May 21, 1997

Senate, 64-36, approves bill to ban so-called 'partial-birth' abortions; abortion opponents fall three votes short of number needed to override Pres Clinton's expected veto; Sen Rick Santorum, who led fight for ban, comments; abortion opponents, who spent over $1 million in advertising recently in eight states to sway potentially swing senators, pick up only three votes; photo; graph (M)

Karel van Viert, former Belgian Socialist who is European Commission's Minister for Competition, is expected to hand Boeing Co list of 'objections' to its $14 billion takeover of McDonnell Douglas Corp; van Miert is flexing his muscles for showdown with US aerospace industry and, very likely, the US Government; in numerous public comments, van Miert has warned that creation of an aerospace goliath would endanger competition in Europe, especially for Airbus Industrie, the European consortium based in Paris that competes with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas; if Boeing fails to address van Miert's concerns, he has threatened to block the deal or impose fines of up to 10 percent of Boeing's revenues, or about $4 billion; tables; photos (L)

New Jersey Appeals Court, in ruling intended to strike compromise between two unmarried parents, orders that 3-year-old boy be given first and last name his mother prefers, but not middle name (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Fed Keeps Rates Steady Amid Few Signs of Inflation The Federal Reserve voted to leave interest rates unchanged, betting that the economy was slowing sufficiently to avert a resurgence of inflation.

New Jersey continues to show progress in reducing pollution, United States Environmental Protection Agency reports (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)