News Currents

UNITED STATES

A dramatic space rescue ended early yesterday when an errant satellite, which had been literally plucked from its orbit by a trio of astronauts and equipped with a new rocket, slid gently away from the shuttle Endeavour and headed for a new orbit over Brazil.... New claims for state unemployment insurance benefits surprised economists and rose 10,000 for the week ending May 2 to a seasonally adjusted 424,000, after rising 10,000 the week before. The riots in Los Angeles prevented another 2,600 California ns from filing.... Yeshiva University was criticized by activist Rabbi Avi Weiss for allegedly paying Mikhail Gorbachev $100,000 to speak there and to receive its law school's first annual Democracy award.... Pat Robertson, who is about to take control of the wire service United Press International, said on "The 700 Club," his cable TV program, that his purchase of UPI may be a "little opportunity" for God to touch society with truth and love. ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE

Increases in deep-sea water temperatures, causing higher sea levels, have been reported for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere, Australian oceanographers said yesterday. "It ... supports the general 'greenhouse' theory of warmer oceans and higher sea levels," said Dr. John Church of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.... Foreign ministers of the European Community will hear loud protests from the six Gulf Arab oil states when they meet in Kuwait Saturday. Diplomats i n the Gulf states region will protest an environmental proposal by the European Commission for a $3 tax on each barrel of imported Gulf oil starting next year, rising to $10 in the year 2000.