INTERNATIONAL

Guarantee on Loan to Soviets: The government’s Export-Import Bank agreed to guarantee a $17.3-million loan by an unidentified private bank to the Soviet Union, the first such guarantee in 17 years. Participants in a deal to sell U.S. equipment for manufacturing batteries to the Soviet Union had tried unsuccessfully to get a bank loan without the guarantee. But President Bush waived the prohibition of help from the government bank, making the guarantee possible. The bank is prevented from dealing with the Soviet Union by the Jackson-Vanik amendment, enacted because of Soviet limits on emigration of Jews and others, unless the President waives the law.