TIME: Almanac 1995

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ TIME: Almanac 1995 / TIME Almanac 1995.iso / time / 050994 / 0509991.000 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-02-24 | 25KB | 547 lines

<text id=94TT0584> <title> May 09, 1994: Chronicles:The Week:April 24-30 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 May 09, 1994 Nelson Mandela </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 13 THE WEEK:APRIL 24-30 </hdr> <body> NATION Nixon Farewell Former President Richard Nixon was buried Wednesday after a ceremony at his boyhood home in Yorba Linda, California. Among the 3,000 mourners were delegates from more than 80 countries and five U.S. Presidents, including Bill Clinton, who delivered one of four eulogies. The service, led by the Rev. Billy Graham, focused on Nixon's foreign policy achievements, touching only obliquely upon the Watergate scandal. "He achieved greatly, and he suffered deeply," said former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. "But he never gave up." Earlier, an estimated 42,000 visitors had stood for hours in chilly, damp weather to pay their respects to the former President. Ames Cuts a Deal Two months after his arrest for spying for Moscow, CIA agent Aldrich Ames was sentenced to life in prison without parole after agreeing to a plea bargain that will guarantee a five- to six-year prison term for his wife Rosario. The shortened sentence will allow her to return more quickly to caring for the couple's five-year-old son Paul. In exchange, Ames will cooperate with authorities in ascertaining the extent of the damage caused by his nine years of spying. Civil Rights Act Limited Ending several years of conflict and speculation, the Supreme Court voted 8 to 1 Tuesday against applying the Civil Rights Act of 1991 retroactively to cases that were pending when the law was enacted. The court ruled that the law, passed by Congress to restore rights narrowed by previous Supreme Court rulings and to allow victims of employment bias to collect compensatory and punitive damages, was not intended to apply to cases already in the legal pipeline at the time of Congress's vote. Smoking Gun? Antismoking activists gained new ammunition when two former scientists for Philip Morris testified before a House panel that the cigarette company had suppressed research on the effect of nicotine on rats. According to the scientists, Philip Morris refused to allow them to publish studies on the addictive potential of nicotine, barred them from discussing the research, and ultimately closed down their lab, also halting research on a possible nicotine substitute. Haiti Envoy Ousted After months of turmoil over U.S. policy in Haiti, Lawrence Pezzullo, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti, was forced to resign.The Administration has come under increasing fire for its unsuccessful policy, enduring public protests by members of Congress and harsh criticism from the deposed Haitian President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Kevorkian Case to Jury A jury began deliberation Thursday in the case of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who is on trial for assisting in the suicide last year of a 30-year-old man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. Kevorkian testified that "when your conscience says ((a)) law is immoral, you don't follow the law. That's what Gandhi said and Gandhi got what I'm getting." Killer Twisters Tornadoes raged through several states, killing four people in Texas and two in Indiana. Overall, more than 80 people were injured while scores of homes and businesses were destroyed. TECs Begone In a preliminary victory for gun-control advocates, the House Judiciary Committee approved a ban on 19 types of assault-style weapons, setting the stage for a full House vote as early as this week. Fifteen to 20 more votes are still needed to pass the bill. Gathering of the Tribes In a historic meeting, President Clinton spoke with representatives from 200 of the nation's 545 federally recognized Native American tribes, promising new respect and assistance--and an end to token political gestures. WORLD One Man, One Vote--At Last After more than three centuries of white domination, South Africans of every race cast ballots for the first time to select a postapartheid government. Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress party were expected to win handily. The vote was not without hitches. In Soweto, the huge black township outside Johannesburg, the line of eager voters grew to more than 4,000 people, while in some remote areas, government helicopters had to fly in thousands of extra ballots. But the chaos and violence that threatened to overwhelm the process early in the week had largely subsided by Thursday, as government police announced the arrest of more than 30 white supremacists charged with 21 bombing deaths. Voting was extended to a fourth day in six rural areas, including the Zulu stronghold in Natal province. "It's like the birth of a baby," exulted Linda Khaba, a local magistrate. "Problems, anxiety and joy." Yeltsin Signs a Truce With great fanfare, Russian President Boris Yeltsin completed a peace agreement signed by leaders of the main parliamentary factions, trade unions and religious groups. The accord, which pledges that all sides will refrain from violence, is intended to last two years--giving the government time to act on economic reforms. New Flashpoint in Bosnia? Serb forces acceded to the NATO-U.N. ultimatum and pulled virtually all their troops and heavy weapons away from Gorazde. But observers fear they may be moving them northward to Brcko (pronounced Birch-ko), a town on the Croatian-Bosnian border partly held by the Serbs that the U.N. is now considering naming a seventh "safe area." At U.N. headquarters in New York City, the Security Council approved 6,550 additional peacekeepers for Bosnia, after the U.S. withdrew its earlier objections to the cost. More Horror in Rwanda As the warfare between government troops and rebels entered its fourth week, a shaky cease-fire collapsed, and savage fighting erupted again in the capital, Kigali. In what U.N. workers described as the biggest and fastest exodus they had ever seen, more than 250,000 people poured into neighboring Tanzania. By late Friday, lines at the border stretched for five miles. In New York City U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali urged the Security Council to reconsider its decision to withdraw most of its forces and asked that peacekeepers be permitted to use force to prevent further massacres similar to those he said had claimed 200,000 victims in the past three weeks. Air-Crash Mystery A China Airlines jetliner crashed and burned in Nagoya, Japan, after the pilot radioed the control tower that he was making a second landing attempt. At week's end the death toll was 263. Tragedy in Kenya A government ferry carrying more than three times its licensed passenger load of 150 capsized while taking workers across Mombasa harbor. Rescuers reported 200 dead and 200 missing. A Prime Minister for Italy Billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, who led a right-wing coalition to victory in national elections in March, has been asked to form the first conservative government in Italy's post-World War II history. And a Government for Japan New Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata named a Cabinet but acknowledged as he did so that solving such vexing problems as tax reform and trade hassles with Washington would not be easy for a government built on a minority coalition. As one Democratic Socialist legislator put it, "It can't get any worse than this." BUSINESS Propping Up the Dollar The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy grew at a moderate 2.6% pace in the first quarter of 1994. The slower growth rate was due in part to drops in exports. Meanwhile, investor confidence in the dollar faltered, prompting the Federal Reserve to intervene in the currency markets, buying dollars and selling yen and deutsche marks. Flat-Panel Technology The Pentagon announced that it will spend $500 million over five years to encourage U.S. companies to compete with Japan in the production of flat-panel computer display screens. The screens can be used in cockpits and armored vehicles, and as displays in soldiers' helmets, and on battlefield maps. Union Victory The Teamsters reached a tentative agreement to end their three-week-old strike. The union successfully blocked a move to hire more part-time workers and achieved increases in pension contributions and health-care coverage. SCIENCE It's the Top After a 17-year search, scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago report that they may have confirmed the existence of the sixth--and last--of the quarks, ghostly particles that are the smallest units of matter. Dubbed a top quark, the elusive particle weighs as much as a gold atom; it enjoyed a brief reign about a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. If the finding is confirmed, scientists will have validated three decades' worth of work that gave rise to the so-called Standard Model of particle physics. Of Mice and Men Researchers have genetically altered laboratory mice so that their immune systems are fooled into making human antibodies, powerful