News Currents

UNITED STATES

In action Oct. 5 and 6, the House approved a catchall tax bill, but the $27 billion bill's future was clouded by a Senate filibuster.... The House passed by voice vote a bill covering water projects in Western states; the Senate has threatened opposition.... The House also approved an energy bill that would promote conservation, restructure the electric utility industry, and make it easier to build nuclear power plants. The bill may run into problems in the Senate.... Congress passed a foreign-aid bill that offers $10 billion in loan guarantees for Israel, provides $14 billion in cash aid to US friends and allies, provides aid to the former Soviet republics, and eliminates outright military grants to NATO allies.... The House and Senate passed by voice vote a $250 billion defense spending bill for the year that began Oct. 1.... Senate Democrats gave up efforts to lift the government's ban on paying for fetal-tissue transplant research.... President Bush has signed a $630 million spending bill for the Dist rict of Columbia after it was stripped of an abortion provision from an earlier version.... The House passed a bill raising the ceiling on Federal Housing Administration-insured home mortgages to $151,725 in about 20 high-cost areas.... The Homestead, Fla., City Council slapped a six-month moratorium on permits for permanent mobile homes, following Hurricane Andrew. MIDDLE EAST

UN weapons inspectors are asking for more police protection after Iraqi youths splashed two German staff members with fuel on a Baghdad, Iraq, street.... Israelis can now demand Iraqi compensation for injury or damage to property from Scud missiles in the Gulf war, the Israeli justice minister said Oct. 6....