TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=94TT0641> <title> May 16, 1994: Chronicles:The Week:May 1-7 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 May 16, 1994 "There are no devils...":Rwanda </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 31 THE WEEK: MAY 1-7 </hdr> <body> NATION Assault Weapons Wasted By a 216-to-214 vote, the House passed legislation to ban the production and sale of 19 assault weapons after a furious lobbying effort by the bill's sponsors and President Clinton. Because the Senate passed a similar bill last November, the final wording of the legislation will be worked out by a House-Senate conference. Haiti Policy: Still "in Flux" On Friday, at U.S. urging, the U.N. passed a resolution toughening the so far ineffective embargo on Haiti. Earlier in the week, President Clinton said he had not ruled out U.S. military intervention. Meanwhile, about 500 Haitian refugees who recently arrived in Florida will be allowed to remain in the U.S. while their cases are processed by immigration officials. Said a senior U.S. official: "Clearly, policy toward Haiti is in flux " Hunger Strike Continues The Administration's tentative moves did not stop the three-week hunger strike by Randall Robinson, executive director of the lobbying group TransAfrica. Robinson was hospitalized for dehydration, but he vowed to continue until President Clinton agreed to give Haitian boat people hearings before forcibly repatriating them. By week's end Clinton was considering altering his repatriation policy. Clinton's $700,000 Sex Suit Paula Corbin Jones, 27, a former Arkansas state worker, sued President Clinton for $700,000 for allegedly violating her civil rights in 1991 by making unwelcome sexual advances toward her in a Little Rock hotel room. Said Clinton's attorney Robert Bennett: "It is tabloid trash with a legal caption on it." A number of witnesses have supported aspects of Corbin's story, but her case was undermined somewhat by her sister Charlotte Brown, who told an Arkansas television station that Jones told her she "smelled money" in her allegations. Prosecutor Wants Rosty U.S. Attorney Eric Holder, investigating alleged financial wrongdoing by Illinois Democratic Representative Dan Rostenkowski, wants the Justice Department to seek an indictment. Rostenkowski denies any wrongdoing. "Dr. Death" Acquitted A Michigan jury unanimously acquitted Dr. Jack Kevorkian of a criminal charge under a state law prohibiting anyone from assisting in suicides. The jury decided that Kevorkian, who helped a terminally ill man kill himself in 1993, acted only to ease the man's pain and discomfort and not necessarily to end his life, an exception that the law permits. A day later, a federal judge in Seattle struck down a 140-year-old Washington state law against assisted suicide. Navy to Push Women's Role The new top officer of the Navy, Admiral Jeremy Boorda, promised to speed up plans to assign women to all surface vessels and perhaps even allow them aboard submarines, the Navy's last all-male bastion. "The goal is all ships; the goal is everything," commented Boorda, who also said a repeat of the Tailhook sexual-assault scandal "would simply not be tolerated." Vets Suffer Gulf War Syndrome Two Persian Gulf War veterans testified before a Senate panel that a drug given to them to protect against nerve-gas attacks has left them with damaged nervous systems. The Defense Department denies that the drug made the veterans sick, but Senator John D. Rockefeller IV said, "The results of our investigations will shock all Americans." WORLD They Signed, but Only Just In Cairo, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat met to sign an accord beginning Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and in an enclave around the West Bank town of Jericho. But as the ceremony began, Arafat suddenly balked at putting his name to six maps accompanying the accord. At issue was the amount of land around Jericho to be ceded to the Palestinians. Finally, Arafat was assured that the maps were not necessarily the final word on the Jericho boundaries, and the agreement went through. Guess What? Mandela Won South Africa's Independent Election Commission announced the final vote count: Nelson Mandela's African National Congress won 62.6%; F.W. de Klerk's National Party got 20.4%, and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party was third with 10.5%. Charges of fraud exchanged by Inkatha and the A.N.C. delayed the count in Buthelezi's stronghold, KwaZulu/Natal, and forced a three-day postponement of the seating of the all-race parliament that will elect Mandela as South Africa's first black President. De Klerk and A.N.C. foreign policy veteran Thabo Mbeki will be Deputy Presidents. No Relief in Rwanda Ethnic warfare continued in Rwanda as rebel and government forces continue to fight for control of the capital. A Canadian military cargo plane bringing food and medicine to 450 remaining U.N. peacekeepers and the thousands of refugees under their protection was fired on at the Kigali airport, and further aid flights were suspended. Bosnian Cease-Fire Frays Aid flights into Sarajevo were briefly suspended after two aircraft were hit by gunfire. The top U.N. representative in Bosnia, Yasushi Akashi, came under heavy criticism from Washington after permitting Serb tanks to pass through the heavy-weapons exclusion zone around the capital. The U.S. and Russia, meanwhile, called for a foreign ministers' meeting to consider new proposals for ending the two-year-old Bosnian civil war. Emergency in Yemen Civil war raged in Yemen as the country's northern leaders ousted their southern rivals