The Week December 25-31
By Kathleen Adams, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart
NATION
More Clinic Terrorism
A man dressed in black burst into two abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts, and opened fire with a rifle. Two people were killed and five wounded in the shootings, which occurred within minutes of each other. The fbi immediately joined local authorities to search for the killer, presumed to be the same gunman in each attack. On Saturday John C. Salvi III, the suspect in the attacks, was arrested after he fired shots at another abortion clinic in Norfolk, Virginia.
CIA Director Surrenders Post
After enduring months of criticism for his handling of fallout from the Aldrich Ames spy case, CIA Director James Woolsey -- also under fire for his halting attempts to reorganize the agency -- threw up his hands and resigned. The vacancy at the agency comes as a presidential commission takes up the task of redefining the role of the CIA. Some possible successors: Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch and former House Intelligence Committee chairman Dave McCurdy.
A Kansan for Agriculture
Recently defeated Democratic Congressman Dan Glickman of Kansas was tapped by President Clinton to become his new Secretary of Agriculture. With the support of incoming Senate majority leader and fellow Kansan Bob Dole, Glickman is expected to win swift confirmation. His prize: heading a department that faces < major cutbacks and reorganization in the months ahead. The previous Secretary, Mike Espy, left under the cloud of an independent counsel's ethics investigation.
Gingrich Retreats
Bending to political pressure, including unexpectedly sharp criticism from Bob Dole, soon-to-be Speaker Newt Gingrich rewrote the terms of a highly remunerative book deal with a Rupert Murdoch-controlled publishing house. Gingrich defended the deal as proper. But, saying he wanted to appear above reproach and quell any controversy, he announced he would forgo a $4.5 million advance for two books on politics. Instead he will settle for a $1 advance and royalties.
Too Bad to Be True?
Signature Products of Huntsville, Alabama, burst onto the national scene with the announcement of a new product line: two novel types of exploding bullets, both designed to kill on impact with thousands of razor-sharp fragments. One type, the company's chief executive claimed, was specially built to pierce police bulletproof vests. Following a public uproar, Signature said it would hold off producing the vest-piercing bullet as a "responsible" gesture. That left many industry experts wondering whether the super "Rhino" ammunition was ever meant to shatter anything more than the firm's obscurity.
Suicide Watch
An Oregon federal judge placed the state's new ground-breaking assisted- suicide law in limbo. The measure, approved by referendum in November, would have allowed doctors in the state to help some terminally ill patients end their life, but Judge Michael Hogan issued a preliminary injunction against the law pending hearings on its constitutionality.
New York Eclipsed
New York State, with 18.2 million people, ceded the No. 2 spot on the nation's population roster to Texas, which the Census Bureau says is now home to 18.4 million. California remains the most populous state with 31.4 million people. Three jurisdictions -- Connecticut, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia -- lost residents.
WORLD
Bombs Over Chechnya
The war that no one seems to want has been escalating steadily ever since 40,000 not always very disciplined Russian troops poured into the rebellious republic of Chechnya on Dec. 11. Russian President Boris Yeltsin finally emerged from more than two weeks in the hospital (for what the Kremlin described as nasal surgery) to announce a halt to the bombing of civilian targets. Bombing continued, however, in order to break the will of the rebels defending the capital city of Grozny, destroying its largest orphanage, main hospital, dozens of apartment buildings and an oil refinery. More than 100,000 people are believed to have fled into the surrounding countryside, and there were reports that Russian ground forces broke into Grozny Saturday.
Pilot Freed
Although Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Hall couldn't make it home for Christmas, he did manage to arrive by New Year's Eve. Hall was captured when his helicopter was shot down over North Korean territory two weeks ago; his co- pilot was killed. Concerned about ongoing nuclear negotiations, U.S. officials sought to play down the episode. But the North Koreans, stubbornly insisting on turning the affair into a minor international incident, refused to free the pilot, who they claimed was a spy. As part of a deal negotiated in Pyongyang by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Hubbard, the U.S. formally expressed "sincere regret for this incident." After 13 days of detention, Hall was finally freed, then taken to a military base in Seoul; after medical evaluations and debriefing, he returned to his family in Florida on Dec. 30.
A Daring Commando Rescue
A bloody catastrophe was averted in Marseilles as an elite team of French antiterrorist commandos stormed a hijacked Air France jetliner, saving all 173 hostages aboard and killing four gunmen who, disguised as security officials, had seized the plane at Algiers airport. Three hostages had been murdered before Algerian authorities permitted the plane to take off for Marseilles. After the rescue, French police found 20 sticks of dynamite on the plane, confirming an earlier tip that the hijackers intended to blow it up over Paris.
Building on the Carter Truce
Serb leaders joined the Bosnian government in signing a U.N.-brokered cease- fire on Saturday. The truce, scheduled to last four months, builds on the seven-day cease-fire negotiated by Jimmy Carter before Christmas.
Silvio Says Ciao
Italy's embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned on Dec. 22 after serving just seven fractious months. "I feel lighter. I have got rid of a great weight," said the billionaire media tycoon. His resignation marks the collapse of Italy's 53rd postwar government.
BUSINESS
The Peso in Peril
| As angry investors waited for Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo to come up with some answers, the peso continued its slide in value against world currencies (a drop of nearly 60% in eight days). Zedillo, in office for only four weeks, responded by firing his Treasury Minister. Washington, meanwhile, activated a $6 billion credit line and, with Canada and the European governments, is preparing to spend $13 billion more to help make payments on Mexico's national debt and prop up its sagging currency. At week's end prices on the Mexican stock market were rising, and the peso had regained 20% of its value against the dollar.
Bah! Humbug!
Christmas sales for 1994, running about 10% ahead of last year's, were still far short of what retailers had hoped for. Too many buyers waited until the last minute to do their shopping, forcing stores to slash their prices in huge pre-Christmas markdowns.
THE ARTS & MEDIA
The Year of Living Dangerously
1994 was the bloodiest year on record for newspeople. At least 115 were killed on the job, according to a report from the International Federation of Journalists. A partial tally: 48 in Rwanda, 19 in Algeria, 7 in Bosnia. The last to die was American photographer Cynthia Elbaum, killed two weeks ago while free-lancing in Chechnya.
SPORT
Moynihan to Hatch
With the owners of baseball's 28 major league clubs imposing a salary cap on team payrolls, and with players vowing to continue their 14-week-old strike, two U.S. Senators -- New York Democrat Pat Moynihan and Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah -- have joined forces to sponsor legislation that would end the owners' 72-year exemption from antitrust laws. Sentiment in the Senate appears to favor passage.
Icing the Puck?
Meanwhile, the hockey labor dispute entered its fourth month. N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman set Jan. 16 as the deadline for beginning a truncated 50-game season; otherwise he will scratch the entire 1994-95 schedule. The strike would have to be settled even sooner than the 16th in order to give the players 10 days of training camp.