European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 19, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 28 the stars and stripes tuesday August 19,1986 Japan tops business group s rankings Geneva a Japan has replaced the United states As the world s most competitive nation in business the Geneva based european management forum says in a report comparing 31 industrialized countries. The United states moved Down to Sec Ond place from last year followed by Switzerland West Germany and Den Mark. The study based its conclusions on statistics from International organizations such As the United nations and world Bank and on an opinion Survey of Lead ing businessmen and economists in the countries ranked. It is published annually by the privately funded Independent foundation which also sponsors International Busi Ness seminars. The report said Japan which dropped from first place in 1984 to third place last year had recaptured the top spot despite undue pessimism reflected by businessmen in the Survey. It did not explain what caused the pessimism. It cited a growing and efficient re search and development Effort and political stability As among Japan s strengths. Thriff institutions ailing new Gao study shows new York not the nation s savings and loan associations arc in far worse financial condition than Federal regulators and the Thrift Industry have acknowledged new government research suggests. A study by the general accounting office shows that there Are 461 More Thrift institutions with negative net Worth their liabilities exceed their As sets than the Federal Home loan Bank Board says there arc. The Gao study evaluating Thrift units with a different accounting system than that used by the Bank Board also found that 830 other savings and loan associations had net Worth less than the 3 percent regulatory minimum. This would mean that 1,291, or 43 percent of the nation s approximately 3,000 Thrift institutions arc either insolvent or close toil. While the number of ailing Thrift institutions and their reported net Worth has Little financial effect on depositors each Deposit is insured up to $100,000 the Bank Board is trying to push through Congress a Rescue plan for its Federal savings and loan insurance corp. Much of the debate surrounding the Board s plan a dispute that is largely a matter of accounting has entered on How Many Thrift institutions Are truly in bad shape which would affect future payouts by the insurance corporation. The Bank Board and the United states league of savings arc on one Side of the debate with Gao experts and other re searchers on the other. You be got two savings industries out there said Gillian g. Garcia the Gao economist who conducted the study. There is a Bunch of healthy institution that arc doing very Well. But there arc a Large number of institutions out there that Are a problem and Are a potential demand on the folic fund. And the important thing is that the potential liability is Robert j. Sahadi director of the Bank Board s office of policy and economic research said we think there is a significant problem. But those people who take some accounting numbers and some dated statistical data and see doom an gloom and say the sky is falling Well it just in t the All on downed plane died Sudan official says Khartoum. Sudan a a Suda Nese rebel group monday claimed responsibility for shooting Down a Sudan airways plane. A provincial governor confirmed that All 60 people aboard died. A radio broadcast by the Sudan peo Ples liberation army said the plane was shot Down saturday near Malaval by members of its Fashoda battalion. The broadcast monitored in Nairobi Kenya blamed the deaths on the Suda Nese government for ignoring rebel warn Ings not to Fly Over rebel controlled Terri tory. In Malaval col. Simon Danang governor of upper Nile province told the Sudan news Agency there were no survivors aboard the Fokker Friendship plane which crashed saturday after being hit by & missile As it left Malaval for Khartoum. Danang said All the victims most of them women and children were Suda Nese. He vowed to make Spla Leader John Garang pay the Price for his Sav age Charley from Page 1 customers in three Southern new Jersey counties lost Power for about an hour monday morning. Virginia Utility Crews worked monday to restore electricity to 110,000 custom ers blacked out sunday by Charley s High winds and the storm washed out 250 feet of Harrison s pier a Norfolk land Mark. The 17-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel linking Norfolk with the Eastern Shore was closed sunday night after authorities clocked a wind gust at 104 Mph. The Tunnel reopened Early monday. As Many As 10,000 tourists and Resi dents fled the fragile Barrier islands of North Carolina s outer Banks but authorities said the traffic Jam was the worst problem they faced. On sunday More than 9,000 people in Maryland Virginia and Delaware evacuated to emergency shelters. Charley shut Down Norfolk International Airport and the Navy recalled thousands of sailors in Case it would be necessary to ride out the storm at sea. It was decided however to ride out the storm in port. In North Carolina Charley dumped 2.47 inches of rain on Cape Hatteras an left water standing 2 to 3 feet deep in pans of Manteo and a foot deep inside the Manteo courthouse. The Overall picture for the United states is still favourable the report said. It attributed the drop in position mainly to a More subdued optimism on the part of . Survey respondents and to poor prospects for near and medium term in vestment growth. Switzerland s competitiveness is helped by a Strong service sector the re port said and the country s Small size is compensated for by a ranking system partly based on per capita performance. West Germany kept its fourth place because it is a Model of solid Steadi Ness with near Zero inflation and Good Industrial relations the report said. Britain France and Italy lagged far behind in 15th, 16th, and 18th places. France was Hurt by state interference in Industry the report said noting that thelow ranking did not reflect recent moves by the newly elected government of prime minister Jacques Chirac to privatize Many industries. Greece again ranked last of the 22 Western countries Analysed. The report which uses 340 criteria to form its choices also ranked nine newly industrialized nations. It named Taiwan As the most competitive with Singapore second and Hong Kong third. Appolo airmen from the 435th civil engr so at Rhein main a Germany Lay heavy steel plates normally used for runways on the ground in front of Frankfurt s Deutsche Bank to assist in the moving of a 40-ton piece of Sculp airmen go artistic hire hat was donated o the City by Spain. Frankfurt officials asked Force to help ease the huge Monument into place. The work by Spanish artist Eduardo Cal Ollda is called a House for candid israeli soviet meeting ends abruptly Helsinki Finland a israeli representatives pressed Kremlin delegates on jewish emigration from the so Viet Union and Middle East armament monday an israeli official said before the two countries first official talks in 19years broke off unexpectedly after just 90 minutes. Israeli officials nonetheless expressed satisfaction with the truncated discussions originally scheduled to last two Days and said both sides agreed to hold future meetings. The meeting was held in a candid and Concrete atmosphere israeli for eign ministry spokesman Ehud Gol said at a news conference. We both were Able to present our positions. We agreed to continue contacts later within the proper diplomatic the soviet embassy said it had no immediate comment on the talks the first official soviet israeli discussions since the Kremlin broke relations with Israel Over the 1967 six Day War. A foreign ministry official in Jerusalem said the russians did t have any authority to make decisions. It was a forum simply for exchanging Israel says 400,000 of the soviet Union s 2.5 million jews have taken Steps to emigrate but they Are kept from doing so by the government. Thirty one jews were allowed to leave in july the lowest figure in 11 months. The soviets maintain that most of those who wanted to leave have Bee allowed to do so
