THE WEEK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE HOROWITZ, LINA LOFARO, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, MICHAEL QUINN, JEFFERY RUBIN AND ALAIN SANDERS

NATION

MORE WHITEWATER RAPIDS

The Senate Whitewater Committee continued to press its case against Hillary Rodham Clinton--with limited success. A lawyer who once worked under Mrs. Clinton at the Rose Law Firm disputed her assertion that it was he who brought in as a client the S&L at the heart of Whitewater. The lawyer supported the First Lady's recollection that her work on a stock offering for the S&L was mostly supervisory but said he could not provide information about other work in which he did not take part. At a news conference President Clinton said his wife would continue to "do what is necessary" to answer all questions. The President acknowledged that the legal bills the couple is amassing over Whitewater and the Paula Jones lawsuit could bankrupt the family.

THE RETURN OF PAULA JONES

Tossing aside the President's argument that the Chief Executive should not be distracted by private lawsuits during his tenure, a federal appeals court ruled that Paula Jones may bring to trial her sexual-harassment case against Bill Clinton without waiting until he vacates the Oval Office. Clinton's lawyers said they would appeal, thereby assuring that Jones' claim will not be heard until well past the November elections.

THE NO-BUDGET SAGA GOES ON

Budget negotiations between President Clinton and congressional leaders recessed without an accord, amid speculation, fueled by Speaker Newt Gingrich's pessimistic assessment, that the talks may have broken down. At his news conference the President insisted a budget deal was reachable if policy differences over such key programs as Medicare and Medicaid could be put aside by Republicans and fought out later at the November elections. Members of Congress took advantage of a January recess to scurry home and sound out voters.

WELFARE FIX NIXED

As promised, President Clinton vetoed the sweeping G.O.P.-sponsored overhaul of the welfare system that would have given lump-sum federal grants and shifted basic responsibilities to the states. Clinton said the legislation came packaged with too many spending cuts and too few incentives to move people from welfare to work.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW...

Residents and municipalities up and down the East Coast spent the week digging out from the Blizzard of '96, a huge and paralyzing storm system that dumped record or near record snowfalls on major metropolitan areas, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. At least 100 deaths were attributed to the weather.

CURBING INDECENCY

Refusing to review a First Amendment appeal from a coalition of broadcasters and civil libertarians, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively let stand a lower federal court decision upholding a federal ban on indecent TV and radio broadcasts during daytime and prime-time schedules. The Justices are set to hear arguments in February on another set of contentious federal rules--curbs that target indecency on cable TV.

SENIOR SUICIDE

Experts said it could be the result of living longer with chronic illnesses, or the social isolation of the elderly, or the growing acceptance of the right-to-die movement. Whatever the reason, the suicide rate among Americans 65 and older climbed 9% between 1980 and 1992, to 19.1 per 100,000 persons, the highest rate of any age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

O.J.: THE VIDEO

Coming Feb. 1, if you order toll free now: O.J.'s own, never-heard-or-seen-before, for-profit, and unsworn, video explanation of his side of the sensational murder trial. A boycott of the $29.95 tape is already under way, and even O.J.'s interviewer admits some of the celebrity's explanations "may not fit very well."

A CROWN FOR BROWN

An estimated 100,000 people--nearly 1 in 7 residents of San Francisco--gathered for the opulent inauguration of Willie Brown as the city's new mayor. Formerly the all-powerful speaker of the California assembly, Brown had agonized over which of three designer suits to wear to his swearing in. He finally decided to have Polaroids taken to see which suit would photograph better. The winner: a $2,600 single-breasted charcoal-gray Brioni with a brown pencil stripe. Haberdasher Wilkes Bashford, a longtime Brown outfitter, provided the final, Caesarean touch at a preinauguration party: a wreath of laurel. "I take my job pretty seriously," said Bashford, "and I missed one accessory." The ebullient Brown put it on.

WORLD

CLINTON TOURS THE TROOPS

Bringing bags of mail, 200 cases of Coca-Cola and 5,000 Hershey bars, President Clinton paid a morale-boosting visit to nearly 1,000 American soldiers at the airfield in Tuzla, Bosnia. The President also met with Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian leaders.

A CHECHEN HOSTAGE CRISIS

In a bold reprise of the bloody raid on a Russian hospital in Budyonnovsk last June, hundreds of Chechen rebels seized a hospital in another Russian town, Kizlyar, taking more than 3,000 hostages and killing dozens more in the process. Demanding the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Chechnya, the rebels then took 165 hostages with them in an attempted escape to Chechnya. En route, however, Russian forces fired upon the rebels, who quickly captured a border village, creating a tense standoff half a mile from Chechnya.

ZAIRE CRASH KILLS 350

A Russian-built cargo plane crashed into the crowded Zomba Zikada open-air market in Zaire's capital, Kinshasa, killing at least 350 people and injuring nearly 500; most of the casualties were women and children. The calamity set a record for the greatest number of fatalities on the ground in an aviation accident.

EAST GERMAN SPY TRADER GUILTY

A Berlin court handed East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel a two-year suspended sentence for perjury, blackmail and falsification of documents in extorting money from emigrants fleeing to the West. Vogel had helped arrange the swaps of more than 150 spies in a three-decade career as an East-West intermediary during the cold war.

A PRAGMATIC APPOINTMENT

Russian President Boris Yeltsin named the country's former top spymaster, Yevgeny Primakov, as the new Foreign Minister. Primakov, a specialist on the Middle East, succeeds Andrei Kozyrev, the liberal Foreign Minister who resigned last week.

PERU GIVES AMERICAN LIFE TERM

A secret Peruvian military court sentenced Lori Berenson, 26, of New York City, to life imprisonment for treason. The prosecution said Berenson had aided the pro-Cuban Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, which was planning an attack on the Peruvian Congress, by stockpiling weapons, renting housing for the rebels and gathering information by posing as a journalist. Berenson's lawyer has already filed an appeal.

BUSINESS

WALL STREET SPITS FIRE

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 164 points last Tuesday and Wednesday as investors grew frustrated over the federal-budget impasse. Technology stocks led the plunge. Despite a temporary rebound on Thursday, the market closed down 120.31 points for the week.

CORE DEPARTURES

Four Apple vice presidents resigned after the computer maker said it would report a quarterly loss of $68 million, or 55-c- a share. A fifth executive may soon follow. Industry analysts also expect Apple to lay off as many as 3,000 people.

ANOTHER THREE-WAY SPLIT

Dun & Bradstreet, the multibillion-dollar business-information giant, said it would split itself into three companies. Unlike AT&T's reorganization, the move will not be coupled with huge job cuts: less than 2% of Dun & Bradstreet's 50,000 employees will be let go.

SCIENCE

PERFECTING THE PAP TEST

Routine Pap smears are in for a change. The FDA has approved a special light that allows doctors to look directly into the cervix for early signs of cancer. The procedure, called Speculoscopy, will be used in conjunction with a regular Pap test. In one study Speculoscopy plus the Pap detected 83% of early precancerous cell changes; the Pap alone detected only 31%. The added cost to patients for the new procedure: around $25.