Seven of the world's leading economic powers, the G-7, are holding a summit in Denver. Previews focused on two subjects: 1) Russia is getting a seat at the table for the first time. Clinton aides say this will strengthen Russia's commitment to democracy and capitalism, but everyone knows Clinton offered Russia the seat in exchange for acquiescence to NATO expansion. 2) Clinton and his aides are using the summit as a backdrop to brag about U.S. economic supremacy. Analysts pointed out that this annoys other countries, and that although economic trends are pushing them to follow the U.S. model (deficit cutting, downsizing, safety-net slashing), the Socialists' victory in France may herald a contrary political trend. The New York Times predicted the summit, like all others, will be diffuse and unproductive, yielding a communiqué "stuffed with the usual bland pronouncements."(6/20)

The Southern Baptist Convention voted to boycott Disney. The principal reasons: Disney's health benefits for domestic partners of gay employees, Disney World's annual "Gay Days," and Ellen DeGeneres' coming-out episode on Disney-owned ABC. The Washington Post calls the boycott "a test of national values" between a gigantic entertainment company and the country's biggest Protestant denomination. Analysts are betting that the Baptists will give in--not to tolerance but to their kids' materialism. (6/20)

Martin Luther King Jr.'s son Dexter charged that President Lyndon Johnson was implicated in King's assassination. Dexter King told ABC News that MLK's murder "was part and parcel Army intelligence, CIA, FBI," and that "it would be very difficult for something of that magnitude to occur on [LBJ's] watch and he not be privy to it." Martin Luther King III, Dexter's brother, agreed that convicted assassin James Earl Ray had "nothing to do" with the crime. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, joined former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young in asking for a presidential commission to reopen the case. (6/20)

Turkish generals hounded their prime minister out of office for stirring up Islamic fervor that the generals deemed a threat to the country's pluralism. Critics called the generals' harsh public statements, backed by the implicit threat of violence, a "soft coup." Editorials chided the generals for subverting democracy in order to save it. (6/20)

McDonald's won its libel suit in Britain against two activists who had accused the company of food poisoning, discrimination, and environmental destruction. The company's legal bill is $16 million, the libel award is $98,000, and the defendants have no money. U.S. newspapers, in self-fulfilling front-page stories, derided the suit as a P.R. disaster for the fast-food chain. (6/20)

Cambodia is in turmoil. 1) A rival Khmer Rouge faction claimed it had captured (or, later, was about to capture) genocidal dictator-turned-guerrilla-leader Pol Pot. Experts, and one of Cambodia's two prime ministers, were skeptical. 2) The prime ministers, who will run against each other in elections next year, are vying for the allegiance of Khmer Rouge bosses, and are building well-armed rival armies of "bodyguards." 3) The bodyguards got into a deadly turf skirmish this week. The New York Times applauds Pol Pot's demise, if true, but regrets that crooks, schemers, and butchers will probably continue to run the country. (For a backgrounder, see Slate's "The Gist.") (6/20)

The Newt Gingrich putsch watch has resumed. Reporters' appetites have been whetted by 1) ever-louder grumbling among House Republicans that the GOP leadership botched the fight with Clinton on disaster relief and the budget; 2) an anonymous "Dear Colleague" letter urging a no-confidence vote on Gingrich; 3) a demand by 50 House conservatives (on Gingrich's birthday) that the Republican caucus halt the leadership's drift to the center; and 4) House Majority Leader Dick Armey's failure to defend Gingrich. The most serious breach so far is Armey's declaration that he isn't bound by the budget agreement since he wasn't one of the "big shots" who negotiated it. The GOP made a show of unity on Wednesday. (6/18)

Book 'em: The man suspected of driving the getaway car in last year's Saudi air base bombing has been deported to the United States from Canada. He has agreed to help U.S. investigators in exchange for reduced charges. The Pakistani man accused of mowing down two CIA officers at CIA headquarters in 1993 has been turned in by anonymous Afghans, after the United States offered a $2 million bounty for him. Ira Einhorn, the peace activist who was convicted in absentia of murdering his girlfriend 16 years ago, after hoodwinking his friends and jumping bail, has been captured in France and will be extradited to the United States. (6/18)

Two Hasidic rabbis have been charged with laundering millions of dollars in Colombian drug money through a Brooklyn synagogue and a yeshiva. Neighbors think the rabbis didn't know the money was drug-related, since drugs are reviled in the community, but prosecutors think they did. Angered by the media's interest in the rabbi angle, local Hasidim offered semantic rebuttals ("everybody in this community is a rabbi"), Talmudic hairsplitting (the principal culprit wasn't a real rabbi because he didn't head a synagogue), and angst (who will tell the bad news to the aged chief rabbi?). (6/18)

The Irish Republican Army murdered two policemen in Northern Ireland. British Prime Minister Tony Blair responded by calling off settlement talks with Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing. Analysts lamented that the atmosphere of new hope created by Blair's election has been ruined. The Los Angeles Times dismissed Sinn Fein boss Gerry Adams as "a puppet of the IRA's hard men." However, the Chicago Tribune implored the British to "keep the negotiating talks rolling at all costs."(6/18)