THE WEEK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, MELISSA AUGUST, EDWARD BARNES, LINA LOFARO, MICHAEL QUINN, JEFFERY C. RUBIN AND ALAIN L. SANDERS

NATION

Terms Unlimited

Voting on four different versions of a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, the House of Representatives failed to pass a single one. The spectacular defeat marked the House's first rejection of a key G.O.P. bill, with the usually disciplined Republican rank and file splitting, largely along generational lines. The proposal received little Democratic support.

Senate Rebuffs House

By an unambiguous vote of 100 to 0, the Senate turned down a radical House measure that would have barred most new federal regulations for the rest of the year. Instead, the Senate adopted a milder proposal that would allow Congress to review major rules and block those it dislikes. How the two chambers will resolve their very considerable differences remains unclear.

New Trouble for the CIA

The CIA's troubles deepened after disclosures that the spy agency may have had on its payroll a Guatemalan military officer who, critics allege, was responsible for two controversial murders in the early 1990s: one of a U.S. citizen, the other of a guerrilla married to a U.S. citizen. President Clinton ordered a broad investigation into the matter. In an even more troubling development, the FBI began a criminal investigation into the possibility of an ongoing cover-up.

Not in Kansas Anymore

The Senate unanimously confirmed former Kansas Congressman Dan Glickman as Agriculture Secretary. He replaces Mike Espy, who left under the cloud of an independent-counsel investigation into charges that he had received favors from companies under his purview.

Long-shot Contenders

The Republican presidential-nomination contest received two new entrants from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced his candidacy, trumpeting his support for abortion rights and denouncing the politics of "intolerance and exclusion." And radio talk-show host Alan Keyes, decrying the "phony doctrine of separation of church and state," announced his intention to run on an uncompromising antiabortion platform.

The Chauffeur Speaks

The limousine driver who ferried O.J. Simpson to the airport on the night of the murders testified that he does not recall having seen Simpson's white Bronco parked outside his estate at the time the prosecution says the knifings were committed two miles away. The driver also testified that he saw Simpson with one of his bags perched atop an airport trash can, which is where the prosecution apparently hopes the jury will infer that Simpson could have disposed of the murder weapon and other evidence.

The Castro Commission

President Kennedy's assassination, it turns out, was investigated not only by the Warren Commission but also by Cuban leader Fidel Castro. According to newly released FBI documents, Castro staged his own tests shortly after the murder to determine if one person could have fired three shots in rapid succession to kill Kennedy. His conclusion: multiple gunmen.

WORLD

The Haitian Hand-Over

President Clinton traveled with U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to oversee the transfer of authority for the country's security from American troops to a U.N. peacekeeping force. But what should have been a foreign-policy triumph for the Administration was marred by the assassination three days earlier of a leading opponent of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's--and suspicions that a Cabinet-level Haitian minister was linked to the hit.

Cult Investigations Continue

As Japanese police pressed their investigation of the March 20 nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway, an assassination attempt was made on the head of the National Police Agency. The focus of the probe, as well as the target of rising public suspicion, remained the Aum Shinrikyo cult. A raid on the group's holiest shrine revealed a hidden factory equipped with sophisticated chemical-production devices. Cult leader Shoko Asahara remained in hiding, while followers protested their innocence.

Jailed Americans Can Appeal

The Iraqi Foreign Minister said David Daliberti and William Barloon, the two Americans sentenced to eight years in prison for illegally crossing into Iraq, "can, and maybe will, appeal their case to a higher court." The two civilian aircraft mechanics were reported to be in good health by a Polish diplomat and a reporter who were allowed to visit them.

Ethnic Massacres in Burundi

Several hundred Hutu were killed by marauding Tutsi in a racially mixed neighborhood in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, raising the specter of widespread ethnic violence. Last year in neighboring Rwanda, genocidal massacres killed 500,000, mostly Tutsi. In Burundi, tens of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees decided not to wait for help and began walking to Tanzania--a two-day trek.

Firebombs Across Germany

In central Germany, police arrested four Kurdish militants in connection with a string of fire bombings targeted at Turkish property across the country. Over the past month, more than 100 Turkish travel agencies, stores, banks, newspaper offices, mosques, cultural centers and meeting halls in 15 German cities have been hit by Molotov cocktails. Officials suspect the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has waged an 11-year war for an independent Kurdish homeland.

Carter Mediates Sudan Truce

Sudan's Islamic fundamentalist government and southern rebels negotiated a truce with the help of former President Jimmy Carter. The two sides, which have been fighting a 12-year war in which more than 1 million people have died, agreed to a two-month cease-fire so that health workers could try to wipe out the parasitic Guinea worm, which causes debilitating disease.

First Lady in South Asia

Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea embarked on a 12-day official goodwill tour of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The emphasis: promoting the welfare of women and children. Clinton mere et fille toured orphanages, schools and a women's cooperative, as well as the fabled Taj Mahal, which Mrs. Clinton termed "just haunting."

Serious Security

Since the attack that killed two U.S. employees of the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, the State Department has provided the diplomatic post with armored vehicles as well as a security team to train its employees. A State Department memo obtained by TIME revealed that, in the months before the attack, a previous security-training team had been virtually ignored by the consular staff-only one employee showed up for counterterrorism class.

BUSINESS

Merger to Create Megabank

Two of Japan's leading commercial banks, the Bank of Tokyo and Mitsubishi Bank, announced that they were discussing merger plans expected to lead to the creation of the world's biggest bank next year. Said a bank-stock analyst: "It's like marrying the two most beautiful people in the world." The new behemoth, with $823 billion in assets, would be 50% larger than the current biggest bank, Japan's Sumitomo, and would dwarf America's top-ranking Citicorp, with its mere $250 billion in assets.

RELIGION

Pope Issues "Gospel of Life"

Pope John Paul II issued his Evangelium Vitae, or "Gospel of Life," a sweeping encyclical letter, in which he not unexpectedly denounced abortion, euthanasia and the "culture of death." He also condemned the widespread imposition of the death penalty, saying it should be used only in "cases of absolute necessity," which he said are "very rare, if not practically nonexistent." Conscience itself, John Paul wrote, has been "darkened ... by such widespread conditioning ..."

THE ARTS & MEDIA

Gump Beats Pulp Outta Fiction

Ending weeks of Oscar hype with an unsuspenseful flourish, favorite Forrest Gump topped contender Pulp Fiction for Best Picture, winning a grand total of six awards to Pulp's lone statuette. Tom Hanks (Gump) was Best Actor and Jessica Lange (Blue Sky) Best Actress; Martin Landau (Ed Wood) and Dianne Wiest (Bullets over Broadway) took Supporting honors.

--By Kathleen Adams, Melissa August, Edward Barnes, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Jeffery C. Rubin and Alain L. Sanders