TIME: Almanac 1995

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

/ TIME: Almanac 1995 / TIME Almanac 1995.iso / time / 121294 / 1212991.000 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-02-27 | 15.6 KB | 370 lines

<text id=94TT1728> <title> Dec. 12, 1994: Chronicles: The Week Nov. 27-Dec. 3 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 Dec. 12, 1994 To the Dogs </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 21 The Week: November 27 - December 3 </hdr> <body> NATION Tidings of Comfort and Jobs The U.S. economy delivered an outpouring of good cheer as the Christmas shopping season got into full swing. The economy created a whopping 350,000 new jobs in November, far exceeding the forecast of economists and dropping the unemployment rate .2%, to a four-year low of 5.6%. The new jobs helped boost the Conference Board's index of consumer confidence in November to its highest level in four years; the personal income of Americans grew a healthy 1.4%. Measures of consumer spending and manufacturing strength also surged. About the only dissonant note was the likelihood that all the good news will cause the Federal Reserve, which has already jacked up interest rates six times this year, to raise them again by early 1995 in order to slow the economy and keep inflation in check. GATT Passes Both the House and Senate voted--with large bipartisan majorities--to enact historically wide-ranging changes to the 124-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT. Among other things, the new measure lowers tariffs by a third, removes trade quotas and, for the first time, protects intellectual property. America's Newest Minority Winter's coming took on a symbolic chill for congressional Democrats as they eulogized 40 years of majority rule during a last lame-duck session, convened for GATT. Preparations for the bleak unknown began with Democratic House leadership elections. Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri briefly climbed out of his hospital bed to secure the nod as minority leader before returning for a gallbladder operation; he will be joined by newly elected minority whip David Bonior of Michigan and California's Vic Fazio, now the House Democratic caucus chairman. In the Senate, Tom Daschle of South Dakota was voted in as minority leader over Connecticut's Christopher Dodd. On the other side of the aisle, veteran Senate Republican whip Alan Simpson of Wyoming was edged out by Mississippi's Trent Lott for the party's No. 2 leadership spot, while Kansan Bob Dole was unsurprisingly elected majority leader. Whitewater Springs Anew Former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell has tentatively agreed to plead guilty to counts of mail fraud and tax evasion, the first charges brought by Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel. Hubbell, a longtime friend of President and Mrs. Clinton's, is a former law partner of the First Lady's. Sources close to Hubbell's family told Time that it was "cheaper and easier" to settle. Hubbell had already spent $1 million to defend himself against an investigation so exhaustive that even the bank account of his 22-year-old son was examined--all the way back to the sixth grade. Curiously, despite Starr's involvement, the charges relate to Whitewater only tangentially. Said a source close to the Clintons: "They ((stem from)) Mr. Hubbell's billing procedures as an attorney in private practice before he came to Washington." A Gift for the Pentagon President Clinton announced that he will seek a $25 billion increase in military spending over the next six years--a step many saw as a postelection effort to neutralize Republicans on the issue, though Administration officials claimed the move was long in the works. G.O.P. members of Congress welcomed the plan but said it still does not come close enough to their "Contract with America" key proposal to increase military spending by $60 billion. Embryo Research Banned Continuing the policies of his Republican predecessors, President Clinton banned the use of federal money to fund research on human embryos. The move came hours after a scientific advisory panel endorsed proposed guidelines that would have allowed scientists to create human embryos for study as long as they were destroyed within two weeks. The ban does not affect research on fetal tissue that has been discarded during an abortion. She's a Minor? Who Knew? By a 7-to-2 vote, the Supreme Court decided to uphold a federal law against child pornography, throwing out a lower court's argument that the law impinges upon the First Amendment. But the high court also ruled that under the law defendants must have been aware that the material in question depicted minors--a caveat that could undermine the law and make it harder for prosecutors to convict. WORLD Serbs Snub Boutros-Ghali As fighting in Bosnia raged on, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic snubbed the world's top diplomat, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, refusing