TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=94TT0729> <title> Jun. 06, 1994: Chronicles:The Week:May 22-28 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 Jun. 06, 1994 The Man Who Beat Hitler </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 11 THE WEEK: May 22-28 </hdr> <body> NATION Clinton Blinks on China Trade In another foreign policy retreat, President Clinton, under heavy pressure from business interests, announced the renewal of most-favored-nation trade status for China, despite its failure to significantly improve its human-rights record. "We have reached the end of the usefulness" of linking Chinese trade with human rights, said the President, who, echoing the Bush policies he had previously criticized, now pledged to "engage" rather than "isolate" the Chinese. Rosty Up to His Neck House Ways and Means chairman Dan Rostenkowski found himself in the midst of an intensifying maelstrom of speculation over whether he would accept a plea bargain--and prison time--in a federal corruption case. Democrats fear his departure from the key committee could leave health reform without a guiding hand. A Big Win Boosts the G.O.P. Republicans licked their chops over their victory in a special congressional election in which Republican Ron Lewis beat out Democrat Joe Prather for a Kentucky seat that had been Democratic for more than a century. Political analysts, as well as some Democrats, echoed the G.O.P. claim that the Democratic defeat underscored dissatisfaction with President Clinton. Costly Copter Ride An afternoon of golf at a private Maryland club, complete with convenient round-trip service aboard a presidential helicopter, led to a public outcry and cost White House director of administration David Watkins his job when an angry President Clinton learned about the trip. Two States Target Tobacco Opening a new front in the flaring smoking war, Mississippi filed suit against the nation's tobacco companies to obtain reimbursement for the money it pays, through Medicaid and other health programs, to treat patients with smoking-related diseases. Mississippi's assault was quickly followed by Florida, whose Governor signed a law enabling it to file lawsuits against cigarette makers on behalf of Medicaid patients. Terrorist Bombers Sentenced Using words like "coward" and "hypocrite" to describe the defendants, New York Federal Judge Kevin Duffy angrily sentenced each of the four Islamic militants convicted for last year's World Trade Center bombing to 240 years in prison, virtually ensuring that each will stay behind bars for life. Civil Rights Settlements Denying it had a policy of racial discrimination, the Denny's restaurant chain nonetheless agreed to pay a blockbuster $54.4 million to settle class-action charges that it refused to serve black customers or treated them shabbily. A day later, in a $75,000 settlement, the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston publicly apologized for assigning an all-white staff to serve visiting Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. Farewell to a First Lady In a simple ceremony, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to her murdered first husband, President John F. Kennedy, and next to the eternal flame she lit for him three decades ago. "She was a blessing to us and to the nation--and a lesson to the world on how to do things right," eulogized Senator Edward Kennedy. WORLD No Peace for Bosnia Bosnian Serbs continued to defy a NATO ultimatum to remove troops from an exclusion zone around Gorazde, endangering an attempt by U.S., European and Russian diplomats to try to revive stalled peace talks. Meanwhile, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic said his Muslim-led government is considering a proposal that would give 51% of the country to a Muslim-Croat coalition and the remaining 49% to the Serbs--but first he wants the U.S. to make clear its intent to support or reject such a plan. Porous "Embargo" U.S. warships fired across the bows of two vessels defying the newly imposed economic embargo around Haiti, but only one of the ships was detained--and then just briefly. The other, a Bahamian tug, broke through the security cordon and soon after began unloading contraband fuel in the port of Jacmel. Said a longtime resident: "It has been years since the port has been this busy. The ships have been triple-parked out there." Israel Seals Off Jericho Saying it was giving the nascent Palestinian government in Jericho time to complete its police organization, Israel sealed its borders to Arab residents of the West Bank town for 24 hours. The closure came in response to an incident in which Palestinian police disarmed two Jewish settlers, whose rights to carry weapons in the self-rule area remain in dispute. Meanwhile, P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat declared that he had reinstated the laws that had been in effect before the Israelis seized the occupied territories in 1967, a move quickly criticized by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Russia Seeks Fuller NATO Link Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev told NATO Defense Ministers that Russia wants a full strategic relationship with the alliance--including regular consultations on issues such as nuclear weaponry and crisis management--that would go beyond the membership in the Partnership for Peace program it has been offered. But NATO officials expressed strong reservations about any expanded role for Russia. Deadly Stampede at Mecca Nearly 270 pilgrims were killed during the hajj in Islam's holiest city when crowds surged forward, knocking people off an overpass and trampling others underfoot. A record 2.5 million people made the pilgrimage to the Saudi Arabian city this year. Rebels Gain in Rwanda Twenty-mile-long columns of Hutu refugees fearing retribution streamed from Kigali as Tutsi rebels pressed their advantage for the Rwandan capital. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, clearly frustrated, decried the massacre of more than 200,000 people, most of them Tutsi killed by Hutu, as "a failure for the international community...all of us are responsible." Yemen Peace Effort Rejected Leaders from the Northern part of Yemen turned down a proposal by the South to bring in mediators from the Arab League to end the country's month-old civil war. The South stipulated that the two opposing armies retreat across their former border. Northern forces had earlier seized the oil-rich province of Shabwah. Taking Another Step Four months after President Clinton lifted a 19-year-old trade embargo with the former American enemy, the U.S. and Vietnam announced that they will open diplomatic missionsin each other's capital, though they will not exchange ambassadors. Antarctic Whaling Banned The International Whaling Commission approved a permanent ban on whaling in a vast swath of ocean around Antarctica. Japan cast the only opposing vote. BUSINESS Revived Trade Talks The U.S. and Japan have agreed to end a three-month stalemate in trade talks. The U.S. said it would not demand specific numerical targets for exports, while Japan pledged it would allow further access to its markets. No timetable has been set, but negotiators hope some progress will be made by the start of the Group of Seven economic summit, to be held in Italy in early July. NAFTA Success Mexico is fast overtaking Japan as the U.S.'s second largest export market because of the success of NAFTA and Japan's recession. First quarter figures totaled $11.9 billion in exports to Mexico and $12.9 billion to Japan. Canada remains the U.S.'s chief trading partner. Underdog Network Soars In what has been billed as the greatest realignment of affiliates in TV history, the Fox network, made a deal with New World Communications Group, to acquire 12 affiliate stations from CBS, NBC and ABC. The biggest casualty is CBS, which owned eight of the affiliates--many in major markets--and from which Fox acquired N.F.L. football last December. SCIENCE Hubble's Black Hole Scientists using the newly repaired Hubble Space Telescope say they have found the first conclusive evidence of a black hole--a gravitational monster with a mass equivalent to more than 2 million suns--confirming a prediction based on theories Einstein put forward nearly 80 years ago. "Killer Bug Ate My Face" The British tabloids have been rife with stories about what they are calling "flesh-eating bacteria"--or, in good alliterative Fleet Streetese, "galloping gangrene." Health authorities say the source of the scare is a complication of the common Group A streptococcus bacteria, which can produce a toxin that attacks soft tissue. Despite several recent cases in Britain, the disease is extremely rare. RELIGION A New Catechism For the first time in more than four centuries, the Vatican has released a 688-page English-language catechism for the Roman Catholic Church, intended to be the definitive teaching tool of the faith. Though covering an array of contemporary topics, the new catechism adheres to traditional Catholic doctrine in its discussions. THE ARTS & MEDIA New Era at Smithsonian Ira Michael Heyman, a former chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a current counselor to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, has been chosen chief executive to the Smithsonian Institution. Though he is the first nonscientist to be named, his fund-raising skill and political agility will be tested immediately. Economic pressures caused the institution to begin personnel cuts last week. And the Palme d'Or Goes To... Pulp Fiction, a film by 31-year-old American director Quentin Tarantino, won the coveted Golden Palm Award for Best Movie at the Cannes International Film Festival. Reaction to the violent movie about the Los Angeles underworld was divided, a testament to the sentiment Tarantino declared upon winning: "I don't make movies that bring people together." By Melissa August, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, C.J. Farley, Barry Hillenbrand, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin and Alain Sanders HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- The battle against tuberculosis may be paying off. After rising steadily every year since 1985, the number of new TB cases in the U.S. dropped 5% last year. -- An experimental surfactant foam that unclogs the lungs of premature babies not only reduces deaths nearly 30%, according to a new study, but would also save the U.S. $90 million a year in treatment costs if it were widely used. -- Placebos--so-called sugar pills--can be even more effective than scientists realized. A survey shows that 70% of patients feel better after taking ersatz medicines--provided they believe in the treatment and their doctors. THE BAD NEWS -- Breast-cancer survivors in the U.S. spend $636 million each year for chest X rays, bone scans and intensive follow-up tests that offer no significant benefit over regular checkups and an annual mammogram, a report indicates. -- It may indeed be cruel to be kind, a study of heart-disease patients suggests. Overly solicitous spouses who are quick to tell patients to go back to bed may interfere more with such curative daily activities as walking, shopping, climbing stairs or exercising than do the patients' actual ailments. -- A survey of U.S. aerobics classes found that two-thirds played music loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage. Sources--GOOD: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of the American Medical Association. BAD: Journal of the American Medical Association; American Psychiatric Association; American Academy of Audiology SHARPIE OF THE WEEK For starters, Fox chief Rupert Murdoch lured the N.F.L. away from CBS. Now 12 CBS, ABC and NBC affiliates are defecting to his upstart network. INSIDE WASHINGTON This Year's "Didn't Inhale"? When PRESIDENT CLINTON visited Capitol Hill last week for closed-door meetings on health care, he didn't make his usual threat to veto any bill that fails to provide "universal coverage," according to Representative Jim Cooper. Instead, Clinton used the phrase "full coverage." Cooper and other lawmakers have been arguing that "full coverage" is like "full employment"--it doesn't mean 100%; it means roughly 95%. Some members of Congress feel that with this latest very Clintonian semantic shift, the President may be giving himself room to compromise. WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS THAT MOUNTAIN LION CUB: Cub of Calif. killer cat gets more aid $ than kids of human victim PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: Clinton blinks, renews MFN status for the Lords of Tiananmen REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT RON LEWIS: Kentucky Republican snatches seat held by Democrats since 1865 LOSERS DAVID WATKINS: Bogey: Clinton aide out after riding Bill's copter to a golf game DARRYL STRAWBERRY: Released by Dodgers in wake of gaffes, substance abuse, low avg. BOSTON'S FOUR SEASONS HOTEL: Nailed for not letting minority employees serve Indian PM SEXUAL HARASSMENT: A PRIMER Sexual harassment has been in the news of late. Here's a look at how the legal definition of the term has evolved. 1964--Civil Rights Act of 1964 is enacted. It contains a provocatively novel amendment banning job discrimination on the basis of sex, which foes of the law had hoped would derail it. 1975--In the first reported sexual-harassment decision under the new law, involving two women who claimed they suffered repeated verbal and physical advances from a supervisor, Arizona federal district court rules the act does not cover such a claim. 1977--Washington, federal appeals court rules that sexual harassment is discrimination under the act, in a case in which a woman alleged her job was abolished in retaliation for refusing a supervisor's sexual advances. 1980--The EEOC issues landmark sexual-harassment guidelines prohibiting unwelcome sexual advances or requests that are made a condition of employment, and conduct that creates a hostile work environment. 1986--U.S. Supreme Court upholds validity of the EEOC guidelines and rules that sexual harassment that creates a hostile or abusive work environment is a violation of the act. 1991--A Florida federal district court rules that nude pinups in the workplace can create an atmosphere that constitutes sexual harassment; a California federal appeals court rules that a hostile environment should be evaluated from the standpoint not of a "reasonable person" but of a "reasonable woman." 1993--U.S. Supreme Court rules that a hostile work environment need not be psychologically injurious but only reasonably perceived as abusive. THAT EXPLAINS IT The World Weekly News scooped Time and other competitors when it got 12 U.S. Senators to admit to being aliens from outer space. "I admit it."--William Cohen (R-Maine) "At least the cat is out of the bag, although this isn't the way I intended to tell my family and friends."--Bennett Johnston (D-Louisiana) "Klattu barada nikto."--spokesman for Alan Simpson (R-Wyoming) INFORMED SOURCES Gulf War Syndrome: Made in the U.S.A.? Washington--New evidence presented by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee at a hearing last week shows the U.S. government approved the sale to Iraq of biological agents that could have caused the mysterious GULF WAR SYNDROME that has afflicted thousands of U.S. troops. Buried within a 151-page report released at the hearing was the committee's first-time identification of 73 government-approved shipments of biological agents to Iraq from two U.S. companies during the five years that preceded the war. The report also states: "Some of the symptoms experienced by veterans suffering from Persian Gulf Syndrome are consistent with biological-agent use." Haiti: If America Invades... Washington--Haitian Lieut. General RAOUL CEDRAS has sent word to U.S. military officials that if the U.S. tries to use force to restore ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide there would be "massive" civilian casualties. U.S. planners fear that Cedras might retreat to the hills and wage a guerrilla war that would erode the American willingness to stay. The U.S. Cools Its Heels with Vietnam Washington--After taking heat from human-rights groups for granting China MFN status, the U.S. is planning a low-key, go-slow approach to closer ties with VIETNAM. The new U.S. liaison office in Hanoi will quietly help firms seeking business but will not organize showy trade missions or trumpet Vietnam's economy as the next big Asian opportunity. NUMBER OF THE WEEK 27,336,685* *The total number of Denny's "Grand Slam" breakfasts (2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausages) that could be purchased with the $54.4 million the restaurant chain agreed to pay last week to settle two racial-discrimination suits. ALMOST BEYOND DESCRIPTION "It's like--it's like the whole population of Iceland decided to go camping together."--Red Cross official Lasse Norgaard, groping for a simile to describe the scene at a 300,000-strong Rwandan refugee camp. THE PIPE RACKS GO TO THE SMITHSONIAN Every year U.S. Presidents receive untold numbers of gifts from real friends, special-interest "friends" and normal Americans. Though most gifts become government property, First Families are allowed to keep whatever they like, as long as they declare it. Last year, according to recently released disclosure forms, the Clintons chose to hang on to picture frames from Tom Hanks (value: $530); silk neckties from Donna Karan ($255); and sneakers with CLINTON printed on the tongues, from an Arkansas shoe manufacturer ($525). The faux-Magritte-ish painting (detail left) Stewardship by Greg Mort ($1,200) was a gift of the artist and his wife that was presented to the Clintons by their real friends Tom and Cynthia Schneider after the President saw it at their Maryland home. BAD MOVIE MEETS IRRESISTIBLE-PUN DEPT. From reviews of The Flintstones: "Yabba Dabba Dud"--New York Daily News "Yabba-dabba don't"--USA Today "Yabba-dabba-dumb"--Boston Globe "Yabba dabba doo-doo"--Philadelphia Inquirer READY OR NOT, HERE THEY COME The 52-game, 24-team World Cup soccer tournament opens in Chicago on June 17. But the off-the-field action has already begun: VIP-Lock: So many dignitaries, including Germany's Helmut Kohl and possibly Bill Clinton, are expected to pass though Chicago during the Cup that Rosalie Clark, city chief of protocol, says she has ordered a bunch of spare keys to the city: "I had only four left." No Sex, Please, We're Brazilian: Brazilians have spent the past several weeks arguing about whether their team should have sex while in America (the debate isn't about safety; it's about on-field performance). When soccer legend Pele weighed in on the pro-sex side, coach Carlos Parreira, who had said spouses could not accompany the team, changed his mind: "We are not going to lose the Cup because of sex." Hold the Ribs: Ever the thoughtful hosts, organizers of the games in Dallas have located a West African grocer who has promised to provide hotel room service for the Nigerian team. We're Not Cocky, But...: More than a year before the final, the Germans, ever self-assured, booked themselves a 300-room hotel in Los Angeles to be near the Rose Bowl, the site of the championship game. Souvenirs: For the first time, a World Cup game will be played indoors. But grass will be placed over the artificial turf of Detroit's Silverdome. Organizers hope not-so-soccer-mad Americans will want to buy chunks of the grass at the end of the games. No Change of Socks, Please, We're Colombian: Ninety thousand dollars' worth of brand-new uniforms ordered by the Colombian team from an outfitter in Manchester, England, were stolen before they arrived in Cali. DISPATCHES Bring on the New Dishes By Peter Hawthorne/in Cape Town In 1966 Hendrik Verwoerd, the mastermind of apartheid, died by an assassin's hand on the floor of South Africa's House of Assembly (the scuffle marks are still visible), and his bronze bust continues to glower from its plinth in the old entrance hall. One imagines he would never have countenanced the vibrant scene last week, as the House opened its new session complete with tribal dress in the back benches. But Verwoerdian notions about decorum, among other topics, no longer hold sway in a government whose face has changed dramatically overnight. Parliament, with its stuffy, Westminster-style affectations, has already begun to adapt. Members are no longer bound by the old suit-collar-and-tie dress code: colorful, flowing African robes now stand out among the charcoal and the pinstripes, and one white A.N.C. member has been seen sporting a Nehru jacket. The A.N.C.'s Frene Ginwala, an Indian lawyer who is the nation's first female Speaker, took her seat last week in a sari rather than the usual House of Lords-style robe and trimmings. There are ceremonial differences too. When new President Nelson Mandela enters the House, he is preceded by a loinclothed, jackal-skinned imbongi--a traditional Xhosa praise singer. And in a multiracial assembly that represents 11 languages, several religions and any number of different churches, the traditional opening prayer--once led by a minister of religion--is out, replaced by a minute of silence for personal meditation. "Every day," notes a seasoned member of the press gallery, "new ground is being broken." This has included actual applause in response to speeches--no longer only a dignified "Hear, hear" (in Afrikaans, Hoor, hoor)--and the occasional ululation, if not from the floor, then from the public gallery. M.P. Jurie Mentz, a white member of the Inkatha Freedom Party team, delivered his maiden speech entirely in Zulu, and the I.F.P. leader, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, followed him in impeccable English. Although President Mandela has made it clear that his government will respect the past, that it needs to be remembered in order to remind South Africans of their long and bitter road to democracy, this deference has not been extended to certain symbolic trappings of the old order. At the opening of Parliament last week, a ceremonial golden mace embellished with a frieze of circled ox wagons--symbolic of the struggle of Afrikaner nationalists--was conspicuously absent. An official muttered something about "a technical problem," though others think it will not be long before the mace, along with other totems of the old order (perhaps the hallway statues and portraits of die-hard white-supremacist heads of government), is relegated to the ash heap of history. Or maybe, less dramatically, to a museum. Meanwhile, in the members' private dining room, once the hallowed preserve of Afrikaner nationalists, pride of place now goes to the A.N.C. All members will soon be eating off new dishes. The old ones, bearing the seals of almost 75 years of racist government, are for sale--souvenirs of a once unthinkable transformation. </body> </article> </text>