The Week November 7-13

By Melissa August, Christopher John Farley, Sophfronia Scott Gregory, Michael Lemonick, Michael Quinn, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart

NATION

As NAFTA as They Wanna Be

A risky move may have paid off for the Clinton Administration as a contentious, sometimes personal debate between Vice President Al Gore and NAFTA opponent Ross Perot seemed to raise support for the pact. Polls showed that opinions of NAFTA became more favorable after the debate, televised on CNN's Larry King Live. At week's end, however, the White House was still at , least 20 votes short of the number needed to pass NAFTA when it comes before the House this week.

Sexual Harassment Redefined

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that women need not show they have been psychologically damaged to prove sexual harassment in the workplace, merely that they are working in a "hostile or abusive" environment. The decision stems from a complaint by Teresa Harris, a manager at a Tennessee manufacturer, who said her boss insulted her and made sexual advances.

Brady Bill Passes House

The Brady gun-control bill passed the House by a vote of 238 to 189. A diluted version of the original bill, it requires a five-day wait and a mandatory background check for the purchase of a handgun. The Senate may vote on a similar measure this week after acting on a broader anti-crime bill. The Brady bill passed in the House in 1991 but then fell victim to an 11-month Senate filibuster.

State Official Ousted

Amid intensifying concern about the competence of President Clinton's foreign policy lieutenants, Deputy Secretary of State Clifton Wharton Jr., the second highest State Department official, resigned his post. Wharton had been the subject of damaging leaks, and his departure was essentially forced. His duties had been administrative, not policymaking, however, and his resignation did not mollify the Administration's critics.

Clinton Backs Porn Laws

In response to what he deemed a new looseness in the Justice Department's interpretation of laws related to child pornography, President Clinton wrote a letter last week to Attorney General Janet Reno ordering a clampdown on porn. The President became concerned when Justice decided not to prosecute a man in possession of videos of young girls posing seductively, on the basis that the girls were clothed.

Not-Walking-Around Money

Flush from victory, veteran Republican campaign consultant Ed Rollins inadvertently caused a scandal for newly elected New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Rollins boasted to reporters that the campaign had distributed some $500,000 to Democratic workers in black neighborhoods and to black ministers in an effort to hold down the black vote in the election. Whitman insisted the payments "never happened," and Rollins retracted his statements. At week's end federal and state prosecutors had launched criminal investigations, and the Democratic Party was suing to invalidate Whitman's victory.

A Cardinal Is Accused

Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, one of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church's most influential leaders and a pioneer in the church's effort to root out sexual abuse by the clergy, was himself accused of having molested a teenager in the mid-1970s in a $10 million lawsuit filed by the alleged victim, now a 34-year-old man, who said he began recalling the incident after therapy. The Cardinal denied the charges and immediately referred the matter to a church review board.

Gulf War Illnesses

Defense Secretary Les Aspin announced that while low levels of nerve and mustard gases may have been detected in the Gulf War, they were not sufficient to explain the mysterious illnesses reported by thousands of gulf veterans. Symptoms ranging from cancers to mysterious rashes have been blamed on exposure to unidentified toxins.

Bobbitt Acquitted

Lorena Bobbitt, the woman who severed her husband's penis, lost her first court battle last week when John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted of marital sexual assault. She faces her own trial on Nov. 29 on charges of the "malicious wounding" of Bobbitt.

Phoenix Autopsy

Toxicology tests showed that actor River Phoenix had a lethal mix of cocaine, morphine, Valium and over-the-counter cold medicine in his blood when he died. The traces of morphine may signify that Phoenix took heroin, which metabolizes as morphine in the body, according to the Los Angeles coroner's office.

WORLD

Yeltsin's Constitution

Boris Yeltsin unveiled his new Russian constitution, which not surprisingly grants the President stronger powers. But it also establishes freedom of speech and religion and the right to own property. If voters approve the document on Dec. 12, the same day they will elect a new parliament, the Russian President will be able to dissolve the lower of the two new houses if it rejects his Prime Minister three times or passes votes of no confidence. Those powers are denied him under the present constitution. It also makes impeachment of the President more difficult and requires a two-thirds vote to override a presidential veto rather than the present simple majority.

A Shaky Peace

Five Palestinian suspects arrested for slaying a Jewish settler last month admitted that though they acted on their own, they belonged to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, with the backing of % President Clinton, demanded a public condemnation from the P.L.O. At week's end Rabin got his wish: Arafat himself condemned the killing and appealed for an end to violence. It was the first time the P.L.O. chairman had ever spoken out against a specific attack on Israelis by Palestinians in Israel or the occupied territories. The events capped a week of Arab-Jewish violence that was ignited when Palestinian gunmen shot up the car of a leader of Jewish settlers, wounding him and killing his driver. At their Washington summit, Clinton pledged to Rabin to help pay for implementing the P.L.O. agreement and to give Israel more military aid.

Jordan Votes for Progress

Rejecting the platform of anti-Zionist Islamic militants, Jordanian voters drastically reduced the fundamentalists' seats in parliament -- from 32 to 18 in the 80-member lower house -- and gave King Hussein a large majority to pursue his pro-peace policies. Another notable victor was Toujan Faisal, a strong feminist who will be the first woman to serve in the parliament.

China Rights Opening

After decades of refusing to let outside human-rights monitoring agencies inspect its prisons, where thousands of dissidents have been held, China said it would give "positive consideration" to such visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The statement comes just before President Jiang Zemin meets this week in Seattle with President Clinton, who has made continued favorable trade status contingent on improved human-rights policies.

Burning Bridges

Mostar's 16th century Old Bridge, one of the most exquisite examples of Ottoman architecture and a symbol of ethnic harmony in prewar Yugoslavia, was destroyed by Croatian gunners. Meanwhile, some of the deadliest shelling in weeks hit Sarajevo, killing at least 17 people, including several children at a school. The U.S. State Department warned that more than 4 million lives could be lost this winter because of the war, weather and disease.

The El Salvador Papers

U.S. intelligence reports revealed that Reagan and Bush Administration officials had far more detailed knowledge than they admitted to Congress at the time about the role of right-wing military and civilian leaders in death- squad killings in El Salvador. Both Administrations worked with these leaders, some of whom are in the current governing party, in order to crush left-wing guerrillas.

BUSINESS

Magic Kingdom's Spell Broken

For the first time since Michael Eisner became chairman a decade ago, the Walt Disney Co. reported a quarterly loss. The $77.8 million in red ink was attributable to Euro Disney, which has lost nearly $1 billion in its first fiscal year. Not that the experience has driven Disney to swear off theme parks. In Manassas, Virginia, Disney announced plans to build an American- history theme park near there.

Paramount Buys Macmillan

Paramount Communications outbid three rivals to buy publisher Macmillan for a hefty $553 million. Paramount, which will become the world's second largest publisher, is itself the object of a fierce bidding war. QVC raised its offer for Paramount to $90 a share, topping Viacom's price by $5 a share.

United to Disunite?

United Airlines rejected a bid from two of its unions to sell itself to its employees. As it faced threats of labor strife, the nation's second largest carrier was reported weighing the possibility of splitting the company into as many as five smaller carriers.

SCIENCE

Ozone Danger Confirmed

The idea that thinning ozone will let more solar ultraviolet radiation strike the earth (leading to increased skin cancers and cataracts as well as weakened immune systems) has been so far a mostly theoretical danger. Four years of careful measurements, however, now show a direct relationship between ozone loss and ultraviolet leakage.

Scientific Ethics

Scientists routinely claim that professional misconduct -- plagiarism, for example, or tinkering with research data to make the numbers come out right -- is rare. They're wrong, says a shocking poll conducted by American Scientist: 43% of students and 50% of faculty members report having first-hand knowledge of some sort of scientific impropriety.

THE ARTS & MEDIA

Barry Bonds MVP Once Again

For the third time in four years, Barry Bonds, left fielder for the San Francisco Giants, was named Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Art Lovers

After cutting a hole through the roof of Sweden's Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, thieves walked away with $75 million worth of uninsured artworks by Picasso and Georges Braque.The stolen paintings and bronze sculpture are extremely well known, so whoever took them will never be able to display or sell them openly.