bids for new shares, convertible bonds or warrant bonds of that client. Merrill Lynch acknowledged that it broke the rule, but it said it did so with the knowledge of the Ministry of Finance. Officials of the securities firm said they believed the ministry was going to change the rule. The commission reported the irregularities to Finance Minister Masayoshi Takemura, who will decide how the Government should respond. Possible penalties range from a trading suspension of a few days to the revocation of the brokerage firm's securities license. Commission officials said they considered the violations serious because Merrill Lynch traders continued to break the law after being warned by one of the firm's lawyers. [ An official at the Ministry of Finance said any penalty imposed on Merrill Lynch was likely to be mild, Dow Jones reported. The official, speaking in an interview, quoted officals of the securities commission as saying there were likely to be no surprises if and when penalties were imposed. ] Under Japanese securities regulations, underwriters may not buy existing shares of a client between the time that a new security's price is announced and the time that bids for that security are accepted. The rule, which is to be waived if the stock market experiences a "dramatic decline," is designed to discourage underwriters from propping up stock prices in order to fetch an artificially high price for the new security. A commission official said a Merrill Lynch trader failed to exclude client shares from baskets of securities used in trading operations during times that Merrill Lynch was soliciting bids for new shares of those clients. The official said that Merrill Lynch's compliance officer warned the brokerage firm's traders to remove such stocks from their baskets. During arbitrage trading, most brokerage firms in Japan routinely buy and sell the stock baskets, which mimic the performance of Japanese equity indexes, instead of purchasing all stocks in an index. The commission official said the trader, who is not from Japan, told the compliance officer he was aware of the law but that the law was vague and was widely ignored. Masahito Amano, a lawyer at Merrill Lynch, confirmed that a trader had failed to remove client stocks from the baskets. But Merrill Lynch's compliance officer said he did not remember any traders being warned. He said Merrill Lynch knowingly broke the regulation while discussing it with the Ministry of Finance. And the brokerage firm believed the ministry was going to change the rule, he said. The compliance officer said Merrill Lynch was surprised that authorities had "taken this to be a grave and serious matter because we've been talking to them about it for the better part of a year." A statement issued by Merrill Lynch in New York said: "There was no market manipulation by Merrill Lynch, nor was anyone disadvantaged by the basket trading practices, which complied with both Tokyo Stock Exchange rules and accepted international practices followed industry-wide."
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NEWS SUMMARY
Date: 28 October 1995
International 2-5
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NEWS SUMMARY
Date: 28 October 1995
International 2-5 SAYING YES TO CANADA In an emotional outpouring, tens of thousands of Canadians converged on Montreal to declare their love of a united Canada and to beg Quebec voters not to vote for separation. 1 UNEASY TIES WITH CROATIA The role of retired American generals in the transformation of the Croatian Army into a highly effective fighting force is one element in the increasingly troubled ties between the United States and Croatia. 1 MEXICO FREES SUSPECTED REBEL The Mexican Government freed a jailed leftist accused of being a guerrilla leader, shedding a political embarrassment that jeopardized talks with the rebels and shook up financial markets. 2 COMPENSATION IN PHILIPPINES Money looted by the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos has been located in Switzerland and is headed for distribution to thousands of people who say they were victims of rights abuses in the Marcos era. 3 NO COMMENT TO JAPAN The State Department told the Japanese Ambassador it will not explain or confirm reports that the C.I.A. spied on Japanese negotiators during economic talks this year. 4 Predappio Journal: From shrine to Mussolini to forum on fascism. 4 National 6-11 SENATE PASSES BUDGET BILL By a vote of 52-47, the Senate passed a bill early today designed to balance the Federal budget by the year 2002. The bill, which would cut taxes by $245 billion and give states more responsibility for the poor, differed in some ways from the more conservative House version. 1 ECONOMY REBOUNDS BRISKLY The economy rebounded vigorously over the summer, growing at a 4.2 percent pace, the Commerce Department reported, while inflation, subsided still further. 1 CRITICISM BUILDS ON DRUG LAWS Some lawmakers have joined prisoner advocates in saying that recent uprisings at five prisons were caused by anger over Federal drug laws. 1 IOWA'S STRONG RELIGIOUS RIGHT A lot has changed in Iowa since Senator Bob Dole defeated George Bush, then Vice President, in the 1988 Presidential caucuses. But the religious right's takeover of the state Republican Party is the most significant. 