Waco Tribune-Herald from Waco, Texas • 16

ia.i. (I a w.c Hi. I -f PAGE AB 1 1 I BRIEFING Brazil's central banker resigns post Ron wfco reports i TEXAS v- announcement that Central Bank chief Gustavo Franco had stepped down but recover later in the day. Investors worry that if Brazil falls, Latin America's largest economy and most populous country could drag others in the region into the maelstrom. An estimated 2,000 American businesses, operate In Brazil, including such giants as IBM, Coca Cola, Ford Motor Co, and General Motors Corp.

US. banks have a f27 bUlion stake in Brazil, and weak operations overseas could pinch profits back home. In Washington, President Clinton consulted with the IMF and the G-7 group of wealthy nations; saying, "We have a strong because, of Franco's resignation and plunged 10 percent within minutes, it closed down 5 percent Wednesday. The1 smaller Rio de Janeiro exchange lost 5.6 percent-' In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average initiaUy plunged as much as 261.58, but regained nearly half that to close at 9,549.56, down 125.11 Markets in Mexico, Europe and elsewhere were also sharply "Off. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso cut short bis vacation on the Atlantic coast and flew back to Brasilia, the capital.

Finance Minister Pedro Malan canceled a trip to Portugal because of the turmoil. interest In seeing with its economic reform plan and succeed. Just a day earlier, Treasury Secretary' Robert Rubin listed Brazil as among his chief concerns, along with the financial mess in Russia and Japan's continuing straggles to right its economy. Brazil's first order of business was the announcement by neir Central Bank chief Francisco Lopes to allow the Brazilian currency; the real, to trade in a wider band against the dollar, His move effectively devalued the currency by nearly 8 percent The Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, Latin America's largest, opened an hour late World markets rocked as successor devalues currency by 7.6 percent By PETER MUELLO The Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil Brazil's, central banker unexpectedly resigned Wednesday and his successor devalued the currency by 7.6 percent, roiling world financial markets. Many feared the economic contagion could spread through1 Latin America and even threaten the United States.

Wall Street stocks fell sharply after the B2 Paso joined the ranks of dties eligible for special federal assistance under a Clinton administration program aimed at revitalising economically depressed regions. At a morning news conference, Vice President Al Gore anaoanced El Paso aad 14 other cities kave won the. urban empowerment tone designation that makes them eligible for $100 million in federal grants over a and other. incentives. hi Crude -oil futures tumbled on the New York Mercantile Exchange as US.

inventories continue to build amid a worldwide oil glut Light, tweet crude for February delivery fell 59 ceats to 11131 a barrel NATION CooirtaDini vails sue XSitwiBiaiMoau 4 "Till Groups file sweatshop charges against top U.S. companies By JEFF WONG The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Thousands of Asians have been lured to the UJB. territory of Saipan, where, they are beaten and forced to live under guard in cramped, rat-infested quarters while making popular' clothing tagged "Made hi the USA," according to sweeping lawsuits that seek more than $1 billion. More than 50,000 people, mostly young women, have been recruited from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Thailand with promises of good wages, only to wind up in sweatshops that "would make medieval conditions look good," plaintiffs' attorney William Lerach said Wednesday in Los Angeles. Saipan, a 13-inUe-long tropical isle in the Northern Marianas, "is America's worst sweatshop," plaintiffs' attorney Al Meyerboff said in New York City.

Three lawsuits seek more than $1 billion in damages, disgorgement of profits and unpaid wages for conditions they claim have persisted for the past decade. Two class-action suits representing workers were filed in federal courts in Los Angeles and Saipan. The groups Global Exchange, Sweatshop Watch, Asian Law Caucus and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees filed suit in state court in San Francisco. The companies' subcontractors force people to workup to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and threaten them with beatings and verbal abuse if they refuse unpaid overtime to meet quotas set by factory managers, the lawsuits Of the 18 companies named in the lawsuits, Nordstrom, Warna-co, Tommy Hilf iger, J.C. Penney.

Wal-Mart, Osh Kosh B'Gosh and Daytdn Hudson Corp. insist they hire subcontractors that strictly follow US. labor laws. Other companies said they had no comment or did not immediately return phone calls. Cinema's demise another blow for, shopping center By MIKE COPELAND Tribune-Herald business editor At Carmike Cinemas on Wednesday, a dolly squeaked under the weight of a video game, being hauled away, and posters touted movies that will never come.

The run is over for Carmike, known as Waco Square 6. The projectors stop running today. Facing two new competitors wielding 16 screens each, stadium seating and state-of-the-art sound systems, the movie bouse at 410 N. Valley Mills Drive hung on for months. But the suspense has ended.

fWe're closing it Strictly for economic reasons. It was identified- as underperforming along with 28 others said Phil Smitley, controller Of Georgia-based Carmike Cinemas. News of today's closing received mixed reviews. "Yes, it will hurt our business," said Michelle Lof tin, a stylist at Pro-Cuts, which shares the shopping center with Wacp Square 6. aA lot of people don't even know we're here.

They come to see a movie, and stop by and get a haircut before they go. This will make things tighter, Wal-Mart leaving made things tight" The Wal-Mart store that anchored the shopping strip closed in September when a Wal-Mart supercenter opened at Franklin Avenue and New Road. Going to hurt "Small theaters cant compete with these megaplexes," said Brent Stein, manager of Mazzio's Pizza at 416 Valley Mills Drive. "Wal-Mart hurt us, and I know this will, too. Every night we had movie traffic.

