The Week August 13-20

By Michael D. Lemonick, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Romesh Ratnesar and Sidney Urquhart

NATION

Another Mariel in the Making?

It is the largest Cuban migration since the 1980 Mariel boat lift. With hundreds of refugees arriving in Florida daily, Governor Lawton Chiles called the situation critical and declared a state of emergency. The White House, no longer insisting that the refugee flow was "manageable," abruptly reversed a 28-year-old policy of admitting virtually all Cubans seeking to enter the U.S. and announced that all Cuban refugees will now be detained and processed like other illegal aliens.

Reviving the Crime Bill

The Administration's moribund crime bill got some emergency treatment from three influential members of the Congressional Black Caucus who, though still opposed to the measure as it now reads because of its harsh death-penalty provisions, nevertheless agreed to help return the bill to the House floor for further debate. At week's end members of both parties were discussing a deal that would create a sexual-predator task force, make minor revisions in the measure's assault-weapons ban, and slash more than 10% of the bill's $33 billion funding.

Health-Care Maneuvers

As the formal debate on health-care reform dragged on, the Senate finally did something and voted on a number of minor amendments to majority leader George Mitchell's bill. Meanwhile, a fluid "mainstream" coalition of moderate Democrats and Republicans endured long negotiations to craft an alternative proposal that, while somewhat less inclusive, is thought by many to represent the Senate's best shot at passing a bill. The mainstream plan would cover about 92% of the population, would cut out many of the regulations in the Mitchell plan, and aims to lower the federal deficit. But Republicans, led by minority leader Bob Dole, were poised to halt the debate while the Congressional Budget Office tots up the cost of the various revisions. In the House, majority leader Richard Gephardt said debate on health-care reform would not begin until after Labor Day.

Mr. Altman Regrets

"Dear Mr. President: I am resigning today ... " With these by now familiar words another Whitewater casualty (and Clinton confidant) left the Administration. Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman's position had become politically untenable after Democrats as well as Republicans accused him of misleading Congress about his contacts with the White House over an investigation of the Arkansas savings and loan at the heart of the affair. A day after Altman walked the plank, he was followed by Jean Hanson, the chief Treasury lawyer, who had been criticized for failing to correct misstatements she knew Altman had made in congressional testimony.

A Vote of Confidence

Gridlock wasn't fully triumphant as the House voted 280 to 137 to pass President Clinton's $263.8 billion defense budget. Provisions include $3.5 billion to help laid-off defense contractors find work in civilian businesses, and a 2.6% raise for military personnel. The budget will reach the Senate shortly.

Shuttle Launch Scrubbed

Space shuttle Endeavour's launch was aborted just 1.9 sec. before liftoff. The problem was an overheated fuel pump in one of the ship's giant rocket engines. It was the fifth mission scrubbed on the launching pad in 64 flights.

Was "Kato" Telling the Truth?

Sources told TIME that Brian ("Kato") Kaelin, O.J. Simpson's friend and tenant, may not have told the whole truth when he testified at the June preliminary hearings that led to Simpson's indictment for murder. Kaelin testified that he heard three loud "thumps" outside his quarters on the night of the murders, checked out the noise, but saw no one. However, prosecutors are looking into a claim that when Kaelin went out to investigate, he in fact discovered Simpson. This would place Simpson near the site where police later found a bloody glove linked to the crime scene.

Congressman Indicted

Charged with sexual assault against a 16-year-old girl in his 1992 campaign, as well as obstruction of justice, Congressman Mel Reynolds was indicted in his home state of Illinois. State and federal investigators have also been examining the freshman Democrat's failure to register a nonprofit foundation and disclose the existence of campaign accounts, one of which held $85,000.

WORLD

The Jackal Is Trapped

After a 20-year manhunt that fanned across Europe and the Middle East, one of the world's most wanted terrorists was arrested in Sudan and flown to France. Ilich Ramirez Sanchez -- a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal -- masterminded the kidnapping of 11 OPEC ministers from a Vienna conference hall in 1975. He is also linked to a 1982 Paris bombing that killed one person and wounded 63, and to the fatal shooting of two French counterintelligence agents in 1975.

