WORLD

COUNTERMOVES IN THE GULF

Heeding warnings from two high-level Iraqi defectors that Saddam Hussein had recently considered attacking Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. sent ships carrying supplies and equipment to the Persian Gulf and ordered 1,400 troops to Kuwait for military maneuvers. Pentagon officials expressed concern about elite Iraqi forces conducting "unusual training activities" around Baghdad.

PEACEMAKERS PERISH

Three senior American diplomats, together with a French peacekeeper, died in an accident on the way to Sarajevo for talks on the new U.S.-drafted peace plan for Bosnia. Robert Frasure, a top envoy to the five-nation Contact Group seeking Bosnian peace; Joseph Kruzel, deputy assistant secretary of defense; and National Security Council aide Nelson Drew were killed when their vehicle plunged off the road while trying to avoid an oncoming U.N. convoy.

DEATH OF A "GENIUS"

The family of American aid worker Frederick Cuny said he was executed by Chechen rebels on April 14 after Russian intelligence agents spread rumors that he was an anti-Chechen spy. Cuny, who was awarded a MacArthur "genius" grant last June, was on a humanitarian mission to develop an aid plan for Chechnya. Although a Russian official stated that his government believed Cuny was still alive, U.S. diplomats in Moscow said they agreed with the family's conclusions.

ISRAELI ATROCITIES ALLEGED

RUSSIAN RICH RUN SCARED

The public acknowledgment by a retired Israeli general that as a captain he helped massacre 49 Egyptian POWs during the 1956 war in the Sinai stirred other veterans to speak out about similar atrocities in the war of 1967. The unit allegedly involved in the 1956 incident was commanded by right-wing politician Rafael Eitan, who intends to run for Prime Minister in 1996. At Egypt's request, Israel ordered an investigation.

Frightened by the fatal poisoning of influential banker Ivan Kivelidi earlier this month, Russia's nouveaux riches held a protest in front of the former KGB headquarters in Moscow to protest the slayings of nearly 50 of their businessmen contemporaries in the past year. Arriving in chauffeured, armored limousines and surrounded by burly bodyguards, the business executives demanded a government crackdown on crime.

THE CIRCLE TIGHTENS

Fernando Botero Zea, who was forced to resign his post as Colombia's Defense Minister three weeks ago, was arrested for allegedly soliciting contributions from the Cali drug cartel for President Ernesto Samper Pizano's 1994 election campaign. Botero, formerly Samper's campaign manager, continued to maintain his innocence. The day after the arrest Samper imposed a 90-day state of emergency, claiming the decree was necessary to stem a tide of violence that has left nearly 20,000 people dead so far this year. Opposition leaders charged that the decree was intended to divert attention from the "narcoscandal" that increasingly threatens to topple the President.

STILL BRITISH

For more than three centuries Bermuda has been a British crown colony, and for at least the near future-by popular demand-it will remain so. In a referendum, residents of the Atlantic island overwhelmingly rejected independence from the Commonwealth. Premier John Swan, who advocated independence, promptly resigned as leader of the ruling United Bermuda Party. He will step down after more than 13 years as Premier as soon as a successor is chosen.

LEAVING THE PARTY EARLY

Re-elected only last September, Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson unexpectedly announced that he would resign next March, more than two years before his term expires. The 60-year-old head of the Social Democratic Party declared that he wanted to spend more time with his family and had already accomplished most of his political goals, which included leading Sweden into the European Union.

RICH AND POOR

A survey of 18 industrial countries found that while the U.S. has the highest average annual income for families with children, it also has the largest gap between rich and poor. Research conducted by the Luxembourg Income Study showed that the top 10% of American households of four earn $65,536 a year, while the bottom 10% make only $10,923. Switzerland has the second largest disparity. The rich-poor income gap is smallest in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

THE U.S.

