THE WEEK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS,MICHAEL D. LEMONICK, LINA LOFARO, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, MICHAEL QUINN, JEFFERY C. RUBIN, ALAIN L. SANDERS AND SIDNEY URQUHART

NATION

Death in Oklahoma City

It was the most deadly terrorist bombing in American history. A massive truck bomb went off in front of a nine-story federal office building in Oklahoma City and left at least 78 people dead-13 of them children in a day-care center-and an additional 400 injured. By week's end, some 100 were still missing. The force of the explosion was so great that the building's fa?ade was blown off, raining debris on workers and causing such extensive structural damage that rescue efforts were severely hampered.

The Suspects

Although some initial reports suggested that the bombing might have been the work of Middle Eastern terrorists, the hunt for the killers quickly focused on two white Americans accused of having rented the truck used to hold the explosives. On Friday one suspect was taken into federal custody: Timothy McVeigh, who had been picked up by a highway patrolman two days earlier on a traffic violation north of Oklahoma City. Two associates of McVeigh's were also taken into custody as potential witnesses. A possible motive: McVeigh was said to be obsessed with the Federal Government's 1993 assault on Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas. At week's end, as the fbi detained another suspect in San Bernardino, California, officials continued their investigation. Attorney General Janet Reno announced authorities would seek the death penalty for whoever is charged with the bombing.

Free Anonymous Speech

By a 7-to-2 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may not prohibit the dissemination of anonymous campaign literature. Citing free-speech guarantees, the Justices invalidated an Ohio election law-one akin to those found in many states-that required campaign pamphleteers to print their names and addresses on their materials. "Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority," said Justice John Paul Stevens.

Don't You Forget About Me

Declaring somewhat plaintively that "the Constitution gives me relevance" and "the power of our ideas gives me relevance," President Clinton took advantage of the congressional recess to try to reclaim a place in the political sun. The President used a news conference to underline once again his opposition to the House-passed welfare bill ("too weak on work and too tough on children") and to vow to fight for the confirmation of Dr. Henry Foster as Surgeon General. Over the weekend the President had a reminder of some older problems: he and Mrs. Clinton were interviewed under oath by Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

Not So Top Secret

After two years of internal government debate, President Clinton issued a long-promised Executive Order liberalizing the nation's secrecy rules. Subject to certain exceptions, the presidential order calls for the automatic and regular declassification of records after they have been kept under wraps for 25 years and also provides that newly classified information be kept secret not more than 10 years.

Campaign '96

Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, a foreign affairs expert and an advocate of replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax, became the eighth Republican contender to formally enter the 1996 presidential race.

The Simpson Trial

Sensational happenings off the witness stand continued to overshadow courtroom events in the O.J. Simpson murder case. The most shocking: a strike by jurors who were angered that three guards who had been tending the panel were relieved of their duties. The rebellion prompted Judge Lance Ito to halt the proceedings and interview the panelists. The guards had apparently been the targets of earlier complaints from other jurors-including, reportedly, one who told Ito she couldn't "take it anymore" and begged to be excused from the case. The rift between jurors-not to mention the incipient mutiny-again raised the specter of a mistrial.

More O.J.

Prosecutors said they were reviewing tapes of extensive interviews given by Simpson houseguest Kato Kaelin for a potential book on his life with O.J. and his ex-wife Nicole. On the tapes, Kaelin allegedly paints a far more damaging portrait of Simpson than he did in his testimony, which prosecutors have accused Kaelin of shading to benefit the former football player. And in actual courtroom news: police criminalist Dennis Fung finally left the stand after nine grueling days of testimony.

WORLD

Two More Attacks in Japan

Jittery Japanese were trying to cope with two terrorist attacks of their own, both in Yokohama, the country's second largest city. Nearly 700 people have been treated since inhaling the fumes of a noxious gas released in the city's main train station on Wednesday; 27 more were rushed to hospitals on Friday during an apparent gassing in a department store. Police were unable to identify the gas and have no suspects or clues in either case. The incidents intensified fears unleashed by the March 20 nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 12 people. In the face of widespread suspicion, spokesmen for the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult denied that the group was involved in any of the attacks.

... and More Arrests

Despite the denials, authorities continued to target Aum without formally charging any members with the gassings. In a midnight raid on Aum headquarters, police in Fujinomiya arrested the cult's second-ranking leader on suspicion of illegal trespassing, adding to the more than 100 members already in custody. Fifty-three children who had been removed from the headquarters told chilling stories of being fed just twice a day, sleeping only four hours a night and being forced to wear helmets wired with stinging electrodes.

Turkey Withdrawing from Iraq

Prime Minister Tansu Ciller said Turkey had begun withdrawing some of the 35,000 troops sent to Iraq last month to fight separatist Kurds. Ciller, who was in Washington last week, also said Turkey would not set up a security zone along the border.

Serbs Bump U.S. Ambassadors

Bosnian Serbs forced the American ambassador to Bosnia, Victor Jackovich, to abandon his plans to board a United Nations flight from Sarajevo when they threatened to fire on the aircraft. The envoy left the city by a dangerous land route instead; Serbs then kept his replacement, John Menzies, from entering the city. Meanwhile, the governments of Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. were unsuccessful in efforts to extend the four-month Bosnian cease-fire, due to expire on Sunday.

BUSINESS

A Ruling Against GM

A federal appeals court threw out the 1993 settlement of class actions against General Motors that would have given $1,000 coupons to the owners of 5.7 million older GM pickups. The trucks, equipped with "sidesaddle" gas tanks, are believed to pose a fire hazard in sideways crashes. The court ruled that the coupons, which could be used only in the purchase of new GM trucks, would be virtually worthless to poor truck owners unable to come up with the $5,000 to $7,000 needed for a new vehicle. The suit now returns to a lower court; GM will probably face a more costly resolution.

THE ARTS & MEDIA

Prizes for the Writers ...

The prestigious Pulitzer Prizes were handed out by Columbia University's journalism school in 21 categories. Among the winners: History-No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II, by Doris Kearns Goodwin; Fiction-The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields; Poetry-Simple Truth, by Philip Levine; Biography-Harriet Beecher Stowe, by Joan D. Hedrick; Drama-The Young Man from Atlanta, by Horton Foote. The Virgin Islands Daily News (circ. 16,400) won in the Public Service category for a 10-part series on crime.

... and One for an Architect

International architecture's most coveted award, the Pritzker Prize, went to Japanese architect Tadeo Ando. He is the third Japanese to win the prize since it was first awarded in 1979.

A One-Newspaper Town

The Houston Post was sold to the Hearst Corp., which immediately shut down the 110-year-old paper, a rival to Hearst's Houston Chronicle. The Post's original owners blamed its demise on the rising cost of newsprint.