News Digest

By Christopher John Farley, Erik A. Meers, Michael Quinn, Alain L. Sanders, Sophfronia Scott Gregory, Anastasia Toufexis, Sidney Urquhart

NATION

Mrs. Clinton on the Hill

A teapot and a small briefcase were all Hillary Rodham Clinton needed last week to give a commanding performance discussing health care in nearly 12 hours of testimony before five major House and Senate committees. Clinton impressed members with her tact, reasonableness, subtle flattery and grasp of details: she answered all questions without relying on either notes or aides. However, many legislators still expressed reservations about the substance of the Administration's health plan and its financing.

Mr. Clinton at the U.N.

In his first address to the U.N., President Clinton urged it to be more selective about where it sends peacekeeping troops. The President also provided a long list of prerequisite conditions for U.S. forces to be ordered into Bosnia, proposed a worldwide treaty banning production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons and said the U.S. would pay the $800 million it owes for back dues and peacekeeping bills.

Waco Reports

A Treasury Department report says field commanders at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms mishandled the raid on the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, last February and then tried to cover up their mistakes. The officials rewrote the plans for the assault after it failed, hiding the fact that they had been aware that the Davidians knew of the "surprise." attack. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen suspended five top ATF officials and named a replacement for director Stephen Higgins. Later, word leaked that a Justice Department report is expected to clear Janet Reno of any major wrongdoing in the final assault on Waco.

Senator Indicted

She has been in office less than four months, but already Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is fighting for her political life. Hutchison, a Republican who won a landslide victory in the race for Lloyd Bentsen's old seat, was indicted on charges of official misconduct during her 2 1/2 years as Texas state treasurer. She is accused of using her state office to perform personal and political tasks and of destroying records to cover up the alleged abuse. Hutchison insists the charges are "sleazy politics" and maintains her innocence.

Trouble for Ron Brown

A grand jury in Miami is investigating allegations of bribery against Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Brown is accused by a Vietnamese businessman of receiving $700,000 from Nguyen Van Hao in exchange for his help in lifting the economic embargo against Vietnam. The Secretary first said he could not recall meeting Hao, but then admitted to seeing him three times last year. Brown called the charges "absurd," and President Clinton dutifully lent his support.

Agent Orange Compensation

Vietnam veterans suffering from bone-marrow cancer or three respiratory cancers are now eligible for disability benefits. The policy change, which is expected to cost $350 million over the next five years, signifies an acceptance by the Veteran Affairs Department that the diseases may have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange.

Florida Tourist Murders

Two more tourists were shot last week in Florida, one fatally, in a continuation of a gruesome trend.

Guarding D.C., Federally

Washington's mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly called on the National Guard to help quell a rash of violence plaguing the city. The murder toll in D.C. had reached 350 last week, 20 more than at the same time last year. Kelly's request awaits federal approval.

Gore Report a Costly Affair

According to an internal memo from the Government Printing Office, printing costs for Vice President Al Gore's report on saving money in government were three times greater than those for most other federal documents. Using glossy paper and three colors of ink, the booklet cost $168,915, while printing it on uncoated paper in black and white would have cost just $54,091.

Gay Compromise in Effect

The Defense Department's "Don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy toward gay service members officially went into effect last week. The previous day, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered the Defense Department to stop discharging homosexuals. Pentagon officials plan to appeal the ruling, saying it conflicts with the new policy, which does permit the discharge of gays.

Victims of Weightism

According to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, obese women averaging 5 ft. 3 in. and 200 lbs. are 20% less likely to get married; have household incomes that are about $7,000 lower; and are 10% more likely to live in poverty than women of normal weight who have similar backgrounds.

A Rolling Head for Tailhook?

According to Navy Secretary John Dalton, Admiral Frank B. Kelso II did not show proper leadership at the Tailhook convention in which women soldiers were assaulted. Dalton has recommended Kelso's removal to Defense Secretary Les Aspin.

