THE WEEK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, NICK CATOGGIO, LINA LOFARO, LAWRENCE MONDI, JEFFERY C. RUBIN, SRIBALA SUBRAMANIAN AND SIDNEY URQUHART

NATION

PACKWOOD CHANGES HIS MIND

In a startling reversal that could delay resolution of his ethics case, Senator Bob Packwood asked for public hearings into the charges accusing him of sexual and professional misconduct. The Oregon Republican said he chose this course when the Senate Ethics Committee "changed the rules in the middle of the game" by reopening the investigation to consider two new complaints. The Ethics Committee will consider Packwood's request when it reconvenes after Labor Day.

MEL REYNOLDS CONVICTED

In Chicago, a jury of seven men and five women found Illinois Congressman Mel Reynolds guilty on 12 counts of sexual assault, criminal sexual abuse, solicitation of child pornography and obstruction of justice. Translation: he had sex with an underage campaign worker and tried to derail the ensuing investigation. Reynolds faces at least four years in prison. At week's end his colleagues in the House were urging him to resign.

CHILLING NEWS FOR BIRDS

Chicken and turkey processors can no longer call their birds "fresh" when the poultry was frozen weeks earlier and thawed only for market. Under new labeling requirements announced by the Agriculture Department, such birds are considered "hard chilled."

NO WHITEWATER JOKES HERE

A rafting trip through nine miles of turbulence on Wyoming's Snake River--with a flotilla of reporters and security men paddling furiously behind--was the high point of the President's first full week of vacation. Clinton also suffered happily through a steady drizzle at the annual Jackson Hole Rodeo. And, inevitably, he played golf.

A BAD WEEK FOR DETROIT

Just when Detroit was beginning to beat its reputation as an urban war zone, a flurry of gruesome news reports put the city right back in the headlines. Deletha Word, a 33-year-old mother of one, jumped from a bridge to her death following an angry altercation that occurred when her car hit another vehicle. Early accounts said Martell Welch, the driver of the other car, stripped Word naked on the Douglas MacArthur Bridge, smashed her car window with a tire iron and then forced her to jump while dozens of people stood by cheering. Prosecutors now call these reports exaggerated, saying Word was not stripped or beaten and there were no cheering crowds. Nevertheless, Welch was charged with second-degree murder as city officials scrambled to repair De troit's tarnished image. Complained Wayne County prosecutor John O'Hair: "This fortifies [the] existing impression that there is a great deal of violence and lawlessness."

THE SIMPSON TRIAL

A highly respected forensic expert testified in the O.J. Simpson murder trial that blood on victim Ron Goldman's clothing could have come from a shoe--but not the Bruno Magli shoe that prosecutors contend was worn by the killer. There was still no ruling on the admissibility of tapes that allegedly contain racist remarks and confessions of evidence planting by recently retired L.A.P.D. detective Mark Fuhrman, a key prosecution witness. Fuhrman's lawyer said his client might seek Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination if he takes the stand again.

MENENDEZ REDUX

Jury selection began for the retrial of Lyle and Erik Menendez, the Beverly Hills, California, brothers charged with murdering their parents in 1989. The brothers admitted the killings, but did they do it for the $15 million inheritance or out of fear for their lives? Last year, after a separate jury tried each brother, no verdict was reached.

WORLD

CHINA'S OLIVE BRANCH

In a skillful face-saving gesture, China managed both to sentence Chinese-American human-rights activist Harry Wu to 15 years in prison and to set him free after a Chinese court convicted him of espionage. The trick? Beijing ordered Wu to serve his 15-year "sentence" outside the country. The ploy could help reduce tension between the U.S. and China on festering issues such as trade and Taiwan. It also cleared the way for Hillary Clinton's visit to Beijing in September to attend the U.N.-sponsored conference on women.

NEW BOSNIA TEAM

President Clinton named a new team of envoys for Bosnia shortly after a memorial service for the three U.S. diplomats killed almost two weeks ago in an accident outside Sarajevo. The team, led by top Bosnia envoy Richard Holbrooke, will head for Europe to press for a peaceful solution for Bosnia.

SADDAM'S SURPRISE

U.N. inspectors were taken aback when the government of Saddam Hussein admitted that Iraq's germ-warfare program was larger and more advanced than previously reported. Iraqi officials also confessed that the biological weapons they claimed had been destroyed before the Gulf War were actually not dismantled until after the war ended. In addition, they handed over documents showing that Iraq had started a crash program to build a nuclear weapon before the war began but that it was later derailed by American bombing. The unusual show of honesty was possibly prompted by the likelihood that the U.N. would have got the same information from Saddam's recently defected sons-in-law.

CRACKDOWN ON HAMAS

In the fifth suicide bombing by Palestinian Islamists this year, four innocent people--including an American teacher--were killed on a Jerusalem bus. Two days later, Israeli authorities announced that they had arrested members of a major guerrilla cell from the militant group Hamas and uncovered a bombmaking factory in the West Bank. The alleged mastermind of the last two bombings, it turned out, was arrested two days before the new attack along with nine accomplices; subsequent interrogation--enhanced with what the government calls "violent shaking"--led the Israeli secret service to 20 more of his cohorts.

CRISIS AVERTED

Zaire's campaign of forcibly returning refugees to Rwanda and Burundi came to an abrupt halt after U.S. and U.N. officials warned that the deportation could trigger a new humanitarian crisis. The expulsion of the ref ugees, who arrived in Zaire following last year's outbreak of ethnic violence in Rwanda, began two weeks ago, when the first 14,000 were taken in trucks from refugee camps and deposited at the borders. Some 173,000 others fled into the Zaire countryside rather than be deported.

TRAIN TRAGEDY

In one of the world's worst train wrecks, two New Delhi-bound trains collided, killing more than 300 people. The disaster occurred when the first train was stopped after it hit an animal, and the second train--speeding down the same track--was not warned about the problem. Police are searching for the signalman, who fled his post after the accident.

BUSINESS

HEEEERE'S WINDOWS

No computer software ever had such a splashy introduction. Special lights on the Empire State Building, free newspapers in London and a party in Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters with Tonight Show host Jay Leno heralded the debut of Windows 95. And the hype apparently worked: the new software, which is easier to use than previous versions and offers access to the Internet with the click of a mouse, has been selling briskly. Not that Wall Street was impressed; by week's end Microsoft stock was down $5.

ABC APOLOGIZES

In a rare gesture, ABC apologized twice on-air for stating on a newsmagazine show that two tobacco companies, R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris, had added extra nicotine to their cigarettes. The apologies were part of a settlement by ABC and the two companies that had sued the network for libel. ABC will also pay their legal expenses. But the network stands by the "principal thrust" of its report--that cigarette makers use reconstituted tobacco to control the level of nicotine in cigarettes.

UPJOHN MERGES

Confirming long-standing rumors that it was ripe for takeover, Upjohn announced that it would merge with the Swedish drug company Pharmacia AB. The two companies have combined sales of $6.8 billion and will be the world's ninth largest drugmaker. The new company expects to target hmos and other managed-care organizations. About 12% of the work force, or 4,000 jobs, will be eliminated.

--By Kathleen Adams, Nick Catoggio, Lina Lofaro, Lawrence Mondi, Jeffery C. Rubin, Sribala Subramanian and Sidney Urquhart