May 22, 1993

The sun poked through the clouds, vanished, then gave way to rain as Floyd Rucker and Vivian Kizer stepped inside a gleaming downtown shopping mall here, where they did more looking than buying. They have talked about buying a new house and having a baby. But the nation's economy, fickle as the spring sky in Missouri, has put their plans on hold. "I think about the low interest rates, and figure maybe it's time to buy something," said Mr. Rucker, a 29-year-old veterinarian's assistant. "But then I think about a friend of mine. He's got a new baby, a big house payment, two car payments. And he just got laid off. He doesn't know what he's going to do."

Some of the Clinton Administration's top economic officials told President Clinton on Thursday that they had serious questions about the cost and scope of the ambitious health-care plan being developed by Hillary Rodham Clinton, people who attended the meeting said today. As Mr. Clinton nears crucial decisions on his health plan, his top advisers remain deeply divided on a question at the core of the proposal: how generous to make the standard package of medical benefits that would be guaranteed to all Americans.

The General Motors Corporation said today that it had asked German law-enforcement officials to take criminal action against the former head of its global purchasing operations, Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, because G.M. believes Mr. Lopez and others took confidential documents when they left the company several weeks ago. Mr. Lopez, an engineer who helped revive General Motors' European operations in the 1980's before being transferred to Detroit, stunned the automotive world when he resigned after nine months in the United States. He left G.M. to become a top executive with Volkswagen A.G., Germany's largest auto maker and one of G.M.'s biggest competitors in Europe. Several Executives Defected Six other G.M. executives, three from Detroit and three from the company's Adam Opel A.G. division in Europe, followed Mr. Lopez to VW later in March. The defections prompted G.M. to obtain a court injunction blocking VW and Mr. Lopez from "systematically hiring" G.M. executives.

After a third day of embarrassing disclosures about the ouster of its travel office, the White House tonight abruptly announced the withdrawal of the Arkansas travel agency with close ties to President Clinton that it had selected to take over the operation. The White House also confirmed that a partner of Mr. Clinton's Hollywood friend Harry Thomason had inquired about doing business with the travel office. The White House press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, said today that she initially gave the partner some encouragement at the time but that he was later rebuffed by the travel office.

Negotiations for a peace settlement in Angola ended in failure tonight after the warring factions were unable to agree on a cease-fire. "I'm afraid the war is going to go on and probably to intensify," said Margaret Anstee, the United Nations special envoy to Angola, who mediated nearly six weeks of talks held here.