The Week February 13-19
By Melissa August, Ginia Bellafante, Christopher John Farley, Kevin Fedarko, Michael D. Lemonick, Jeffery Rubin, David Seideman, Sidney Urquhart
NATION
Trade Tiff
The Clinton Administration has decided to impose sanctions on Japan for violating a 1989 trade agreement that would have allowed cellular-phone giant Motorola the same access to the lucrative Tokyo-Nagoya market that Japanese companies enjoy. Japan denies that they have violated the agreement. The President did not foreclose the possibility that American sanctions might be the first volley in a trade war with Japan. Earlier this month, talks between the nations broke down.
On the Road
President Clinton and his wife Hillary took to the hustings to rally support for their embattled health-care reforms, which have been overshadowed lately by rival plans in Congress. In a speech to 2,000 senior citizens in New Jersey, the President wooed the nation's powerful elderly voters by vowing to protect Medicare.
Saudis Buy U.S. Jets
Thanks to a strenuous lobbying effort by the Clinton Administration, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas will sell 50 commercial jets worth $6 billion to Saudi Arabia -- generating jobs for tens of thousands of Americans in the voter-rich Los Angeles and Seattle areas.
Whitewater
A U.S. district court judge agreed to impanel a special grand jury to focus on the federal investigation of President Clinton's Whitewater real estate venture and its links to a failed S&L. Special counsel Robert Fiske informed the judge that the probe may last 18 months. In a related development, federal bank regulators cleared Hillary Clinton's old law firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, of any conflict of interest regarding its association with the same S&L.
Tailhook Adieu
Admiral Frank B. Kelso II, Chief of Naval Operations, announced that he would retire two months early, in April, in exchange for an official tribute from the Pentagon meant to clear him of wrongdoing in the Tailhook scandal. Earlier this month, a Navy judge dismissed the last three Navy Tailhook cases on the grounds that they had been tainted by Kelso's efforts to conceal his knowledge of the affair.
A Stolen Election Returned
A federal judge nullified a November 1993 election for a Pennsylvania state- senate seat, declaring that it had been won fraudulently by a Democrat. Supporters of William G. Stinson practiced "deception, intimidation, harassment and forgery," wrote the judge. His decision returns the seat to the Republican candidate and could put the G.O.P. in control of the entire state senate.
I Confess
After maintaining his innocence for the past two years, Danny Rolling, accused of murdering five college students in Gainesville, Florida, in 1990, pleaded guilty to all charges against him. "There are some things you just can't run from, this being one of those," Rolling told the judge.
Courtroom Roundup
In San Antonio, Texas, the defense rested its case in the trial of 11 Branch Davidians charged with murdering four federal agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms last February. The jury is expected to get the case late this week. Meanwhile, in New York City, lawyers continued their closing arguments in the World Trade Center trial of four defendants linked to the bombing a year ago that killed six people and injured 1,000.
Texas Chain-Saw Editing
The Texas state board of education is deleting 300 sensitive items from proposed high school health texts. They include hot-line numbers for AIDS information groups, references to anal and oral intercourse, facts about state laws against sex with minors, condom instructions and mentions of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Critics of the changes say the board has fallen under the influence of the radical right.
And Speaking of Kevorkian
A Detroit judge declined to dismiss the last remaining charge against Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the aggressive advocate of taking one's life as an option for the terminally ill, and ordered him to stand trial in the assisted suicide of a man with Lou Gehrig's disease.
WORLD
Silence over Sarajevo?
Under heavy pressure from NATO, the U.N., President Clinton and -- most important -- their Russian allies, the Bosnian Serbs pledged their compliance with a NATO ultimatum to either withdraw their weapons from within a 12-mile radius of Sarajevo or turn them over to U.N. peacekeepers. At week's end U.N. observers were reporting "very significant withdrawals of Bosnian-Serb forces." However, there were new reports of Serb atrocities in other parts of Bosnia, particularly near the town of Banja Luka. In a Saturday address, Clinton warned that "American pilots and planes stand ready" to join in NATO air strikes around Sarajevo.