proteins that attack viruses, bacteria and other biological threats. The technical breakthrough could eventually lead to the mass production of synthetic antibodies to help fight infections, organ rejection and possibly even cancer. The Internet Factor In a computational tour de force that could affect the security of the information superhighway, a team of computer scientists has solved a long-standing mathematical problem: finding the prime factors of a 129-digit composite number. When the puzzle was originally posed in 1977 by cryptographers trying to demonstrate the power of a new encryption system, scientists estimated it would take 40 quadrillion years to solve. But by using the Internet to divide the number-crunching task among 1,600 computers, a team of volunteers managed to crack the code in just eight months. Corporations and government offices that rely on such codes may now have to shore up their systems for transmitting sensitive information. By Margaret Emery, Christopher John Farley, Christine Gorman, Lina Lofaro, Jeffery C. Rubin, Sidney Urquhart SPOTLIGHT Survivor of the Week: South Africa's Frederik Willem de Klerk has led his white tribe away from apartheid's cruelty with patience, caution and hope. INSIDE WASHINGTON So How Did Hillary Make All That Money? David Kendall, the Clintons' personal lawyer, says he's talking with officials at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to get more records on the now famous commodity trades that allowed HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON to turn $1,000 into $100,000 in about a year. The Merc's records might help explain how Hillary could have turned $1,000 into $5,300 in her first day of trading. "We are discussing with their lawyers whether her records can be segregated from other customers'," Kendall told Time. "Our intention would be to release them." WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS ROSARIO AMES: Gets off lightly in spy case after husband swallows life sentence PARENTS OF PRESCHOOLERS: Barney won't sing I Love You while copyright suit goes to trial ULYSSES S. GRANT: His long-neglected, scuzzy tomb to get $400,000 cleanup LOSERS MICHAEL BOLTON: Court says one of his hits was ripped off from the Isley Bros. LAWRENCE PEZZULLO: Special envoy to Haiti canned as scapegoat for failed U.S. policy EUGENE TERREBLANCHE: South African white supremacist marginalized by reality MOTHER'S DAY SPECIAL: SALES OF HOME PREGNANCY TESTS Nationwide, an average of 8.1% of Americans buy home pregnancy-test kits, a $150 million market. According to surveys, most kit-users are 18-34 year old single women whose favorite reading material is likely to be women's magazines. In other words, those Cosmo girls ZHIRINOVSKY BEAT Russia's top ultranationalist, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, celebrated his 48th birthday in expansionist style: Monday: Performed a traditional dance and sampled a new libation, Zhirinovsky vodka, at his Moscow birthday party, attended by 500 admirers. The new brand features on its label a map of the 19th century Russian empire's borders, for which Zhirinovsky has an oft-stated fondness. Also Monday: A British newspaper reported that he had gathered a group of psychics to help find Prince Charles' missing Jack Russell terrier, Pooh; they failed. Wednesday: Demanded that the entire Russian Cabinet resign in the wake of a parliamentary Deputy's murder, possibly by gangsters. When other Deputies called for the firing of the Interior Minister, who is responsible for state security, the Premier asked if they had a replacement in mind. "Me, me!" Zhirinovsky shouted. He also demanded that Deputies be allowed to carry guns and that gangsters be summarily executed. Thursday: Turned down an invite to Saddam Hussein's 57th birthday in Iraq, pleading a busy schedule. INFORMED SOURCES Good Luck Implementing This One Washington--A federal report due out this week will call for schools to sharply extend the amount of time students spend on their studies so they can compete with pupils in Germany and Japan. According to a Clinton Administration source, schools will be asked to double the roughly three hours a day that most children spend studying core academic subjects such as reading and math; the study will also recommend extending the school year to 240 days from the current average of about 180. A New White Knight for Health Care? Washington--Treasury Secretary LLOYD BENTSEN, who has been on the sidelines of the health-care debate for more than a year, has quietly begun to sound out Democratic elders and health-care interest groups in the event Congress can't pass legislation this summer. Bentsen has never