European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 14, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 14,1992 the stars and stripes b Page 17 Money matter today s tip the average Price of gasoline jumped More than Lvi cents per gallon during the past two weeks an Industry analyst said. The biweekly Lundberg Survey of 13,000 gasoline stations nationwide showed the average per gallon Price of Gas at All pumps including taxes Rose 1.66 cents Over the March 27 sampling said Trilby Lundberg. The Overall average Price was $1,188 a gallon up from $1,172 per gallon two weeks earlier. The average per gallon Price at self serve pumps around the country was $1,047 for regular unleaded $1,221 for Premium unleaded and $1.05 for regular leaded. At full service pumps the average for regular unleaded was $1,332, $1,482 for Premium unleaded and $1.376 for regular  rates London up a mondays rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $341.00 an ounce Silver at $4.10. April 10 april 13 British Pound.1 -7728 1.7634 German mark.16230 1.6510 French franc.5.5010 5.5880 dutch guhder.1.8295 1.8570 belgian  is a italian lira.1,?2�?zo?2 Swiss franc.j-4915 1.5185 greek drachma. Turkish lira.6.2m.30 6,347.40 saudi arabian riyal.3.7500 3.7492 Spanish peseta.102.19 102.75 portuguese escudo.139.49 14064 Canadian  Fiji it 112s austrian schilling.15522 norwegian krone.6.3770 6.4290 danish krone.6.3040 6.3560 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rates concerns the Sale of German Marks and British pounds to . Personnel for personal use and these will be 1.61 Marks to a Dollar and $1.81 for a Pound through tuesday based on mondays noontime  firm ordered to pay . Inventor by the los Angeles times los Angeles a los Angeles jury has found that video game Vendor Sega deliberately infringed on a Patent held by an american inventor and has ordered the japanese company and its . Subsidiary to pay $33 million in damages. Because the . District court jury ruled Sega a infringement to be intentional the judge in the Case could order the damages to be tripled according to Fred Lorig the attorney representing the inventor. Lorig said he would also seek an injunction barring the Sale of Sega video games. The invention developed in 1969 and patented in 1975 by Jan r. Coyle and Robert w. Stevens a but now owned by Coyle a involves a technique for displaying simple color images on a video screen through the use of Low frequency audio signals rather than video signals. Twa to Cut fares below rest doubles frequent flier Miles by Edwin Mcdowell the new York times new York a trans world airlines defiantly counterattacked its larger competitors sunday reducing fares below the Range of lower fares they announced thursday to remain 35 to 40 percent cheaper than its rivals. In addition the Carrier will give passengers double a frequent flier mileage for the next three months. It will also soon add direct flights Between some of its busiest destinations rather than route them through its St. Louis Hub and it plans to open several min hubs including one in Atlanta where Delta air lines is predominant. Carl c. Icahn the chairman of Twa which has been operating under chapter 11 bankruptcy court Protection since Jan. 31, announced the changes at a news conference sunday. Like the new fares announced by competitors thursday twas new fares went into effect monday. Icahn said Twa would continue to give discounts to members of groups such As the armed forces government employees and corporations a something that american airlines which instigated the Industry wide revision of air fares last week said it would no longer do. Icahn said Twa would impose a a full court press by adding More salespeople to negotiate discounts _ with corporate customers and by offering companies 10 percent Cash rebates on any year to year increases in their business with the airline. Last year less than 5 percent of twas business came from discounted corporate fares Icahn said adding that he Hopes to raise that share to 20 percent. As an example of twas fare reductions the airline will lower its unrestricted round trip fare Between Dallas and new York from about $600 to $500 the comparable round trip fare of the major carriers under the new Structure announced last week is $720. But twas round trip coach fare Between los Angeles and new York a route that it flies non Stop will remain at $700, compared with the $920 coach fare of the bigger airlines. Twa also plans to reduce its restricted fares which require tickets to be bought either seven or 14 Days in Advance Ana to keep them below the competing fares of the major carriers. Quot if the reason for americans Low fares is to get rid of a Low Cost competitor a Icahn said Quot its not going to  several airline Industry officials and analysts have suggested that the new fare Structure announced by american airlines and quickly matched by United Delta Northwest and Continental was necessary to