The Week March 27 -April 2

By C.J. Farley, Christine Gorman, Wendy King, Michael Lemonick, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin, Alain Sanders, Sidney Urquhart

NATION

Quiet Time for Washington

With the Clintons away on vacation in California and Congress in recess, Washington's political temperature cooled down considerably. Administration officials capitalized on the break to put the clamor of Whitewater behind them and refocus on promoting the President's domestic agenda. But...

Hillary's Profits

... the Clintons' finances continued to prompt headlines and speculation after the White House released Hillary Rodham Clinton's trading records on the commodities-futures market. The documents revealed that Mrs. Clinton made nearly $100,000 during 1978 and 1979 by investing just $1,000 of her own money. She made her investment on the advice of a lawyer friend who represented one of Arkansas' most powerful companies.

More Bad News for Bill

In documents that have since been turned over to special counsel Robert Fiske, investigators for the federal Resolution Trust Corporation last year named the 1984 Clinton gubernatorial campaign committee as a suspect in its criminal probe of the now defunct Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan of Arkansas. According to news reports, $60,500 in funds from the thrift may have been illegally diverted to the campaign with the knowledge of committee officials. The reports also said the documents name Hillary Clinton as a possible witness.

A State Abortion Revolt

At least 10 states, including the President's home state of Arkansas, announced that they would ignore a new federal Medicaid requirement to pay for the abortions of low-income women who suffer rape or incest. The state revolt sets the stage for months of negotiations with the Federal Government, and for lawsuits by abortion-rights advocates.

Federal Downsizing

President Clinton signed into law a measure offering buyouts of as much as $25,000 to federal employees who resign or retire early. The measure, an attempt to streamline the federal bureaucracy in a humane way, calls for elimination of nearly 273,000 workers by 1999.

Smoking Wars, Continued

The campaign to snuff out cigarettes continued to heat up as California Congressman Henry Waxman released a 1983 study conducted by a Philip Morris researcher indicating that nicotine is addictive to rats; the Congressman charged that the firm tried to suppress the report. Philip Morris denied the allegation.

U.S. to Japan: We're Sorry

At a news conference in Tokyo, U.S. Ambassador Walter Mondale somberly apologized to Japan for the carjacking murder of two 19-year-old Japanese students in Los Angeles -- the latest in a series of violent crimes against Japanese in the U.S. Three days later, the Los Angeles police chief announced the arrest of two suspects.

Brady's Initial Results

Federal officials unveiled preliminary statistics on the effectiveness of the Brady gun-control law during its first month: at least 1,605 people, including fugitives and felons, were stopped from purchasing handguns in 15 states and cities.

Naval Academy Expulsions

More than a year after the U.S. Naval Academy learned of widespread cheating on a December 1992 exam, a Navy panel recommended expelling 29 midshipmen and disciplining 42 others. The final decision will be up to the Secretary of the Navy.

Medicare's Sliding Scales

The General Accounting Office released a disturbing report detailing huge regional variations in the approval and denial rates of Medicare claims for dozens of medical services. The problem: the various insurers who administer Medicare often apply different standards for claims.

Rodney King Testifies Again

On a Los Angeles courtroom floor, Rodney King re-enacted his 1991 beating at the civil trial in which he is seeking $9 million in damages. He testified that the cops who beat him taunted him with racial slurs, which he said can be heard on the famous videotape of the assault -- an assertion disputed by others.

A Religious Truce

A group of prominent Catholic and evangelical Protestant leaders has pledged to reduce theological infighting, stop aggressively proselytizing each other's followers and cooperate on politically potent matters where their views converge, such as opposition to abortion.

Prom Principal Is Back

By a 4-to-2 vote, Alabama's Randolph County school board reinstated Hulond Humphries, the white high school principal accused of trying to cancel a prom to avoid interracial dating. The only white school-board member to join the lone black member in voting against Humphries resigned in protest.

WORLD

Natal's Emergency

South African President F.W. de Klerk declared a state of emergency in Natal province as his government headed for what may be a violent showdown with Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who continues to threaten a boycott of the April 26-28 elections and to hold out for autonomy from the national government. Rival African National Congress head Nelson Mandela endorsed De Klerk's move. Earlier in the week, a march past A.N.C. headquarters in downtown Johannesburg by members of Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party turned into one of the bloodiest battles in the city's history; on Saturday suspected Zulu nationalists attacked a church in a Natal A.N.C. stronghold, killing three.

Detention in China -- Again

Three days after Wei Jingsheng, China's leading dissident, completed his parole term, police detained him as he was returning to Beijing from nearby Tianjin. Since his release from prison last September, after serving all but six months of his 15-year sentence for his advocacy of democracy and human rights, Wei had continued his campaign, infuriating the Chinese government. Wei's detention, his second in a month, could further strain U.S.-Sino relations, which have deteriorated over the issue of human rights.

Italy Takes a Right Turn

A fractious right-wing coalition won Italy's national parliamentary elections. Led by billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, the Freedom Alliance won a strong majority of 366 seats in Parliament's lower house and a plurality of 155 seats in the Senate. Included in the victorious coalition is the neo-Fascist National Alliance, whose leaders still revere the memory of the dictator Benito Mussolini.

Observers for Hebron

Israeli and P.L.O. negotiators resumed talks on Palestinian self-rule after signing an agreement that would provide protection for the 80,000 Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron. A "temporary international presence" made up of 160 observers from Norway, Denmark and Italy will enter the Hebron area by mid-April. Earlier in the week in Gaza, Israeli undercover agents disguised as Palestinians killed six members of the Fatah wing of the P.L.O. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the killings "very regrettable."

North Korea Gets a Break

In the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. pressed for a tough resolution that would include a threat of "further action if necessary" (i.e., sanctions) should North Korea continue to block international inspection of its nuclear sites. But China insisted on a milder statement urging compliance. "We don't think that the council should act in a threatening way," said Beijing's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Chen Jian. But North Korea repudiated the kinder, gentler statement anyway.

A New Candidate

Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party chose former Education Secretary Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon as its presidential candidate. Zedillo replaces Luis Donaldo Colosio, who was assassinated on March 23.

The U.S. and Bosnia

Just hours after the Bosnian parliament ratified an agreement that would create a federation with Bosnian Croats, U.S. officials pledged $10 million for the reconstruction of Sarajevo. At week's end U.N. officials reported at least 17 Muslims and two Croats murdered by Bosnian Serbs in the northern Bosnian town of Prijedor.

Russian Crash Explained?

The plane that went down in Siberia last month, killing all 75 on board, may have been flown by the pilot's 15-year-old son, claim several Russian newspapers, saying the evidence was found on the cockpit flight recorder.

Flogging Upheld

In Singapore an American teenager who pleaded guilty to vandalizing cars and was fined and sentenced to six strokes of a split-bamboo cane and four months in prison, lost his appeal for clemency. President Clinton has urged Singapore to reconsider the penalty.

BUSINESS

Anxiety Attack

Wall Street's heart-stopping tumble (the Dow is down more than 340 points from its Jan. 31 peak) came to a shuddering stop on the eve of Good Friday. President Clinton expressed confidence in the nation's economy and urged investors not to "overreact."

More High-Tech Sales

The Clinton Administration scrapped virtually all export controls on telecommunications equipment and computers to Russia, Eastern Europe and China. The restrictions were imposed during the cold war; lifting them is expected to generate as much as $150 billion in trade over the next 10 years.

SCIENCE

Head of Flawed Study Is Ousted

Women were horrified a few weeks ago to learn that a major study on breast cancer, which came down on the side of less rather than more radical surgery, was based in part on faked data. Last week Dr. Bernard Fisher, the University + of Pittsburgh researcher who coordinated the study, was axed by the National Cancer Institute. The N.C.I. says the original study remains valid.

THE ARTS & MEDIA

Free Press vs. Fair Trial

CNN was charged with criminal contempt of court for "knowingly and willfully" violating a 1990 court order not to broadcast audiotapes of deposed Panamanian dictator General Manuel Noriega's jailhouse conversations. Some of the tapes recorded Noriega's calls to his lawyer's office; their broadcast raises constitutional issues. CNN pleaded not guilty.