TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=94TT0401> <title> Apr. 11, 1994: Chronicles:The Week </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 Apr. 11, 1994 Risky Business on Wall Street </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 15 THE WEEK:MARCH 27-APRIL 2 </hdr> <body> NATION Quiet Time for Washington With the Clintons away on vacation in California and Congress in recess, Washington's political temperature cooled down considerably. Administration officials capitalized on the break to put the clamor of Whitewater behind them and refocus on promoting the President's domestic agenda. But... Hillary's Profits ...the Clintons' finances continued to prompt headlines and speculation after the White House released Hillary Rodham Clinton's trading records on the commodities-futures market. The documents revealed that Mrs. Clinton made nearly $100,000 during 1978 and 1979 by investing just $1,000 of her own money. She made her investment on the advice of a lawyer friend who represented one of Arkansas' most powerful companies. More Bad News for Bill In documents that have since been turned over to special counsel Robert Fiske, investigators for the federal Resolution Trust Corporation last year named the 1984 Clinton gubernatorial campaign committee as a suspect in its criminal probe of the now defunct Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan of Arkansas. According to news reports, $60,500 in funds from the thrift may have been illegally diverted to the campaign with the knowledge of committee officials. The reports also said the documents name Hillary Clinton as a possible witness. A State Abortion Revolt At least 10 states, including the President's home state of Arkansas, announced that they would ignore a new federal Medicaid requirement to pay for the abortions of low-income women who suffer rape or incest. The state revolt sets the stage for months of negotiations with the Federal Government, and for lawsuits by abortion-rights advocates. Federal Downsizing President Clinton signed into law a measure offering buyouts of as much as $25,000 to federal employees who resign or retire early. The measure, an attempt to streamline the federal bureaucracy in a humane way, calls for elimination of nearly 273,000 workers by 1999. Smoking Wars, Continued The campaign to snuff out cigarettes continued to heat up as California Congressman Henry Waxman released a 1983 study conducted by a Philip Morris researcher indicating that nicotine is addictive to rats; the Congressman charged that the firm tried to suppress the report. Philip Morris denied the allegation. U.S. to Japan: We're Sorry At a news conference in Tokyo, U.S. Ambassador Walter Mondale somberly apologized to Japan for the carjacking murder of two 19-year-old Japanese students in Los Angeles--the latest in a series of violent crimes against Japanese in the U.S. Three days later, the Los Angeles police chief announced the arrest of two suspects. Brady's Initial Results Federal officials unveiled preliminary statistics on the effectiveness of the Brady gun-control law during its first month: at least 1,605 people, including fugitives and felons, were stopped from purchasing handguns in 15 states and cities. Naval Academy Expulsions More than a year after the U.S. Naval Academy learned of widespread cheating on a December 1992 exam, a Navy panel recommended expelling 29 midshipmen and disciplining 42 others. The final decision will be up to the Secretary of the Navy. Medicare's Sliding Scales The General Accounting Office released a disturbing report detailing huge regional variations in the approval and denial rates of Medicare claims for dozens of medical services. The problem: the various insurers who administer Medicare often apply different standards for claims. Rodney King Testifies Again On a Los Angeles courtroom floor, Rodney King re-enacted his 1991 beating at the civil trial in which he is seeking $9 million in damages. He testified that the cops who beat him taunted him with racial slurs, which he said can be heard on the famous videotape of the assault--an assertion disputed by others. A Religious Truce A group of prominent Catholic and evangelical Protestant leaders has pledged to reduce theological infighting, stop aggressively proselytizing each other's followers and cooperate on politically potent matters where their views converge, such as opposition to abortion. Prom Principal Is Back By a 4-to-2 vote, Alabama's Randolph County school board reinstated Hulond Humphries, the white high school principal accused of trying to cancel a prom to avoid interracial dating. The only white school-board member to join the lone black member in voting against Humphries resigned in protest. WORLD Natal's Emergency South African President F.W. de Klerk declared a state of emergency in Natal province as his government headed for what may be a violent showdown with Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who continues to threaten a boycott of the April 26-28 elections and to hold out for autonomy from the national government. Rival African National Congress head Nelson Mandela endorsed De Klerk's move. Earlier in the week, a march past A.N.C. headquarters in downtown Johannesburg by members of Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party turned into one of the bloodiest battles in the city's history; on Saturday suspected Zulu nationalists attacked a church in a Natal A.N.C. stronghold, killing three. Detention in China--Again Three days after Wei Jingsheng, China's leading dissident, completed his parole term, police detained him as he was returning to Beijing from nearby Tianjin. Since his release from prison last September, after serving all but six months of his 15-year sentence for his advocacy of democracy and human rights, Wei had continued his campaign, infuriating the Chinese government. Wei's detention, his second in a month, could further strain U.S.-Sino relations, which have deteriorated over the issue of human rights. Italy Takes a Right Turn A fractious right-wing coalition won Italy's national parliamentary elections. Led by billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, the Freedom Alliance won a strong majority of 366 seats in Parliament's lower house and a plurality of 155 seats in the Senate. Included in the victorious coalition is the neo-Fascist National Alliance, whose leaders still revere the memory of the dictator Benito Mussolini. Observers for Hebron Israeli and P.L.O. negotiators resumed talks on Palestinian self-rule after signing an agreement that would provide protection for the 80,000 Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron. A "temporary international presence" made up of 160 observers from Norway, Denmark and Italy will enter the Hebron area by mid-April. Earlier in the week in Gaza, Israeli undercover agents disguised as Palestinians killed six members of the Fatah wing of the P.L.O. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the killings "very regrettable." North Korea Gets a Break In the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. pressed for a tough resolution that would include a threat of "further action if necessary" (i.e., sanctions) should North Korea continue to block international inspection of its nuclear sites. But China insisted on a milder statement urging compliance. "We don't think that the council should act in a threatening way," said Beijing's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Chen Jian. But North Korea repudiated the kinder, gentler statement anyway. A New Candidate Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party chose former Education Secretary Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon as its presidential candidate. Zedillo replaces Luis Donaldo Colosio, who was assassinated on March 23. The U.S. and Bosnia Just hours after the Bosnian parliament ratified an agreement that would create a federation with Bosnian Croats, U.S. officials pledged $10 million for the reconstruction of Sarajevo. At week's end U.N. officials reported at least 17 Muslims and two Croats murdered by Bosnian Serbs in the northern Bosnian town of Prijedor. Russian Crash Explained? The plane that went down in Siberia last month, killing all 75 on board, may have been flown by the pilot's 15-year-old son, claim several Russian newspapers, saying the evidence was found on the cockpit flight recorder. Flogging Upheld In Singapore an American teenager who pleaded guilty to vandalizing cars and was fined and sentenced to six strokes of a split-bamboo cane and four months in prison, lost his appeal for clemency. President Clinton has urged Singapore to reconsider the penalty. BUSINESS Anxiety Attack Wall Street's heart-stopping tumble (the Dow is down more than 340 points from its Jan. 31 peak) came to a shuddering stop on the eve of Good Friday. President Clinton expressed confidence in the nation's economy and urged investors not to "overreact." More High-Tech Sales The Clinton Administration scrapped virtually all export controls on telecommunications equipment and computers to Russia, Eastern Europe and China. The restrictions were imposed during the cold war; lifting them is expected to generate as much as $150 billion in trade over the next 10 years. SCIENCE Head of Flawed Study Is Ousted Women were horrified a few weeks ago to learn that a major study on breast cancer, which came down on the side of less rather than more radical surgery, was based in part on faked data. Last week Dr. Bernard Fisher, the University of Pittsburgh researcher who coordinated the study, was axed by the National Cancer Institute. The N.C.I. says the original study remains