The Senate voted 74-26 to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention. The deciding factors were last-minute endorsements of the treaty by former and current Senate majority leaders Bob Dole and Trent Lott, in response to pleas and concessions from the White House. Dole's endorsement culminated Clinton's enlistment of Republican luminaries to make GOP senators feel comfortable about supporting the treaty. Lott's endorsement culminated Clinton's parade of foreign-policy concessions to the right (e.g., giving Jesse Helms more power over U.S. payment of U.N. dues) in exchange for votes for the treaty. Crucial was Clinton's written promise to Lott to back out of the treaty if, as critics predict, it proves counterproductive. The White House called these concessions bipartisanship; the press called them horse-trading. Clinton and Lott were given credit for proving their clout as leaders. Lott argued that he had gone out on a limb for Clinton, and that Clinton should reciprocate in the budget talks. (4/25)

The Oklahoma City bombing trial began with opening statements. Several signs confirmed it as the heir to the O.J. Simpson media circus: 1) The story led the TV network news despite the total absence of surprise in the first day's business. 2) Network reporters have been assigned to sit in the courtroom each day, and have begun providing updates on the jury's facial reactions even to the most mundane arguments. 3) "Experts" are already scoring who won and lost the day's skirmishes. The media's favorite story lines so far: defendant Timothy McVeigh as the prototypical American paranoid-patriot-terrorist; prosecutor Joseph Hartzler as the wheelchair-bound (multiple sclerosis-afflicted) hero; and the poignant loss of so many innocent children and loving parents. The early line is that, despite tainting of some evidence, the prosecution's circumstantial case is overwhelming, and the best McVeigh's lawyer can do is convince the jury to spare him the death penalty. (4/25)

Miscellaneous: Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a partnership pact with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Yeltsin suggested it was a gesture of defiance against U.S. hegemony; Jiang insisted it wasn't. Popular golf pro Fuzzy Zoeller jokingly referred to Tiger Woods as "that little boy" and asked him not to serve fried chicken or collard greens--"or whatever the hell they serve"--at next year's Masters tournament. Woods accepted Zoeller's subsequent apology, but K-Mart dropped its sponsorship of Zoeller. Christian Coalition Director Ralph Reed announced he will resign this fall and become a political consultant. The Washington Post reported that the FBI has "substantial evidence" of an elaborate, continuing Chinese government scheme"to buy influence with American politicians." But the Post didn't explain the scheme and buried its report on a back page. The Florida couple who taped Newt Gingrich's conference call last December agreed to plead guilty to federal charges for doing so. They could end up paying $10,000 in fines. (4/25)

The Justice Department will permit a $22 billion merger between Bell Atlantic and Nynex, the second-biggest in U.S. history. Regulators decided the merger didn't violate antitrust laws because there wasn't enough evidence the two companies would otherwise have competed with each other. Consumer advocates grumbled that the Clinton administration is allowing rampant mergers in the communications industry (Time Warner-Turner Broadcasting, Disney-Capital Cities/ABC, etc.) that drive up customers' phone and cable rates. The Bells, having previously been split into seven to promote competition, have now reduced themselves (through mergers) to five. Bell Atlantic's chairman argued the merger will generate more competition between the newly merged company and established long-distance carriers such as AT&T. (4/25)

A medical journal disclosed that a 63-year-old California woman gave birth last year, breaking the world record for late motherhood. The egg was donated by a younger woman and fertilized in a test tube with sperm from the older woman's husband. The baby turned out healthy. The news has sparked a raging controversy over the morality of elderly motherhood (is it miraculous and heartwarming, or selfish and unnatural?) as well as law and politics (should it be restricted, and if so, by whom?). Much coverage focused on the discovery that the woman had lied about her age to get into a fertility program (she said she was 55)--"as if [people] were grasping for that one aspect of the story that seemed morally clear," suggested the Washington Post. Commentators, doctors, and women on the street pointed out that critics of elderly motherhood weren't similarly outraged over elderly fatherhood. Other women, according to the Post, found the idea simply exhausting. (4/25)

Peruvian army commandos stormed the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, killing all 14 rebels--some, reportedly, while they were trying to surrender--and rescuing all but one of their 72 hostages, who was killed. The dead hostage was a Peruvian Supreme Court justice. Two of the commandos also died. The raid followed months of tedious diplomacy and surprised everyone, especially the rebels, who were playing soccer. President Alberto Fujimori restored his macho reputation by granting none of the rebels' concessions, authorizing the raid without telling his pacifist overseers in Japan, and showing up at the scene afterward in a flak jacket. The editorial response was overwhelmingly favorable, although the New York Times took a slight dig at Fujimori's "strutting."(4/25)

