European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 8, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday december a 1992 i Money matters the stars and stripes b Page 17  Divisio n plagued open losing following Are fixed fates at i 1 53 Power Over world Oil Market following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell foreign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German Mark. British Pound.1.62 dutch Guilder. Greek drachma .201.6125 j710 ,09 above apply within the Host fl9j-ires Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign currencies italian lira .1,393.00 turkish lira .8,289.20 Spanish peseta.113.85 portuguese escudo 141.27 austrian schilling.11.187 saudi rial. 3.7496 Bahrain dinar.0.37675 Kuwait dinar.o.300 norwegian krone.6.4925 danish krone.6.165 British Pound.1.5685 German Mark.1.5895 Swiss franc.1.4335 French franc.5.405 dutch Guilder.1.787 belgian franc.32.73 Canadian Dollar.1.277 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $335.50 an ounce Silver quote $3.77 an ounce shoppers urged to watch credit new York up a a grand can Yon size Gap exists Between the interest rates retail stores charge Holiday shoppers and the rates of other credit cards an official warned sunday. A Holiday shoppers should beware of the ridiculously High 21.6 percent interest that department stores Are charging on their store credit cards a said Mark Green new York City a consumer affairs commissioner. Green said a a there a a grand Canyon size Gap Between the 21.6 percent interest charged by Saks fifth Avenue lord amp Taylor a amps Bloomingdale a and Macy a and the Cost of Money to these retailers. A recent card Industry entrants like the at amp to Universal Mastercard and american express Optima charge up to 9 percentage Points less than department  by Dirk Beveridge the associated press Vienna Austria a each time an open Oil minister comes and goes he is surrounded by bodyguards who Elbow reporters and bystanders aside All under the close watch of machine gun carrying police. Whatever these third world Oil chiefs say can take on an extreme urgency with some comments sending the Price of crude Oil rising or falling within seconds. That happened during last months open meeting at the posh inter Continental hotel in Vienna. While walking through the lobby indonesian Oil minister i Nadjar Kartaras Al hit Mita expressed pessimism to reporters about the cartels reaching a production agreement. Crude Oil futures plunged 43 cents a barrel shortly thereafter. While this Type of knee Jerk reaction is Well known it May be overstating the importance of the organization of Petroleum exporting countries these Days. For some time now open has been unable to lift the Price of Oil to its target level of $21 a barrel even though it pumps about 40 percent of the worlds crude and con profs the bulk of the exports devoured by consuming nations like the United states. A nobody believes they re going to Cut production a said Lindsay Horn manager of the Energy futures group at Shearson Lehman Brothers inc. In London. Open agreed in late november to production cuts of about 400,000 barrels a Day and it predicted prices would firm. But prices in the Market fell sharply because traders did no to believe the cartels numbers. A they did no to do anything did they a Horn said. A i done to think that anyone a  big buyers and Sellers of Oil a get awful sick and tired of hearing All this stuff from open but you can to ignore it a said Mike Doyle who follows Petroleum pricing at computer Petroleum corp. In St. Paul Minn. The big test for Opecz a resilience will come when the Oil Market secs the return of Iraq banned from most Oil exports since shortly after invading fellow open member Kuwait in 1990. Saudi Arabia and Iran Opecz a no. 1 and no. 2 Oil producers who have profited handsomely from iraqis absence will have to either Cut their production sharply or prepare for a Price War that could Cost them billions. Iraqis Oil sales remain banned by the United nations but the iraqis Are already making noise about getting Back into the Market a a move that Oil traders have anticipated with apprehension for almost two years. Iraqi Oil minister Osama Abdul Raz Zak Al Hiti has warned that saudi Arabia and Iran both enemies of Iraq in recent wars  try to hinder Iraq unless they Are willing to see Oil prices collapse. A seven dollars a barrel is better than none a Al Hiti told reporters after Opecz a last meeting. A sue dollars a barrel is better than none. Open claims it exists so third world Oil producers can maintain control of their precious Petroleum As Well As the Price ensuring that they and not International Oil companies get the wealth. In Many ways it is remarkable that the Cartel can stay together considering its members have at times been at War with one another at the same time their Oil ministers sit Down to discuss production at open Headquarters in Vienna. But since Iraq invaded Kuwait and saudi Arabia increased its pumping from about a fourth of Opecz a total to about a third smaller members have complained that not enough is being done to lift the Oil Price to Opecz a $21-a-barrel target. Opecz a latest production agreement Calls for saudi Arabia to