NEWS SUMMARY
Date: 27 October 1988
LEAD: INTERNATIONAL A3-15 The Soviet Union may free prisoners. Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany said he had been assured of the plan to free political prisoners by the Soviets. But neither Mr. Kohl nor the West German Foreign Minister defined the commitment. Page A1
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NEWS SUMMARY
Date: 28 October 1988
LEAD: International A3-14
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Bethlehem Earnings Up Sharply
Date: 27 October 1988
By Jonathan P. Hicks
Jonathan Hicks
LEAD: The Bethlehem Steel Corporation, continuing its financial turnaround, said yesterday that its third-quarter earnings more than tripled, a result of higher steel demand and improved productivity.
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Kroger Store Sales
Date: 27 October 1988
AP
LEAD: The Kroger Company announced that it is selling 21 stores in North Carolina and South Carolina to Bi-Lo Inc. for $34 million. Kroger, a Cincinnati-based food retailer and supermarket operator, said the proceeds of the sale would be used to help finance the $4.6 billion restructuring the company is undertaking.
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Enron Sets Layoffs
Date: 27 October 1988
AP
LEAD: About 250 employees of the Enron Corporation are being laid off as part of a reorganization that will combine positions in the corporate staff and natural gas pipeline group, the company said. Enron's chairman, Kenneth L. Lay, cited intense competition for natural gas markets and low prices as the primary reasons for the cutbacks.
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Contrasts in Tobacco Strategy
Date: 27 October 1988
By William Glaberson
William Glaberson
LEAD: Hamish Maxwell, the deliberate 62-year-old chairman of the Philip Morris Companies, and F. Ross Johnson, the impatient 56-year-old chief executive of RJR Nabisco Inc., are taking very different approaches in struggling with tobacco, which may be the most profitable and the most plagued consumer product on store shelves today.
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Bid by Banner Unit
Date: 28 October 1988
Reuters
LEAD: Rexnord Holdings U.K. P.L.C., a British unit of Banner Industries Inc., has offered to buy Avdel P.L.C., which makes assembly-line systems, for $:102 million, or about $178.5 million. Banner, based in Cleveland, supplies components to the aviation and aerospace markets. A merger would create a leading force in the industry, with combined sales exceeding $250 million, Rexnord said.
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Westinghouse Agrees to a Sale
Date: 28 October 1988
AP
LEAD: The Westinghouse Electric Corporation signed an agreement to sell its elevator and escalator business to Schindler Holding A.G. of Switzerland. The deal, for which terms were not disclosed, must be approved by the Federal Trade Commission.
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Pepperell Creates A Severance Plan
Date: 28 October 1988
AP
LEAD: West Point-Pepperell Inc., the textile giant resisting a $1.3 billion tender offer by Farley Inc., has created a cushion for more than 14 percent of its employees who might lose their jobs under a new owner. But Pepperell, based in West Point, Ga., said the severance package did not result from the Farley bid.
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Offer Extended By Grand Met
Date: 28 October 1988
Special to the New York Times
LEAD: Grand Metropolitan P.L.C., the British conglomerate that is offering $5.23 billion for the Pillsbury Company, today extended its offer by a week, to Nov. 8.
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