News In Brief

Weighted down by a record $34.4 billion trade deficit, the US economy experienced its smallest gain in four years during the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department reported. The growth in goods and services - 1.6 percent - fell well short of the 2.3 percent estimated earlier by federal economists. But they forecast a sizzling 4 percent - and possibly higher - growth in the current quarter, citing increased demand overseas for US products. The last time the economy grew so slowly was the spring quarter of 1995, when it mustered only a 0.4 percent rate.

Pizza Hut announced the launch, literally, of an innovative advertising campaign designed to carry its image to new heights. The Dallas-based - and world's largest - chain of pizza restaurants said its logo would be affixed to the unmanned rocket that will place the living quarters of the International Space Station in orbit above Earth. The launch is scheduled for mid-November from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. The company said the 30-foot-high logo should be visible to a global TV audience, although the rocket will burn up before leaving Earth's atmosphere.

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