TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93TT2138> <title> Aug. 30, 1993: The Week:August 15-21, 1993 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993 Aug. 30, 1993 Dave Letterman </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> THE WEEK, Page 11 NEWS DIGEST: AUGUST 15-21 </hdr> <body> NATION And Now, Health Care Unwearied by his recent daunting budget battle, President Clinton dove straight into what will surely be another long, difficult and tedious legislative fight, this time over a program to improve the nation's health care. In a speech to the National Governors' Association, Clinton outlined his plan to provide coverage for all Americans. Under the program, employers would be required to provide health insurance for every worker at a cost that could range from 3.5% to 7% of a payroll. U.S. Troops, U.N. Chiefs In a move to expand Americans' role in United Nations peacekeeping operations, President Clinton is considering allowing U.S. troops to serve under foreign U.N. commanders. The directive, backed by the State and Defense departments, would come as the U.N. is undertaking more peacekeeping efforts than at any other time in its history. Science Fiction The Defense Department is investigating allegations that the Reagan Administration falsified a crucial test of the Strategic Defense Initiative, the dreamy antimissile defense system that became known as Star Wars. Officials allegedly used the information to deceive both the Soviet Union, which spent billions trying to match SDI's putative success, and Congress, which voted to continue sdi funding right after the test results were announced. Jordan Murder Suspects Held Just days after discovering that James Jordan, the father of Michael Jordan, had been murdered, police in Lumberton, North Carolina, arrested two youths in connection with the killing. Larry Martin Demery and Daniel Andre Green, both 18, are charged with robbing and murdering Jordan. Police found the pair by tracing calls they had made on the cellular phone while joyriding in Jordan's Lexus. Sheik's Deportation Pending Time was running out last week for radical Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. A federal judge refused to stay a deportation order for the blind cleric, giving him and his lawyers until the end of this week to file an appeal. The sheik's followers are charged with terrorist plots in New York City, including last February's bombing of the World Trade Center. True Confession? Eager to quell speculation about the death of reported CIA agent Fred Woodruff, officials in the Republic of Georgia say he was killed when a soldier, refused a lift, fired once at the car Woodruff was riding in as it passed by. Abortion Doctor Shot For the second time this year an antiabortion protester has shot a doctor who performs abortions. Rachelle Renae Shannon, 37, of Grants Pass, Oregon, is accused of wounding Dr. George Tiller in both arms outside his Wichita, Kansas, clinic. Shannon is in custody, but Tiller was back at work the next day. Bio-Parents Rebuffed A Florida judge ruled that Kimberly Mays could end all contact with her biological parents, Regina and Ernest Twigg. Kimberly was accidentally switched at birth with another girl whom the Twiggs discovered was not their daughter after she died of a congenital heart defect five years ago. The judge ruled that the Twiggs have "no legal interest in or rights to Kimberly Mays," while deeming Robert Mays, who has raised the girl, to be her "psychological parent." WORLD Bosnia Partition Plan Negotiators in Geneva have devised a new accord, backed by Serbia and Croatia, to end the fighting in Bosnia. Bosnian Serbs rejected the Vance-Owen peace plan last May, but are more enthusiastic about the new scheme, which would create a demilitarized union of ethnic zones guaranteed by the presence of U.N. troops. Bosnian Muslims remain reluctant to endorse a partition that allows Serbs to hold onto substantial territories taken by aggression. Mediators have given the opposing sides just 10 days to accept or reject this latest initiative. Terror in Cairo Four people were killed and at least 15 injured in an attempt to assassinate Egypt's Interior Minister, Hassan al-Alfi, who has led a crackdown on Islamic militants. Al-Alfi's car was rocked by a bomb not far from Cairo's busy Tahrir Square. Islamic Jihad, the group that killed President Anwar Sadat in 1981, took responsibility. Muslim fundamentalists have waged a violent two-year campaign to replace the Western-leaning government of President Hosni Mubarak with an Islamic regime. Strike, Counterstrike Step 1: in an attack by Islamic Resistance, the military wing of Hizballah, seven Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon. Step 2: Israel retaliated with an air attack on Shi`ite Muslim guerrilla bases in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Two more Israeli soldiers died in a subsequent attack. Last week 395 Palestinians who have been stranded in southern Lebanon since being deported by Israel last December agreed to a plan that would return just under half of them to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip next month. Israel says the remaining deportees will return home this December. Skirmish over Iraq An Iraqi air-defense battery near the city of Mosul fired two surface-to-air missiles at a pair of U.S. jets patrolling the U.N.-imposed "no-fly zone" over northern Iraq. Though the attackers missed their targets, the U.S. response was swift and unusually aggressive. After fighter-bombers dropped cluster bombs on the antiaircraft site, laser-guided bombs were directed at it by another pair of U.S. planes. A Yeltsin Critic Under Fire The struggle between President Boris Yeltsin and one of his most tenacious opponents, Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, got nastier. Rutskoi was accused of corruption--by an official commission Yeltsin organized. Massacre of the Yanomami For years Brazilian gold miners have been pressing to prospect on the 37,000-sq.