bring rationality and fairness to a Patchwork pricing Structure. In the former system As Many As 16 different fares May have been offered for a single flight. But the experts also suggested that the Long Range strategy of the new fare system might be intended to Force airlines operating under chapter 11 out of business. Michigan Kroger workers vote to strike Detroit apr Kroger co. Employees voted sunday to strike at 65 stores in Southeastern Michigan. The grocery Chain had already been recruiting replacement workers to keep the stores  of local 876 of the United food and commercial workers voted 3,803 to 914 to reject the chains latest contract offer and authorized a strike by a vote of 3,725 to 1,007, said Chris Mcchesney an administrative assistant for the local. The Union represents 7,000 Kroger employees. A what Kroger has to offer i can to see taking that a said employee Kim Reed. A a in a going to College next year and i can to pay my tuition on what in a making right  the company which ran help wanted ads seeking strik Breakers signed up replacement workers saturday at three recruitment centers. More than 1,000 people applied. A a in be got to eat a said Lynn Plourde a Laid off truck Driver signing up for one of the jobs. Kroger spokesman Michael Laynce said sunday night that All affected stores would remain open. Contract talks broke off april 3, and no new bargaining has been scheduled. The previous contract expired Jan. 3. Kroger a proposal called for elimination of 10 personal Days off a year for full time employees and offered $1.50 an hour in wage increases spread Over four years. Workers now earn $4.50 to $8 an  making do with old equipment Des Moines Iowa apr fewer Farmers Are blowing the Fields with new tractors this Spring. And the people who make and sell farm machinery done to expect a big recovery  than 94,000 tractors were sold in the United states in 1991. It was the first time sales fell below 100,000 since at least 1969, when the equipment manufacturers Institute a Trade group started keeping such records. Sales for the first two months of 1992 Are estimated to be up just 2.6 percent. For the rest of the year most analysts expect sales will be Flat or will decline said Mike a. Singer an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The . Department of agriculture projects a 7 percent decline in the number of tractors and combines sold this year. Bill troth a farm equipment dealer in the town of Cherokee said a medium horsepower tractor will Cost $60,000 and up while harvesting equipment will Cost More than $100,000. That is a far cry from the 1970s, when investment tax Breaks and the fear of inflation led Farmers to increase spending on farm equipment from about $4 billion a year in the 1960s to a Peak of $14 billion in 1979. Sales began to fall in the 1980s, when borrowing costs soared at the same time Farmland values collapsed and Farmers struggled under the weight of huge debts and falling crop prices. National spending on farm equipment fell to a 14-year Low of $6.1 billion in 1986. The slump has raised dealers Hopes that pent up demand will mean More sales. But it has not materialized. A if there is pent up demand its been there since the Early 1980s and Farmers have been Able to farm without it a said Emmett Barker president of the Chicago based equipment manufacturers Institute. Business first Chicago corp. Posts Sharp Rise in quarterly profits from wire reports Chicago the first Chicago corp. Has announced a Sharp increase in quarterly profits citing a decline in losses from bad Loans the growth of its credit card business and profits from investments in other companies. In its first Quarter ended March 31, first Chicago which owns the first National Bank of Chicago and is the 10th-largest banking company in the country said it earned $60.7 million or 71 cents a share up 23 percent from $49.5 million or 63 cents a share a year ago. Papers Union reach agreement new York a the new York times and an Independent newspaper delivery company reached separate tentative agreements with the Drivers Union on saturday that could ensure labor peace in the wholesale distribution of new Yorkus newspapers until the year 2000. The agreements cover 1,000 Drivers for four wholesale distribution companies that deliver the times the new York daily news the new York Post the Wall Street journal and other publications to Newsstands and other outlets. Dollar up is. Japanese yen Tokyo a the Dollar moved higher monday against the japanese yen As investors continued to doubt Japan a economic recovery amid another slide on the Stock Market. The Greenback closed at 133.30 yen up 1.25 yen from new Yorkus late rate Friday and up 1.11 yen from Tokyo a close. Yuko Fuka Kusa a dealer of Tokai Bank said there were no positive fundamentals prompting purchases of the yen As the Stock Market fell again. Ltd the key nikkei average fell 3.4 percent to 17.23o.65 after soaring 1,252.51 Points Friday