Cut its daily Oil production by about 5,000 barrels to 8.395 million barrels which traders Call no Cut at All. Since open announced the $21-a-bar-Rcl target in july 1990, it has achieved it Only during the first few months of the persian Gulf crisis when Oil prices spiked sharply on War fears. Light Sweet crude a a Benchmark crude Oil sold on the new York mercantile Exchange a has been trading in the $19.50-pcr-Barrcl Range lately. Saudi Oil minister Hisham Nazca asked by a reporter about prices said a the higher the  but the Oil markets Arentt convinced and the Cartel shows further signs of splintering. During the most recent meeting tiny Ecuador followed through with its threat to quit. The head of Ecuador a state Oil company Ricardo Estrada acknowledged that open had lost some of its influence on Oil pricing. He said Ecuador would be better off economically As a nonmember pumping As much Oil As it is Able to without having to pay annual open dues of around $2 million a the same rate charged to the Mega producers from the persian Gulf. Open Secretary general Subroto expressed Hopes that Ecuador would soon rejoin. But Estrada would go Only so far As to say he Hopes to pay off the old membership dues Ecuador had fallen behind on. Us air to boost West coast service Washington a us air will increase passenger capacity Between several West coast cities and Points in the Midwest and the East by about 15 percent by june 1993. The increase will be accomplished largely by introducing bigger jets on Many of its transcontinental flights replacing some of its smaller aircraft with 185-seat Boeing 757 jets the company said. Increasing its Fleet of the larger jets from 10 to 18 will enable us air to in crease capacity from los Angeles by 11 percent while maintaining daily flight departures at the current level the airline said. Also san Francisco capacity will increase by 11 percent while the number of daily flights will be trimmed. Capacity at Seattle will Rise by 64 percent while flight departures will remain the same. At san Diego a reduction in flight departures will lower capacity about 9 percent. Dates for the expansion arc still being determined us air said. The airline said its plans for Spring 1993 also include a new flights Between Orange county California and Pittsburgh us air a primary connecting Hub. A new daily service Between los Angeles and Washington a Dulles International Airport. A new nonstop service Between Philadelphia and both san Diego and  Catalon has latest in designer vegetables by Mitchell Landsberg new York apr All right so science can to cure the common cold. For now Well have to Settle for this Plant breeders have created a round Zucchini that you can eat like an Apple. That a great you say but you done to want to eat a Zucchini like an Apple. Well the people who publish the Burpee seed Catalon think you will. They see great untapped consumer demand for the roly poly Zucchini one of the new items in their 1993 edition. Every year the Catalon comes out right after Christmas mailed to millions of households nationwide and people huddle indoors and imagine Green things sprouting where Only Snow or gloom prevails. And every year the Burpee people come up with newfangled variations on old perfectly acceptable vegetables. This years crop was scheduled to have its grand debut in new York on monday. For instance there a the heatwave Tomato bred to grow in hot weather. Done to tomatoes always grow in hot weather Well yes. But this one grows in really really hot weather a the fruit will a a set at 96 degrees a and will Appeal to people who Garden in places like death Valley. There a also the Topper Bush snap bean which grows on the top of the Plant so you done to have to thrash around in the leaves to pick it. And there a a new White Marigold called the French Vanilla hybrid. A this is a big Deal a said George Ball chairman of w. Atlee Burpee amp co. And president of the american horticultural society Asne began a dissertation on the Marigold. A marigolds a he said a Are found in yellow Bronze Orange a sort of mahogany or they re Gold. These Are what you Call warm or hot colors. They can be a Little aggressive. And people will say a a i done to want to grow marigolds. They re kind of rough kind of aggressive a a Well guess what we be now cooled off the Marigold. Its Cooling off the Garden. We re Cooling off the Marigold Patch a you done to think that a a big Deal then consider again the roly poly Zucchini. A we Call it the Garden Apple because it comes out of the vegetable Garden a Ball explained. Quot this is the first Zucchini you wont want to give  now the Zucchini does no to exactly taste like an Apple. Ball conceded. It tastes like. Well like a Zucchini Only a not As Bland or mild As your typical Zucchini a it does no to crunch like an Apple More like. Well like a Zucchini Only crisper and More smoothly Tex tured. In other words this is pretty much a Zucchini Only round. You pick it Ball said when its Between the size of an Apple and a Small Melon. Of course being a Zucchini it will keep growing if you done to pick it. And growing. The Burpee people wont say it but we will for the first time Ever you will have a Zucchini you can cat like a basketball