European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 30, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A today s rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking a and credit Union facilities will sell foreign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German Mark. 1.67 British Pound .1.53 dutch Guilder. 1.85 greek drachma. 237.9438 a nolo the Rales above apply within Iho Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars of the British Pound other currencies to he Dollar following arc Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign currencies Leal Lanira. 1,683.50 turkish lira 14,278.40 Spanish peseta 140.34 portuguese escudo 173.50 austrian Schilling 11.9825 saudi Royal. 3.7510 bahraini Dinar .0.3767 kuwaiti Dinar. 0.2980 norwegian Krone 7.3930 danish Krone. 6.6530 British Pound 1.5045 German Mark. 1.7047 Swiss franc. 1 4404 French franc .5.6053 dutch Guilder. 1.9102 belgian franc. 35.46 Canadian Dollar. .,1.3310 note figures Aro expo god in dollars to Tho British Pound Othor currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $385 65 an ounce Silver quote 55,03 an ounce new York Exchange Quot Quot Quot new York up a the 15 most Active stocks in new York Stock Exchange composite trading on tuesday. Stock sate Tail not Cho Merck amp co inc 3.623,300 35 % unch merry go hound 3,007,000 3 % up i her Nabisco hid 2.982,700 6% unch Wal Mart stores 2,367,300 26% up at amp to company 1,671,000 54 Oft v4 Lith d inc. A 1,569,700 16% unch. Coca cola co 1,409,800 44% up May dept stores 1,477.900 39% up soars Roebuck 1,474,300 51 % Oft quest for value 1,450,700 24 up % Center iof Energy 1,447,400 12 % Oft vie Paramount comm 1,394,200 77% Ott Borden inc 1,379,300 16% up Vitro Sci dad t,371,900 18 % up Tel Dunos 0b my 1.3g7.too 65 % of % american Exchange new York up a the ten most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading tuesday. Slock Salat Tail nil chg Cheyenne softer 480,900 27 % off a a Amdahl corp 421,300 5% up % Energy service 405,700. 3% a a unch Alan corp 370,200 5% off % Royal Oak mines 320,300 4 a unch new York times 317,500 27 % up % Nabors Indus is 273,400 6 % unch a cml Gold mine a 257,000 10 % unch Audre recon in 234,100 1 9-16 unch Jan Beil mtg 225,500 9 up % Dow Jones new York up a Dow Jones closing Range of ave it Ages on thursday 30 industrials 20 transports 15 uti idies 65 stocks High 3813 33 1783 33 232.73 Moo 92 Low 3766.10 1758 88 229.44 138262 close 379377 1775 61 231 48 1394 05 change up 084 up 5 14 up 1 06 up 2 36 Kmart plans to close Baton Rouge outlet Troy Midi. Up Kmart corp. Is dosing one of ils Baton Rouge la locations part of ils drive to streamline operation and contain costs. Kmart sad the action Falls within its plan to evaluate each of ils 2,400 stores for expansion remodelling or closure. The firm noted that there Are two other Kmart outlets nearby. Kmart corp. Has More than 4,000 retail outlets in All 50 states and in puerto Rico Canada the czech Republic and Slovakia Kmart also owns pay less drug stores builders Square pack membership warehouse and Walden books. Happy new year irs greetings on the Way Washington a sometime Riet week millions of americans will receive their annual new years salutations from the internal Revenue service the 1993 tax forms Are in the mail. Starting monday the . Postal service will begin stuffing 86 million forms into mailboxes some mistakenly have been delivered already. Earlier this month the postal service delivered 22 million postcards to Farmers and other self employed people who used professional tax preparers last year. Until two years ago the iks had the forms dropped off the Day after Christmas but changed the practice after complaints of Scrooge like timing. Printing the forms Cost the government $14.6 million and mailing them Cost $19.9 million a total of about 32 cents each. The Cost has risen about 2 cents per form Over last year. Those earning higher incomes should Lake note of tax Law changes approved this year by Congress. The current 31  top rate goes up to 36 percent Lor taxable income a after deductions and exemptions a above $115,000 for single people and $140,000 for couples. Those with taxable income Over $250,000, whether carried by a single person or couple will be taxed at 39.6 percent. For taxpayers not itemizing the Standard deduction has been raised to $3,700 for a single taxpayer up from $3,600 last year. The deduction for Heads of households is $5,450, up from $5,250. The Standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly has been raised to $6,200 from $6,000, while the deduction for a married couple filing separately now is $3,100, up from $3,000 last year. The maximum earned income credit has increased to $2,364 from $2,211. The irs also is coming up with simpler faster ways to file. New next year a about 2,5 million childless married couples can now file the 1040ez a the simplest tax form a if their joint income is less than $50,000. A residents of seven states can file the 1040ez form by Telephone. After experimenting with the program for two years in Ohio the irs is adding Florida Indiana Kentucky Michigan South Carolina and West Virginia. A a