The Week April 3 -9

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The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of hundreds of thousands of crayons imported from China and sold under 11 brand names, after finding they contained traces of lead that could poison children who ate or chewed them.

WORLD

Hosokawa Resigns

After weeks of battling allegations of corruption, Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa announced Friday that he would step down. His resignation came as a blow to supporters, who had hoped that Hosokawa's election last summer signaled a departure from the scandal and corruption that have roiled Japanese politics for years.

Gorazde Under Fire

As the U.S. cautiously raised the possibility of using air power to enforce peace in eastern Bosnia, the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, once designated a "safe area" by the U.N., shuddered under continued attack by Serb troops. The U.S. urged the U.N. to offer some protection to the besieged city's 65,000 inhabitants by rushing more peacekeeping forces into the area. On Saturday, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali instructed U.N. troops to use "all available means" to reverse Serb gains there.

New Turmoil in Israel

Continued violence rocked Israel and the occupied territories on Wednesday, when a Palestinian suicide bomber exploded his car beside a bus in the northern Israeli town of Afula, killing seven and wounding 40. Islamic fundamentalists claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as for three incidents on Thursday, in which one Israeli died and five others were wounded. On Friday, Israeli soldiers and Palestinians clashed after the Rev. Jesse Jackson pleaded for peace outside the Hebron mosque where 30 Muslims were shot dead by an Israeli extremist in February. Eight Palestinians were injured in the violence.

No Accident?

The Rwandan capital of Kigali exploded in bloody ethnic violence Wednesday after the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi died in a suspicious plane crash. Rampaging soldiers killed thousands, including 10 U.N. peacekeepers, Rwanda's acting Prime Minister and more than a dozen priests and nuns. A cease-fire agreement lasted less than 24 hours before rebels escalated attacks on government troops. On Saturday French and Belgian soldiers began to evacuate foreigners.

South Africa Clashes Escalate

Political violence related to demands by some Zulus for a sovereign state in South Africa's Natal province continued to mount, with the death toll reaching . 125 for the past week. Two weeks remain before the country's all-race election, but in a Friday summit, President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela failed to persuade Zulu leaders to drop their election boycott.

A Tragic Lesson

An Aeroflot jet pilot was apparently showing his children "the principles of flying" in the cockpit shortly before the plane crashed in Siberia last month, killing all 75 on board, according to a Russian government report. Aeroflot disputed the story.

Postelection Squabbles