News Currents

EUROPE

Poland's parliament has delayed approval of its plan to privatize state industry, but the program is unlikely to be cancelled entirely, economists said yesterday.... Liquidators for the collapsed Bank of Credit and Commerce International will sue Price Waterhouse and Ernst and Young accountants for $8 billion for alleged negligence and breach of contract during their audits of the bank. UNITED STATES

Federal prosecutors in Atlanta yesterday said they want to withdraw from a plea agreement and try ex-banker Christopher Drogoul on 347 counts of illegally lending $5.5 billion to Iraq.... First-time unemployment claims climbed to 429,000 in the week ending Sept. 19, the highest level in six weeks, the government reported yesterday. The jump was blamed in part on higher auto-industry layoffs and Hurricane Andrew's effect.... The House voted Wednesday to override President Bush's veto of the bill restricti ng renewal of China's most-favored-nation status, but failed to override Bush's veto of the family- and medical-leave bill.... In San Diego 3,000 workers struck yesterday at the National Steel & Shipbuilding Company. AFRICA

Incumbent President Jose Eduardo dos Santos held an early lead in Angola's first democratic elections Tuesday and Wednesday.... On the day Mozambique's 16-year civil war was scheduled to end, Italian mediators were still trying to reconcile differences between President Joaquim Chissano and rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama yesterday. A peace accord was expected to be signed late yesterday at the earliest.