Sniffing Out Nukes
After an 11-month standoff, North Korea has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it will permit inspection of seven nuclear sites. Not included in the arrangement: two sites in its Yongbyon complex believed to be waste dumps for weapons-grade plutonium. In a positive response, the South Korean Foreign Minister, Han Sung Joo, said the U.S. should reconsider its proposed deployment of Patriot missiles in South Korea.
Compromise Lost
The leader of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party turned down a last-minute package of concessions from African National Congress president Nelson Mandela intended to avert a threatened boycott of the historic election set for April 26-28. Mandela eased up on A.N.C. demands for strong central authority by offering provincial governments more autonomy. In Natal province, gunmen attacked A.N.C. supporters, killing 15.
Meeting in Chiapas
Talks between government and guerrilla leaders begin this week to bring to an end the Zapatista uprising in the state of Chiapas. The negotiations were announced 24 hours after the guerrillas released the former Chiapas Governor, whom they had been holding hostage since the rebellion began on New Year's Day.
Deadly Quake in Indonesia
More than 200 people were killed and 3,000 injured when a severe earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The U.S. Geological Survey in Washington estimated the quake's strength at 7.2 on the Richter scale.
Bucks for Bombs
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited Washington last week and came away with a windfall of $311 million -- three times the amount of last year's aid total. In return, Kazakhstan will dismantle 104 long-range SS-18 missiles, each tipped with 10 nuclear warheads.
R.I.P. for the Rostov Ripper
Andre Chikatilo, the sadistic, Ukraine-born serial killer, who raped, murdered and ate more than 50 people in the former Soviet Union between 1978 and 1990, was executed with a bullet to the back of the head in Rostov.
BUSINESS
Viacom Victorious
The battle for Paramount ended rather anticlimactically on Monday, when shareholders finally voted more than the required 50.1% of their shares to Viacom for about $80 a share. The new company's properties now include, among others, MTV, Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster and a debt of $10 billion.
Calling All Chryslers ...
For the fifth time since December, the Chrysler Corp. has announced a recall of certain models. Last week's action, which involves electrical wires that are in danger of short-circuiting, applies to about 110,000 sedans: Dodge Intrepids and Eagle Visions, plus three models of Chryslers (the LHS, the Concorde and the New Yorker).
THE ARTS & MEDIA
A Painting Held Hostage?
A hint that Edvard Munch's stolen masterpiece, The Scream, may be returned came last week from a Norwegian antiabortion activist. The Rev. Borre Knudsen said the painting may be returned if local television broadcasts The Silent Scream -- a film that shows a fetus being aborted. Knudsen refused to say whether his organization was actually involved in the theft, which took place on the opening day of the Lillehammer Games.
Bringing the Holocaust Home
Schindler's List, the widely acclaimed Steven Spielberg epic about the Holocaust, had a gala premiere in Vienna last week that was attended by celebrities and politicians. Among the guests: Simon Wiesenthal. Missing: Kurt Waldheim.
Goliath Beats David
"Neither a borrower nor a Spender be" is the message American novelist David Leavitt got from his publisher, Viking, last week. No more copies of Leavitt's controversial novel, While England Sleeps, will be printed or shipped until the author has made "minor revisions," said a Viking spokesperson. The move was in response to a lawsuit by the eminent British poet Stephen Spender, who claims that Leavitt has drawn too closely on his 1951 memoir, World Within World.
WINTER OLYMPICS
Cold Shoulders
Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan finally appeared on the same ice for a practice session. Kerrigan pointedly appeared in the same costume she wore on the day she was attacked last month.
Whoops!
Russian Alexei Urmanov took the gold in men's figure skating after the favorites, including 1988 winner Brian Boitano, had disastrous showings in the short program. Boitano finished sixth.
Wow!
Tommy Moe stunned the world by capturing the men's downhill and then a silver in the super giant slalom. Diann Roffe-Steinrotter came in first in the women's super-G, and Picabo Street took a silver in the women's downhill.
Golds for Jansen and Blair
After slipping out of contention in the 500-m race, speed skater Dan Jansen finally won a gold medal and set a world record in the 1,000-m finals. Bonnie Blair skated to gold in the women's 500-m, her third straight Olympic win in the event.