The Week December 5-11
By Philip Elmer-De Witt, Christopher John Farley, Sophfronia Scott Gregory, Michael Quinn, Jeffery C. Rubin, Alain L. Sanders, Sidney Urquhart
NATION
Clinton on Crime
President Clinton spoke out against violence, saying The American people are tired of hurting and tired of feeling insecure. The Administration hopes to push through new crime legislation that will include gun-control proposals that would go well beyond the Brady Bill, and Attorney General Janet Reno said she would support a national licensing system for handguns.
Murder on the L.I. Rails
Clinton was motivated to address the problem of handgun violence in part because of a gruesome incident on New Yorks Long Island Rail Road in which an evidently deranged man wielding a 9-mm pistol killed five commuters and wounded 18 others. The assailant, Colin Ferguson of Brooklyn, is black; he carried notes that told of his hatred of whites, Asians and "Uncle Tom" Negroes.
No Decisions on North Korea
Pyongyang offered to allow partial inspections of North Korean nuclear sites, which havent been examined by U.N. officials in months. American officials found the proposal unacceptable.
Legalizing Drugs
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders remarked that legalizing drugs would reduce violent crime and suggested that the consequences of drug legalization should be studied. The White House forcefully repudiated Elders comments, and G.O.P. lawmakers called for her resignation.
Health-Care Numbers
In a study conducted by a nonpartisan team that includes high officials from the Reagan Administration, a consulting firm, Lewin-VHI, determined that President Clintons strategy for financing his health-care reforms was basically sound. Meanwhile, the President has asked New York lawyer Harold Ickes to lead the campaign for passage of the Clinton health plan.
Texas Senator Reindicted
Six weeks after felony charges against her were thrown out on a technicality, a Travis County grand jury has filed similar charges against Kay Bailey Hutchison. The Texas Senator, a Republican, is accused of using state staff and equipment for political purposes while she was Texas State treasurer. Hutchison insists that the accusations are politically motivated.
No Atheist Scouts
The Supreme Court let stand a ruling that allows the Boy Scouts of America to refuse membership to agnostics and atheists.
Hidden Nuke Tests Uncovered
The U.S. has conducted more than 200 secret nuclear tests since the 1940s, according to the Department Energy. The department has declassified documents that describe huge U.S. stockpiles of plutonium stored in weapons factories.
Serial Killer Feared in Midwest
Parents in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, were refusing to let their children out of their sight after a second missing girl was found dead in the area. Similarities in the cases suggest a serial killer. Police are pursuing more than 400 leads.
WORLD
Israel May Miss Deadline
As a response to continuing violence in the occupied territories, Israel moved thousands of soldiers into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The action was taken five days before Israels Dec. 13 deadline to begin withdrawing troops from Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho. Israel and the P.L.O. were seeking to prevent a delay in the withdrawal.
Syria Softens
There was better news on another front in the Middle East: Damascus and Jerusalem may resume peace talks as early as January. Syria broke off the U.S.-sponsored negotiations in September. In signs of conciliation, President Hafez Assad last week announced that Syria would help investigate the fates of seven Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon since the 1980s and also said Syrian Jews would be issued exit visas by the end of December. Assad will meet President Clinton in Geneva in mid-January.
End of White Rule
South Africa inaugurated a multiracial, multiparty Transitional Executive Council to oversee the governing of the country until all-race elections take place in April. The 32-member councils first meeting effectively ended almost three centuries of white-only rule, since the government of President F.W. de Klerk will be unable to make any major decisions without the council's approval.
GATT Down to the Wire
Negotiators overcame several obstacles to a major world trade agreement by resolving the persistently thorny issue of protection for French farmers and by lifting a Japanese ban on rice imports. Progress was halted, however, by France's demand that it retain subsidies and protection for its film industry. The talks face a Wednesday deadline.
Austrian Letter Bombs
The mayor of Vienna, Helmut Zilk, lost two fingers and a thumb when a letter bomb exploded as he opened it at his home. Zilk was the most prominent victim of a wave of 10 letter bombings that has injured five people in Austria since Dec. 3. Police arrested two right-wing extremists they believe are responsible for the attacks. All the bombs were accompanied by notes signed Count Rudiger von Starhemberg, a reference to the Viennese hero who directed the city's resistance to Ottoman armies in 1683.
Leftists Win in Italy
Alliances backed by former communists swept balloting in municipal elections in several of Italys largest cities, including Genoa, Naples, Rome, Trieste and Venice. Neo-Fascist candidate Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the dictator, lost her bid to become mayor of Naples.
BUSINESS
Court Victory for QVC
The Delaware Supreme Court upheld a lower courts ruling that invalidated antitakeover measures deployed by Paramount Communications against QVC Network. QVC's rival, Viacom, must now decide whether to increase its $9.4 billion bid to match QVCs $10.1 billion offer.
Mellon Buys Dreyfus
Mellon Bank, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced a $1.85 billion deal to acquire Dreyfus, the nation's sixth largest mutual-fund company. Dreyfus manages more than $80 billion in assets.
Another Baby Bell Media Deal
Southwestern Bell and Cox Cable of Atlanta, the sixth largest cable operator in the country, agreed to form a $4.9 billion joint venture to enter the interactive-media business.
Blue-Chip Layoffs
Despite signs of an improving economy, the gloomy parade of corporate layoffs continues. RJR Nabisco will cut 6,000 employees, more than 9% of its work force, because of a devastating cigarette price war. Profitable Xerox will sever 10,000 employees, nearly 10% of its work force, to increase productivity.
About-Face
Williamson County, Texas, reversed itself and agreed to grant tax incentives to Apple Computer in exchange for the firms commitment to build a facility in the county. Concerned that Apple gives homosexual couples the same health benefits as heterosexual ones, officials had previously voted against giving the company a tax break.
SCIENCE
NowWill the Hubble Work?
Ground controllers at nasa began two months of long-distance testing to determine whether the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope will now work as advertised. In five space walks, astronauts from the shuttle Endeavour replaced solar panels and gyroscopes, upgraded computer components and installed a set of corrective lenses designed to help the nearsighted telescope peer to the edge of the universe.
Not So Fast
A leak has sprung in the solution to Fermat's last theorem, the famous equation that has intrigued mathematicians for 350 years. The 200-page proof that Princeton mathematician Andrew Wiles unveiled with such panache last summer turns out to have a flaw. "I believe I will be able to finish this in the near future," Wiles told colleagues.
THE ARTS & MEDIA
Video-Game Warning
Trying to deflect an assault from Congress, which is considering federal restrictions, the video-game industry pledged to develop a voluntary rating system to keep children away from the more violent games, some of which depict dismemberment. The proposal received a cool reception from a Senate panel.If you don't do something, we will, warned Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl.