NEWS SUMMARY
Date: 19 March 1996
International A3-10
19. marts 1996 var en tirsdag under stjernetegnet for ♓. Det var 78 dag på året. Præsident for USA var William J. (Bill) Clinton.
Hvis du blev født på denne dag, er du 30 år gammel. Din sidste fødselsdag var den torsdag den 19. marts 2026, 84 dage siden. Din næste fødselsdag er fredag den 19. marts 2027, om 280 dage. Du har levet i 11.041 dage, eller omkring 265.002 timer, eller omkring 15.900.178 minutter eller omkring 954.010.680 sekunder.
Date: 19 March 1996
By Walter Goodman
Walter Goodman
So, as advertised, "Dateline" went up against "60 Minutes" for the first time, the young shootist drawing against the old pro. Making a judgment on this sort of contest on the basis of a single encounter is like picking the winner in an N.C.A.A. matchup after the first couple of minutes on the court, but the event invites attention. Did Sunday night get a lot more interesting, as the NBC advertisement promised? Did people who did not watch "60 Minutes" have nothing to talk about around the water cooler on Monday, as the CBS ad threatened? We can assume that both sets of producers put their strongest material forward. Most of the "Dateline" hour was given to a worry-of-the-week story about treatment in emergency wards. Here's what you have to lose sleep over this week: If you are carried from an accident in such dire shape that the hospital you wind up at cannot handle you, will you be accepted by a bigger hospital that has the surgeon you need?
Date: 19 March 1996
Bloomberg Business News
Bloomberg News
Westcott Communications said yesterday that it was exploring a possible sale or merger that would improve its ability to sell its interactive training systems to larger clients. The company is a provider of multimedia educational and training services. Shares of Westcott rose $2.063 yesterday, to $17.063. But the company could sell for about $25 a share, or $490 million, said Joel Krasner, a securities analyst at Southcoast Capital. Mr. Krasner named AT&T and MCI Communications as potential buyers. Westcott said a sale or merger would enable it to expand its subscriber base for its interactive educational training systems more rapidly.
Date: 20 March 1996
Dow Jones
Dow Jones
Caterpillar Inc. said yesterday that it would close its Precision Barstock Products unit in York, Pa., because the plant was not competitive. Caterpillar said it would begin closing the plant in the next few weeks and would complete the shutdown in two or three years. All of the 1,100 employees will be affected. Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., said it recorded a reserve in 1991 for the cost of the closing, so the shutdown would not have a significant impact on its current results. The company said it had made contract offers to the United Automobile Workers that would have allowed the plant to stay open. Union members at the plant ended a 17-month strike in December, returning to work despite rejecting the company's proposal for a six-year contract.
Date: 19 March 1996
By Alison Mitchell
Alison Mitchell
When President Clinton presents his $1.64 trillion budget for 1997 on Tuesday, it will be the opening initiative in a new phase of the Presidential race in which Pennsylvania Avenue supersedes the hustings. An unprecedented contest between a President of one party and the sitting Senate majority leader of another is now under way, and advisers to both Mr. Clinton and Senator Bob Dole say the campaign will be waged in the next few months in a legislative battle over a few issues. Central among them are the balanced budget, with its ancillary issues of Medicare and Medicaid, and welfare and other health care proposals.
Date: 19 March 1996
Bloomberg Business News
Bloomberg News
The Isolyser Company agreed to acquire Microtek Medical Inc. for $106.5 million in a move that would increase its overseas sales of disposable medical supplies. Under the agreement, Isolyser will issue stock valued at $87.5 million, or $16.50 a share, and assume $19 million of debt. In Nasdaq trading yesterday, shares of Microtek rose $4.375, to $15.625. Shares of Isolyser rose 62.5 cents, to $17.50. Microtek makes disposable products like drapes and pouches for use in operating rooms. Isolyser also makes disposable products for health care uses. Fred Harlow, Isolyser's chief financial officer, said the acquisition gave the company, which has little international presence, a broader market for its disposable products.
Date: 20 March 1996
AP
Caremark International Inc. will spend $65.6 million to settle disputes with insurers arising from a Government fraud investigation of kickbacks that the company, a health services concern, paid physicians for patient referrals. The settlement announced yesterday "resolves good-faith business disputes" stemming from the investigation and is not an admission of wrongdoing, said C. A. Lance Piccolo, Caremark's chairman and chief executive. The money will be deducted from Caremark's 1996 first-quarter profits. It is more than three times the $21.4 million Caremark earned in the first quarter of last year. Caremark, based in Northbrook, Ill., pleaded guilty last year to Federal fraud charges and agreed to pay $161 million in civil and criminal fines.
Date: 20 March 1996
Bloomberg Business News
Bloomberg News
A group of 1,092 investors at Lloyd's of London won the main points yesterday in a negligence case against agents of the insurance market, dealing a blow to efforts by Lloyd's to settle litigation and refinance after five years of losses. The British High Court ruled that the underwriter for the Rose Thomson Young syndicate 255/258 in 1988 and 1989 acted incompetently in assessing and managing the insurance risk on these syndicates and that his incompetence was allowed by the syndicates' managing agents. The victory was the latest in a series of legal victories for Lloyd's investors. The Lloyd's market, suffering from five years of losses and facing lawsuits from 40 percent of its investors, has proposed a settlement of L2.8 billion, or $4.3 billion, and a debt relief package to end the litigation; Lloyd's investors have said that the sum must be increased to sway them from pursuing damages through the courts. Exact damages and an interim payment in yesterday's case are to be determined later.
Date: 19 March 1996
Bloomberg Business News
Bloomberg News
The J. C. Penney Company will budget about $700 million in capital spending each of the next three years, open 100 new stores in 1996 and close 50 to 60 stores, a company executive said. Penney's also plans to modernize 500 stores, and place a new emphasis on women's apparel and accessories, said Wynn Watkins, vice president and director of investor relations. The company plans to open nine of its J. C. Penney Home Store outlets this year and 12 in 1997.