News In Brief

President Reagan and Honduran President Roberto Suazo C'ordova will meet at the White House May 21 to discuss the situation in Central America, Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes said Wednesday.

US envoy links better ties with USSR to rights gains

US Ambassador Richard Schifter told the Soviet Union, in a speech at an international human rights conference Wednesday, that any improvement in US-USSR relations, including an arms treaty, was inextricably linked to progress on human rights, especially the case of Andrei Sakharov. Mr. Schifter spoke at a six-week meeting of the 35 countries that signed the 1975 Helsinki Accords.

N.Y. bank cuts prime rate to lowest point in 6 years

Bankers Trust, the nation's eighth-largest bank, cut its prime lending rate Wednesday by half a percentage point to 10 percent, its lowest level in more than 61/2 years. The reduction by Bankers Trust, the first in the industry since mid-January, put the interest charge at its lowest level since October 1978.

S&Ls in 3 states getting curbs or new coverage

All of Maryland's 102 privately insured savings-and-loan associations are now operating under an executive order issued by Gov. Harry Hughes limiting withdrawals from about 1 million accounts to $1,000 a month. The governor will call the legislature into special session Friday to take further steps to protect the thrifts. The moves were announced Tuesday after two S&Ls insured by the Maryland Savings-Share Insurance Corporation were placed in conservatorship.

In Georgia, eight state-chartered S&Ls now backed by private insurance are planning to become federally insured banks, the state's deputy banking commissioner said in an interview published Wednesday in the Atlanta Constitution.

And in North Carolina, 56 S&Ls and credit unions, also backed by private insurance, are applying for federal insurance, according to their private insurer, Donald R. Deason, president of the Financial Institutions Assurance Corporation.

April dip in US output the first in six months

US industrial production fell 0.2 percent in April. This was the first decline in six months, as the industrial sector of the economy continued to suffer from America's weak trading performance, the government reported Wednesday. The Federal Reserve Board said its index of total output at US factories, mines, and utilities fell for the first time since a 0.4 percent decline last October.

House panel releases details on alleged arms overcharges

The House Armed Services Committee released an investigative report Wednesday giving voluminous details of $109.8 million in challenged billings to the Pentagon by seven giant defense contractors. Committee auditors reviewed one year of billings by each of the companies and found that two of them exceeded General Dynamics Corporation in questionable costs billed to the government.

General Dynamics was questioned on $15.3 million of its bills; McDonnell Douglas Corporation, on $31 million; and the Boeing Company, $29 million.

Baldrige says Indian policies are good for US investment

Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige praised India's economic policies Wednesday, saying they would encourage investment by American companies. Mr. Baldrige is the first member of President Reagan's Cabinet to visit India since Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was elected five months ago.

Baldrige's three-day visit here is mainly to prepare an agenda for Mr. Gandhi's visit to the US June 12-15, Western diplomats said.

UN aid official from Ireland seized by gunmen in Beirut

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