News Currents

UNITED STATES In Washington, the House passed the controversial Brady gun control bill that would require a national seven-day waiting period for handgun sales.... CIA Director William Webster resigned Wednesday to ``pursue other avenues.''... California regulators rejected the merger of Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., terming the nearly $3 billion proposal to create the nation's largest utility anti-competitive. San Diego spent more than $6 million opposing the merger.... In New York, a ruptured pipe at Rockaway Sewage Treatment Plant dumped 68 million gallons of raw sewage into Jamaica Bay, which contains a federal wildlife refuge.... Gov. Robert Casey named state Secretary of Labor and Industry Harris Wofford to finish the term of Pennsylvania's late Sen. John Heinz.

MIDDLE EAST

In Lebanon, pro-Iranian Hizbullah and Syrian-backed Amal gunmen launched a joint attack against Israeli soldiers and the South Lebanon Army militia near Nabatiyeh.... US Defense Secretary Richard Cheney paid a final call on Saudi King Fahd to pitch a plan for postwar Gulf security that includes stockpiling US war materiel in the region.... Iraq assured the US it would not again fire antiaircraft weapons at US warplanes in northern Iraq.

YUGOSLAVIA AND SOVIET UNION

In Belgrade, the Yugoslav state presidency yesterday ended a three-day emergency session to quell ethnic violence in the Republic of Croatia. It ordered the disarming of all civilians and paramilitary groups in Croatia and the demobilization of reserve police.... Soviet coal miners voted to end a devastating nine-week old strike, averting a clash with President Mikhail Gorbachev and opening the way for radic al industry reforms.

LATIN AMERICA

In Santiago, Chile's civilian government authorized its former military strongman, Gen. Augusto Pinochet, to travel abroad to visit arms manufacturers. Pinochet, who still commands the Chilean Army, will likely visit Switzerland and South Africa.... Colombian legislators said they would reject the country's new Constitution and called for the Army to defend Congress in a growing conflict of powers within the Colombian state. The National Assembly, which is rewriting Colombia's Constitution, has threatened to dissolve the Congress.... Brazilian businessmen and economists hailed the appointment of Marcilio Marques Moreira as economy minister. Zelio Cardoso de Mello, who long stood against a price freeze and suddenly enacted one in January, resigned from the post Wednesday.

LOOKING AHEAD

Sunday: Mother's Day in the United States.... Tuesday: The April consumer price index will be released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.