from the government. Foreigners fled the capital of San`a, and in Cairo the Arab League called an emergency meeting to discuss sending in an Arab peacekeeping force. Chunnel Mania Queen Elizabeth II and President Francois Mitterrand officially opened the long-delayed and costly ($13.3 billion) Channel Tunnel between England and France. But regularly scheduled passenger service will not begin until the autumn. The Scream Recovered Oslo police found Edvard Munch's much revered canvas The Scream last week in a hotel outside the city. The 1893 painting was recovered undamaged three months after it was stolen from the National Art Museum. Three Norwegians were arrested. Red Faces in Tokyo Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata interrupted his European tour to issue a public scolding of his new Justice Minister for remarking in a newspaper interview that it was "wrong to say Japan's war against China was an aggressive war." In addition, Shigeto Nagano, 71, declared the Japanese army's infamous Rape of Nanjing to be a "fiction." Nagano backpedaled the next day, saying his comments had been "inappropriate". At week's end he resigned. BUSINESS To the Dollar's Rescue The U S. joined forces with 16 other nations to boost the value of the declining dollar. Purchasing dollars against yen and marks, the U.S. hopes, will maintain sufficient foreign investment. A Healthy Rise The index of leading economic indicators shows that the economy rose a healthy 0.7% in March, to 101.2, the highest figure since the index originated in 1948. The climb was due to higher retail sales, factory orders, autos and home purchases. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported that unemployment declined slightly in April, from 6.5% to 6.4%, with the addition of 267,000 jobs. SCIENCE Deep-Frozen Fossils Paleontologists have found the remains of dinosaurs--including a previously unknown species--in Antarctica, the first such discovery on that continent. The fossils date from the Jurassic era, when the world was warmer and Antarctica had not yet drifted to the frigid polar region from its original location in the South Atlantic. SPORTS Olympic Closure The Tonya-and-Nancy drama has come to a legal close. Shawn Eckardt, Tonya Harding's bodyguard; Shane Stant, who clubbed Nancy Kerrigan's knee; and Derrick Smith, who drove the getaway car, have all agreed to plead guilty of conspiracy to commit second-degree assault. They will serve 18 months in prison. Kentucky Derby Go for Gin, Chris McCarron aboard, won the 120th Run for the Roses by two lengths. Derby favorite Holy Bull was 18 lengths behind. The winner paid $20.20, $8.40 and $5.80. By Melissa August, Christopher John Farley, Michael D. Lemonick, Lina Lofaro, Rod Paul, Jeffery C. Rubin, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- Under existing FDA regulations, foods like jelly beans and soda can legitimately be labeled "healthy," since they're low in fat and cholesterol. No more, though: the agency has declared that the word can apply only to foods that are low in fat, sodium and cholesterol and contain minimum amounts of actual nutrients. -- Nearsightedness appears to be genetic, and may someday be preventable with drug therapy. The possible culprit: a defect in the gene that determines the shape of the eyeball. -- Chemotherapy before cancer surgery can lengthen survival time sixfold over surgery alone, says a new report. THE BAD NEWS -- Smokers may be inhaling more tar and nicotine than they think. "Light" brands have filters to screen out both substances--but research shows most people puff harder to compensate for the weak flavor. -- Skin cancer is now as common as all other cancers combined, says a new study. Up to 1.2 million cases of nonlethal malignancy turn up every year, along with some 32,000 cases of potentially lethal malignant melanoma. The numbers are still on the rise. -- Breast implants have been firmly linked for the first time to multiple sclerosis-like symptoms, including brain and spinal lesions, pain, fatigue and nerve problems. Sources--GOOD: New York Times; Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of the National Cancer Institute; BAD: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Federal Trade Commission; American Academy of Neurology INNOCENT VICTIM OR BIG LIAR OF THE WEEK: Paula Corbin Jones' lawsuit claims she's the former, the White House says the latter. INSIDE WASHINGTON From the White House to the Poor House? The Clintons are going broke. The First Family has been employing lawyer David Kendall for about four months, and Clinton aides say he's racked up legal bills that total between $250,000 and $500,000. Last week Robert Bennett was hired to defend the President against charges of sexual harassment, and he may be even more expensive. The Clintons' net worth is estimated to be just under $1 million. Aides say the Clintons haven't authorized anyone to start raising funds privately to pay the mounting legal bills--and probably won't. WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS CHARLES SCHUMER: Brooklyn Congressman leads winning blitz on assault weapons ROSIE DALEY: Chef hits best-seller lists with the recipes that slimmed Oprah ROBERT BENNETT: D.C. lawyer has two hot clients: Bill Clinton and Dan Rostenkowski LOSERS GAS-POWERED LAWN MOWERS: EPA slaps emission standards on Dad's Toro; blowers too DAN MOLDEA: Fed court okays then K.O.s author's libel suit vs. bad book review DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Opening delayed because of baggage-system jam ONLY 646 CAMPAIGN DAYS LEFT! With his nicely spelled memoir Standing Firm, DAN QUALYE has turned up the heat under the 1996 G.O.P presidential race. The former Veep hasn't made it to New Hampshire yet, but here are visits other contenders have made or are planning soon: LAMAR ALEXANDER (ex-Secretary of Education): April 1994. Was host to a G.O.P. neighborhood meeting in Bedford, New Hampshire. May 1994. Scheduled to attend the 250 Club fund raiser luncheon for Senator Bob Smith. Cracker-Barrel Wisdom: "Sitting down and getting to know one another is still the most important part of what there is to do in N.H." WILLIAM BENNETT (ex-Secretary of Education): February 1994.Spoke at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. CARROLL CAMPBELL (Governor of South Carolina): February 1994. Guest of Governor Stephen Merrill at a birthday party for Nackey Loeb, publisher of the Union Leader newspaper. Cracker-Barrel Wisdom: "I accepted invitations to honor my friends...and in doing so honored the political traditions of a very important state." DICK CHENEY (ex-Secretary of Defense): February 1994. Guest Speaker at Cheshire County Republican women's club. May 1994. Scheduled to speak at the Merrimack County spring dinner. BOB DOLE (Senate minority leader): August 1993. Spent a full week "vacationing" in New Hampshire. May 1994. Scheduled to speak at Merrimack County spring dinner. Cracker-Barrel Wisdom: "I'm the senior advance man for the potential candidates. I go up and look around and report back to everybody who has an interest, and that takes a long time." PHIL GRAMM (Senator from Texas): February 1993. Attended health-care forum in Manchester, New Hampshire. April 1993. Attended town meeting in Merrimack. Cracker-Barrel Wisdom: "The folks there say I talk a little funny, but we think a lot alike." JACK KEMP (ex-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development): September 1993. Addressed New Hampshire Association of Realtors in Concord. INFORMED SOURCES Arafat: Even Touchier Than We Knew Jerusalem--Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres are perturbed by P.L.O. chairman YASSER ARAFAT'S habit of touching them repeatedly to emphasize his points. In January, Arafat even held Peres' hand. "I can't stand it," Peres was overheard to say. When the trio met again last week in Cairo, Rabin and Peres were determined to avoid Arafat's touchy-feely diplomacy. Rabin kept himself out of Arafat's reach, and Peres adopted a policy of staring at the ceiling whenever Arafat walked by. Clinton Misses a Presidential Photo Op Washington--BILL CLINTON, in search of gravitas, wanted to get a photo of himself with all four of the living ex-Presidents at Richard Nixon's funeral. But the Nixon family balked at the idea of a formal group portrait. "We wanted it," said a White House official. "It would have helped us. But the opportunity never presented itself." White House to Jesse: Please Be Our Friend Washington--JESSE JACKSON has told friends that he's unhappy with Clinton's crime bill, welfare-reform plans and urban policy in general, and that he might run for President in 1996 as a third-party candidate. To deter Jackson, the White House has been trying to be nice to him. Thus he was picked to travel to South Africa as an official election observer and given a ticket to Nelson Mandela's presidential inauguration. The House Ducks on Health Care Washington--House Democrats, fearful of political risk after passing a BTU tax last year that the Senate later spurned, have decided to slow their already sluggish pace on health care and let the Senate commit itself first. Their theory: It's the Senate's turn to be brave. HOW MUCH AM I BID FOR PAUL TSONGAS? Many schools around the country hold fund-raising auctions. In most cities the prizes tend to be things like dinner at a nice restaurant or box seats at a ball game. In our nation's capital the offerings are both more extravagant and--inevitably--more wonky. Recent auction items from a number of Washington public and private schools: -- A tour of the Treasury Department building, left. -- Lunch with CIA Director R. James Woolsey. Bonus: a Tom Clancy novel autographed by Woolsey. -- A health-care seminar in your home or office featuring experts from the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute and the Heritage Foundation. -- Your name used for a character in an Art Buchwald column; you get a signed copy. -- Dinner with former presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, left, at an expensive restaurant. Limo included. -- Lunch with Michigan Democratic Congressman Bob Carr, chairman of the Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, in the members' dining room at the Capitol. -- Lunch with Connecticut Democratic Congressman Sam Gejdenson, a noted champion of the Coast Guard budget, also in the members' dining room. -- Lunch in the White House mess with Ricki Seidman, the President's scheduler. -- A copy of the Constitution autographed by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, right. -- A health-care seminar in your home or office featuring Bill Gradison, president of the Health Insurance Association of America, and Ira Magaziner, White House health-care expert. Moderator: Carole Simpson of ABC News. -- A debate in your home or office featuring Democratic pollster Peter Hart and his partner Geoffrey Garin battling it out with Norman Ornstein, analyst for the American Enterprise Institute, and Ben Wattenberg, author and host of the new PBS talk show Think Tank. RAW DATA Seeking to put a positive spin on the caning of Michael Fay, the American teen convicted of vandalism, Singapore authorities released this informative diagram in a government-affiliated paper. </body> </article> </text>