We'd overhear people saying, 'You're buying the popcorn, and 111 buy the We're kind of surprised to see it Waco Square 6 manager Victor Lopez said be was under orders Staff pfMvO Rod The Carmike Waco Square 6 theater at 410 N. Valtey Mill DrWe will shut down today. Lucert Technologies be. ta baying Ascend CotnmasJcatloas lac. in an 18.7 billion Mock deal that reflects the growing ence of the Internet on the communications'' industry.

The deal, which had been widely j1 expected, followed Lucent's $1.5 billion agreement earlier this week to purchase Kenan Systems which makes software for: billing and customer service. Lucent is the world's No. phone equipment maker; Ascend is a major supplier of computer networking fear and is expected to provide the expertise in Internet-style communications. technology Lucent njeeds to bet-. ter BroadPoint Communica- tions, a 'Landover, company, is offering free distance service tq callers around the country if they agree to listen to advertisements first People who sign up for' the service, called Freeway, will get up to two minutes of free long-; distance calling in the United States for each advertisement of 10-15 seconds that they listen to, I up to 10 minutes for five ads.

An end to ABCs lockout of 2.4M employees seemed just days away, as union leaders' reviewed back-to-work proposal from the network. ABCs camera operators, pro- ducers and other behindrthe-scenes workers, who have been without a contract since. March 1997, staged a one-day strike over health benefits Nov. 2. After that, ABC locked them out of their Jobs until they promised advance warning on future Job But Wednesday, an agreement containing' what a spokesman 'J- termed the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians' "ironclad guaran-.

not to disrupt network operations without, notice was approved by ABC and returned to the union. at Advertisers often bypass or pay less money to minority-." owned radio stations geared to black or Hispanic listeners, but it is unclear why, a report said. The Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy, an advocacy group, conducted the report commissioned by the Federal Communications mission at a cost of $20,000, said the. forum's research director, KofiOforL US. trade of ficials signaled their readiness to penalize Canadian exports, ranging from steel to textiles unless Canada abandons a pending bill that would bar Canadian companies.

from advertising in so-called monolithic, modern, first-run facilities and a nice sub-run theater." In 1997, a 16-screen theater called the Hollywood jewel opened on Highway 84 in Wood-way. Last year, the 16-screen Starplex arrived at: 333 S. Valley Mills Drive in Waco. Carmike's clout Waco Square 6 found itself stuck in harm's way but survived on the clout of its parent Carmike, the third-largest chain in America, with 2,752, screens. "When something real hot came out like A Bura.

Life, they got it though their selection didn't measure up to the 16-screen theaters," said George Rodriguez, a manager at Hollywood Jewel. "Now we don't have to worry about Carmike getting something and shutting us out completely." Hollywood and Starplex show many of the same first-run movies. not to discuss the theater's Smitley would not get specific. "As I said, it was underperforming," he repeated. "Wal-Mart moving out didn't destroy their business! It was those two 16-screen theaters," said Chris Courtney, who manages Parts America, 412 N.

Valley Mills Drive. "I Joked with the manager and told him they need to turn it. into a dollar-movie theater like that place on Wooded Acres Drive." Encore 6, a discount theater, shows movies in the former Schulman Theaters location at 1105 Wooded Acres Drive. Gary Moore, owner of Encore 6, said no one has approached him about the availability of Waco Square 6. He didn't talk like someone interested in pursuing a deal, The last thing.

Waco needs is more Screens," said Moore, adding; The consumers won this battle. They ended up with, two The shopping center that Wal-Mart has left and Carmike is leaving "is going through a transition," said Wayne Nash with Dai-San Properties, the leasing agent. "I think there will be people interested in (the theater space), but right now I don't have anyone lined up to go in there," Nash said. "You always have, turnover in a shopping center. The same thing's happening in Dallas.

Older theaters are backtracking because of new stadium-seating theaters." Besides, Nash said, Carmike's lease does not. expire until 2006, so the space will continue to generate revenue. Built in the mid-1980s, the six-screen theater paved the way for other multiscreen theaters in Waco. It originally. was a Plitt theater, then became a Cineplex-Odeon before Carmike bought it in 1992.

Mike Copatand can be niaefwd at incopeland fnail.wacotriDxotii or at 757-5736. Government concludes Microsoft case 753-5335 LI IM A fce vofce information and news service of the WACOTMBUNE-HERALD system, used by roughly 80 percent of the world's computers. Schmalensee will be followed over the coming months by some of Microsoft's top executives but not Gates, its famous billionaire chairman. The trial, which began in late October, is likely to last into USING TRIBUNE STOCK QUOTES "The Associated Press WASHINGTON The government concluded its: sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday after more than 10 weeks at trial, highlighted by embarrassing e-mails and video showing a def iant Bill Gates arguing with government lawyers.

Microsoft's first witness, an economist, testified that the company cannot be considered to wield monopoly power a cru-. cial distinction in antitrust law because it faces upstart competitors making rival computer operating systems, such as Linux and BeOS. In the short run, those are not terrific alternatives," said Richard Schmalensee. "In a year, or two years, the answer may well be different" But Justice Department lawyer David Boies showed Schmalensee earlier sworn statements that he was "not aware of anything that at present would count as viable competition" for Microsoft's dominant Windows operating torn i) onj 1. CdWWJot.753-53J5.

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