THE WEEK

By JULIE K.L. DAM, SINTING LAI, MEGAN RUTHERFORD

WORLD

Earthquake Recriminations The Japanese government's torpid response to the Jan. 17 catastrophe in Kobe (5,090 dead, 29 still missing and about 300,000 homeless) has led to intense criticism of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama--even from members of his own Socialist Party. Offers of assistance from 60 countries, the U.N. and the World Health Organization poured in, but some were subjectedto endless bureaucratic wrangling. Examples: foreign doctors were rebuffed at first because they did not have Japanese licenses; Swiss sniffer dogs were threatened with quarantine by the Agriculture Ministry. Conditions in the stricken port city, however, are improving, with 18,600 emergency housing units under way, thousands of workmen busily laying new telephone and electric cables and, most cheering of all, the reopening of Kobe's schools. Middle East: Another Bombing A Palestinian suicide bombing in the heart of Israel took the lives of 21 Israelis and wounded 64 others, sending waves of shock and fury through the country and threatening to derail the fragile peace process once and for all. Even the normally dovish Israeli President Ezer Weizman joined in the outrage, declaring that peace talks with the p.l.o. should be suspended. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin held firm, however, saying ``There is no alternative.'' Some Cabinet members talked of erecting a fence, policed by border guards and dogs, that would keep West Bank Palestinians from entering Israel. A Pilgrimage to Auschwitz Jews from all over the world journeyed to Poland to attend a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazis' most infamous death-camp complex. The solemn occasion was marred by bitter disagreements between Jewish groups and the Polish government over the degree of Jewish participation in the anniversary program. U.S.-Vietnam Ties Washington and Hanoi inched closer to establishing full diplomatic relations when the two countries agreed to exchange liaison offices. These are the first formal ties since the U.S. left Vietnam in the spring of 1975 at the end of the war. The U.S. has been steadily warming its relations with Vietnam for the past two years. The major roadblock to full diplomatic linkage is the U.S. demand for more help in locating the more than 2,000 American servicemen still missing. The new American liaison office, which will be headed by a Vietnam war veteran, should make it easier to resolve cases of missing military men. Bosnian Cease-Fire Still Shaky In Bosnia the New Year's cease-fire brokered by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter seemed more elastic than ever. Renewed fighting broke out in the northwestern Bihac enclave, as rebel Muslims and Serbs from neighboring Croatia battled Bosnian government forces. The new violence came just as the new British commander of the U.N. troops in Bosnia, Lieut. General Rupert Smith, arrived in Sarajevo to take up his yearlong tour of duty. The Airborne Downed Overruling the recommendations of top military officers, Canadian Defense Minister David Collenette announced the disbanding of the elite 660-member Airborne Regiment. The minister's decision followed a television broadcast of two amateur videos that depicted some of the paratroopers as racist and grossly undisciplined. Although the Chief of Defense Staff, General John de Chastelain, insisted that recent changes in command, personnel and procedures would restore the reputation of the unit, Collenette concluded that ``the problems of the regiment are systemic.'' The Fall of Manerplaw Deep in the jungle of Burma, 15,000 Burmese troops captured Manerplaw, headquarters of the Karen rebels and the last remaining opposition stronghold in one of the world's longest insurgencies. The army offensive forced some 1,000 Karen fighters and 10,000 refugees to retreat across the border into Thailand. Since Burma won independence from Britain in 1948, the Karens have been fighting for autonomy from Rangoon; despite last week's setback, they vowed to fight on. Down in China Barely a minute after lift-off from the Xichang Satellite Launching Center in Sichuan province, a Long March-2E rocket exploded, destroying its cargo, a U.S.-built communications satellite. The Apstar-2 satellite was designed to provide television, telephone and digital-telecommunications services for Asia, Eastern Europe, North Africa and Australia. The cause of the explosion is under investigation. South American Border Clash With Peru and Ecuador accusing each other of cross-border attacks, fighting broke out on the 78-km-long stretch of jungle frontier disputed between the two nations, reportedly killing 20 Peruvian and three Ecuadorian soldiers. Peruvian troops were dispatched to the border along the remote mountains of the Cordillera del Condor. Ecuadorian President Sixto Duran Ballen declared a national state of emergency and issued mobilization orders. Cesar Gaviria, head of the Organization of American States, scheduled visits to Quito and Lima in an effort to resolve the dispute.