been a fan of the grandiose Clinton scheme, and may help cut a deal if the committee chairpeople on Capitol Hill can't do it themselves. David Gergen and the Perils of Party Switching Washington--Clinton adviser DAVID GERGEN, a former aide to Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, sat toward the rear with other members of the Democratic Clinton Administration at the funeral for Nixon last week. James Cavanaugh, also a veteran of the Nixon White House, playfully scribbled a note and passed it back to Gergen. It read, "If you had stayed with us, you'd be three rows closer to the front!" ARE THEY BETTER OFF NOW THAN THEY WERE FOUR MONTHS AGO? An Unofficial Paramount-Viacom-QVC Takeover Deal of the '90s Alumni Bulletin Sumner Redstone, Viacom chairman, winning Paramount bidder. Has accepted a visiting professorship at Brandeis University. Possible course subjects: "Economics American culture, as long as they don't think I'm going to talk about Beavis and Butt-head." Beavis and Butt-head are trademarks of the Viacom Corp. Martin Davis, outgoing Paramount chairman. Named to the board of Redstone's National Amusements, Inc. Has formed Wellspring Associates, which plans to invest in undervalued companies in need of restructuring. H. Wayne Huizenga, Blockbuster chairman and Viacom ally in the Paramount takeover war. Now backpedaling from merger with Viacom. Has announced plans for a Florida sports-and-entertainment complex to rival Disney World; now Disney may launch a friendly takeover bid for Blockbuster. Wants to rechristen Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium, which he owns 50% of, Blockbuster Stadium. The Robbie family is resisting. Barry Diller, QVC Network chairman and a failed contender for Paramount. Starting up Q2, a second, allegedly hipper shopping channel aimed at Generation X consumers who are presumably uninterested in cubic zirconium. Reported to be planning a takeover run at Time Warner, but denies these rumors as "silly nonsense." John Malone, Tele-Communications Inc. chairman and Barry Diller ally in the Paramount battle. Engaged in a love-hate relationship with Viacom--currently talking to Sumner Redstone about buying Viacom's cable systems while fending off Viacom's massive antitrust suit. Also testily pulled Viacom's the Movie Channel from TCI's cable systems. Stanley Jaffe, fired Paramount Communications president. Left Paramount with a fat severance package worth somewhere between $35 million and $60 million. Is now suing Viacom for allegedly denying him over $20 million more in stock options and other benefits he says were guaranteed. DISPATCHES No Herring. Care for a Lawyer? By Natalie Phillips/in Anchorage The vast schools of herring that normally return to Alaska's Prince William Sound this time of year didn't show up. Nor did they return last spring. Here's what's showing up in their stead: dozens and dozens of attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, biologists, economists and officials of the Exxon Corp. They are settling in for the summer to write the final chapter in the story of the nation's largest oil spill, which began in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez spilled more than 11 million gal. of inky black crude into the pristine Prince William Sound. What is known in Anchorage as "the little people's trial" will begin this week in federal court. Back in the fall of 1991, the state and federal governments settled their lawsuits against Exxon for $1 billion. But 12,000 fishermen, deckhands, business owners, landowners and Alaska natives who claim to have suffered from the spill are hoping a jury will hand them an additional $15 billion from the company's till. A verdict is months away. But already the trial is having its effect on the local economy: the city's rental-apartment and office-space markets have been saturated by battalions of lawyers and experts. And many other Anchorage businesspeople--restaurateurs, hoteliers, copy-shop owners--are looking forward to the ripple effect of a world-class trial. It's not as much of a win-win situation 150 miles away in the town of Cordova, a tight-knit community on Prince William Sound of some 2,000 fishermen, artists and Eyak natives. "There may be a miniboom in Anchorage, but there is a major bust still going on in Cordova," says Torie Baker, a board member of the Cordova District Fishermen United. This year, for the second spring in a row, the town's 900 fishermen set out for herring and came up empty; normally they would haul a catch worth somewhere around $10 million. Yes, a smattering of herring did manage to make it to the sound, up from their winter home in the Gulf of Alaska, but