Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, May 12, 1998
Ex-Texaco execs cleared of obstruction charges
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Two former Texaco Inc. executives were acquitted today of trying to hide or destroy secretly recorded tapes that caught company officials making disparaging remarks about black employees.Richard Lundwall, 56, and Robert Ulrich, 64, were found not guilty of obstruction of justice, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Lundwall made the tapes at meetings of executives in 1994 and 1995. The tapes could have been used as evidence in a race discrimination case, which was eventually settled out of court.
The jury had deliberated 21 hours over four days.
Sun Microsystems moves to block Windows 98
NEW YORK -- Sun Microsystems Inc. today asked a federal judge to bar Microsoft Corp. from shipping Windows 98 software unless the software maker includes Sun's version of the Java programming language.Sun filed its request in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., just three days before Microsoft is scheduled to send computer makers the operating system built with its own version of the Java language. The motions, the first of expected legal action this week against Microsoft, add to an existing Sun lawsuit claiming Microsoft rewrote its Java language so that it works best on Windows machines.
Java, introduced by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun Microsystems in 1995, potentially allows developers to write a software program once and have it run on a wide variety of computers, regardless of the underlying operating system. That represents a threat to Microsoft, which depends on the industry's reliance on Windows.
Microsoft has defended its adaptation of Java, saying it needs to make sure it works well with Windows. The Sun lawsuit has not been decided.
Northwest, Continental link up with Air China
MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwest Airlines Corp., Continental Airlines Inc. and two other carriers today signed pacts with Air China to share frequent flier programs and cooperate in other areas.America West and Alaska Airlines joined the other carriers in New York in announcing what are the first alliance agreements between U.S. carriers and China's largest international airline.
The accords should be ready for implementation as soon as the carriers are granted government approval, said Northwest's Michael Levine, executive vice president-marketing and international.
The Northwest-Air China agreement includes code-sharing of flights, meaning they would allow passengers to transfer between their planes. It also covers coordination of schedules and connections, linked computer reservations systems, reciprocal frequent-flier programs and joint marketing, sales and promotion.
S.Korea's stock market falls to 11-year low
SEOUL -- Stock prices in South Korea plunged to their lowest level of the year today, with the key index dipping briefly below 350 points for the first time in 11 years before recovering slightly.Sentiment was chilled by reports that the U.S. ratings agency, Moody's Investors Service, downgraded further debt ratings of South Korean banks and that more financially weak companies would fold in a few months.
The Korean Composite Stock Price Index dropped below 350 points in the morning session for the first time since 1987.
The benchmark index later rebounded, closing at 351.86 points, down 2.69 percent from yesterday.
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