-mi. homeland of the Yanomami Indians. Rebuffed by the Brazilian government, which has sent police to break up their encampments, the miners apparently have turned to murderous violence against the Yanomami. In the worst outbreak to date, miners massacred more than 30 members of the tribe last week, including 10 children, some of whom were decapitated by machetes. International outcry over the killings could lead to trouble for Brazil in its requests for loans from international lenders. BUSINESS The Phone Company Is Back AT&T announced it would acquire McCaw Cellular Communications, the nation's largest cellular-telephone company, for $12.6 billion. The pending deal has prompted antitrust concerns as Ma Bell hopes to stake its place in the booming wireless communications business, bypassing the Baby Bell systems that now handle cellular calls. The Bulls of Summer Run On Falling interest rates--the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond hit new lows_and surging foreign stocks led investors to bid up U.S. stocks, breaking records across the board. The Dow Jones industrial average rose past 3600 for the first time in its history, while other, broader market indexes stood at or near record levels as well. Educational Barbie Mattel, maker of Barbie, is buying Fisher-Price in a deal that could soon make Mattel the world's biggest toy company. Mattel will use stock to cover the purchase price of $1 billion for the company known for its educational toys for preschoolers. The Mighty Yen Worries All Last week's strong showing by the yen caused consternation from Washington to Tokyo amid worries that it could stunt the growth of the Japanese economy and destabilize markets in the U.S. The Federal Reserve helped boost the dollar by purchasing large quantities of the currency. The move marks a realization in the Clinton Administration that the yen has appreciated far enough, and the new government in Tokyo needs time to get its economic policies in order. SCIENCE A Civilization's Autopsy Archaeologists who study the ancient Middle East have long puzzled over the collapse around 2200 B.C. of the Akkadian Empire, the world's earliest noteworthy civilization, which flourished in a region that is today part of Iraq and Syria. Now scientists believe they have the answer: a severe drought that lasted for three centuries turned the Akkadians' once rich farming region into a desert. Harvey Weiss, a Yale University archaeologist, headed a French-American team whose examination of soil samples led them to conclude that a disastrous dry spell followed a powerful volcanic eruption that blanketed the region with a thin layer of ash. The researchers, who published their conclusions in the latest issue of the journal Science, believe the drought was part of a climate change that devastated agricultural life from Egypt to India. MEDIA & THE ARTS Dateline NBC Again Under Fire A North Carolina eye clinic revived the embarrassing GM truck incident for NBC's newsmagazine show Dateline when it notified the network of its plans to sue if the show does not apologize for a story done on the clinic. The report implied that the clinic's doctors recommended needless cataract surgery in order to cash in on Medicare reimbursements. Executives at NBC say the case has no basis, noting the show has become an easy target for such accusations since the GM segment aired. Ted Buys a Piece of Hollywood The Turner Broadcasting System satisfied its chairman's nagging desire to enter the movie business by agreeing to buy two of Hollywood's most successful small companies. Turner paid more than $600 million, mostly in stock, for New Line Cinema, famous for its Freddy Krueger horror flicks, and Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced such recent hits as A Few Good Men and In the Line of Fire. -- Ginia Bellafante, Christopher John Farley, Richard Lacayo, Erik Meers, Alain Sanders, Sophfronia Scott Gregory, Sidney Urquhart Dispatches Oprah Springs Eternal By Christopher John Farley, in Chicago "We might be poor," says Oprah Winfrey, "but we ain't sellin' our soul to the devil today." The cameras are rolling as Winfrey, a TV talk-show host who is said to earn more than $40 million a year, tackles her newest role, that of LaJoe Rivers, an impoverished mother of eight children struggling to survive in the Henry Horner Homes, a violent Chicago housing project. The movie, which will air on ABC in November, is the first serious film from Harpo, Winfrey's production company. It's based on the nonfiction best seller There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz, which details the life of Rivers and two of her sons, Pharoah and Lafayette. The real Pharoah, now 15, is in the studio today with Kotlowitz, whom he sometimes visits. Pharoah says the set doesn't look much like his former home, and he would have liked to see himself played by Emmanuel Lewis (Webster). "But the actors they got are fantastic," he says. During a break, Winfrey, dressed in the shabby blue housecoat of her character, also talks about casting. "Originally ABC wanted Diana Ross [as Rivers]...Diana said she didn't want to do it because it didn't offer enough hope. I felt the book was reality," says Winfrey. "There's always hope. I didn't grow up in the projects, but I am the perfect example of someone who came up from zip, I mean zippola, Mrs. Outhouse herself here." Despite this commitment to unvarnished truth, Winfrey abruptly postponed publication of her own memoirs because they were not inspirational enough. "When I read the manuscript, it wasn't about empowering anybody," she says. "I wanted to do more than release the details of my life. That is the real reason why there isn't a book." The production spent six days