Standoffs and backoffs: 1) The United States allowed Iraq to violate its "no-fly" zone in order to retrieve old and sick Muslim pilgrims via helicopter from Mecca, Saudi Arabia. U.S. officials grumbled that Saddam Hussein was trying to pick a fight but said they didn't want to attack civilian aircraft engaged in a religious mission of mercy. Iraq crowed that the Great Satan had lost its nerve. 2) Delegates from North and South Korea are in New York to discuss a formal end to the Korean War. The background issues are North Korea's dire straits (including reports of starvation) and the suggestion by a top defector that it might use nuclear and chemical weapons against South Korea or even Japan. 3) A $100 million collection of Russian art treasures has been whisked to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Much of it had been held hostage in a moving van pinned between Russian embassy cars in front of a museum in the city. Russian officials and a U.S.-Russian cultural-exchange group are at odds over whether to return the collection to Moscow or let it continue its tour in the United States. The tour was supposed to advance U.S.-Russian harmony. (4/23)

President Clinton promised a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild Grand Forks, N.D. The adjacent Red River has risen to nearly twice its official flood stage, saturating virtually the entire city. The Washington Post described the scene as "a large, dirty pond with church steeples and the tops of buildings popping above the water." In the midst of the flood, a huge fire destroyed 11 downtown buildings. Firefighters couldn't get through the flood to put out the fire. Clinton 1) brought four Cabinet secretaries to the area; 2) said he would boost federal aid to nearly half a billion dollars; 3) called the damage far worse than "an ordinary disaster"; and 4) urged the locals to "be good to yourselves." The city's mayor called Clinton's entourage "our angels." Pundits noted that the crisis is playing to Clinton's strong suits: sympathy and federal money. (4/23)

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of gender equality in college sports. The decision will preclude any college that gets federal money from giving men a higher percentage of the school's varsity-sports positions (vis-à-vis women) than their percentage of the student body. Feminists celebrated. Male college administrators and athletic directors grumbled that 1) the decision mandates unfair quotas; 2) women's sports are money losers; and 3) some schools will be forced to scrap men's football, their sacred cash cow. A female attorney for Brown University, which led the fight against the gender-equality rule, warned that the decision will trigger a popular and political backlash. (4/23)

Prosecutor Kenneth Starr won a six-month extension of the Whitewater grand jury in Arkansas. Starr told a federal judge that the grand jury has received "extensive evidence of possible obstruction of ... justice," including "concealment and destruction of evidence and intimidation of witnesses." Though Starr did not elaborate, reporters speculated that he was alluding to the 1994 payments to Web Hubbell, and perhaps to purported White House efforts to pressure Jim McDougal. Clinton's enemies are placing their hopes on new information Starr claims to have obtained from McDougal. Clinton's defenders doubt anyone will care, since McDougal is a convicted crook who has told contradictory stories. Bottom line: Starr is 1) signaling that he's not about to give up and 2) turning up the heat on Susan McDougal, who will have to stay in jail for another six months. (4/23)

The stock market roared back. Tuesday's 173-point gain in the Dow Jones industrial average--the second-biggest ever--extended the Dow's recovery to 442 points after a monthlong plunge of nearly 700 points. Analysts credited the recovery to good earnings reports, signs of a slowing economy, and optimism that Congress and the White House will reach a balanced-budget deal. Market mood readers concluded that investors have shrugged off the irrational pessimism and timidity that replaced their previous irrational exuberance. (4/23)

The missing Air Force plane appears to have been found. Three weeks ago, pilot Craig Button steered his A-10 jet out of a training-mission formation over Arizona and disappeared. Speculation bubbled, particularly on the Internet, over the plane's fate (crashed? stolen? vanished?); Button's mental state (did his mother's religious conversion unhinge him?); and possible links to the anniversaries of Waco and Oklahoma City (would Button use the plane's bombs against the U.S. government?). Now searchers believe they have found the plane's wreckage in Colorado, dashing the wildest theories but leaving questions about Button's state of mind unanswered. (4/21)

Israel's attorney general and state attorney decided not to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Police had recommended charging him in an alleged deal to appoint an (earlier, different) attorney general who would go soft on a Netanyahu ally in a corruption case. While deeming the evidence insufficient to indict, the two officials said that: 1) the evidence against Netanyahu was "credible" and raised "substantial suspicion"; 2) some members of their prosecutorial team agreed he should be indicted; and 3) they will go ahead with indictments against his ally. Opposition leader Shimon Peres urged the prime minister to resign. Netanyahu, and some of his coalition partners, spun the decision as an exoneration and blamed the charges on the media and other putative enemies of his tough policies against the Palestinians. Pundits, however, agree that he 1) is seriously damaged; 2) could still fall from power if his allies quit his governing coalition; and 3) is being driven further into the arms of the far right--all of which bode ill for the peace process. (4/21)

--Compiled by William Saletan and the editors of Slate.