The Week July 24-30

By Melissa August, Robertson Barrett, Wendy King, Michael D. Lemonick, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Jeffery C. Rubin, Alain L. Sanders, Sidney Urquhart and Sarah Van Boven

NATION

Health-Care Maneuvers

Attempting to hammer out a passable bill, both houses of Congress grappled with drafts of health-care reform proposals. At week's end House Democratic leaders announced a bill that would provide universal coverage and require employers to pay most of their workers' insurance costs, with subsidies provided for small businesses. In the Senate, where opposition to employer payments is tougher, majority leader George Mitchell indicated he might propose that employers and workers split the cost of insurance fifty-fifty -- but only as a last resort if voluntary measures fail to achieve universal coverage. Minority leader Bob Dole grumbled ominously that Republicans would not be rushed into approving a plan they didn't like.

Whitewater Hearings Open

Amid a flurry of partisan bickering, the House Banking Committee began its hearings into the Whitewater affair. A series of Administration figures offered the unsurprising testimony that they had not interfered with a government investigation of the failed S&L at the heart of the Whitewater matter. Republicans, hoping to sustain an air of scandal, charged that Administration actions nevertheless served as an example of "Me generation public ethics."

Foster Hearings

On the other side of Capitol Hill, FBI and U.S. park-police investigators affirmed before the Senate Banking Committee that the death of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster was a suicide unrelated to Whitewater.

A Crime-Bill Agreement

Following weeks of impasse, House and Senate conferees finally settled their differences and agreed on a $30 billion crime bill. The compromise measure maintains a controversial ban on 19 assault weapons but drops an equally controversial provision that would have allowed death-row inmates to challenge their sentence on the basis of race discrimination.

The Senate Okays Breyer

No suspense: by an overwhelming vote of 87 to 9, the Senate confirmed President Clinton's selection of Boston federal appeals-court judge Stephen Breyer for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Simpson Case

Presiding over the O.J. Simpson murder case for his first week, Superior Court Judge Lance Ito ordered the trial to begin on Sept. 19. The defense said police had interviewed a witness who might exonerate Simpson. Earlier in the week, Judge Ito allowed the prosecution to begin DNA tests of blood found at the crime scene and at O.J.'s home but ruled that small samplings be set aside for possible independent tests by the defense.

Another Abortion Doctor Killed

A gunman shot and killed Dr. John Britton and his volunteer bodyguard, James Barrett, outside a Pensacola, Florida, abortion clinic. A suspect -- antiabortion activist Paul Hill -- was promptly arrested at the scene. The murderous attack was the second on a Pensacola abortion provider in 17 months.

The Ames Solution

CIA mole Aldrich Ames said he betrayed U.S. agents behind the Iron Curtain for money and also because he wanted to shorten the cold war by "leveling the playing field," according to a report in the New York Times.

Paying Up for the Exxon Valdez

The Exxon Corp. and some 3,500 native Alaskans reached a $20 million settlement for losses the villagers suffered as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. Exxon, which still faces claims from other plaintiffs, remains open to punitive damages.

More Woes for the N.A.A.C.P.

The financially strapped and politically riven N.A.A.C.P. was thrown into further turmoil after press reports that its executive director, Benjamin Chavis, had committed the organization -- without the knowledge of its board -- to a $332,400 out-of-court settlement with a former employee who had accused him of sexual harassment.

Computer Porn

In a case raising questions about how to enforce federal obscenity laws on the information superhighway, a California couple were convicted in Tennessee of transmitting obscene images over their members-only computer bulletin board. Maintaining that prosecutors had shopped around for a conservative trial site, Robert and Carleen Thomas' lawyer said they would appeal.

WORLD

Israel, Jordan Declare Peace

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed an agreement at the White House ending the 46-year state of belligerency between their two countries. The Washington Declaration calls for direct telephone lines, an electrical-power-grid link and the opening of two new border crossings as the first steps toward friendlier relations. As a sop to King Hussein, the agreement also gives Jordan "high priority" as custodian over the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, but P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat insists that does not undermine Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem as its capital. Final negotiations on the capital's status will take place in two years.

