THE WEEK: SEPTEMBER 24-30

WORLD

PALESTINIANS EXPAND SELF-RULE

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, meeting at the White House, agreed to extend Palestinian rule to almost a third of the West Bank, providing for Palestinian elections and laying the foundation for what could become a Palestinian state. The two leaders signed an intricately worded 400-page document that outlines a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory seized in the 1967 Six-Day War and transfers governing authority to Palestinians for most of their population in the West Bank. A last-minute dispute over the timing of Israeli troops' withdrawal from Hebron was resolved when Rabin and Arafat stepped into President Clinton's private dining room to work things out.

CEASE-FIRE ELUDES BOSNIA

Bosnia, Croatia and the Serb-dominated Yugoslavia endorsed a preliminary plan for a new government of Bosnia, but even as the foreign ministers of the warring parties met at the U.N. in New York City, their soldiers continued fighting. The leaders agreed on a 12-paragraph "statement of principles," including a group national presidency, a parliament, a constitutional court and "free, democratic elections." But the most critical issue for any Bosnian peace, the disposition of territory, was not addressed by the diplomats. Even as they talked, the Bosnian army continued its offensive to retake sections of northwestern Bosnia captured by the Serbs.

SAVING FACE ON NUKE SALES?

After a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen and U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, American officials announced that Beijing's plans to sell two nuclear reactors to Iran had been terminated. Not so, said Qian. The sale had just been suspended because of problems with the original site. Western diplomats, looking for signs of a thaw in Sino-American relations, think Qian's denial may be merely an attempt to save face back home.

NATO OFFERS NUCLEAR UMBRELLA

Provoking strong Russian displeasure, NATO announced that any new members from the former Soviet bloc would be given the same offer of mutual defense--including the use of nuclear weapons in case of attack--promised to all members by one another. Said a Clinton Administration official: "There will be no second-class NATO members." No new countries are expected to be admitted to the alliance before June 1996, when Russian elections are scheduled.

NICHOLAS TO REST IN ST. PETERSBURG

Russia's last Czar, Nicholas II, and his family will be reburied next February in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in St. Petersburg. The family was slain by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg in 1918, and their remains (minus those of son Alexei and daughter Anastasia) were exhumed in 1992; dna tests later confirmed the imperial identities.

A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE RETURNS

Notorious French mercenary Bob Denard, 66, who pledged two years ago to retire as a hired gun, resurfaced last week to lead another coup attempt in the impoverished island nation of the Comoros. A force believed to include about 10 mercenaries and dozens of local rebels took President Said Mohamed Djohar hostage, gained control of the main military base in the capital of Moroni, captured the national radio station, seized the airport and released political prisoners.

HUNTING THE PRESIDENT'S LAWYER

Gunmen in downtown Bogota attacked Antonio Josa Cancino, the attorney defending Colombian President Ernesto Samper Pizano against charges that he knowingly accepted $6 million in campaign contributions from the Cali drug cartel during his 1994 presidential campaign. Cancino escaped with minor injuries; two bodyguards were killed and another was seriously wounded. A previously unknown group called the Movement for Colombian Dignity claimed responsibility. Also last week Samper appeared for nine hours at a closed parliamentary meeting to answer questions about the allegations.

BREACHING THE "RIGHT TO LIFE"

In an unexpected decision, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled 10 to 9 that commandos of Britain's Special Air Service unlawfully killed three members of the Irish Republican Army in 1988. The commandos ambushed the trio in the British colony of Gibraltar and shot them repeatedly at close range. While London has long contended that the shootings were necessary to avert a car bombing, the three were unarmed at the time. The court rejected compensation claims by the victims' relatives on the grounds that the guerrillas were indeed intent on planting a bomb.

THE U.S.

SIMPSON: THE GRAND FINALE

The O.J. Simpson murder trial moved toward its climactic conclusion as both sides delivered highly charged closing arguments. Prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden told jurors to follow the trail of blood, hat, gloves, socks and other physical evidence in the case. Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran delivered a fire-and-brimstone assault on the L.A. police.

CUTTING ITS LOSSES

CIA Director John Deutch told the Senate Intelligence Committee that 10 agency officials would be dismissed, demoted or reprimanded for having mishandled information regarding killings and human-rights abuses in Guatemala in the early 1990s.

