Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.news From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: news Tue, Feb 25 1992 Date: Tue, 25 Feb 92 06:35:01 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Feb. 25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BAKER TELLS ISRAEL TO CHOOSE: Secretary of State James Baker Monday told Israel to halt settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip or forgo $10 billion in loan guarantees from its longtime ally. He said if Israel completes housing started Jan. 1, the USA would support smaller loan guarantees. But the USA would deduct a dollar for each dollar Israel spent finishing the houses. GM ANNOUNCES LOSS, CLOSINGS: General Motors announced double misery Monday: A record 1991 loss of $4.5 billion; and details of a restructuring that will eliminate 74,000 jobs. The big loser in the plant-closing battle was the Willow Run, Mich., plant, which was chosen for closing over Arlington, Texas. Chairman Robert Stempel said GM "must accelerate fundamental changes in the way (it) does business." HAITIANS CAN BE SENT HOME: The Supreme Court Monday allowed the Bush administration to continue the forced return of Haitians to their Caribbean homeland. The 8-1 decision ends the legal fight over the refugees' fate and shifts the battle to Congress this Wednesday. Meanwhile, ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide insists Haiti's top general, implicated in the Sept. 30 coup, leave the country. HUNT FOR KILLERS EXPANDS: The hunt for three escaped West Virginia killers expanded Monday to a three-state area as one took a hostage at gunpoint and drove to Erie, Pa. Police and FBI agents think David Williams, one of three killers who tunneled to freedom last Wednesday, surprised Richard Porter, at his Brentwood, W.Va., home and took him hostage. Porter escaped when Williams stopped for gas. TOTENBERG WOULD RISK JAIL: National Public Radio reporter Nina Totenberg said she'd risk jail rather than cooperate with a Senate investigation into who leaked Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Totenberg told prosecutor Peter Fleming she destroyed her notes, documents and phone logs from the story that led the Senate to reopen Thomas' confirmation hearing. IRAQ TALKS PRODUCE NOTHING: A United Nations envoy Monday left Baghdad after weekend talks with Iraq failed to produce any significant results. Rolf Ekeus of the U.N.'s Iraqi arms destruction commission said he and top Iraqi officials could not even agree on a joint statement to the Security Council. Ekeus this week will report to the council on Iraq's latest refusal to cooperate with weapons inspectors. PERKINS TAPPED FOR U.N.: President Bush on Monday nominated Edward Perkins, 63, as his new U.N. ambassador. Perkins, praised for his experience in South Africa and for bringing minorities into the foreign service, is the first minority to serve as director-general of the Foreign Service. Observers expect his nomination will easily be confirmed. He was the first black ambassador to South Africa. MIGRANT WORKERS LACK BENEFITS: A government report out Monday from the General Accounting Office found that migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their children often do not get proper medical and health services or Social Security benefits. The report said they have no guaranteed minimum wage and often live in substandard, unsanitary housing. They face health risks from work in pesticide-laden fields. PROP. 13 CASE HEARD: The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday hears an appeal in the case of a taxpayer fighting California's Proposition 13. That measure slashed property values for existing homeowners and froze them at 1975 market value. It limited new buyers' tax bills and capped yearly increases, but based assessments on sometimes dramatically higher new purchase prices. The court ruled against a similar 1989 case. DRUG SUMMIT TO CONVENE: President Bush is expected to convene the second drug summit Wednesday in San Antonio to reinforce the drug war he launched in 1990. Drug policy director Bob Martinez said he expects Bush and the heads of state of five Latin American countries to announce specific targets for reducing both the supply and demand of narcotic drugs. Bush is expected to hold two days of talks. EAST TO GET SOAKED: Rains will soak the East Tuesday, while sunshine continues to dry out the West. A weak storm will sprinkle snow over the Great Lakes Tuesday morning. Partly sunny skies will blanket the northern and central Plains. Northern locations will welcome a warming trend as temperatures reach into the 50s and 60s. Sunshine and warm conditions will return to the Pacific Northwest. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Tuesday at 3282.42, after closing up 2.23 Monday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 227.62, up 0.16. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 411.80, down 1.05. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 624.93, down 4.82. News Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. 08:0002250000D0225 ADVE- R O `Fish-Police'-debuts-Friday........... A D0225 This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM