The Week October 30 - November 5

By Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Lina Lofaro, Alice Park, Michael Quinn, Jeffery C. Rubin, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart

NATION

The Union County Nightmare

After a weeklong national alert and a frantic series of fruitless tips and searches set off by Susan Smith's vivid accounts, the hunt for the carjacking kidnapper of 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander ended in Union County, South Carolina, the place where the tragedy began. Authorities accused Smith of murdering the children after police found her car with the boys inside at the bottom of a local lake. The arrest shocked the community and appeared to confirm some of the worst infanticidal suspicions of early doubters of Smith's tale.

The White House Rifle Case

Francisco Martin Duran, the Colorado man accused of opening fire on the White House with a semiautomatic rifle, was ordered held without bail and charged with four felonies that could result in 35 years behind bars. Prosecutors indicated they were studying notes seized from Duran, as well as the statements of acquaintances, to determine whether or not the charges should be upgraded to an attempted assassination of the President. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen announced that the review of White House security begun after the September plane incident would be intensified.

CIA Uncloaked and Daggered

In a scathing report, the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the CIA of gross ineptitude for failing to unearth agency mole Aldrich Ames during a period of nine years. Ames' sale of secrets to the Soviets -- the most damaging security breach in U.S. spy history -- is believed to have cost the lives of at least 10 agents behind the Iron Curtain and compromised more than 100 operations. The committee blasted the agency for its inability to investigate itself and properly recognize Ames' suspicious activities. The panel also criticized Director R. James Woolsey for his mild reprimands of those responsible for the botched probe.

Death for a Pro-Life Killer

A Florida jury recommended death for antiabortion extremist Paul Hill after convicting him of murdering Dr. John Britton and his escort James Barrett outside a Pensacola clinic in July. Hill, already convicted on federal charges, had told the jury beforehand, "You may mix my blood with the blood of the unborn ... However, truth and righteousness will prevail." A judge will decide later whether to impose the death sentence.

A Deadly Plane Crash

A packed ATR-72 plane, American Eagle Flight 4184, heading to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from Indianapolis, crashed in a northwestern Indiana soybean field during a heavy rainstorm. All 68 people aboard perished.

The Simpson Case

The prosecution and defense in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson agreed on a 12-person jury composed of eight blacks, two Hispanics, one white and one person of white and American Indian background. Eight of the panelists are women, four are men. Still to be selected: 15 alternate jurors.

One Tailhook Lesson Learned

In sharp contrast to the dithering example set by the Navy in the Tailhook scandal, Army officials at West Point moved swiftly and decisively to investigate complaints by female cadets that they had been groped by members of the academy's football team during a pep rally last month. An inquiry found three players guilty: they were given demerits, restricted to academy grounds for 90 days, ordered to march for 80 hours and kicked off the team for the rest of the season.

The N.A.A.C.P.'s Money Crunch

Strapped for cash and still reeling from accusations that some of its leaders may have engaged in financial irregularities, the N.A.A.C.P., the nation's premier civil rights organization, temporarily stopped paying most of its professional staff. The organization also announced a massive fund-raising drive to erase its $3.8 million deficit.

Reagan Has Alzheimer's

Former President Ronald Reagan, 83, announced in an open letter to the public on Saturday that he's in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, an incurable ailment that causes a progressive loss of mental faculties. Reagan said he and his wife Nancy want to promote public awareness of the disease. "I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience," he wrote. "When the time comes I am confident that with your help she will face it with faith and courage."

WORLD

Bosnian Army Gets Croat Help

Bosnian Croat militias joined the resurgent Muslim-led Bosnian army to retake Kupres, a town 60 miles west of Sarajevo, which had been overrun by Bosnian Serbs in 1992. The combined Croat-Muslim forces captured materiel abandoned by the fleeing Serbs. Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly voted to pass a nonbinding resolution exempting the Bosnian army from the arms embargo imposed by the Security Council.

! The Kremlin's New Moneymen

As part of the continuing fallout from the Oct. 11 crash of the ruble, Russian President Boris Yeltsin shuffled his economic team, appointing as Finance Minister Vladimir Panskov, a Soviet-era budget specialist who had been briefly imprisoned on bribery charges that were later dropped. Alexander Shokhin, Economics Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, resigned, saying, "The economy is becoming a hostage to politics." Yeltsin then promoted reformer Anatoli Chubais to first Deputy Prime Minister, charged with overseeing the ministries of Economics and Finance.

Wave of Fire Kills Hundreds

Blazing oil borne by floodwaters swept into an Egyptian town, killing some 500 people, many of them incinerated as they slept. Survivors "thought it was the Day of Judgment," according to one witness who saw "a wave of people running toward the mosque screaming 'There is only one God!' " The conflagration in Durunka, located 213 miles south of Cairo, was ignited when government oil- storage tanks ruptured and spilled their inflammable contents.

Canada to Limit Immigration

Bowing to increasing anti-immigrant sentiments, the Canadian government announced that it will accept fewer immigrants next year and change government policy to emphasize marketable skills as an entry criterion.

Arafat Gets the Boot

Islamic militants denounced P.L.O. chief Yasser Arafat as an Israeli collaborator and pushed him out the back door of a Gaza City mosque into a downpour as he tried to join a funeral service. Shouting "Get out of here, Arafat, get out!," the angry crowd forced him to leave the ceremony for Hani Abed, an Islamic Jihad activist who was killed in a car bombing that many Gazans blame on Israel.

U.N. Troops to Leave Somalia

The Security Council voted unanimously to end the U.N.-peacekeeping mission to Somalia by March 31, admitting defeat in its nation-building efforts there.

BUSINESS

New Age Soft-Drink Merger

In an attempt to avoid a hostile takeover, the Quaker Oats Co. will purchase Snapple Beverage Corp. for $1.7 billion. Quaker is already home to Gatorade, the leading U.S. sports drink. The acquisition of Snapple, known for its fruit juices and natural sodas,will make the firm the third largest producer of nonalcoholic beverages in North America, after PepsiCo Inc. and the Coca-Cola Co.

SCIENCE

) From Lab Bench to Dinner Table

The family of genetically engineered foods continues to grow. The FDA declared five more genetically enhanced vegetables -- three tomatoes with longer shelf lives and a squash and potato that resist common crop pests -- safe for human consumption.

This Land Is Our Land

President Clinton signed into law this week the California Desert Protection Act, designating 7.7 million acres of federal land in California as wilderness, of which 3 million acres now become national parks. The law expands the boundaries of the Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Monuments and includes them, along with the Mojave National Preserve, in the National Park system.

SPORT

By George, He Did It

In recent years, he's been a bear of an actor, a roly-poly pitchman and a clown connoisseur of everything edible. Now, once again, just call him champ. In the 10th round of the big fight Saturday night, George Foreman, 45, knocked out Michael Moorer, 26, to regain the heavyweight title he lost 20 years ago to Muhammad Ali. Foreman's incredible victory was an inspiration to his aging generation and proved that baby boomers still have some boom left.