National and International News - Saturday June 23

WHITE HOUSE (AP) - Several amendments leading toward a final vote on immigration overhaul are coming up next week. President Bush today will be pushing the package in his weekly radio address. The measure, including a guest-worker plan, has emerged as his top domestic priority. Critics say it still amounts to amnesty.

TOKYO (AP) - The top U-S nuclear envoy in talks with North Korea says the North's main plutonium reactor could be shut down within a few weeks. Christopher Hill commented today in Tokyo after a surprise visit to North Korea, where state media are praising the talks as "productive."

GAUHATI, India (AP) - A bombing at a busy vegetable market in northeast India has killed at least five people and wounded 35 others. It's an area where secessionist rebels are active. The city where the bomb went off is hosting a gathering of athletes from 20 countries for the Asian Grand Prix Athletics Championship.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Eight similar thrill rides at amusements parks around North America have been shut down after a cable snapped on a ride in Kentucky, severing the feet of a 13-year-old girl. Six Flags and Cedar Fair have shut down all such rides, which lift passengers 177 feet straight up, then drop them.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A California man has been killed by a fire hydrant that snapped off when it was hit by an S-U-V. A deputy sheriff says water pressure and the crash itself sent the hydrant flying like a "bullet." The man was hit in the back of the head as he walked with his wife. The S-U-V had apparently blown a tire.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - Now that space shuttle Atlantis has landed, the next task is getting it back where it belongs. The weather-related detour to Edwards Air Force Base, California, means more than one and a-half (m) million dollars in extra costs for NASA to get the space vehicle back to Florida. The crew heads for Houston and family reunions today.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Citing environmental concerns, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order prohibiting city departments from buying bottled water. Newsom says the ban will go into effect July First and will extend to water coolers by December First. Using tap water should also save San Francisco some money.

UNIONTOWN, Ohio (AP) - Ohio authorities say the mother of a baby girl found on an Ohio doorstep has come forward and the newborn does not belong to a missing pregnant woman. The baby was found about 45 miles from the home of Jessie Davis, who disappeared last week. The search continues.

MONTCLAIR, N.J. (AP) - Authorities say a New Jersey man facing charges for assaulting his estranged wife has drowned their two young daughters in a bathtub and hanged himself at his home. Police say a restraining order against Thomas Reilly allowed him to see the children, but not his wife.

NEW YORK (AP) - New York is a big, noisy city of sirens, honking horns and a cacophony of other sounds. That could be about to change. New regulations governing everything from jackhammers to barroom music take effect July First. Some Gothamites are skeptical about making the city that never sleeps quiet down. They say it wouldn't be New York without the noise.

NEW YORK (AP) - A judge has ruled that the family of one of the heroes of Nine-Eleven should get a quarter (m) million-dollar federal death benefit. The Justice Department said Glenn Winuk was no longer a volunteer firefighter when he grabbed a medical bag and rushed into the World Trade Center. The judge calls that decision arbitrary and says Winuk clearly acted in the line of duty.