The Week January 9-15

By Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Christopher John Farley, Sophfronia Scott Gregory, Michael Quinn, Jeffery C. Rubin, Alain L. Sanders

NATION

Clinton's European Adventure

On his first European trip in office, President Clinton delivered a well- received speech in Brussels in which he stressed U.S. commitment to Europe and pledged to keep 100,000 troops there. Brussels was the site of a two-day nato summit, and the alliance agreed to Clinton's Partnership for Peace plan. The initiative provides for the possibility of former Warsaw Pact countries' joining NATO gradually over an unspecified period. The President toured Prague with Czech President Vaclav Havel and then arrived in Moscow, where he urged Russians to continue reforming their economy. In the Kremlin, Clinton signed an agreement with Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kravchuk, the President of Ukraine, dealing with Ukraine's nuclear weapons.

Counsel for Whitewater

After nine Democratic Senators urged him to take the step, President Clinton finally agreed to call for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate his involvement with the Whitewater Development Corp. in Arkansas. Senate minority leader Bob Dole and other Republicans who had long insisted on the appointment of a special counsel continued to call for a congressional investigation as well.

No Vote Suppression

Federal and state investigators announced that they had found no evidence of vote suppression in last year's gubernatorial election in New Jersey. Edward Rollins, the campaign manager for Governor-elect Christine Todd Whitman, had boasted that the campaign made payments to keep blacks away from the polls. He later recanted the remarks. Whitman takes office this week.

Wilder Withdraws

Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder used his State of the Commonwealth address to announce that he had dropped plans to run for the U.S. Senate. He would have battled arch-nemesis Senator Charles Robb for the Democratic nomination in a contest that many had expected to be a mudslinging embarrassment to the party.

Arrests in Kerrigan Attack

The bodyguard of U.S. figure-skating champion Tonya Harding and two other men were arrested for the brutal assault on Harding's rival Nancy Kerrigan in Detroit. According to his lawyer, bodyguard Shawn Eric Eckardt told investigators that he had taken part in the plot to injure Kerrigan but denied being "smart enough" to plan it.

More Combat Jobs for Women

Lame duck Defense Secretary Les Aspin overruled the Army and Marine Corps to approve a policy that will expand the presence of women in ground-combat forces. Women still won't engage in fighting, but Aspin has ordered that they be allowed to take dangerous support jobs that have been closed to them. The two services have until May 1 to provide a list of what these jobs will be.

Davidians on Trial

In San Antonio, Texas, the trial began of 10 men and one woman who are members of the Branch Davidian cult and who are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of four federal agents. The agents were shot during a raid on the cult's compound near Waco in February 1993.

Cheating at Annapolis

In the largest cheating scandal since it adopted its honor code in 1951, the U.S. Naval Academy is attempting to determine how many members of its current graduating class had advance knowledge of the questions on an engineering exam given in December 1992. As many as 140 cadets out of a class of 1,100 may be implicated.

Trying Again in Vidor

In the predawn darkness, four black families quietly moved into an all-white housing project in Vidor, Texas. The project had been seized by federal authorities after previous attempts at integration failed when whites drove away several black families by harassing them.

Mrs. Bobbitt in the Dock

In Manassas, Virginia, the now infamous Lorena Bobbitt went on trial for severing her husband's penis with a kitchen knife. She testified that her husband John Wayne Bobbitt often beat her and forced her to have anal sex.

Mistrial for One Menendez

After 19 days, the jury deliberating the charges against Erik Menendez said it was hopelessly deadlocked. The judge declared a mistrial, so Menendez, accused along with his brother Lyle of murdering their parents, will have to be tried again. Lyle's jury is still in deliberations.

WORLD

NATO Threatens Air Strikes . . .

At their Brussels summit, the 16 members of NATO again threatened to use air strikes against Serb forces in Bosnia to protect Sarajevo. The allied leaders repeated a promise they made last August to "prevent the strangulation" of the city. They also said they would study measures to relieve the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where Canadian U.N. peacekeepers are trapped, and to reopen the airport in the northeastern Bosnian town of Tuzla. nato officers said that it was unlikely air strikes would be launched before next month and that U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali would have to authorize each individual strike. President Clinton cautioned, "We should not say things that we do not intend to do."

. . . As Serbs Pound Sarajevo

As if to underline their disdain for the West's threat, Serb artillerymen continued their relentless shelling of Sarajevo, killing at least 16 people and wounding 40 others. Bosnian government soldiers launched an attack of their own, killing three Serbs. U.N. officials closed the Sarajevo airport when a 128-mm rocket hit a runway just hours after the airport had reopened to allow relief flights to land.

Ukraine to Be Nuke Free?

Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk signed an agreement in Moscow with President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin to dismantle his country's nuclear arsenal, the world's third largest. Ukraine will turn 1,800 warheads over to Russia for destruction. U.S. government payments for the weapons' enriched uranium, along with promised aid, will total more than $1 billion. The balky parliament in Kiev must still ratify the pact, so the fate of the missiles remains in doubt.

Mexican Cease-Fire

President Carlos Salinas of Mexico declared a unilateral cease-fire in the government's battle against rebellious peasants in the southern state of Chiapas. He offered amnesty to any guerrillas who laid down their arms and ordered the 15,000 troops sent to the impoverished state to fire only if fired upon. Manuel Camacho Solis, formerly the Foreign Minister, was appointed peace envoy to meet with the rebels.

Israel, P.L.O. Start and Stop

Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians reopened in the Egyptian town of Taba, but three days later, delegates again halted the talks. "On the civilian issues, we are coming closer. On the security issues, there is a lot to be done," said Major General Amnon Shahak, head of the Israeli delegation.

BUSINESS

Low, Low Prices

Wholesale prices edged up a negligible 0.2% last year, and consumer prices posted the smallest gain in seven years -- only 2.7%. Analysts predict continued low inflation in 1994. Meanwhile, spurred on by purchases of cars and home-related goods, retail sales last year soared 6.2%, the biggest annual advance since 1989.

Rules for the Info Highway

Vice President Al Gore unveiled the Administration's grand design for the coming information superhighway. Though a bit stingy with details, Gore said the Administration will push for legislation that encourages deregulation and greater competition among traditional rivals, allowing telephone and cable-TV companies to enter each other's business, for example. He also indicated that the Administration will press the telecommunications industry to provide both affordable "universal service" to all households and free access to the info highway to schools, libraries and hospitals. Initial industry reaction was favorable.

Paramount Board Favors QVC

The board of Paramount Communications recommended that shareholders reject Viacom's latest bid and again advised that they accept QVC Network's offer, estimated to be more generous by about $600 million.

A Break in the B.C.C.I. Probe

An agreement with Abu Dhabi's ruler, a principal backer of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, has given new life to the global fraud investigation of the rogue bank. Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan has agreed to allow B.C.C.I.'s No. 2 man, Swaleh Naqvi, to be extradited to the U.S. for trial on fraud charges, and to give prosecutors access to other former officers and to bank records. In turn, the U.S. has promised the sheik that he will not face criminal or civil charges in the U.S. and that a $1.5 billion lawsuit against him will be dropped.

Blue-Chip Layoffs Persist

The troubled Westinghouse Electric Corp. said it would shed 6,000 employees, or 11% of its work force, over the next two years. GTE Corp., the nation's largest local phone company, said it would cut 17,000 jobs, or 13% of its work force, over the next three years.

SCIENCE

Snapshots from Space

The before-and-after pictures said it all: images of distant stars and galaxies that had been fogged and blurry were suddenly breathtakingly clear. Not only was nasa's Hubble repair mission an unqualified success (boosting the agency's chances of getting funding for its next big project, the space station), but astronomers now have a scientific tool of unprecedented power. Discoveries -- black holes, white dwarfs, new solar systems -- could pour in for years to come.

Sonic, the Hedgehog Gene

Scientists have identified a new class of genes -- to be called hedgehogs by convention -- that control a master switch in DNA molecules that tells cells whether they are to become skin, bone or muscle. The new genes are being named for hedgehog species, such as Indian and moonrat. One of them is even called Sonic, after the hedgehog hero of a popular video game.