WORLD

Moscow Crises Simmer

Russian President Boris Yeltsin sealed off Russia's White House parliament building, where 100 or so opposition Deputies and their armed supporters have been holed up in rebellion to Yeltsin's Sept. 21 dissolution of the legislature. Yeltsin will not agree to hold parliamentary and presidential elections simultaneously. Under the mediation of the Russian Orthodox Church, the two sides agreed to a cutback on weapons and guards at the parliament, prompting hope for a peaceful end to the conflict. At the U.N., meanwhile, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev asserted his country's prerogative to engage in "peace-making efforts" in former Soviet republics racked by ethnic conflicts.

Push Comes to Shevardnadze

Separatist rebels captured Georgia's Black Sea region of Abkhazia handing Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze a huge military and political defeat The former Soviet Foreign Minister accused "Russian headquarters" of "masterminding" the offensive, a charge denied by Moscow. Shevardnadze's situation only worsened later in the week when supporters of Georgia's ousted President seized the vital port of Poti.

Bosnia's Muslims Say No

After two days of painful debate, Bosnia's Muslim-dominated parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject key portions of the latest U.N.-sponsored peace plan for the war-shredded republic. Although the delegates grudgingly accepted the basic notion of a tripartite division of their country with Serbian and Croat nationalists, they insisted that Muslims receive more territory than the 30% allotted to them under the plan. Bosnian Serbs and Croats repeated their firm opposition to yielding more ground and threatened to withdraw concessions they had previously made, raising the prospect of more fighting as the harsh Balkan winter nears. "We are looking into an abyss," said a U.N. official.

Indian Earthquake

A predawn earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, rolled across southwestern India, leveling entire villages, collapsing mud and homes onto sleeping families and killing more than 28,000 people.

Next: Coals to Newcastle?

Mother Nature has achieved what trade negotiations could not. Pounded by rainy weather that is causing the worst rice harvest since World War II, Japan slit a crack in its most cherished trade barrier -- the decades-old ban on most rice imports. The government announced that for the next three months it will allow in 200,000 foreign-grown tons of the country's almost sacred staple crop. But to placate the nation's powerful farm lobby, officials stressed that this is "strictly" a one-time emergency measure.

BUSINESS

Paramount Battle Intensifies

Having persuaded Blockbuster Entertainment to provide it with $600 million, Viacom began to close the $2.2 billion gap between the bid -- now worth $7.7 billion -- it has made in a friendly takeover of Paramount Communications and the hostile bid for the company made by the QVC Network.

Dawn of an Industrial Policy?

Comparing it to the Apollo project to put a man on the moon, President Clinton announced a research endeavor that would have America's Big Three automakers working together with the government to produce a car that will run 80 miles on a gallon of gas. Clinton's gas tax kicked in last week, raising the price of gas 4.3 cents a gallon.

Bright Indications

The index of leading economic indicators posted a 1% rise in August, its biggest leap this year.

"'Bama -- Vas First?"

The little town of Vance, Alabama (pop. 250), beat out places in the Carolinas and Nebraska to woo Mercedes-Benz's first U.S. factory. The $300 million plant will open in 1997 and is expected to employ 1,500.

Two Down, One More to Go

Two weeks after settling on a new contract with Ford Motor, the United Auto Workers succeeded with Chrysler as well. The agreement is similar to the Ford one, with workers gaining a 3% wage increase in the first year of the contract. Negotiations now move on to General Motors.

MEDIA & THE ARTS

N.Y. Post Undead Again

Once again union dissent caused the New York Post to cease publication, this time for three days. Once again media mogul Rupert Murdoch momentarily withdrew his effort to purchase the paper. And once again the blue-collar unions capitulated, this time crossing the white-collar Newspaper Guild's picket line. At week's end Murdoch sealed a final deal, completing his purchase of the tabloid and putting out an edition prepared by managers and non-union writers. The Post's survival was bad news for its competitors, particularly the struggling Daily News of Mort Zuckerman.