By KATHLEEN ADAMS, LINA LOFARO, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, LAWRENCE MONDI, MICHAEL QUINN, ALAIN L. SANDERS AND SIDNEY URQUHART

THE WEEK

APRIL 2-8

NATION

Well, They Did It

Newt Gingrich kept his promise: the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives capped its first 100 days of power by passing the final bill in its "Contract with America": a five-year, $189 billion corporate- and personal- income-tax cut that Speaker Gingrich called the "crowning jewel" of the party's agenda. Democrats unsuccessfully assaulted the package as a budget-busting giveaway to the rich. The parties' volleys set the front lines for the upcoming battle in the more fiscally conservative Senate, where the fate of the tax cuts-and the rest of the House's nearly unprecedented output-will soon be decided. And to make matters even more interesting, at week's end President Clinton was threatening vetoes if the final measures were not to his liking.

The Senate Axes Spending

After a week of tortuous negotiations the Senate approved $16 billion in cuts from the current budget. The Senate package, which restores money cut by the House to social programs-a result of Democratic prodding-will have to be reconciled with the House's more stringent $17 billion in cuts.

Affirmative Action: First Snip

The Senate approved and sent to the President a measure that would end a tax break to companies that sell broadcast and cable outlets to minority owners (though not before allowing one last such deal involving media mogul Rupert Murdoch). The provision is part of a broader tax bill, which President Clinton has agreed to sign.

CIA Called on the Carpet

Acting CIA Director William Studeman told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the agency failed to tell Congress what it knew about the murder of an American citizen in Guatemala in 1990 -- not to mention the role a Guatemalan officer paid by the cia may have played in the killing. Studeman's excuse: the case simply "slipped under the carpet." "That's a big carpet," responded Senator Richard Shelby, as he and other panel members accused the agency of intentionally misleading Congress about the agency's latest budding scandal.

The Simpson Trial

The week began with the prosecution methodically introducing the physical evidence it says will prove that O.J. Simpson murdered his ex-wife and a friend-evidence that withering cross-examination indicated might be flawed. But the trial came to an abrupt halt when another juror, Jeanette Harris, was dismissed, reportedly for having failed to fully reveal her personal experiences with domestic violence. Harris then publicly criticized the prosecution's case, talked about racial tensions on the jury and complained about the deputies guarding the panel. Judge Lance Ito promptly ordered an investigation.

An Olive Branch

Seeking to end a recent series of sharp exchanges between some Christian conservatives and Jewish leaders, the executive director of the Christian Coalition told a prominent Jewish audience, in a conciliatory speech, that calling the U.S. a "Christian nation" is wrong and that some conservative Christians "have been insensitive" to the ugly historical chapters experienced by the Jewish people. Vowing to fight anti-Semitism, Ralph Reed also said his group was committed to the separation of church and state.

Repressed-Memory Ruling

A federal judge in California overturned the 1990 murder conviction of George Franklin, whose case is believed to be the first murder prosecution to have hinged on a witness's repressed memory. However, the judge did not invalidate the use of the controversial testimony-that of Franklin's daughter, who remembered, 20 years after the fact, having seen Franklin kill a young girl. Rather, the judge ruled that the defense should have been permitted to introduce press accounts of the crime as a possible source of the daughter's tardy recollections.

A Secret History

A star student, athlete and mentor to the underprivileged, Gina Grant, 19, gained easy and early admission to Harvard University. But that distinction was quickly rescinded when the university learned that she had served six months in a juvenile center for killing her alcoholic mother in 1990, which she claimed she did in self-defense.

A Watchdog for D.C.

Faced with the task of rescuing a capital city desperately teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Congress voted to create a powerful new presidentially appointed board to oversee-and, if necessary, overrule-Washington's spending and borrowing decisions. President Clinton is expected to sign the measure.

And a Probe for D.C.'s Mayor

Washington Mayor Marion Barry, who is no stranger to run-ins with the law, found himself and his wife at the center of a new series of investigations. The focus now: whether a former maid was instructed by Mrs. Barry to divert a political contribution to Mrs. Barry's brother, and whether the maid was pressured to retract her accusatory revelations by a Barry political backer as well as members of the mayor's security detail. Barry, his wife and others who were fingered denied the allegations.

