ELECTED. ABDALA BUCARAM, 44, lawyer and self-styled champion of the downtrodden; to the presidency of Ecuador, defying polls predicting defeat and topping his right-wing populist rival Jaime Nebot in a 54%-to- 46% vote. Dubbed "El Loco" for his attention-grabbing campaign antics--during speeches he would sing, dance, shout curses or take off his belt and threaten to beat the ruling class--Bucaram captivated Ecuador's poor to win the presidency in his third bid. The President-elect's first task: to calm the financial and business sectors, which fear that his campaign promises, if fulfilled, will destabilize the economy.

APPOINTED. ARIEL SHARON, 68, hawkish Israeli politician and former general who as Agriculture Minister and then Defense Minister spearheaded the Jewish settlement drive in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in the late 1970s and early '80s; to head the new National Infrastructure Ministry, by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; in Jerusalem. Though not named to one of the key Cabinet posts in which he would have been perceived by Palestinians as a threat to the peace process, Sharon was rewarded with a powerful portfolio that includes overseeing the negotiation of water rights with Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza.

VISA REVOKED. Of ERNESTO SAMPER, 45, scandal-plagued President of Colombia; by the U.S. State Department, on the grounds that Samper has assisted narcotics trafficking. The revocation last Thursday may be the most effective strategy so far employed by Washington to isolate and discredit Samper, who has been accused of accepting some $6 million from Cali drug cartels during his 1994 election campaign. Denying any knowledge of the illegal contributions, Samper has vowed to speak at the U.N. in New York City in September, a visit the U.S. cannot prevent, to emphasize his efforts to end the drug trade.

DIED. AMSCHEL ROTHSCHILD, 41, scion of the European banking dynasty N.M. Rothschild; of suicide by hanging; in a Paris hotel. Rothschild left his beloved farm in Suffolk, England, to join the London branch of the family enterprise in 1987, largely out of a sense of duty. In 1990 he assumed direction of the ailing assets-management arm, whose continued losses distressed him. Friends report he was also depressed over the deaths of his parents and an estrangement from his half-brother.

DIED. MELVIN BELLI, 88, charismatic California-based attorney whose flashy courtroom style, coupled with a shrewd mastery of the law, earned him the title "King of Torts"; in San Francisco. Belli began his career defending insurance companies for a small salary but went on to a glittering succession of high-profile cases and celebrity clients such as Muhammad Ali and Jack Ruby, who shot and killed presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Belli also represented many less affluent clients, winning them huge awards. He wrote or co-wrote 72 books, and despite a 1991 divorce from his fourth wife and recent bankruptcy, was still practicing up to his death.