UNITED STATES

State of the Union President Clinton delivered an 81-minute State of the Union address--a record breaker in terms of long-windedness. In general, the speech seemed to be better received by the public, according to polls, than it was by pundits, who accused the President of splitting too many differences. Among the principles the President espoused, and which Republicans accused him of co- opting from them: smaller government, lower taxes, balanced-budget reforms, a line-item veto, welfare reform and a crackdown on illegal aliens. Yes on Balanced Budget Joined by many Democrats, including some liberals, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives approved a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution by a vote of 300 to 132, comfortably exceeding the two-thirds majority needed. The measure, which was stripped of a controversial provision that would have required a three-fifths majority vote for future tax increases, now goes to the Senate, where it faces a more uncertain fate. The Senate, meanwhile, approved by a bipartisan vote of 86 to 10 a bill restricting the power of Congress to impose unfunded mandates upon the states. The Simpson Case The extraordinary O.J. Simpson murder trial ground to a halt, as prosecution objections and vitriolic exchanges between opposing attorneys interrupted opening arguments and sent Judge Lance Ito scurrying to his chambers to sort things out. The disruption occurred when prosecutors accused defense attorneys of telling the jury about witnesses and witness statements they had not disclosed to prosecutors, a possible violation of California law. ``Appalling,'' ``disgusting,'' and ``trial by ambush,'' charged the prosecution. Nonsense, countered Simpson's attorneys, admitting to a few inadvertent mistakes and blasting the prosecution for baldly trying to ``shut up'' the defense. Before the halt, both sides had received generally high marks from observers for the persuasiveness of their opening statements.

The Battle for ``Baby Richard'' Re-igniting a furor over the finality of adoptions and the rights of biological parents, the Illinois Supreme Court decided for the second time in a year that 3 12-year-old ``Baby Richard'' be taken from his adoptive parents and returned to his biological father Otakar Kirchner. Kirchner, who has never met his son, began fighting for custody shortly after the baby's birth. He has since married the baby's mother, who put the baby up for adoption and initially led him to believe the baby had died. U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens rejected a request to stay the Illinois ruling; the adoptive parents may appeal to another Justice or to the entire Surpreme Court.

BUSINESS

Under Consideration Britain's Glaxo, the world's second largest drug company, announced a $14 billion takeover bid for Wellcome, another British pharmaceuticals giant and longtime rival. The offer values the Wellcome shares at 49% above their price before the Glaxo bid. The Wellcome Trust--a charitable foundation that has a 39.5% stake in the drugmaker and is Wellcome's biggest stockholder-- confirmed that it would seek court permission to sell its shares. If completed, the merger would make the new firm among the largest corporations in Britain and the biggest drug manufacturer in the world.

BOX

FROM THE WORLD'S HEADLINES

Though recent events have widened the CHASM IN THE MIDDLE EAST, editorialists foresaw little alternative but to continue the struggle to bridge it

EGYPTIAN GAZETTE, EGYPT: ``This deterioration in the peace drive could be blamed on Israel and its attempt to enjoy the fruits of peace from Arab countries while throwing crumbs to the Palestinians.''

WASHINGTON POST, U.S.: ``Just as Palestinian terrorism drains Israeli support for peace, so Israeli land taking drains Palestinian support.''

OTTAWA CITIZEN, CANADA: ``It matters not what should be, and who is to blame. That way lies only unending conflict The only thing that counts is what can be.''

THE INDEPENDENT, BRITAIN: ``Mr. Rabin and Mr. Arafat braved the fury of their hard-liners to make peace because both knew that in the long term their peoples had no alternative. A hundred suicide bombers cannot demolish that reality.''