NEW WHITEWATER INDICTMENTS

JUSTICE PAYS UP

Two Clinton associates in the Whitewater deal were indicted by a federal grand jury in Little Rock, Arkansas. James McDougal and his former wife Susan were named in a 21-count indictment that included charges of fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to obtain federally backed loans. And there were 11 new charges against Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker, who had done legal work for the failed savings-and-loan owned by the McDougals. (Tucker was indicted in June on separate charges.) President Clinton and his wife were not charged-as an accompanying press release from independent counsel Kenneth Starr pointed out.

The family of white separatist Randy Weaver was awarded a $3.1 million settlement by the Justice Department. Three years ago, Weaver's wife and 14-year-old son were killed by federal agents in a bloody standoff at his cabin in northern Idaho. Weaver-who has become something of a hero to many in the militia movement-was accused of killing a federal agent in the shoot-out.

UNFRIENDLY FIRE

What had been an institutional slap on the wrist became something a little more forceful as the U.S. Air Force re-examined the accidental downing of two U.S. Army helicopters over northern Iraq. An earlier Air Force criminal inquiry brought charges against only one officer, and he was acquitted on all counts. A new report by General Ronald Fogleman, the Air Force Chief of Staff, cites two generals for poor judgment and failure to uphold Air Force standards; five airmen were barred from airborne assignments for at least three years. Twenty-six people died in the 1994 "friendly fire" tragedies.

HUMAN GUINEA PIGS

A report released by the U.S. Department of Energy reveals that human radiation experiments, conducted from the end of World War II into the 1970s, were far more extensive than was previously known. About 16,000 people participated-often unwittingly-in the tests. Many of them were from "vulnerable populations," which included prisoners, pregnant women, children, mentally retarded people and comatose patients.

SIMPSON JUDGE: "RECUSE ME!"

There was high drama again at the endless-and, in recent weeks, tedious-O.J. Simpson murder trial. The possibility of a mistrial was raised when a visibly emotional Judge Lance Ito agreed with the prosecution that he might be unable to act impartially if 11 hours of taped interviews with prosecution witness Detective Mark Fuhrman are introduced as evidence. The interviews allegedly contain derogatory comments about Ito's wife, Captain Margaret York, who is the Los Angeles police department's highest-ranking female officer. By week's end, however, all sides agreed that Ito should continue to preside over the case, and another judge ruled that Captain York could not be called upon to testify-thus removing any possible conflict for Ito, who must still rule on whether the tapes can be introduced as evidence.

BUSINESS

NEW PRINCE FOR MAGIC KINGDOM

Disney startled everyone for the second time in two weeks, naming Hollywood's ultimate insider, Michael Ovitz, head of the Creative Artists Agency, as its new president. Ovitz is now in the unaccustomed position of having a boss: Disney chairman Michael Eisner, who announced two weeks ago that Disney would buy Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion.

SPORT

NO SURPRISE IN THE TYSON FIGHT

Former heavyweight champ and ex-convict Mike Tyson made a successful return in Las Vegas as Peter McNeeley's corner called it quits after 1 min. 29 sec. of the first round.

-By Luiza Chwialkowska, Sinting Lai and Megan Rutherford

FROM THE WORLD'S HEADLINES

No one shed any tears for IRAQI DICTATOR SADDAM HUSSEIN, whose country is a shambles and whose relatives have deserted him

AL-AKHBAR, EGYPT: "The Hussein family is...a gang that has committed atrocities against the Iraqi people and the entire Arab world."

SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, GERMANY: "The image of rats that flee the sinking ship is appropriate."

THE ECONOMIST, BRITAIN: "Super-rats the defectors may be, but regional peace, and all ordinary Iraqis, will gain if, with outside help, they can sink the dictator."

STRAITS TIMES, SINGAPORE: "Suffering though they are, as much from a repressive dictatorship as from crippling sanctions, the Iraqi people must find their own salvation."

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, U.S.: "Saddam's ability to apply the iron fist could be ebbing...The reshaping of Iraqi politics won't happen overnight-Saddam's security system still has life in it-but it is probably under way."