The Week April 17 -23

By Melissa August, John Greenwald, Lina Lofaro, Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin, Alain Sanders, Sidney Urquhart

NATION

Richard Nixon Dies

Former President Richard Nixon died in New York City after suffering a devastating stroke that had left him in a deep coma.

Hillary Speaks

In an extraordinary televised news conference, Hillary Rodham Clinton coolly and meticulously explained some of the financial intricacies of her commodities trading and her family's Whitewater real estate investment. She steadfastly denied that she or the President had engaged in any improprieties, but acknowledged that she had not been sensitive enough to the public's right to know. Though she initially opposed appointing a special counsel, the First Lady now says she welcomes the investigation.

Crime Bill Passes House

The House passed a $28 billion get-tough crime bill that would expand the use of the federal death penalty, put three-time violent felony or drug offenders behind bars for life, increase the number of police and prisons and boost funding for crime prevention and rehabilitation. In a surprise victory for liberals, the Congressional Black Caucus gained a provision that would allow death-row inmates to base challenges to their sentences on statistical evidence of racial bias. The House version must now be reconciled with a Senate bill.

Gender Bias Gets Clipped

- By a 6-to-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution's Equal- Protection Clause forbids the use of peremptory challenges to exclude jurors on the basis of their sex.

King's Damages: $3.8 Million

After four days of deliberations, a civil jury awarded Rodney King $3.8 million in compensatory damages for his 1991 beating at the hands of Los Angeles police. Jurors now have to decide whether to assess punitive damages against the police.

Woolsey Spills Some Beans

CIA Director R. James Woolsey made a highly unusual public disclosure when he acknowledged on NBC's Today show the existence of major espionage investigation "cases" against officials at a number of agencies resulting from evidence uncovered in the intelligence dossiers of the former Soviet Union and its once communist allies. Woolsey's loose lips infuriated congressional overseers and fbi investigators, prompting Woolsey to backtrack and say the "cases" were actually just "leads."

Health-Care Maneuvers

With White House blessing, Senate majority leader George Mitchell began circulating several leaner, alternative versions of universal health-care reforms, including trimmed benefits and reduced employer contributions. In the House, Energy and Commerce chairman John Dingel floated his own new compromise, which offered exemptions to small businesses. House Ways and Means chairman Dan Rostenkowski, meanwhile, argued for a tax hike to help pay for reformed health care.

Rosty's Social Security Fix

Rostenkowski also proposed a set of potentially controversial changes to shore up Social Security, a week after release of a government report showing that the system remains in financial trouble. Among the proposals: lower cost of living increases, lower benefits and higher taxes.

Kelso Retains His Stars

The Senate voted 54 to 43 to allow Admiral Frank Kelso, the Chief of Naval Operations, to retire with his four stars and full pension. But what was expected to be a low-key event turned into a bruising battle after the Senate's seven women -- Democratic and Republican alike -- united to target Kelso for his disputed role in the Tailhook sex scandal.

Kevorkian's Stealth Defense

In the first Michigan prosecution to come to trial charging Dr. Jack Kevorkian with assisting a suicide, his lawyer opened the case by claiming the death occurred in a neighboring county -- not the one where he is being tried -- and planned to ask for a dismissal.

WORLD

Gorazde's Ongoing Agony

Terrified Muslim residents of the eastern Bosnian city of Gorazde, declared a "safe area" by the United Nations last May, huddled under nearly continuous attack by Bosnian Serb forces for the third straight week. At week's end NATO allies issued a strongly worded new ultimatum to Serb gunners, giving them until 2:01 a.m. local time Sunday to withdraw their forces 1.9 miles from the town center and allow U.N. peacekeepers into the besieged city. The threatened big stick: allied bombing on a far greater scale than before.

Buthelezi Drops Boycott

Zulu nationalist leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi canceled his boycott of South Africa's first all-race elections this week. In return, Buthelezi secured a guarantee that the largely ceremonial Zulu monarchy will be allowed to continue and that remaining constitutional differences on the powers of regions will be mediated internationally after the elections. Hopes for a peaceful ballot dimmed over the weekend when two African National Congress workers were killed and party headquarters in Johannesburg were devastated by a bomb.

Killing in Rwanda

In the capital Kigali, the Rwandan army shelled the national sports stadium, where more than 5,000 refugees from the country's civil war had sought sanctuary. Forty people were killed by the bombardment, and hundreds were wounded. In the past two weeks, as many as 100,000 people have been killed in the fighting, aid groups estimate. The U.N. decided to evacuate nearly all its 1,700-member peacekeeping contingent in the face of the continuing slaughter; some Belgian peacekeepers burned their blue U.N. berets in frustration before boarding their flights. On Saturday, rebels were said to have announced a conditional cease-fire to start midnight Monday.

Aristide: U.S. Policy Is Racist

Haiti's exiled President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, denounced President Clinton's policy of forcibly turning back Haitian refugees as "a racist policy." Shortly after Aristide's remarks, U.S. officials announced that they would ask the U.N. to impose a complete economic embargo on Haiti in an effort to restore Aristide to the presidency.The Administration permitted 406 Haitians to come ashore in Florida, but officials termed the landing an ( emergency rescue.

Rabin Says Golan Negotiable

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told kibbutz leaders that he was willing to negotiate the issue of the Golan Heights with Syria. "To me, peace is a more important value for the security and future of Israel than this or that group of settlements," he said. Meanwhile Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met in Romania to discuss the self- rule agreement for Jericho and the Gaza Strip. A final accord is expected within two weeks.

Perry Visits South Korea

Defense Secretary William Perry, in Seoul for two days of talks with South Korean leaders, said he does not believe a military confrontation with North Korea is likely, despite that country's continued refusal to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Japan Picks Next PM

In the wake of Morihiro Hosokawa's scandal-induced departure, leaders of Japan's governing coalition nominated Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata as a candidate to become the country's next Prime Minister. Hata, 58, is expected to be formally elected to office by a parliamentary vote this week.

BUSINESS

Chrysler Soars

Chrysler Corp. announced earnings of $938 million in the first quarter of 1994, highest in the company's history.

Offsetting Inflation?

The Federal Reserve Board raised short-term interest rates for the third time in less than three months, from 3.5% to 3.75%, causing stock and bond prices to drop. Last week's Dow Jones fell 12.79 points.

Trade Deficit Rising

The February trade deficit in goods and services rose to $9.71 billion, the largest in six years. Economists say this was due in part to the fact that the U.S. economy is growing faster than those of other industrial nations, and thus the U.S. is importing more.

SCIENCE

The New Worlds

Confirming what was long believed but never proved, astronomers now have "irrefutable" evidence of the existence of the first planets outside our own solar system. Alexander Wolszczan of Pennsylvania State University has identified two planets, both of which have more than twice the mass of our own, in orbit around a pulsar 1,200 light-years from Earth. He also discovered a third, moon-size body and suspects there may be a fourth.