6 TAKING A SHOT AT TALK SHOWS The Secretary of Health and Human Services called on talk-show hosts to balance their presentation of social problems and bizarre behavior with information on how people with problems can get help. 6 IMPLANT AWARDS MAY BE CUT AGAIN Another restructuring of a major silicone breast implant case could further reduce awards to thousands of women who said they were injured by the devices. 10 SNIPER KILLS FORT BRAGG SOLDIER As 1,300 soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., prepared for a predawn run, a sniper hiding in the woods killed 1 and wounded 18. A fellow soldier was arrested. 11 Metro Digest 23 H.M.O. PLAN FOR POOR ABANDONED New York City officials said they were abandoning their drive to force Medicaid recipients into cost-saving managed health care plans, after the Clinton Administration ordered the city to slow down and scale back the effort. 1 CHALLENGE OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE In outlining his goals, the new Schools Chancellor, Rudy Crew, said he wanted daily attendance across the system to rise to at least 95 percent. The experience of Sarah J. Hale High School in Brooklyn is but one indication of the formidable task that lies ahead for him. 1 Business Digest 33 Arts/Entertainment 13-19 Theater: "Murder at Minsing Manor: A Nancy Boys Mystery."14 "Crocodiles in the Potomac." 18 Film: "Dear Babe." 18 Music: "Voices of Light." 13 Rancid in concert. 14 "The Magic Flute."19 Dance: Works by Sean Curran. 14 Sports 27-32 Baseball: With Showalter gone, what's next for the Yanks? 27 Cleveland visits Atlanta tonight in Game 6 of the World Series 27 Basketball: The Nets beat the Hornets. 32 Horse Racing: What if it rains on the Breeders' Cup? 27 Columns: Anderson on Showalter 27 Obituaries 50 Editorials/Op-Ed 20-21 Editorials A new voice for school reform. Questions of justice in Okinawa. Surtitles come to the Met. Clinton stands up for fairness. Letters Frank Rich: Good night, David. Russell Baker: Failure under the gun. What to do with Governors Island? Michael A. Stocker: The ticket to better managed care. Chronicle 22 Bridge 18 Crossword 18
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Recording the Good News of the Gilded Age
Date: 29 October 1995
By Mary Gordon
Mary Gordon
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT gallery is part of the Smithsonian Institution, but it isn't located in the civic-pride-inducing Washington Mall. Across from the gallery, on a treeless and grassless mall, is a beautiful but derelict Victorian building; the abandoned first floor was once the home of Star Wigs, empty now except for a broom and a fading poster. A homeless man sleeps on the gallery staircase below the banners of Lincoln, Grant and George Washington Carver. Inside, two posters announce the current shows: one is a photograph of the leonine Frederick Douglass, the other, the neatly coiffed head and averted eyes of Cecilia Beaux, painted by herself. It would be difficult to imagine a painter whose work seems more distant from the press and stress of contemporary life, and this is part of the appeal of this new exhibition, which runs through Jan. 28. We seem to be hungry for the Gilded Age; Edith Wharton is virtually a cottage industry, and Jane Campion is directing a film of Henry James's "Portrait of a Lady."
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LASERVISION CENTERS IN PACT WITH SUMMIT TECHNOLOGY
Date: 28 October 1995
Laservision Centers Inc., which operates laser systems for correcting nearsightedness, agreed yesterday to buy 15 Excimer laser systems from Summit Technology Inc. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Summit Technology received F.D.A. approval on Oct. 20 to market its Excimer laser for treating low to moderate myopia. Laservision's six United States centers will begin operating as soon as surgeon training and installation of upgraded software are completed, it said. The St. Louis-based company has said it plans to open up to 50 Excimer laser centers in the next 12 months.
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HICKS MUSE, TATE ACQUIRES HEDSTORM
Date: 28 October 1995
Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. said yesterday that it had acquired the Hedstrom Corporation, a leading maker of children's outdoor play equipment. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hicks, Muse, a buyout firm based in New York, acquired Hedstrom from Ditri Associates Inc., a managment consulting firm based in Greenwich, Conn. Roy Winnick, a spokesman for Hicks, Muse, said the firm considered the deal "as the first of a number of transactions in the toy or equipment business." "It's an acquisition that can be a platform for add-on transactions," he said. "It's a rapidly growing business." John R. Muse, the managing director of Hicks, Muse, said in a statement that he would serve as chairman of Hedstrom, which is based in Coraopolis, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, and that Arnold E. Ditri would remain as Hedstrom's chief executive.
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