Plugging the Plutonium Leak

For the third time since May, German authorities seized plutonium that appears to have been smuggled out of the former Soviet Union. But a Russian official defended his country's nuclear security, saying it was no better or worse than that of any other nuclear power. "A smart man can cheat any system," said Yuri Rogozhin, spokesman for Russia's nuclear regulatory agency.

Pyongyang Hesitates

North Korea appears to be backing off its Aug. 13 agreement with the U.S. to scrap construction of conventional nuclear reactors in return for a modern, American-aided light-water reactor. Rejecting South Korea's demand that it open its nuclear program to full inspection in return for the light-water scheme, North Korea claimed that two sites are in military areas and off limits.

The Honeymoon Is Over

Marking his first 100 days in office, South Africa's President Nelson Mandela announced he will set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to uncover the crimes of apartheid and lay to rest a past that "threatens to live with us as a festering sore." The controversial move is fiercely opposed by white right- wing groups.

French Hand-Off in Rwanda

A peacekeeping force of 2,500 French troops, based in southwestern Rwanda since June, prepared to hand over its mission to a U.N. contingent of Ghanaian and Ethiopian soldiers. But the pending transfer threatened to spark such a mass exodus of Hutu, fearful of the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic + Army, that Zaire closed its border at Bukavu in an effort to prevent another Goma.

Greater Serbia

Bosnian Serb leaders announced they will formally seek to link their territories with Yugoslavia and Serb-controlled parts of Croatia. And in a move characterized as blackmail by U.N. officials, they said they will no longer permit relief convoys to pass through Serb-held territory without taking a cut of food and fuel for themselves.

More Turmoil for Nigeria

Violent protests in southern Benin City broke out in a week when the country's military ruler, General Sani Abacha, fired the leaders of two major oil unions in an effort to end a crippling six-week oil strike. On the weekend more than a dozen prominent Nigerians were arrested in a government crackdown.

End of a Nightmare

Two New Jersey children whose father killed their mother and then fled with them to his native Jordan, have been returned to the U.S. in the custody of their aunt. Because there is no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Jordan, Muhammed Abequa will be tried for first-degree murder and kidnapping in Amman.

BUSINESS

Fed Raises Rates-Again

For the fifth time this year, the Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates in an attempt to slow economic growth and ward off inflation. Although an increase was expected, the hike of half a percentage point was surprisingly steep. Administration officials said they expect the economy to continue to expand, but some economists, business leaders and members of Congress argued that the Fed's move will unnecessarily choke off investment and cost some average Americans their jobs.

Cyanamid Accepts Sweeter Deal

Two weeks of hesitation ended as American Cyanamid Co. consented to a takeover by American Home Products Corp. The $9.7 billion deal was $6 a share richer than American Home's original offer. The consolidation of Cyanamid, which sells Centrum vitamins, and American Home, maker of Advil, Anacin and Norplant, will create the nation's fourth largest prescription-drug company.

California Insurance Windfall

In a potentially far-reaching decision, the California Supreme Court upheld a 1988 state referendum that rolled back auto and home insurance premiums and imposed strict regulations on the ability of insurance companies to set their own rates. The ruling paves the way for California consumers to receive as much as $1 billion in rebates from the state's 700 insurance companies.

SCIENCE

Population Trouble

The world's population is growing by 94 million people a year, the fastest rate of increase in human history, says a new U.N. report. An overall decrease in fertility worldwide may slow things down a bit in the next few decades, but even so, there will be 8.5 billion people on the earth by the year 2025 and perhaps as many as 12.5 billion in 2050, compared with 5.6 billion today. As recently as 1950, there were only 2.5 billion people alive.

SPORT

It's So, Joe

Little movement has been made toward resolving what has already become the second longest baseball strike in history. Negotiations between owners and players resume this week. Citizens' groups planned to petition Congress to intervene and end the dispute, and desperate fans struggled to cope in other ways. Therapy ranged from minor league baseball -- by most accounts the biggest beneficiary of the standoff -- to computer-simulated contests to fictitious accounts of the season's increasingly imperiled finale.