News Currents

UNITED STATES

The nation's airlines postponed for a week a move to hike ticket prices and instead announced some discounts.... Tuesday, the Supreme Court said it will decide when scientists' expert opinions are reliable enough to use in court. The court refused to decide whether the 1991 Civil Rights Act applies to lawsuits filed before the law was enacted, and refused to overturn rulings granting protection for burning or defacing USflags.... Genetics plays the biggest role in determining whether women become alcoho lics, according to a study reported in yesterday's Journal of the American Medical Association. EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Canadian-born Rudolph Marcus of the California Institute of Technology won the Nobel Prize in chemistry yesterday for contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems. Georges Charpak of France won the Nobel Prize for physics for inventing and developing particle detectors.... The leader of Bosnia's Serbs has promised to place his warplanes under United Nations supervision, although his own air force commander has threatened to defy a UN "no fly" order.... Egyptian President

Hosni Mubarak ended a trip to China to help tackle the problem of finding $140 million for Cairo earthquake damage and victim compensation. Arab countries came through with pledges of more that $110 million, and the European Community sent $195,000. Japan donated search-and-rescue equipment and France sent a medical team.... Tuesday, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's governing coalition proposed changing the constitution to slow an influx of refugees, and is considering adopting its first immigration law.