March 21, 1997

FBI announces arrest of Frank Laduca in South Brunswick, NJ, as suspect in robbery of seven banks in Middlesex and Somerset Counties (S)

Pres Clinton and Russian Pres Boris N Yeltsin begin two-day summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, with US signaling its willingness to make further arms control concessions and conciliatory Yeltsin stressing that two leaders must 'depart as friends as we've done in the past'; negotiating sessions planned for March 22 are viewed as some of most crucial talks between Russia and US since end of cold war; Clinton and Yeltsin are trying to bridge deep divisions that have arisen between them over planned expansion of North Atlantic Treaty Organization to include nations from former Soviet bloc; photo (M)

First Bank Agrees to Buy U.S. Bancorp for $9 Billion First Bank of Minneapolis agreed to buy U.S Bancorp of Portland, Ore., for $9 billion in stock, in a deal that will create the nation's 14th-largest banking company, with $70 billion in assets.

Prominent abortion doctors say 'partial birth' abortion, which House voted to ban, is one of three methods used to end pregnancies after 20 weeks; say it is used more often on poor, young women choosing to end unwanted pregnancy than on those bearing abnormal fetus; say it is surgical technique easily modified to circumvent ban; only three of 12 doctors say they prefer procedure (M)

New York State regulators approve $22 billion merger of Nynex and Bell Atlantic, but as a condition orders Nynex to spend $500 million on its telephone network and hire hundreds of new employees to improve its long-troubled customer service; state regulators, however, do not demand rate cuts as consumer advocates had urged (M)