The Week July 17-23

NATION

Health-Care Maneuvers

Following an address to the National Governors’ Association in Boston in which President Clinton appeared to waffle on the question of universal coverage, the political arm wrestling over health-care reform intensified in Washington. Democratic leaders of both houses met with Clinton late in the week to tell him they would work to craft a different but still universal program that could win a majority in both chambers. In effect, it was an abandonment of the Clinton plan. No details were released, but majority leader George Mitchell announced that “our plans will be less bureaucratic, more voluntary, and will be phased in over a longer period of time.”

The Simpson Case

Once again entering a plea of not guilty, O.J. Simpson was arraigned on charges that he stabbed to death his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman last month. The trial was assigned to superior court Judge Lance Ito. Before the arraignment, Simpson offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the “real killer or killers,” and set up a toll-free number to take tips from the public.

Another Whitewater Ripple

Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig, the nation’s top bank regulator, wrote in a memo that surfaced last week that President Clinton had approached him for “advice and counsel” regarding the “legal-regulatory issues relative to the Whitewater matter.” Ludwig says he responded that it would be “impermissible” for him to give such advice. The White House retorted that the only information Clinton sought from Ludwig, an old college pal, was the names of real estate experts who could write sympathetic articles about Whitewater issues.

Sailing Rough Seas

Secretary of the Navy John Dalton has found himself in hot water. When he was being considered for his Navy post, the White House and the Senate Armed Services Committee chose to brush aside his past legal problems as head of a failed Texas S&L, according to the New York Times. Dalton insists he was “completely straightforward” with the Administration and the committee about the matter.

Breaking the CIA’s Frat Code

CIA Director R. James Woolsey denounced CIA mole Aldrich Ames as a “malignant betrayer of his country” whose selling of secrets because he wanted a “bigger house and a Jaguar”cost U.S. agents their lives. Woolsey acknowledged, however, that the agency’s “fraternity” culture of secrecy, protectiveness and loyalty helped shield Ames from being unmasked earlier.

Judge to Citadel: About-Face

A federal judge ordered the Citadel, the state-supported military college in South Carolina, to admit Shannon Faulkner to its all-male corps of cadets next month and to develop plans to admit other women soon. The school said it would appeal.

Troubling Demographics

The Census Bureau released a report showing that out-of-wedlock births are skyrocketing. In 1993 about 6.3 million children in the U.S., or more than a quarter of those under 18, lived with a single parent who had never married — in contrast to 3.4 million in 1983 and 243,000 in 1960.

WORLD

Rwandan Refugees’ Nightmare

As victorious rebels declared a cease-fire in Rwanda, more than 2 million refugees poured across the border into Zaire, where starvation and cholera ravaged what has become the largest refugee encampment in the world. Said an aid worker: “There’s someone dying here every minute.” The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front formed a government that promised safety for all Rwandans, but Hutu fearing retribution for the country’s ethnic slaughter continued their mass exodus.

Serbs Nix Bosnian Pax

Western allies debated possible reprisals against the Bosnian Serbs, who rejected a plan for peace in Bosnia laid down by the U.S., Russia and three European nations. In response to the Serb rejection, Bosnian officials warned that their own unconditional acceptance of the plan would be withdrawn unless stern action is taken against the Serbs.

Dead Sea Strolls

Foreshadowing possible progress toward peace at the historic meeting between Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan’s King Hussein at the White House this week, Cabinet ministers from the two countries met on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea. Jordan’s Prime Minister, Abdel Salam Majali, said, “These are indeed vital and critical moments, which historians shall cherish and poets shall relish.” But while the King declared that peace will come “as soon as possible,” he added, “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

Kim Buried, North Moves On

Two days after North Korea buried its late Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, amid hysterical public grief, negotiators from Pyongyang met with U.S. officials in New York City to resume discussions on the country’s controversial nuclear program. High-level talks between the two countries will restart in Geneva on Aug. 5. However, hopes for a speedy summit between North and South Korea, agreed to before Kim’s death, were dimmed by Seoul’s release of Russian documents blaming Pyongyang for the Korean War.

Mixed Signals on Haiti

The U.S. asked the U.N. to authorize an American-led multinational force to invade Haiti. But the junta headed by Lieut. General Raoul Cedras was confident the White House would not take military action soon, owing in part to mixed U.S. signals. After meeting with Cedras, House Democratic deputy whip Bill Richardson said Cedras “is not as intransigent as everyone pictures him to be. I think there’s a little flexibility there.”

Berlusconi Backtracks

Responding to public outrage, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi withdrew a decree by his government that freed some 200 bribery and corruption suspects jailed without a trial. The edict would have eliminated a powerful tool used by prosecutors seeking to unravel the web of corruption among Italy’s ruling class. Instead, proposed new legislation will provide for preventive detention of corruption suspects.

Buenos Aires Blast Kills 49

An explosion in the Argentine capital destroyed a building housing the offices of two Jewish groups, killing 49 people and injuring 157. President Carlos Saul Menem said the attack was planned by “beasts and savages.” A radical Islamic group from Lebanon has claimed responsibility. The group also claims to be behind the next day bombing of a plane over Panama. Most of the 21 victims were Jewish.

Labour Party Picks Chief

Oxford-educated lawyer Tony Blair was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, to succeed John Smith, who died of a heart attack in May. Although a national election is not required in Britain until 1996, Blair, a ^ moderate, immediately began his campaign to unseat the unpopular government of Conservative Prime Minister John Major.

U.S. Fugitive Nabbed in Jordan

After a manhunt ordered by King Hussein, Jordanian police arrested a man wanted in New Jersey for murder. Mohammed Ismail Abequa, who is suspected of strangling his wife Nihal on July 3, arrived in Jordan with the couple’s two children three days later. On Saturday, a Jordanian official said Abequa had confessed to the killing.

SCIENCE

Dying Comet Batters Jupiter

Traveling at speeds of 130,000 m.p.h., mountain-size fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 tore huge holes in Jupiter’s atmosphere throughout the week, giving astronomers a glimpse of the titanic forces released when celestial objects collide. The 24 explosions roughly equaled 40 million megatons of tnt — 500 times the energy contained in the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and the Soviet Union at the height of the arms race.

Sick Ship Heads for Port

Celebrity Cruises took its luxury ocean liner Horizon out of service after traces of the Legionnaires’ disease bacterium showed up in the ship’s water system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traced six cases of the rare form of pneumonia to earlier cruises and reported 24 more suspected infections. Legionnaires’ can be transmitted by air conditioning or through water supplies and kills 5% to 15% of its victims. The cruise line offered full refunds to Horizon’s 1,243 passengers.