News Currents

UNITED STATES

A group led by the president of Japan's Nintendo Co. won all but final approval to buy the Seattle Mariners on the condition he stay out of the day-to-day running of the baseball team. Approval of the $125-million deal would give Japanese investors their first major league sports team in the US.... In the Arkansas primary Tuesday, voters ousted incumbent Rep. Beryl Anthony (D) after seven terms in Congress.... In Maine, Republicans picked L.L. Bean's granddaughter, Linda Bean, as their congressional cand idate.... Virginia state Sen. Robert Scott won the Democratic primary in the new black-majority 3rd Congressional District. He or GOP candidate Dan Jenkins could become Virginia's first black congressman this century.... In North Dakota, Attorney General Nicholas Spaeth won the Democratic gubernatorial primary, defeating state Senate Majority Leader William Heigaard.... A fifth congressional employee has admitted criminal wrongdoing in the House Post Office scandal. Wendell Magruder, a stamp clerk, pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling $13,997 from his stamp drawer. ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

Corporate America can expect its first increase in profits in four years in 1992, according to a survey of top economists by Blue Chip Economic Indicators.... The House voted Tuesday to give up to 26 weeks of extra benefits to people whose regular unemployment coverage will soon expire. ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE

Scientific tests have proved a link between stunted plant growth and higher ultraviolet radiation caused by the depletion of the Earth's protective ozone layer, the leader of an Australian research team claimed yesterday.