residents of Southern California and South Florida can use a new 1040 form written in Spanish. Irs commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson said the Agency is testing the feasibility of using forms in languages other than English. A the contribution for the presidential Campaign fund has been increased from $1 to $3. A All w-2 forms should look basically alike. Previously workers could get w-2 forms from various employers that listed information differently. Also taxpayers can prepare their returns on personal computers using the 1040pc form available in commercial software packages for tax preparation. Euro Disney s record called dreadful Burbank Calif. A euro Disney is As big a failure As Many stockholders feared the top executive of the Walt Disney co. Hits acknowledged. Chairman Michael to. Eisner in Uri usually Strong language in the company a annual report called the French theme Parks performance a dreadful a Eisner said euro Disney is a your first real financial disappointment since he took Over the firm in september 1984. A this has been a very serious problem one that has Cost an enormous amount of time and anxiety a Eisner said in the cover letter of the report released tuesday. A some would Call it dreadful and in a financial sense i would be forced to 99disney chairman Michael d. Eisner. Details a very serious problem despite 17 million visitors the 18-month-old Park near Paris lost $921 million in its first fiscal year a shortfall of More than $2.5 million a  Disney is managed by the Walt Disney co., which owns 49 percent of its Stock. Disney has agreed to keep the theme Park afloat for a limited time saying it will require significant funding at least through 1994. A for our part we Are working with All interested parties to help to restructure euro Disney a financial condition a Eisner wrote. A but As we cannot shoulder the entire Burden ourselves other parties must Bear their fair  in november Disney announced a $350 million charge against fourth Quarter earnings to cover euro Disney losses pushing the entertainment conglomerate $78 million into the red for the Quarter. In the annual report Eisner blamed the poor performance on factors associated with Europe a recession guests Are spending relatively Little and real estate is expensive to develop he said. Aetna to launch Dod medical plan Rancho Bernardo Calif. Up a Aetna life and casualty co. Said tuesday that the Pentagon has Given it approval to proceed with a $3.5 billion medical contract covering More than 800,000 military retirees and family members in California and Hawaii. The Pentagon a action came despite a nonbinding ruling last week by the general accounting office that the department of defense had acted improperly in awarding Aetna the pact. The Gao ruling had been seen As a major Victory for foundation health corp., which had administered the contract since 1988, and qualms Dunc. Both companies had protested the Pentagon a award of the five year pact to Aetna last july and had been pressing the Pentagon to reopen the bidding process. The Gao had suggested that the Pentagon either revise its solicitation for contractors or request revised proposals. Aetna said tuesday that the Pentagon told it to proceed with implementation of the managed care support program which has been described As a Model for future health care reforms and take Over the contract feb. 1. Aetna said it had been fairly awarded the pact dubbed champs pcs. A it is important to champs beneficiaries that Aetna begin operations on feb. I to ensure there is no disruption in service Quot said Robert h. Kaplan of Aetna government health plans inc. The civilian health and medical program of the uniformed services is a government program for military retirees and service members families. Kaplan said Aetna has thousands of medical providers under contract to provide services to beneficiaries and staff in place at 28 service centers Hawaii medical service association and Blue Cross Blue shield of South Carolina Are Aetna a subcontractors in the program. Chino roses some restrictions on currency Beijing apr China announced wednesday that it is unifying its dual track foreign Exchange rate system to help foreign investors and to sweeten the nations bid to enter International trades governing body. China a two tiered system will be replaced saturday by a unified a controlled floating Exchange Rale system based on Market demand and Supply a the official Xinhua news Agency reported. The move appears far Short of adopting a freely convertible currency. Since China a communist leaders have repeatedly stressed the need for social stability the Central Bank is Likely to intervene heavily to prevent the chinese currency from fluctuating widely. Tourists and most other foreigners now must Cash in their dollars for foreign Exchange certificates at a state set rate 5.8 to the Dollar. Approved business people can tra chinese currency for dollars at gov i ment run Swap markets that reflect is ply and demand. The rate was 8.7 to t Dollar late tuesday in Shanghai. The Peoples Bank of China refused say what the initial unified rate for t chinese currency the Yuan would be