to meet with the U.N. Secretary-General at the Sarajevo airport. Boutros-Ghali later said if the Bosnian Serbs and Muslims fail to cooperate with the U.N. protection force, the organization may find it necessary to evacuate its peacekeepers. U.S. Shift on Bosnia Amid a flurry of sometimes conflicting statements from sundry officials, the White House announced a major change in its Bosnia policy that brings the U.S. into line with its NATO allies. The Administration will abandon its strategy of threatening the use of military force in order to bring the Bosnian Serbs to the bargaining table. "Our only hope," said White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, "is that at some point the parties recognize there's no use continuing the kind of carnage that's going on there at the present time." Norway Says No to Europe Norwegians declined an invitation to join the European Union, with 52.2% of voters opposing E.U. membership and 47.8% supporting it. With its rich fisheries and large North Sea oil and gas deposits, Norway saw no advantage in joining the 12-member trading bloc, due to expand to 15 on Jan. 1 with the admission of Austria, Finland and Sweden. It was not the first time the country had spurned a proposal from Europe: in 1972 Norwegians passed up the opportunity to join what was then the European Economic Community. Donors Give Arafat Aid A group of 22 countries and three international aid organizations agreed to accelerate delivery of funds to Yasser Arafat and his Gaza-based Palestinian Authority. Donors agreed to provide $125 million through next March to cover Arafat's budget deficit, plus $23 million to create jobs. Meanwhile, Israel transferred the responsibilities for taxation and health services in the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority in preparation for wider self-rule there. Arab Axes Israeli Soldier An ax-wielding Palestinian killed a female Israeli soldier in the northern Israeli town of Afula, where a suicide bomber killed eight Israelis in April. Wahib Abu Alrub struck 19-year-old Liat Gabai in the head several times as she waited at the town's bus station. Abu Alrub said he committed the crime on behalf of the militant Islamic group Hamas to rehabilitate himself after being accused of collaborating with Israel. BUSINESS Dream Team's First Deal Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., announced a joint venture with Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, the powerful Hollywood figures who recently formed their own entertainment conglomerate. The new company, in a deal indicative of the changing relationships between networks and studios, entered a seven-year contract to produce programming for networks, cable services, syndication and other media; ABC, in turn, will invest $100 million in the TV studio, giving it a 50% share in both financing and profits. Space-Age Venture The Boeing Co. and the McDonnell Douglas Corp. announced that they will jointly compete for a National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract to build a space vehicle for the future: a reusable launch vehicle that would probably replace the shuttle. The new rocket is expected to cut costs. It will operate somewhat like a jetliner, thereby eliminating numerous ground crews and some of the facilities needed in current shuttle launches. SCIENCE A Gene for Fat Scientists at the Rockefeller University in New York City announced they have discovered a gene that, when defective, triggers obesity in mice. The gene apparently works by helping the body regulate appetite and metabolism. Already the team has found a similar gene in humans. Experts hope the finding could someday lead to better medical treatments for obesity, although they caution that any practical applications will take at least a decade to develop. By Kathleen Adams, Tamala M. Edwards, Christine Gorman, Lina Lofaro, Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn and Jeffery C. Rubin POORLY TREATED GUEST OF THE WEEK Visiting Bosnia on a last-ditch peace mission, U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali weathered a rude reception from all sides. WINNERS & LOSERS Winners ALASKAN WOLVES--Bloodcurdling video halts state's deathtrap campaign. OVERWEIGHT AMERICANS--If fat is in the genes, what the hell--you done with those fries? KEITH MEINHOLD--Clinton Administration abandons action against gay Navy man. Losers PAULA JONES--What, me nude? Clinton accuser in Vanessa Williams-ish fix. ACHILLE LAURO--First there were terrorists off Egypt. Now fire off Somalia. MICHAEL HUFFINGTON--Still not conceding his California Senate race, still not getting a life. JUST WONDERING Question: How much time did network newscasts devote to last week's announcement that the so-called "dream team" of David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg would be joining with Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., to produce a wide array of television programming? ABC 2 1/2 minutes CBS 0 minutes NBC 