they were covered with sores and swam erratically. Worse, the area's pink salmon are also vanishing, leaving many fishermen on the brink of bankruptcy. Not surprisingly, Exxon officials are quick to point to the abundant herring harvests the first few springs after the accident; they say there is no link between the five-year-old spill and what is happening now. Not surprisingly, this is not a popular position in Cordova. The culprit, most fishermen readily agree, is the 11 million gal. of oil. "It's a gut-level thing," says Baker. "Yes, there is an effect out there ((from the spill)). The thing that is so telling is that everywhere else in Alaska, there are major runs on fish this spring." And so to court. The fishermen have pinned their hopes for economic survival on the outcome of their lawsuit against Exxon, even though they acknowledge that the proceeds from a winning verdict could be tangled up in appeals for years. "This is on everybody's lips," says Cordova mayor Margy Johnson. "Everyone's looking for a sense of closure. It's like there was a death in the family and we're waiting for the will to be read." It's apt to be a long sitting. HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- Thalidomide, which caused thousands of birth defects in the 1960s, may one day be used to prevent blindness. In laboratory tests, researchers learned that the drug stops abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye, which can destroy vision in people with diabetes and other disorders. -- Many older women take thyroid pills because their bodies no longer produce the hormone. Yet the medication robs their bones of minerals. Doctors have now discovered that taking estrogen at the same time reduces the risk of osteoporosis. -- Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration have declared Prozac safe and effective in the treatment of bulimia. THE BAD NEWS -- From the researchers who brought you bad news about take-out Chinese food: the average "large" bag of movie-theater popcorn, made with supersaturated coconut oil, has as much fat as six Big Macs. -- About 25% of surgeries to implant tubes in children with chronic ear infections are undertaken too hastily, a new report says. The recommendation: more extensive antibiotic treatment. -- A procedure for prenatal detection of genetic abnormalities has been linked to an increased risk of birth defects. When performed in the first 60 days of pregnancy, the test, chorionic villus sampling, sometimes leads to the loss of an arm or leg. Sources--GOOD: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Journal of the American Medical Association. BAD: Center for Science in the Public Interest; Journal of the American Medical Association; Lancet. KIDS THESE DAYS "Maybe its the boy in me."--DR. JACK KERVORKIAN, on trial in Detroit for assisted suicide, explaining his passion for research into death A STAR--OR MAYBE A HISTORIC FOOTNOTE--IS BORN Two weeks ago, MICHAEL HAYDEN, star of Broadway's current CAROUSEL revival, fell ill with a strained voice. Alas, his understudy had a bronchial infection. Rather than cancel the show indefinitely, producers turned to MARCUS LOVETT, who was winding up a stint as the lead in the long-running The Phantom of the Opera. Lovett had to learn Carousel in a mere two days--and went on to critical huzzahs. Amazingly, this wasn't the first time Broadway life has imitated corny backstage melodrama: GUYS AND DOLLS (1992): JOSIE DE GUZMAN, who was the understudy in previews for the role of Sarah Brown, the Salvation Army missionary, was asked to take over the part for the Broadway run. She was nominated for a Tony. 42ND STREET (1980): WANDA RICHERT, the lead in this backstage musical, caught a respiratory infection. Her understudy unexpectedly dropped out for personal reasons. The producers turned to Karen Prunczik, Richert's roommate, who had helped her rehearse the part. Prunczik didn't become a star, but she did go on to marry 42nd Street producer David Merrick. FUNNY GIRL (1965): LAINIE KAZAN, Barbra Streisand's understudy, subbed for two shows. The Brooklyn-born Kazan was a hit with audiences. Streisand telegraphed: WE WERE TOLD TREES GROW IN BROOKLYN, BUT WE KNOW BETTER. STARS DO. PAJAMA GAME (1954): SHIRLEY MACLAINE subbed when Carol Haney was out with a sprained ankle. That night Paramount producer Hal Wallis was in the audience. Wallis signed her to a contract after she screen-tested the next day. THE JEST (1920): JOHN BARRYMORE, the legendarily dipsomaniacal star of this Italian farce, fell ill. A woman, Gilda Varesi, took his place. The New York Times raved about "Miss Varesi's brilliant achievement." </body> </article> </text>