valid. THE ARTS & MEDIA Free Press vs. Fair Trial CNN was charged with criminal contempt of court for "knowingly and willfully" violating a 1990 court order not to broadcast audiotapes of deposed Panamanian dictator General Manuel Noriega's jailhouse conversations. Some of the tapes recorded Noriega's calls to his lawyer's office; their broadcast raises constitutional issues. CNN pleaded not guilty. By C.J. Farley, Christine Gorman, Wendy King, Michael Lemonick, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin, Alain Sanders, Sidney Urquhart WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS ERNESTO ZEDILLO Substitute candidate virtually guaranteed Mexico's presidency DAVID LETTERMAN Stands up to Madonna, dirty words & unwholesome habits BUFFALO BILLS FANS A glimmer of hope as Cowboys lose Bill-slaying coach LOSERS SUSAN LUCCI No Emmy snub this time--she wasn't even nominated DR. BERNARD FISHER Head of compromised breast-cancer study ousted by Feds NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION Early statistics already show Brady Law keeps guns from crooks SHUT UP, RUTH "Excuse me! Just let me finish if I may."--JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR WHEN INTERRUPTED BY JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG DURING ORAL ARGUMENTS LAST TUESDAY; ON WEDNESDAY, GINSBURG WAS REBUKED AGAIN FOR INTERRUPTING BY JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY NONE DARE CALL IT KAFKAESQUE Franz Kafka's classic novel The Trial (1925) is the surreal story of Joseph K., a man who is accused of nameless charges that can never be fully refuted and about which he can get no firm information. The Clinton White House seems to feel it is in a similar predicament. The Trial K. went on, "Though I am accused of something, I cannot recall the slightest offense that might be charged against me." K. went on, "There can be no doubt that behind my arrest and today's interrogation, there is a great organization at work." K. is told, "One must really leave the lawyers to do their work, instead of interfering with them." Whitewater "No one has accused me of any abuse of authority in office There is no credible evidence and no credible charge that I violated any criminal or civil federal law." -- Bill Clinton, March 7, 1994 "[The Whitewater controversy] is a well-organized and well-financed attempt to undermine my husband, and, by extension, myself." -- Hillary Clinton quoted in the May 1994 edition of Elle magazine "Why don't you guys let the special counsel do his job?"--Bill Clinton, to members of the press, March 21, 1994 INFORMED SOURCES Birth of a "Narcodemocracy"? Washington--Top Clinton Administration officials have met with the two leading candidates in Colombia's presidential elections, Ernesto Samper and Andres Pastrana, to warn them that the CALI DRUG CARTEL--which controls 80% of the global cocaine market--is trying to channel drug money into their campaigns to gain influence. "We are deeply worried about a narcodemocracy developing," says a senior U.S. official. Another concern: DEA and State Department officers believe sensitive information provided to Colombian prosecutors has leaked to the cartel and may have led to the deaths of family members of anti-Cali witnesses. So strong is American distrust that U.S. officials have stopped sharing information with the Colombian justice system. No. 4 for Benazir Bhutto Islamabad--A staunch advocate of family planning in her overpopulated homeland, Pakistan's Prime Minister, BENAZIR BHUTTO, appears not to be heeding her own advice. Although the steamy tropical summer has arrived, Bhutto, 40, has taken to wearing coats or heavy gowns in an effort to hide her eight-month pregnancy; the baby is supposed to "announce itself" later this month. Not surprisingly, Pakistan's favorite pun plays off Bhutto's party initials, P.P.P. (Pakistan People's Party): with three children already, she's known as the "Perpetually Pregnant P.M." ZHIRINOVSKY BEAT Russia's top ultranationalist, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, shared his unique view of world events and was the butt of a holiday joke: Tuesday: In a far-ranging press conference, he offered to "host the white population" of South Africa because "in autumn massacre will begin"; said "Latvia will be fully incorporated into Russia"; and called charges that conspirators were planning a coup to install him in the Kremlin "absolutely right." He also admitted "one small hobby": "I do not breed fish or collect stamps. But I have that special thing for border posts let us move those posts out to their old places." Friday: A Russian newspaper reported that a group of Freemasons had kidnapped Zhirinovsky and hacked off his tongue. The story was an April Fool's Day prank. HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- Doctors have found evidence that gene therapy could help people who are suffering from extremely high levels of cholesterol in their blood. Two years after implanting a 30-year-old woman's liver with the gene that she lacks to get rid of the fatty substance, they report that the so-called bad cholesterol in her blood has dropped dramatically. -- A study of 2,300 patients showed that giving a shot of magnesium sulfate within three hours of a heart attack may prolong a person's life by a few years. The timing is critical, however, as there was no beneficial effect in those cases where doctors waited eight hours or more to administer the drug. THE BAD NEWS -- By the end of the 1990s, according to the Orphan Project of New York City, more than 80,000 otherwise healthy children in the U.S. will have lost their mother to AIDS. In most cases the fathers have already died or are absent. Hardest hit: children in New York City; Washington; Miami; Los Angeles; Newark, New Jersey; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. -- A 20-year study of Canadian utility workers found a slightly elevated risk of leukemia among employees who had the greatest exposure to magnetic fields. One of the most comprehensive studies to explore a possible link between electric power lines and cancer, the investigation did not uncover a tie to brain tumors. Sources: GOOD: Nature Genetics, Lancet BAD: The Orphan Project, American Journal of Epidemiology Blame It on Cain's Mom "Ah, but alas, I am not the keeper of time, only a small part of history and the legacy of mankind's fall from grace." -- DANNY ROLLING, APOLOGIZING IN COURT LAST WEEK FOR MURDERING AND MUTILATING FIVE COLLEGE STUDENTS IN GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA DOWNSIZING THE FBI WAY As corporate America continues to shed workers, the FBI is receiving more and more calls from jittery executives anxious about the possibility of disgruntled former employees returning to offices with semiautomatics blazing. Requests for advice have increased "drastically" in the past two years, says Clinton R. Van Zandt, who studies mass murderers and other violent types for the FBI Academy's Investigative Support Unit, made famous by the film The Silence of the Lambs. Many inquiries are provoked by worries about specific employees, typically a depressed, explosively angry individual who is drinking heavily, ostentatiously collecting guns, or threatening corporate officials--or all three. The FBI suggests this management technique: send the problem person for counseling. If someone must be let go, be sure the firing is done with sensitivity (never sack by letter, agents warn). Above all, provide retraining and job-placement help. "These are desperate people who feel they've reached the end of their rope," says Van Zandt. "We ought to give them a few more feet." MILESTONES DIVORCED. EVELYN DAVIS, 64, shareholder-gadfly; from economist Walter Froh Jr.; in Washington. "No more marriages for me," vowed Evelyn, whose craftily blunt criticisms of corporate boards during annual meetings inspired Citicorp to limit shareholders' questions to three minutes. DEATH DISCOVERED. SCOTT DOUGLAS, 38, husband of murdered newspaper heiress Anne Scripps Douglas; an apparent suicide; in New York. Douglas disappeared three months ago after the bludgeoning death of his wife, leaving his car idling on an upstate bridge. The family believed he had faked his own suicide. The discovery of his body on the banks of the Hudson River proves otherwise. DIED. ALBERT GOLDMAN, 66, author; of a heart attack; en route from Miami to London. After stints as an English professor at Columbia and a critic for Life magazine, Goldman found his calling as a merciless demythologizer of such pop icons as Lenny Bruce (in 1974's Ladies and Gentlemen--Lenny Bruce!!), Elvis Presley (Elvis, 1981) and John Lennon (The Lives of John Lennon, 1988). No one would call these biographies "appreciations": the sordid side of his subjects--from Presley's addictions and gluttony to Lennon's appetite for violence and sex--fascinated Goldman. All of it was served up in high-voltage prose. Goldman was at work on a biography of rocker Jim Morrison at the time of his death. DIED. BILL TRAVERS, 72; actor; in his sleep; in Dorking, England, south of London. A leading British film actor who first won fame as the titular hammer-throwing phenom in 1955's Wee Geordie, Travers is best known in this country for Born Free (1966), in which he played George Adamson, the real-life game warden who oversaw the raising of Elsa the famous lioness. DIED. BETTY FURNESS, 78, actress and pioneering TV consumer reporter; of stomach cancer; in New York City. Though she had been the popular pitchwoman for Westinghouse refrigerators in the '50s, Furness won praise from the likes of Ralph Nader for her work as Lyndon Johnson's special assistant for consumer affairs. From 1976 to 1992 she was the regular consumer advocate on NBC's Today show. DIED. ROBERT DOISNEAU, 81, photographer; in Paris. The postwar Paris captured by the lens of Doisneau's camera was the Paris of young lovers stealing an embrace, American soldiers roughhousing around the City of Light, two bearded compatriots excitedly greeting each other with kissed cheeks--in short, the Paris of one's dreams, rendered with both satire and great affection. Parisian-born, Doisneau began his career as a photographer while in his 20s, lending his talents to the Resistance during the Nazi Occupation. He achieved prominence as a fashion photographer after the war and international recognition with his portraits of the "little drama in everyday life." Yet there was some stagecraft behind those supposedly candid moments: in a legal dispute last year, Doisneau acknowledged that he had paid two models to pose for his famous The Kiss at the Hotel de Ville. Whether that detracts from its perfect evocation of a certain time, a certain place, a certain sensibility is in the eye of the beholder. DIED. WILLIAM NATCHER, 84, Congressman; in Washington. The Kentucky Democrat was living proof that much of success is just showing up: in his 40 years on the Hill, no one showed up as often as Natcher, whose career-long record of never missing a roll-call vote (18,401 votes in all) ended with his worsening health last month. DIED. HELEN WOLFF, 88; publisher; in Hanover, New Hampshire. Arriving penniless as refugees in New York in 1941, Wolff and her husband Kurt founded Pantheon Books within a year, aided by their Continental credits (Kurt was the first publisher of Franz Kafka) and Helen's command of several languages. At Pantheon and later under the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich imprint "A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book," she introduced Americans to Boris Pasternak, Gunter Grass and Umberto Eco. And in Local News... The four top stories on assorted world newscasts for March 29, 1994 UNITED STATES (ABC) -- Medicare coverage varies from region to region -- Questionable data uncovered in breast-cancer study -- Dallas Cowboys' head coach and owner part ways -- Mrs. Clinton's killing in commodities-futures market MEXICO (TELEVISA) -- Zedillo named as the new P.R.I. presidential candidate -- Congressional delegation visits Colosio assassination site -- Marchers demand full disclosure of assassination facts -- Mexican stock market remains calm BRAZIL (TV GLOBO) -- Drug traffickers use Sao Paulo prostitutes to distribute crack -- Pastor is arrested trying to leave the country with $400,000 in cash -- Illegal telecommunications equipment is seized in the Amazon region -- Cities are wasting money adding fluoride to water BRITAIN (BBC) -- Cabinet compromises over European Union voting rules -- Italian election results -- Northern England school murder -- Gloucestershire school minibus accident KENYA (Kenya Broadcasting Corp.) -- President Moi's day -- New head of Kenya Wildlife Service assumes his post -- The government denies that food for famine relief is being misappropriated -- Agriculture Minister says Kenya earned $261 million from tea exports last year EGYPT (Channel 1) -- Continuing violence in the Israeli occupied territories -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Moussa's visit to India for G-15 conference -- Egyptian Prime Minister Sidki meets China's Minister of Industry -- Arab League welcomes Comoros as its latest member SOUTH AFRICA (SABC-TV1) -- Talks between the government and the KwaZulu homeland are on hold -- The government considers a state of emergency for KwaZulu -- A judicial commission is asked to investigate Monday's Johannesburg violence -- White right-wingers demonstrate for an Afrikaner homeland AUSTRALIA (National Nine News) -- Firearms use by Victoria state police is to be reviewed after two deaths -- Johannesburg violence -- Australia TV personality is cleared of contempt-of-court charge -- A leading Victoria legislator retires INDIA (Doordarshan) -- Indian parliamentary debate over GATT -- The G-15 meeting of developing nations in New Delhi -- An explosion kills 13 soldiers in Kashmir -- A Pakistan-backed terrorist is arrested in Punjab JAPAN (TV Asahi) -- A former construction-company executive is indicted on bribery charges -- The government unveils market-opening measures to reduce account surplus -- Italian election results -- Los Angeles police recover car stolen from two murdered Japanese students RUSSIA (NTV) -- A larger union is urged by leaders in several republics -- Yeltsin discusses security and coup rumors with the head of counterintelligence -- The IMF's managing director receives a hunting rifle from the government as a sign of gratitude -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's visit </body> </article> </text>