The Week April 17 -23

• Share

(3 of 3)

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told kibbutz leaders that he was willing to negotiate the issue of the Golan Heights with Syria. "To me, peace is a more important value for the security and future of Israel than this or that group of settlements," he said. Meanwhile Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met in Romania to discuss the self- rule agreement for Jericho and the Gaza Strip. A final accord is expected within two weeks.

Perry Visits South Korea

Defense Secretary William Perry, in Seoul for two days of talks with South Korean leaders, said he does not believe a military confrontation with North Korea is likely, despite that country's continued refusal to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Japan Picks Next PM

In the wake of Morihiro Hosokawa's scandal-induced departure, leaders of Japan's governing coalition nominated Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata as a candidate to become the country's next Prime Minister. Hata, 58, is expected to be formally elected to office by a parliamentary vote this week.

BUSINESS

Chrysler Soars

Chrysler Corp. announced earnings of $938 million in the first quarter of 1994, highest in the company's history.

Offsetting Inflation?

The Federal Reserve Board raised short-term interest rates for the third time in less than three months, from 3.5% to 3.75%, causing stock and bond prices to drop. Last week's Dow Jones fell 12.79 points.

Trade Deficit Rising

The February trade deficit in goods and services rose to $9.71 billion, the largest in six years. Economists say this was due in part to the fact that the U.S. economy is growing faster than those of other industrial nations, and thus the U.S. is importing more.

SCIENCE

The New Worlds

Confirming what was long believed but never proved, astronomers now have "irrefutable" evidence of the existence of the first planets outside our own solar system. Alexander Wolszczan of Pennsylvania State University has identified two planets, both of which have more than twice the mass of our own, in orbit around a pulsar 1,200 light-years from Earth. He also discovered a third, moon-size body and suspects there may be a fourth.