Chicago Elections

Chicago's sparsely attended city elections yielded one big winner and two big losers. Mayor Richard Daley won a lopsided re-election victory; and two gang-backed candidates for alderman-Wallace ("Gator") Bradley and Hal Baskin-were each trounced 2-to-1.

Philadelphia Gridlock

Philadelphia residents and commuters struggled to make do as best they could as a transit strike crippled the city's public transportation system for a second week.

WORLD

Terror in the Philippines

Hundreds of frightened villagers fled their homes on Mindanao Island as government troops battled members of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group that has been targeting Christians. The group has been linked to the defendants in New York City's World Trade Center bombing, as well as to threats against American airliners and assassination plots against Pope John Paul II. At week's end, the death toll stood at 75.

Clinton and Major Say Cheese

Acknowledging recent strains on their relationship -- mostly having to do with disagreements over Northern Ireland and Bosnia policy -- President Clinton and visiting British Prime Minister John Major put on smile-y faces and announced they had patched up their differences. "Throughout the century, the United States and the United Kingdom have stood together on the great issues that have confronted our people," Clinton reassured his counterpart at a news conference.

No Peace, No Nuke-Free Zone

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was also in Washington, where he called on Israel to consider "in a constructive spirit" his proposal to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. Mubarak has been trying to force Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and open its facilities to international inspections, but arms-control experts in Washington said that it would be impractical until peace agreements have been reached among the warring parties in the region.

A Spy Satellite for Israel

The official line is that Israel's new Ofek-3 satellite is "an experimental satellite intended for scientific and technological purposes." However, defense experts point out that the satellite's true purpose is intelligence gathering over Israel's hostile Arab neighbors. Within hours of launching, Ofek-3 was capable of transmitting photos of license plates on Iraqi cars.

Gaddafi to U.N.: "Drop Dead"

Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi vowed to defy a U.N. ban on flights to and from his country and threatened to quit the world organization altogether.

Bombs on Romanian Airliners?

The 60 people who perished in Romania's worst-ever air disaster were almost certainly the victims of an in-flight explosion. The Tarom Airbus 310 was en route to Brussels when it fell to earth just after takeoff from Bucharest on March 31. Forensic tests on the charred bodies indicate burns that are "very specific to an explosion."

Escalation in Bosnia

The United Nations warned that with warmer weather on the way, Bosnia was headed for "large-scale war." Both sides-Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian government-are now blatantly ignoring the four-month cease-fire due to end on May 1.

Reacting to Reactors

Despite strongly voiced objections from U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry, the Russian government said it would go ahead with the sale of two to four nuclear reactors to Iran. The U.S. vowed to continue protesting the sale at next month's summit meeting between President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Tough Russian AIDS Law

Foreigners who intend to spend more than three months in Russia must now undergo mandatory testing to prove they are not infected with hiv, the virus that causes aids. The measure, signed by President Boris Yeltsin, is viewed by Russian aids experts and gay-rights groups as discriminatory. An earlier law, which President Yeltsin vetoed, would have required aids testing for all foreign visitors, including tourists.

BUSINESS

Show-Biz Deal for Seagram

In one of the biggest stock buybacks in history, Seagram Co. sold most of its holdings in DuPont back to the chemical company for a whopping $8.8 billion. The move signaled an effort by Seagram to acquire an 80% share of MCA, the Hollywood entertainment giant presently owned by Japan's Matsushita. At week's end, however, both companies cautioned there "is no assurance that an agreement will be reached."

SPORT

Play Ball!

It was the longest work stoppage in professional-sports history: 234 days of bitterness and bile between multimillionaire baseball team owners and their equally well-heeled players. But it's over, for now. Bona fide major leaguers showed up at spring training camps last week. Opening day is set for April 26. --By Kathleen Adams, Lina Lofaro, Belinda Luscombe, Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart