The Week April 10-16

By Melissa August, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Margaret Emery, Christopher John Farley, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin and Alain L. Sanders

NATION

Mitchell Turns Down the Court

In a surprise move that clearly baffled and dismayed his Senate colleagues, retiring Senate majority leader George Mitchell turned down the President's offer to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court to succeed Justice Harry Blackmun. Mitchell said he wanted to devote his full efforts to passing the President's health-care plan. Speculation immediately shifted to minority contenders, including Connecticut federal Judge Jose Cabranes, Solicitor General Drew Days and New York federal Judge Amalya Kearse.

Cigarette Chiefs Get Blasted

For more than six hours, the top executives of the nation's seven largest tobacco companies underwent a hostile televised grilling before California Congressman Henry Waxman's House health subcommittee. The executives denied that cigarettes are addictive or that their companies manipulate nicotine content to keep smokers hooked. Cigarettes are no more addictive than coffee, tea or Twinkies, allowed one executive. "The difference between cigarettes and Twinkies," responded Waxman sharply, "is death."

Hillary's Profits Revised -- Up

The White House disclosed that a second commodities-trading account maintained by Hillary Rodham Clinton during 1979 and 1980 produced a $6,500 profit -- not a $1,000 loss as the couple had previously maintained. The cost to the Clintons: $14,615 in back taxes and interest they agreed to pay voluntarily. President Clinton complained tartly to newspaper editors that it was impossible to recall precisely family finances of 15 years ago: "You think I should have shut the whole Federal Government down and done nothing but study these things for the last two months?"

House Backs Ultimate Penalty

The House demonstrated its get-tough mood by voting the death penalty for more | than 60 crimes, from carjacking murders to treason, as the new crime bill made its way through Congress.

Kelso's Stars

At the urging of top Pentagon officials, the Senate Armed Services Committee recommended 20 to 2 that Admiral Frank Kelso be permitted to retire with his four stars -- and accompanying pension -- intact. This despite his role in the Tailhook scandal, which remains in dispute. The full Senate is expected to agree.

Trust-Fund Warnings

The government issued revised estimates on the solvency of Social Security and Medicare. Both remain in trouble: the Social Security old age and disability trust funds are expected to run out of money in 2029, the Medicare hospital trust fund in 2001. Congress faces the task of finding a solution.

Honk If You Like to Drive!

To the praise of an assemblage of politicians vying for credit, including Democratic Vice President Al Gore and Republican Governor Pete Wilson, the quake-damaged pivotal Santa Monica Freeway reopened to Los Angeles' car- addicted commuters, who wasted no time forsaking public transportation.

Flood Season Again

The country's midsection got an unpleasant reminder of the great flood of '93 when heavy spring rains swelled rivers to overflowing in several states, once again sending residents scurrying to higher ground and bringing out legions of sandbag volunteers. At least six deaths were reported.

WORLD

Gorazde Threatened

The embattled Bosnian city of Gorazde, once designated a "safe area" by the U.N., was close to collapse after heavy attack from Bosnian Serb forces when U.N. officials announced that a cease-fire was likely that would leave the Serbs with most of the land seized in their recent offensive. On Saturday a British Sea Harrier jet, flying under nato command, was shot down as it searched for a Serb target. Earlier in the week, U.S. aircraft bombed Serb positions and imposed a momentary quiet on the area. By the weekend, however, Serb forces were reportedly two miles from Gorazde's center.

Ethnic Strife Continues

The Rwandan capital of Kigali was ravaged by continued ethnic violence between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes as bands of marauders armed with guns and machetes roamed the streets in search of victims. The numbers of dead were estimated to reach into the tens of thousands by week's end, with Belgian troops scrambling to evacuate the last foreigners from the city. Despite tentative talks with government forces that began Friday, rebel troops warned that any non- nationals remaining in the city after 24 hours would be considered hostile.

Caught in "Friendly Fire"

Twenty-one United Nations personnel, including 15 Americans, and five of the Kurds they were trying to help died Thursday after two helicopters were mistakenly shot down by U.S. fighter planes over the "no-fly" zone in northern Iraq. Defense Department officials said Friday that the jets signaled the helicopters electronically, but did not receive a response identifying them as "friendly."

Another Bombing in Israel

New fear gripped Israel after another suicide bombing -- the second in a week -- claimed five Israeli lives and left 28 injured. On Wednesday, a Palestinian with explosives strapped to his body blew himself up after boarding a crowded bus in Hadera.

Heir Apparent?

The spotlight was on Japanese Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata amid speculation that he would inherit the post vacated by former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who resigned two weeks ago. Like Hosokawa, Hata has been an outspoken critic of Japan's scandal-plagued political system; he also faces the challenge of holding together the fragile seven-party coalition that brought Hosokawa to power. Parliament is expected to vote on a new Prime Minister this week.

No Deal

Efforts by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to mediate the South African political crisis fell apart after Zulu leaders repeated their demand that the nation's all-race elections be postponed. Kissinger's mediation team had hoped to resolve the conflict between African National Congress members and Zulu nationalists, who are demanding a sovereign state and boycotting the April 26-28 election.

Face to Face

Also on Thursday, A.N.C. leader Nelson Mandela and President F.W. de Klerk sparred in their first and only televised debate, attacking each other over economic policy and who was to blame for the country's political violence. The debate ended on a conciliatory note as the two leaders agreed to "go forward together."

BUSINESS

P&G Takes a Hit

Procter & Gamble announced that it was taking a $102 million after-tax charge on its third-quarter earnings because it was "badly burned" by two derivatives contracts. Derivatives, the subject of a congressional hearing last week, are complex financial instruments whose value is derived from the overall direction of a financial market like stocks or interest rates.

Sanctions Against Taiwan

President Clinton announced that the U.S. will impose limited trade sanctions against Taiwan for its continued trade in products made from endangered species, including tigers and rhinos.

SCIENCE

Cancer Culprit

Researchers looking for mutant strands of DNA in skin-cancer cells have discovered a gene that may be at the root of many -- if not most -- cancers, including such major types as lung, breast, brain, bone, bladder, kidney, ovary and lymphocyte. In healthy tissue, the gene acts as a brake on runaway cell division. Scientists hope that by replacing damaged genes with healthy ones, they may someday be able to prevent many types of cancer.

Cancer-Research Apology

Under harsh questioning at a congressional hearing, the heads of the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute apologized for their failure to properly monitor a falsified breast-cancer study. The officials reiterated their belief in the validity of the study results, despite the flaws.

THE ARTS & MEDIA

Journalism's Finest

Among this year's Pulitzer prizewinners: Eileen Welsome of the Albuquerque Tribune for her reporting on human radioactivity experiments; William Raspberry for his commentary in the Washington Post; and freelance photographer Kevin Carter for his haunting shot of a tiny Sudanese girl stalked by a vulture. E. Annie Proulx' The Shipping News won the fiction prize and Edward Albee's Three Tall Women won for drama.