0 minutes NEITHER RAIN NOR SLEET NOR RAMPANT INFLATION The cost of mailing a letter is going up, but adjusted for inflation, a first-class stamp actually cost more in 1975. THE REALLY BIG CHILL Jerry Rubin's death, following Abbie Hoffman's five years ago, means only six members now remain of the Chicago Eight, the group of leftists who were famously tried for conspiring to disrupt the 1968 Democratic Convention. As for the living: -- A lifelong pacifist, DAVID DELLINGER survives on grant money and lecturing fees, and lives in a house off a dirt road in rural Vermont. -- The former Mr. Jane Fonda, TOM HAYDEN, is a California state senator from Los Angeles. He has run unsuccessfully for Governor and for U.S. Senator. -- During the '70s, RENNIE DAVIS sold insurance and lived in an ashram. Today he's a right-winger and heads an environmental think tank in Boulder, Colorado. -- After working for years at a political direct-mail firm, LEE WEINER is currently director of special projects for the Anti-Defamation League in New York City. -- JOHN FROINES is an environmental professor at UCLA and director of the university's occupational health center. -- Former Black Panther BOBBY SEALE is a community organizer in Philadelphia as well as the author of Barbecue'n with Bobby, a cookbook. HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- An experimental technique has proved to be 90% effective in identifying malignancies in women who have breast cancer. Called scintimammography, the procedure involves injecting a radioactive tracer into the blood, and researchers say it might reduce the need for biopsies. -- A new technique could offer hope to those leukemia patients who can't currently receive bone-marrow transplants--often lifesaving procedures. In a study, doctors improved the odds for a successful transplant by adding a dose of marrow cells called stem cells to the donor's marrow, thus increasing the chances that it will be compatible with the patient's. THE BAD NEWS -- A new study claims that the ability of radiologists to interpret mammograms varies widely and that the doctors miss a disturbingly high number of malignancies. -- Women who work in the telephone industry may be at increased risk of dying from cancer, according to a new report. The risk varies with age, race and job title; those at greatest danger appear to be engineers, technicians and office workers ages 25 to 50. A possible explanation: above-average exposure to high-tech equipment. -- If a recent government study is correct, male smokers are 50% more likely to suffer from impotence than nonsmokers. Sources--GOOD: annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Associated Press; Blood. BAD: New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of Occupational Medicine; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED Muzak's most popular Christmas songs, as ranked by number of versions available on its Holiday Channel: <list> <item>The Christmas Song: 38 versions ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...") <item>White Christmas: 34 versions <item>Winter Wonderland: 27 versions <item>Silver Bells: 17 versions <item>I'll Be Home for Christmas: 16 versions <item>(tie) Jingle Bells: 16 versions </list> Muzak's 10 Most Popular Performances of "The Christmas Song": <list> <item>1. Nat "King" Cole <item>2. Bing Crosby <item>3. Barbra Streisand <item>4. Tony Bennett <item>5. Luther Vandross <item>6. Gloria Estefan <item>7. Vince Guaraldi <item>8. Al Jarreau <item>9. Ella Fitzgerald <item>10. Aaron Neville </list> Muzak's 10 Most Popular Performances of "White Christmas": <list> <item>1. Bing Crosby <item>2. Tony Bennett <item>3. Barbra Streisand <item>4. Aaron Neville <item>5. Gloria Estefan <item>6. Johnny Mathis <item>7. Vince Gill <item>8. Frank Sinatra <item>9. Michael Bolton <item>10. Ella Fitzgerald </list> NOW SHOWING A man getting pregnant? Couldn't happen. A movie about a man getting pregnant? Couldn't happen...more than once. But no--guess again*: <table> <tblhdr><cell>Pregnant Man<cell>Cause<cell>Pickles Jokes?<cell>Complication<cell>Baby <row><cell type=a>Arnold Schwarzenegger in Junior (1994)<cell type=a>Injected with fertilized egg to test anti-misscarriage drug<cell type=a>Yes<cell type=a>A greedy research research director hopes to cash in on publicity of pregnant man<cell type=a>It's a girl <row><cell>Billy Crystal in Rabbit Test (1978)<cell>Inexplicably impregnanted from sexual initiation on bowling machine<cell>No<cell>A greedy relative hopes to cash in on publicity of pregnant man<cell>It's a girl (7 lbs 6 oz) <row><cell>Marcello Mastroianni in A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973)<cell>Exposed to hormone-altering chemicals in food<cell>No<cell>A greedy manufacturer of maternity wear hopes to cash in on publicity of pregnant man<cell>It's a false pregnancy </table> * Other examples of the genre include an episode of Bewitched and a 1983 film with the pull-no-punches title That Man Is Pregnant! </body> </article> </text>