July 29, 1991

Delta Air Lines yesterday raised its offer for Pan American World Airways' shuttle and European routes to $310 million, an increase of $50 million. The new bid was not a surprise. Last week, Trans World Airlines and American Airlines joined in a $310 million offer for various assets of Pan Am, which has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since January.

The Canadian economy is stirring again after a recession, far longer and deeper than the one in the United States, cut output by billions of dollars and sent unemployment to the highest levels since the early 1980's. Like the United States, Canada has benefited from cuts in interest rates, which appear to be helping the housing and auto markets. Canada's economy is only a tenth the size of the United States' and Americans buy three-quarters of everything Canada exports, so it remains highly dependent on what happens south of the border.

By now, David N. Dinkins must believe that being Mayor means always having to say you're sorry. But does he have any words left in his repertory to reassure New Yorkers? Mr. Dinkins plans to deliver a report tomorrow night on New York City's efforts to shrink the size and cost of government while improving the delivery of vital services. This will be his sixth major address in 19 months as Mayor.

The Economy The Bush Administration is under growing pressure to propose ambitious, potentially expensive improvements in the nation's health-care system to protect people who are uninsured. A report drafted for an advisory panel appointed by the Administration recommends expanding Medicaid to cover doctors' services and hospital care for 10 million poor people, at an annual cost to the Federal Government of at least $4 billion a year. [ Page A1. ] Federal regulators have begun renegotiating some of the biggest sales of failed savings and loans to private investors and have started to withdraw many financial breaks granted to other investors. Exercising some options has already produced savings of more than $1 billion, the regulators say, and the renegotiations could produce as much $2 billion more in savings. [ A1. ] Orders for American-made machine tools jumped 13 percent in June from May, helped by a surge in foreign demand. But they still remained far below the levels of June 1990. [ D1. ] The Banking Scandal Inquiry The Justice Department has been assailed in Congress and elsewhere by people who say it possessed evidence of possible crimes at the Bank of Credit and Commerce International for years. [ A10. ] Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts has spent the last three years investigating what has become the largest bank scandal in history, despite the hostility of some Federal law-enforcement officials. [ A10. ] What the savings and loan crisis failed to do in the United States, a disgraced, Luxembourg-based bank may now accomplish: fundamental changes in the way accountants do their jobs. [ D1. ] Companies Delta Air Lines raised its offer for Pan Am's East Coast shuttle and European routes to $310 million, an increase of $50 million. Last week T.W.A. and American Airlines joined in a $310 million offer for various Pan Am assets. A committee of Pan Am's unsecured creditors is scheduled to meet today to review the competing bids. [ D1. ] Retailing's executive recruiters are having to work a lot harder these days to find a good fit. [ D2. ] International The Canadian economy is stirring again after a recession that was far longer and deeper than the one in the United States. [ D1. ] Media Business The three big television networks are in uncharted water -- and sailing in opposite directions -- as they seach for solutions to the worst economic crisis they have ever faced. [ D1. ] For the networks, Saturday night is the loneliest night of the week. [ D6. ] Declining advertising is forcing magazine editors to decide whether to cut back articles they run. [ D6. ] Colombia is emerging as one of the world's leading exporters of books and is attracting the interest of U.S. publishers. [ D6. ] Publishers are skimping on the drinks and shrimp as tough economic times force them to cut back on an industry institution: book parties. Roger Cohen: Publishing. [ D6. ] The Advertising Educational Foundation has changed its top leadership, with one longtime industry executive succeeding another. Stuart Elliott: Advertising. [ D7. ] Today's Columns It's a rare person who is not in love with Tiffany & Company, whose wares are status symbols and whose stock has soared 47 percent since Jan. 7. Except, of course, the company's management. Market Place. [ D1. ] A flurry of economic reports will test the growing sense in the credit markets that the mild recovery most economists have been forecasting is stalling. Kenneth N. Gilpin: Credit Markets. [ D5. ]

A 28-year-old Queens man was arrested and charged yesterday in three murders and two rapes in the last seven months, including the shooting death of a pregnant woman near her home in St. Albans last week, the police said. The arrest of the suspect, Lester Ford of 209-29 111th Road in St. Albans, brought a sigh of relief from friends and neighbors of the murder victims and shocked his family, who said Mr. Ford had vowed not to return to jail when he was released in 1989 on parole after serving three years on a drug charge.