on location at the projects, employing Horner kids as extras. Betsy Bottando, the location manager, knows a policeman with relatives in the local gangs, and he met with them to ensure that the filming would take place undisturbed. Bottando says one scene was set at nearby Chicago Stadium before a Bulls game, but the building's manager called the extras "animals" and refused to open the stadium doors. "I know the guy's family," says Bottando. "They're from Evergreen Park"--a middle-class village near Chicago--"Ever-WHITE Park, just like I am." The scene was filmed with the doors shut. (The Chicago Stadium manager didn't return phone calls to his office, and a man answering his home phone, when asked about the incident, said, "Don't know a thing about it," and hung up.) The movie has wrapped, and reality has set back in at Horner. Calvin Mitchell, 10, a boy Winfrey befriended, says, "They had a shooting just yesterday, near where I live. It's tough ((Horner)), but if you mind your business, you'll be all right." He wants to win the scholarship Winfrey's endowing with her salary from the movie: "I know I can do it, and can't nobody tell me anything different." There's always hope. Health Report THE GOOD NEWS -- A report by the National Research Council concludes that fluoride, now in the drinking water of 132 million Americans, poses no health risk. Reviewing studies on fluoride's health effects, the council found no link with kidney disease, cancer, or stomach or intestinal problems. -- Forget the aphrodisiacs. A report in New Scientist magazine says two Israeli scientists, Mati Fridkin and Illan Gozes, have developed a lotion that may help men who are impotent because of physical problems--for instance, some men suffering complications from diabetes. Called Stearyl-VIP, the lotion, which would be rubbed onto the penis, is a combination of stearic acid and vasoactive intestinal peptide, a natural agent involved in producing an erection. Israeli officials have yet to approve clinical trials on humans. THE BAD NEWS -- Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc) have found yet another way in which smoking is harmful: smokers have a 50% greater chance of contracting deadly myeloid leukemia, which will afict 27,000 Americans this year. Tobacco smoke was determined to cause nearly 25% of all cases. -- Teenage girls have the nation's highest rate of infection by gonorrhea. Examining gures from 1991, the cdc found that for every 100,000 girls ages 15 to 19, there were 1,043 reported cases--a rate of infection 22 times as high as that for women 30 and older. In second place? Teenage boys--882 cases per 100,000, about six times the rate among men over 30. If not detected early, gonorrhea can lead to infertility as well as heart and joint problems. It can also increase the chances of hiv infection. Sources--GOOD: USA Today, the Washington Post; BAD: The Washington Post. WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS GENERAL COLIN POWELL Retiring Joint Chiefs Chairman lands $6 million book deal KIMBERLY MAYS Judge rules switched-at-birth teen may shun birth parents JANET MALCOLM New Yorker publishes libel defendant's massive Sylvia Plath piece LOSERS BURT REYNOLDS Florida citrus growers cancel $500,000 spokesman contract ROBERT MORGENTHAU B.C.C.I. jury finds Robert Altman not guilty and scoffs at D.A.'s case AL GORE No Vineyard for him, as he streamlines the bureaucracy from D.C. Looking On The Bright Side... "We are sure to see more of these incidents. This shooting, while unfortunate, will result in babies' lives being saved."--DON TRESHMAN, FOUNDER OF RESCUE AMERICA, ON THE SHOOTING OF AN ABORTION DOCTOR IN WICHITA, KANSAS. Informed Sources Reinventing Government the Chinese Way Beijing--Communist Party officials in China are launching a purge of corruption in the government and the military that could prove to be bloody. Wei Jianxing, head of the party disciplinary committee, recently told a closed-door meeting of the party's central committee that corruption has reached epidemic proportions. "In the army some division-level officers drive Mercedes-Benz 500s," says Wei. "Does this luxurious life-style correspond with our proletarian ideals when some 100 million farmers still live in poverty?" It was a rhetorical question. Wei already claims to have a list of 200 offenders who'll be removed in the next six months or so. Twenty of them, he says, could be executed. You Must Remember This Washington--Random House better hope that Colin Powell has a good memory. Last week the publishers agreed to pay the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff $6 million for his yet-to-be-written memoirs. However, Powell told Time that he's going to have to rely on memory for some of the details because he never took notes at meetings or kept a journal. For the latter part of his career he does have his secretaries' logs for appointments and telephone calls. Although he'll use a ghostwriter, Powell is learning computer word processing to do his share. Freeh at Last, Freeh at Last Washington--FBI agents are almost giddy over the appointment of their new director, Louis Freeh, the former agent who will fill the tiny shoes of William Sessions, the fbi chief who was recently sacked. Some agents posted at headquarters--considered a bottom-of-the-totem-pole assignment--are actually seeking delays in their promotions so they can watch Freeh in action. Other agents who were scheduled to retire have decided to stick around awhile, even though such a decision means missing out on a one-time-only $25,000 buyout plan being offered this year. Well, The Boss Doesn't Care "A whole bunch of Japanese (businessmen) go to Southeast Asia to have a good time, sex tours." JAPANESE EXECUTIVE AT SONY, WHICH OWNS COLUMBIA PICTURES, EXPLAINING WHY THE HEIDI FLEISS HOLLYWOOD PROSTITUTION SCANDAL IS NO BIG DEAL. </body> </article> </text>