THE WEEK

By CHRISTINE GORMAN, LINA LOFARO, MICHAEL QUINN, JEFFERY C. RUBIN AND SIDNEY URQUHART

NATION

O.J.: TAPES OF RAGE

Ruling on new evidence in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Judge Lance Ito said jurors could hear only two relatively tame snippets--out of at least 41 instances--in which ex-L.A.P.D. detective Mark Fuhrman used the word nigger on a screenwriter's interview tapes. The decision enraged Simpson's defense lawyers, who had been counting on the tapes to bolster their contention that Fuhrman--who denied on the stand that he had used the epithet--is a racist who planted the famous bloody glove at Simpson's home in order to frame him. Earlier in the week, with the jury absent, many more excerpts from the tapes were played for a shocked courtroom; spectators heard Fuhrman boast, in unrelentingly vile language, of beating suspects and lying about evidence in earlier cases. However, there was no immediate indication of whether Fuhrman was telling the truth about his exploits, and Ito ruled that the tales largely had no relevance to the Simpson case.

OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM

A wide cross-section of Los Angeles citizens--black and white, community leaders as well as cops and city officials--expressed disgust with Fuhrman's remarks; many feared racial tensions in the already riven city would increase. Police Chief Willie Williams vowed the department would no longer be accused of making racism "business as usual" and said he had initiated an investigation into Fuhrman's claims.

CLINTON: A WORKING STIFF AGAIN

After two mostly idyllic weeks in the Wyoming wilderness, President Clinton returned to the Oval Office to grapple with Bosnia and a fractious G.O.P.-led Congress just returned from its summer recess. "We've seen breathtaking mountains, lakes, streams and meadows," he rhapsodized in his Saturday radio address (possibly with an eye to the environmental concerns of many middle-class voters). "And all of this belongs to you, the American people, for all time to come." Before heading back to Washington, the President flew to Hawaii for ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the defeat of Japan.

THE END OF A CAREER

Illinois Congressman Mel Reynolds, convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker, will resign his congressional seat as of Oct. 1. "I made a very stupid, immature mistake," he said on Larry King Live. DR. DEATH ON THE STAND

A Michigan judge ordered right-to-die advocate Jack Kevorkian to stand trial for assisting in the 1991 suicides of two chronically ill women; however, he cannot be tried for murder, the judge ruled, because it cannot be proved that Kevorkian actually started up the devices that killed the women. (The state supreme court ruled last year that assisting suicide could be a common-law crime.)

CONVICTIONS OVERTURNED

A Massachusetts judge overturned the 1987 convictions of two women accused of sexually abusing some 40 children attending a day-care center in Malden, Massachusetts. "I never, never, never did it," said Violet Amirault, 72; her daughter Cheryl Amirault LeFave was also freed (a son, Gerald, was tried separately, and is appealing his conviction before another judge). The judge argued that the women deserve a new trial because the alleged victims were allowed to testify with their back to the defendants.

OKLAHOMA CITY MYSTERY

A mysterious severed leg, found three months ago at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing, belonged to an as-yet-unidentified African-American woman--possibly the tragedy's 169th victim--according to FBI tests. Defense lawyers for prime suspect Timothy McVeigh had hinted that the leg might belong to the "real bomber" because it did not match any of the known victims.

WORLD

NATO FINALLY WADES IN

Spurred by pressure from the Clinton Administration and yet another Bosnian Serb outrage--this time a shell that killed 39 Sarajevans and wounded 88 more--NATO decisively entered the Bosnian war. In the largest mission of the alliance's 46-year history, NATO aircraft flew more than 500 sorties over 48 hours, bombing Serb targets in several parts of the country, including Serb headquarters in Pale. The besieged residents of Sarajevo, who have long felt abandoned by the West, shouted with joy from their balconies as they listened to the bombs fall near by. The only NATO casualty: a French Mirage, shot down by Serb gunners; the fate of the two airmen, who were seen ejecting from the jet, is unknown.

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS

For the first time since fighting in Yugoslavia began in 1991, a possible path to a peace settlement began to emerge. Their military position weakened by the NATO bombing and recent losses to the Croatian army, the Bosnian Serbs made what most observers viewed as a key concession when they agreed to be represented by Serbia in peace negotiations. At week's end the U.S. announced that talks were slated to be held late this week in Geneva between the foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. Nevertheless, the Bosnian Serbs rejected U.N. demands to end the siege of Sarajevo, leading to a NATO ultimatum to end the choke hold on the city or face renewed air strikes.

CLOSE CALL IN GEORGIA

Eduard Shevardnadze, the political leader of Georgia, survived an attempted car bombing as he was on his way to sign a new constitution strenthening law and order in the disorderly former Soviet republic. Shown on national television with his face lacerated by glass, Shevardnadze said of his attackers, "They want to turn Georgia into a country where the mafia rules. But I won't allow it as long as I'm alive."

TROUBLE AT WOMEN'S FORUM

The Nongovernmental Organizations Forum on Women opened in China amid controversy, with charges that visas were being denied to thousands of would-be attendees and that some of those who had managed to show up were being harassed by state security officers. Organizers of the conference, a parallel meeting to the larger United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women, which opens Monday, suggested they might even cancel the forum if the Chinese didn't stop the intimidation. FRANCE STORMS PROTEST SHIPS

As Greenpeace intensified its campaign to halt France's nuclear tests in the South Pacific, French commandos seized two of the environmentalist organization's vessels close to an atoll where underground trials will be conducted. The boarding of the vessels was ordered after several Greenpeace inflatable dinghies were intercepted near the site.

BUSINESS

URGE TO MERGE: PART I

Chemical Bank and Chase Manhattan agreed to join forces in a $10 billion deal that will create the country's largest bank, operating under the better-known Chase name but with the leadership of Chemical CEO Walter Shipley. The merger, which will lead to the elimination of 12,000 jobs, is seen mainly as a cost-cutting measure for both banks.

URGE TO MERGE: PART II

Time Warner offered more than $8 billion for Turner Broadcasting in a deal that would place Time Warner back on the throne as the world's largest media company, a title recently threatened by the planned union of Disney and Capital Cities/ABC. The famously independent Ted Turner was said to be serious about considering the offer, one provision of which would make him Time Warner's vice chairman.

SCIENCE

A NEW METHOD FOR ABORTION

Two prescription drugs already on the market can be given together to allow a woman to end her pregnancy at home, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Pro-choice groups were pleased, but antiabortion activist Randal Terry faxed his outrage to the journal's office: "When abortion is made illegal again, you will be hunted down and tried for genocide."

DOUBTS ABOUT HEART DRUG

The National Institutes of Health warned that a drug that is commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure and angina may not be as safe to use as was once thought. Earlier studies had concluded that the medication, marketed under the brand name Procardia, appears to increase the risk of suffering a fatal heart attack--especially at higher doses. Doctors caution, however, that no one should stop taking the drug without first consulting a physician.

--By Christine Gorman, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Jeffery C. Rubin and Sidney Urquhart