VERBATIM

"This is a very special day for me. It's the day of my release, the release from suffering, the release from the torment of my body." --Posthumous words of Canadian Austin Bastable, the first non-American to die with the aid of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the American assisted-suicide crusader

"You've had this passive conspiracy of telling us how clever Bill Clinton is because he says things that are false with such elan and flair." --Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, taking the America media to task

"It's not a chocolate-box picture, and I expect some people will be sorry about that." --Virginia Bottomley, British Cabinet minister, responding to criticism that Queen Elizabeth's official portrait depicts a weary-looking monarch

"Especially on long-distance flights, the toilet is something that leaves a deep impression." --Yoshihiko Kozu, spokesman for Japan Airlines, announcing his company's recent decision to install luxury toilets at a cost of $190,500 apiece on four Boeing 747-400s

FROM THE WORLD'S HEADLINES

Fresh challenges dawned for NELSON MANDELA'S GOVERNMENT with the adoption of a new constitution and the departure of the National Party

GLOBE AND MAIL, CANADA: "If the all-race election of 1994 was the birth of nonracial democracy in South Africa, then [the constitution] was the birth certificate."

BUSINESS DAY, SOUTH AFRICA: "[The National Party pullout] presents the country with an opportunity to adapt to the rules of a more conventional democracy--allocating to the majority and the official opposition very clearly their rights and responsibilities."

DAILY TELEGRAPH, BRITAIN: "It now falls to President Mandela and the African National Congress to convince the world that the ending of the honeymoon does not mean South Africa's descent into tribal confrontation."

LOS ANGELES TIMES, U.S.: "South Africans must now build their democracy day by day. The constitution is a remarkable document, but still just a piece of paper unless it has the commitment of South Africa's people."

IMAGES

NUCLEAR FALLOUT Slamming their adversaries with drenching blasts from water cannon, 19,000 police and border guards last week beat back 3,000 antinuclear activists in the largest internal-security operation in Germany's postwar history. Protesters hurled rocks and bottles, planted phony bombs and set up roadblocks of manure, logs and burning bales of hay, but in the end, they could only slow, but not prevent, the transport to the Gorleben storage site of 15 tons of radioactive material, the first of 110 shipments of nuclear waste to be returned to Germany over the next eight years after reprocessing in France. But the war is not over. Demonstrators warned that they will fight to block the next delivery, expected later this year, with equal ferocity. Their aim: to force Germany to abandon nuclear power.

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

Sex is safe for people with a history of heart disease. The odds that sexual activity will trigger a heart attack in someone who has already had one is a mere 1 in 50,000, the same risk incurred by getting out of bed in the morning.

The U.S. approved a treatment for enlarged benign prostates that avoids drugs or surgery: zapping the gland with microwaves to kill excess tissue.

Keeping patients warm during surgery can reduce infection. Anesthesia inhibits the body's ability to regulate temperature, yet operating rooms tend to be kept chilly so heavily gowned surgeons won't sweat under bright lights. If a patient's temperature is kept normal, blood flows more easily to the skin to fight germs.

THE BAD NEWS

Not all exercise machines are created equal. A study of popular equipment finds that the treadmill burns the most calories per hour, followed by the stair stepper, rowing and cross-country ski machines. Stationary bikes burn the fewest.

Italian researchers report that women who work rotating shifts may have trouble with conception, with twice the normal risk of experiencing delays of 10 months or more getting pregnant.

Research shows that hiv much more readily infects the blood of subjects inoculated with tetanus vaccine. The finding suggests that people whose immune systems are challenged by other infections--the flu, a parasite or other disease--might be more susceptible to the aids virus.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; New England Journal of Medicine BAD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine; New England Journal of Medicine

45 YEARS AGO IN TIME

Balancing Act

1951

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which made the best showing in India's parliamentary elections last week by advocating Hindu nationalism and a pro-nuclear defense policy, might heed India's first Prime Minister: "The legs-astride position of Prime Minister [Jawaharlal] Nehru is...of considerable importance...If [he] swings a few inches either way--toward the democratic West or toward Communism--his shift can sway the suspended minds of millions in India...He says there is something wrong in a world that contains both poverty and technical progress...He appeals to everyone who thinks that it is probably sinful to be rich, and certainly sinful to have the atom bomb...Nehru acknowledges the human need for religious faith, but [has warned that religion] 'seems to stand for blind belief and reaction, dogma and bigotry, superstition and exploitation.'" --May 7,

--By Janice M. Horowitz, Nadya Labi and Megan Rutherford