PEROT, AGAIN

The preseason winds of the 1996 presidential contest shifted again. Ross Perot announced the formation of a new, independent third party, whose mission it will be to field an "outstanding" public figure for the Oval Office unaligned with either major party. Ross Perot, perhaps? Or Colin Powell? Neither man would say anything definite.

BUSINESS

FIRST BARINGS, NOW DAIWA

An executive vice president at the New York office of Japan's Daiwa Bank was charged with criminal fraud by a U.S. attorney in New York City. In an effort to cover up a $200,000 loss he incurred in 1984, Toshihide Iguchi forged and concealed more than 30,000 unauthorized trades that culminated in a deficit of $1.1 billion. Iguchi, who had been living quietly in Kinnelon, New Jersey, revealed his transgressions to Daiwa executives in July, but the bank notified U.S. and Japanese authorities only two weeks ago. Unlike Britain's Barings Bank, which collapsed earlier this year under losses of $1.33 billion incurred by rogue trader Nick Leeson, Daiwa has adequate capital to absorb the mess. Embarrassed (and contrite) executives and directors of Daiwa announced they would take 10% to 30% salary cuts over the next six months.

--By Sinting Lai, Aixa M. Pascual and Megan Rutherford

TALK OF THE STREETS

LAGOS HERO AT HOME, DEVIL ABROAD

Former U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman and possible presidential aspirant Colin Powell is topping polls at home, but an injudicious comment made him Ugly American in absentia here. In an excerpt from a New Yorker magazine profile reprinted in the Nigerian press, Powell was quoted as saying, "Nigerians as a group, frankly, are marvelous scammers. I mean, it is in their national culture." The Congress of Nigerians Abroad and the Organization of Nigerian Professionals slammed Powell's words as the "irresponsible tirade of a man who has abandoned his African heritage."

CUERS MASS MURDER MYSTERY

This stunned southern French town is full of theories about what triggered the deadly rampage by Eric Borel, 16, but since his victims included the people closest to him, the truth may never be known. On the evening of Sept. 23, the reclusive Borel shot to death his half brother and his mother's boyfriend. When his mother returned from an errand to the comfortable, middle-class family home in the village of Sollies-Pont, he gunned her down too. He later walked 6 km into Cuers, arriving at daybreak at the house of his only friend, Alan Guillemette, whom he shot in the head. Then he strolled into the town center and fired on those nearby before turning his .22-cal. shotgun on himself. The death toll, including Borel: 15. Was the dreadful spark a family quarrel? Had he gone berserk over a failed love affair? So far, police have turned up no evidence that points to Borel's motive.

MOSCOW TV TURNOFF

Russian viewers who tuned in to the biweekly Meetings with Alexander Solzhenitsyn for moral and political guidance over the past year found the distinguished dissident and literary lion a bit of a bore. Engineer Vladimir Vasilyev's experience was typical: "I had looked forward eagerly [to hearing] the great man's thoughts on how to put things right in this country today, but heard another lecture on our past instead." Still, many Russians were appalled by the rudeness with which the novelist was booted from the airwaves. Citing poor ratings, the government-controlled Russian Public Television abruptly zapped the show, informing Solzhenitsyn by leaving a message on his answering machine. The channel also axed Versions, a hard-hitting current events program that featured such guests as human-rights activist Sergei Kovalyov and the nationalist maverick Alexander Lebed, both heartily detested by the Kremlin. The sudden action so close to the Dec. 17 parliamentary elections fostered fears of a revival of Soviet-era censorship. Versions was quickly snapped up by ntv, an independent broadcaster, which expressed no interest in the Solzhenitsyn show.

ROME ABLE DISABLED

Even Italians who thought they were inured to corruption are disgusted by disclosures that the hale and healthy have been snatching livelihoods from the weak and infirm at the post office. An ongoing investigation has found that only 6% of 2,000 postal-service jobs set aside for the handicapped were filled by people with genuine disabilities. A mailman who claimed he was crippled by scoliosis was discovered moonlighting as a body-building instructor. Doctors hired by the investigators found him in tip-top condition. "Every government office is filled with this kind of thing," said Paolo Gangi, a 26-year-old student. "If you don't know anyone who can fix things up for you some way, you don't get hired."