News Currents

UNITED STATES President Bush has decided that Texas A&M University will be the site of his presidential library, White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Friday. Bush's choice gives Texas two presidential libraries, the other being the Lyndon Johnson Library in Austin. The Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics was awarded a Pentagon contract worth nearly $615 million to build the second Seawolf nuclear submarine. The Groton, Conn., company was also awarde d the first sub under a 1989 contract. The Seawolf program has been reduced from initial projections of 29 subs to 11.

JUSTICE

An Ohio law regulating the disposal of waste from other states is unconstitutional because it discriminates against interstate commerce, US District Judge George Smith ruled Friday. A Florida judge dismissed vehicular homicide charges against a man who had failed to strap his daughter into a car safety seat before a fatal traffic accident, saying there was insufficient evidence to continue the unprecedented trial. Thirty-six states have laws requiring young children to ride in safety seats. While a few parents and guardians have been criminally charged for their children's deaths or injuries in traffic accidents, none had been tried before Ramiro Rodriguez. Exxon Corporation Friday withdrew from a proposed $1 billion civil settlement with the federal and Alaska governments in the Valdez oil spill, killing a deal already jeopardized by state lawmakers' rejection of it.

ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

Civilian unemployment in the US dropped unexpectedly to 6.6 percent in April from 6.8 percent in March, the first monthly dip in the nation's jobless rate in nearly a year, the Labor Department said Friday. As of today, the Dow Jones industrial average now includes three new stocks. Navistar International, Walt Disney, and J. P. Morgan replace Caterpillar, USX, and Primerica to strengthen service-sector representation on the index of 30 stocks.

ASIA AND EUROPE

In Bangladesh, military aircraft dropped food and water to storm-ravaged Bay of Bengal islands Saturday amid rising criticism that relief aid has been slow in the wake of the typhoon last Tuesday that killed at least 125,000 people. Switzerland's Federal Banking Commission has repealed some rules allowing bank accounts to be held in the name of an individual's lawyer or accountant, but it will still be possible to hide money in Switzerland, banking sources said Saturday.

LATIN AMERICA

In El Salvador, rebels Saturday attacked the nation's largest hydroelectric dam, and claimed to have killed or wounded 43 soldiers. The Army said it suffered only 11 casualties in the attack. The fighting was continuing despite the partial peace accord reached at the intense UN-mediated negotiations.