The Week April 3 -9

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The exhilaration among right-wingers following Italy's election of a majority conservative coalition to the Parliament was dampened as party officials bickered over who would govern. By week's end, however, two parties in the alliance had reached an agreement endorsing constitutional changes that could lead to media tycoon and populist leader Silvio Berlusconi's becoming Prime Minister.

New Charges Against Wei

U.S.-China relations threatened to worsen as China announced it was considering bringing new criminal charges against prominent dissident Wei Jingsheng, who was detained last week. Later another well-known dissident, Xu Wenli, was taken into custody by police.

BUSINESS

They're Down! They're Up!

After falling 42.6 points on Monday, the Dow Jones industrials climbed more than 82 points on Tuesday and ultimately ended the week up 38.3 points.

Store Sales Improve

It was a positive week for big retailers. They reported that sales were up 12% over the same month last year, with chronically weak apparel sales making a strong comeback.

Teamster Strike

In the first nationwide walkout by truckers since 1979, as many as 75,000 Teamsters struck to protest plans by shipping companies to hire part-timers and to send more goods by rail. Many of the 22 companies transport raw materials and parts, so even though there were some delays, there was no immediate impact on consumers.

Winning Bid

Northrop Corp., the Los Angeles weapons maker, won the battle for Long Island, New York, military contractor Grumman. Competing with Martin Marietta for the prize, Northrop agreed to pay $62 a share, or about $2.1 billion, for Grumman -- close to $170 million more than Martin Marietta, Grumman's original choice for a partner, was willing to fork over. Grumman had sought a merger to help ensure longevity in the shrinking military industry. Grumman agreed to pay Martin Marietta $50 million to forget their deal. And what will the employees of Grumman get? Most likely, layoffs.

Merger Setbacks

After reading 700 pages of rules governing the cable-television business, Southwestern Bell said no thanks to a planned $4.9 billion merger with Cox, the country's sixth largest cable system. "It's unlikely the cable industry can generate the cash flow we expected," concluded a senior vice president of Southwestern, based in San Antonio, Texas. This deal is the second to fall apart following the FCC announcement of another round of 7% cuts in cable rates. Bell Atlantic mentioned the rate cutbacks when it scuttled its planned $20 billion takeover of TCI last February.

SCIENCE

Fossil Lode in the Gobi Desert

A joint expedition of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences unveiled a trove of fossil remains uncovered last summer in the Gobi Desert. Among the scores of fossils are specimens of a turkey-size creature that resembled both dinosaurs and birds. Perhaps even more important was the discovery of 140 skulls of small mammals that lived 80 million years ago. The mammal finds may provide clues to the evolutionary events that allowed mammals to flourish as the dinosaurs disappeared.

SPORT

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