U.S. Troops to Rwanda

President Clinton dispatched 200 U.S. Army and Air Force troops to secure the airport in Rwanda's capital of Kigali and turn it into a relief supply hub. Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch said the troops would be used solely in a humanitarian role, and "there is no intention whatsoever of making this a peacekeeping mission." Meanwhile, the death toll in the refugee camps in Zaire climbed to 20,000, though no one could be sure of the precise figure. "Counting bodies isn't a top priority," said an overwhelmed official.

Serbs Harden Sarajevo Siege

Bosnian Serbs closed the single road from Sarajevo to the outside world, shooting up a U.N. convoy and killing one British soldier. Prices in the besieged capital soared as much as 50% as anxious consumers stockpiled basics. The blockade and several other Serb provocations -- the firing of heavy weapons around the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, the kidnapping of two U.N. officials and a Muslim woman -- underscored Serb intransigence in peace negotiations.

London Jewish Sites Bombed

Two separate car-bomb blasts, outside the Israeli embassy and the offices of a Jewish fund-raising organization in London, wounded 19 people. A Lebanese group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said he believed Iran had played a part. Meanwhile, the death toll from the July 18 blast that destroyed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires climbed to 86.

Russian Troops Out of Estonia

Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Estonian President Lennart Meri signed an agreement ending Russia's 50-year military presence in the Baltic republic. Russia will withdraw its 2,000 remaining troops by month's end in the compromise accord, which allows some 10,000 retired Soviet military officers living in Estonia to apply for residency there.

Defector: N. Korea Has Nukes

A high-level defector claimed that North Korea has built five nuclear bombs and may build five more, although it lacks the missile technology to deliver the weapons to targets. Kang Myong Do, who defected to South Korea in May and claims to be the son-in-law of North Korean Prime Minister Kang Sung San, said he learned about the secret nukes from a top North Korean official.

BUSINESS

Big Three Show Big Profits

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. automaker record of $1.7 billion in second-quarter profits announced this week didn't last long, as General Motors revealed that it more than doubled its 1993 second-quarter net with $1.9 billion in profits. With Chrysler's announcement earlier this month of $1 billion in profits, each of the Big Three manufacturers has now set company records -- a feat attributed to strong domestic sales of cars and light trucks and a rebounding foreign market.

And Russians Post Big Losses

Russian investors learned some lessons of capitalism the hard way: rumors that MMM, the nation's largest stock fund, was close to collapse sent many of its claimed 10 million investors into a panic. Thousands of stockholders lined up in front of MMM buildings in Moscow and St. Petersburg clamoring to sell back their shares, once valued at $62 each. On Saturday the company closed its doors. The Russian government has announced stronger market regulation.

High-Priced Air

Six paging and messaging companies raised their bids through 47 rounds of an auction and ended up paying the Federal Communications Commission $617 million for 10 radio-frequency licenses. It was the FCC's first such auction of the airwaves, but it promises more.

THE ARTS & MEDIA

A Good Week for Art Theft

After tying up a gallery security guard, thieves in Frankfurt, Germany, managed to make off with three works by Romantic painters J.M.W. Turner and Caspar David Friedrich valued at $42 million. Meanwhile, across the ocean at a warehouse on Boston's waterfront, a 1786 portrait of Thomas Jefferson worth at least $1 million was lifted from a metal and concrete safe.

SPORTS

27 Up, 27 Down

Texas Ranger left-hander Kenny Rogers retired 27 straight batters to pitch the 12th perfect game in baseball history. With the help of a spectacular diving catch by outfielder Rusty Greer in the ninth inning, Rogers' 98 pitches and eight strikeouts were enough to put his name in the history books alongside such baseball greats as Cy Young, Sandy Koufax and Catfish Hunter.

A Strike Date Is Set

On the same day as Rogers' perfect game, the baseball players' union set a strike date for Aug. 12. If players and owners are unable to agree on issues such as salary caps and arbitration, baseball will see its eighth work stoppage in 22 seasons -- and fans will lose the much discussed possibility of a new home-run record set by league leaders Ken Griffey Jr. and Matt Williams.