European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes wednesday March 18, 1992 at a glance is s it it a n o . Sailors Are winning the hearts of Young Spanish orphans. Read the Story with photos on pages 14 and 15 to learn All about the youngsters sea daring Day that also gave them their first taste of a a real american  express plans cuts Federal express corp. Said monday that it planned to slash its Domestic business in Europe and reduce its work Force there by 6,600. A Page 4award less than sought Paramount pictures was ordered to pay newspaper columnist Art Buchwald $150,000 and his partner $750,000, far less than they had sought for their contributions to the hit 1988 Eddie Murphy movie coming to America. A Page 6de Klerk confident of vote South african Whites turned out in huge numbers tuesday for a referendum on ending centuries of racial domination. President , de Klerk said he was sure of Victory a Page 0the simple life for him Holger Schmidt says he gets All he needs out of life by picking berries fishing and repairing televisions and radios in a Small Northern Village of Sweden. But Sweden wants to expel the German immigrant because it says he does t make enough Money. A Page 9unhealthful rules imposing stricter health standards in the workplace could make workers poorer and therefore sicker the White House has ruled. A Page 18 Index Abby Ann Landers. 19 action line. 16 comics. 19-21 commentary. 13 crossword. 19 faces a no places. 22 letters. 12 Money matters. 17-18 sports. 23-28 to listings. 27 weather. 11 Economy snaps out of slump latest critical reports reveal Washington a construction of new Homes and apartments soared in february to its highest level in nearly two years and Industrial production rebounded after a three month slide the government said tuesday providing further evidence the Economy has pulled out of its stall. Meanwhile the labor department said consumer prices Rose a moderate 0.3 percent in february pulled up by higher food and clothing costs. And the Commerce department said the broadest measure of the nations Trade deficit Nar rowed to $8.62 billion last year the smallest in nine years. Housing starts surged an unexpectedly Strong 9.6 percent to 1.30 million units the highest level since March 1990. The Commerce department said it was the biggest gain in a year. Increases were registered m every Region of the country. In Advance most economists were expecting a slight Rise or a decline. The Federal Reserve reported that total output at the nations factories mines and utilities advanced 0.6 percent after declines in november december and january. It was the strongest increase since july. About half of it was accounted for by increased activity on Auto and truck Assembly lines. The increase in consumer prices although the biggest in three months followed a 0.1 percent gain in january. For the first two months of the year inflation was advancing at a 2.2 percent annual rate Well below the 3.1 percent gain for All of 1991, the department said. A february is really the first month of the revived recovery As far As i can see a said economist Robert g.  from Page 1 disease control have undertaken a vaccination Survey in the Central asian states of Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The United states plans to transport up to 10 flights of vaccines into Thi Ese areas for children. Meanwhile the defense department has been sending Relief supplies from Pittsburgh and Albany n.y., and future flights will carry material from Decatur 111. La Crosse wis. And Seattle and Spokane Wash. Deputy Secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger met with american business people recently to discuss How to facilitate investment in the former soviet Union. They looked at such key areas As Clearing away Legal impediments to investments obtaining adequate Protection in the new states accelerating privatization and creating a data Bank for potential investors. The United states which now has embassies in 11 of the 12 new states already has pledged about $5 billion in assistance to the former soviet Union a most of it in agricultural credits. Former president Nixon suggested last week that the administration is not doing enough to help these states. He said failure to step up Aid could result in the ouster of democratic forces there by people less Friendly to the West. Tutwiler termed the economic situation in the former soviet republics  from Page 1 contacted officials on Capitol Hill. A was late As last thursday i was still telling jokes about it a Cheney said at a Pentagon news briefing. A it does no to seem As funny  the scandal plagued House Bank was closed in december following a general accounting office investigation that turned up wide spread abuses of the organizations Liberal policies. Cheney served As the Lone representative from Wyoming from 1979 until 1989, when he resigned to take his current Post. President Bush nominated Cheney after the Senate rejected Bush a first Choice for defense Secretary the late sen. John Tower of Texas. Cheney said he and his wife kept track of their various Bank accounts by reviewing their Bank statements each month. Financial Counselor with army Community services offices and air Force family support centers advise keeping a Check by Check balance of All Active accounts. With an enlarged copy of one of his House Bank monthly statements on display he insisted that none of the statements he reviewed showed that he had overdrawn his account or indicated a single overdraft. The Bank never returned checks for insufficient funds but withheld posting them to members accounts until funds were available to cover the amount of the checks. The largest Check Cheney found that was held for posting was for $1,945, he said. The longest period was for five Days. He said that throughout the period he and his wife maintained savings accounts with a minimum balance of $82,000. Transferring Money to his congressional account would have been a matter of five minutes work a if i had had any inkling that we needed a higher minimum balance a he said. Madigan said that in the 31 months ended March 1991, when he became agriculture Secretary 49 of his checks were held for payment. He did no to give a total value of the checks but said the largest was for $8,618.84 for a real estate settlement. The smallest was $13.50 for a haircut at the House Barber shop. Stall writer Ray Rowden contributed to this report cafes from Page 1 termination amendment to the contract a she said. Cafes originally sought bids for a contract last fall. The contract signed Jan. 10 with Al Lianzo a Northern German agent was a partnership agreement with overseas military sales group a new York based company that manages most of the cafes new car sales. Preparations for the sales scheduled to begin this month had advanced to the stage where ads for insurance Sellers were placed in the stars and stripes. The ads placed by service plus insurance Agency a Mph in Kronberg Germany list 35 installations in Germany where representatives Are needed to Start next monday. Early tuesday evening Donald Gyton spokesman for service plus said he had not been told that the plan with Alliano had fallen through. A if that a the Case its a shame and great injustice to the Young Soldier a Gyton  from Page 1 fees. The diners club service negotiated for the government card holders does not charge late fees interest charges or foreign currency conversion fees. However government cardholders Are expected to pay their Bills in full when they get them officials said. Neither the defense department nor diners club will release figure to show if the figures cited represent the continuation of a trend or a surge of delinquency. The figures belong to diners club according to Fabiano. Diners club does not release information on client accounts according to their spokesman. Diners club officials while unwilling to discuss the value of the military account did say they will seek to continue their current relationship. Quot we Are Happy with the big picture Quot Waller Sanders said. Quot we re Happy to work with individuals to come to a payment plan for late accounts a Sanders said. A we try not to go to the extent of taking cards from  the military negotiated the package Deal for using the cards and controls their Ssue but the actual agreements Are Between diners club and the individual card holders. Military officials cannot collect Money owed to civilian companies. However the air Force article reminded supervisors to enforce defense department standards of conduct which require civilian and military members of the department to pay their debts. A supervisors Are responsible for counselling their people on this obligation when it becomes a problem a the article said. Diners club has written off As a collectable $4.77 million since the program began in 1986, according to the air Force article. However Sanders said a a that a not out of line with our other  in july card holders gained the ability to get Cash advances of up to $500 per Day but limited to $1,000 in a seven Day period through automatic Teller machines. Finance officials said they do not believe this change had a significant Impact on the record delinquencies. By replacing the traditional Cash Advance for official travel the program saves the military Money in two ways officials said. First it reduces the accounting workload and subsequent costs. Each official trip is reconciled on a single voucher instead of separate Advance vouchers and end of trip vouchers. Less obvious is the advantage of delaying the official payment of government funds. Monthly travel expenses for air Force personnel Range from $20 million to $28 million according to one official the credit card program allows the military to keep that Oney for an average of three weeks longer. Said Jerry Chandler an accountant with the air Force a at any interest rate that a pretty Good