The week's big news, and how's it's being spun.
June 1 1997 3:30 AM

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The Oklahoma City bombing trial concluded, and the jury began its deliberations. Commentators were moved by the prosecution's closing statement, impressed by its whole case, and surprised that the defense did not produce anything surprising. Prosecutors were compared favorably with those in the O.J. Simpson case. The conventional wisdom, according to CBS, is that the government will win in a "slam dunk." And even if defendant Timothy McVeigh gets off, the Oklahoma City district attorney plans to try him on state murder charges. (5/30)

William Saletan William Saletan

Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right.

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The Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz will meet in the National Basketball Association finals. The Bulls thrashed the Miami Heat to win the Eastern Conference finals, prompting Heat coach Pat Riley to predict that no team other than the Bulls will win an NBA championship until Bulls star Michael Jordan retires. Meanwhile, in the decisive game of the Western finals against the Houston Rockets, the Jazz erased a 10-point deficit in the final four minutes and won on a dramatic, buzzer-beating three-pointer from veteran guard John Stockton. Stockton and his teammate, forward Karl Malone, are getting their first chance at a championship after 11 years of disappointment and persistence. The early line is that anyone with a heart will root for the Jazz and anyone with a brain will bet on the Bulls. (5/30)

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Overseas update: Indonesia's ruling party overwhelmingly won re-election. Analysts credited the victory to a near-totalitarian patronage system. Military officers in Sierra Leone (primer--it's in west Africa) ousted the country's first democratically elected president in a coup. Nigeria then sent troops to challenge the coup, evidently to restore the president and repair Nigeria's corrupt image abroad. President Clinton began backing away from his pledge to remove U.S. troops from Bosnia by June 1998, which had replaced his previous pledge to remove the troops by December 1997. Clinton joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a day of photo ops, obliging pundits to point out once again how similar the two are. (5/30)

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Miscellany: The new health scare is a staph germ that is becoming immune to the antibiotic of last resort. The germ has appeared in Japan, and the question is how long it will take to get to the United States. The new bioethical controversy is whether doctors should obey families who want to freeze the sperm of their deceased loved ones. The New York Yankees finally signed Japanese star pitcher Hideki Irabu. Baseball pundits, having hyped Irabu for months, began questioning whether he's been overhyped. Bob Dylan is in the hospital with a chest infection. News outlets declared it "potentially fatal" but acknowledged in the fine print that he'll probably come out fine. Rebecca Sealfon of New York won the 70th National Spelling Bee. The media construed her histrionics and rudeness as Brooklyn charm. (5/30)

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The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Paula Jones can sue President Clinton while he's still in office, as the Constitution doesn't protect the president from civil suits unrelated to his official duties. However, the court instructed the trial judge to take Clinton's official duties into account, which may allow him to keep postponing the trial. Editorialists of all persuasions congratulated the court for reaffirming that no one is above the law--"the message is right," said the Washington Post. Legal analysts were amused that the court's conservative justices had suspended their usual worship of executive privilege. Everyone agrees the decision puts a rude end to Clinton's second honeymoon, though most accounts cited the coverage rather than the facts of Jones' contentions as the main problem. The case "plays into a public perception of a White House under siege," said the New York Times. Early political wisdom is that here, as with his other scandals, Clinton should cut his losses (by settling the suit), but his advisers seem intent on dragging it out instead. Contrarians argued that Clinton actually won the decision, since it comes six months after his re-election. (5/28)

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The Lost World, Steven Spielberg's sequel to Jurassic Park, shattered box-office records by grossing $92 million over Memorial Day weekend. Analysts estimate it could end up grossing $1 billion, including merchandise. They also agree that its poor reviews (for a weak plot, characters, and dialogue) were overpowered by its shrewd timing (theaters showed it because no other big movies were out), legendary pedigree (everyone loved Jurassic Park), and sure-fire premise (dinosaurs, which kids can't seem to get enough of). The New York Times called it "review-proof."(5/28)

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AT&T and SBC Communications are discussing a merger. Valued at $50 billion, the deal would double the size of the biggest merger on record. It would also reunite one-third of the old AT&T, since SBC already comprises two of the Baby Bells the government pried away from Ma Bell in 1984. Critics' complaints: 1) This is what antitrust regulators get for showing their impotence when they let Bell Atlantic merge with NYNEX. 2) The new telecom law is a failure, since companies are merging, not competing. 3) An AT&T-SBC behemoth would hasten the merger trend by forcing other telecom companies to combine to compete with it. The backspin from AT&T and SBC is that the United States needs its own giant to compete with other countries' national phone monopolies. (5/28)

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French voters rebuked the center-right government of President Jacques Chirac. Only 30 percent supported Chirac's coalition in parliamentary elections, raising the prospect that a leftist alliance of Socialists, Communists, and Greens will take control in Sunday's runoffs. Handicappers put the left's chances at even money or better. Chirac's protégé, Prime Minister Alain Juppe, took the fall, and has said he will resign. Editorialists debated whether the voters were punishing Chirac and Juppe for 1) daring to privatize and cut government functions (the New York Times); 2) failing to privatize and cut government functions (the Wall Street Journal); or 3) "on-again, off-again" weaving between the two positions (the Washington Post). (5/28)

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Congolese (formerly Zairian) rebel-turned-ruler Laurent Kabila is being downgraded from liberator to tyrant. 1) He appointed himself president and said he won't schedule elections for at least two years. 2) He scrapped the post of prime minister (sought by opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi) and stacked his Cabinet with rebel allies. 3) He banned public demonstrations to prevent Tshisekedi from staging a protest march. 4) There are more and more reports of mass graves that may belong to Rwandan Hutu refugees slaughtered by Kabila's troops. 5) Analysts worry that Kabila is too beholden to foreign-backed Tutsi military commanders, who may persecute Hutus and inflame ethnic tensions. The New York Times reported that "euphoria" in the capital is giving way to "disillusion and dissent."(5/28)

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Update from the Muslim world. Good news: Iranians overwhelmingly elected a new president, Mohammed Khatami, who has promised more individual freedom. Analysts hailed him as a "moderate" and a sign that Iranians are fed up with their police state. Bad news: Khatami indicated he has no plans to improve relations with the United States. Skeptics doubt that one man could reform the country, recalling the Reagan administration's arms-for-hostages deal with "Iranian moderates." Cynics dismiss the term as an oxymoron. Good news: The Palestinian Authority released a Palestinian journalist who apparently had been locked up because his reports offended Yasser Arafat. Bad news: A Palestinian human-rights group accused the authority of widespread torture and political oppression. Good news: Turkey's armed forces are tightening screws on the country's ruling Muslim religious party in order to safeguard pluralism. Bad news: The fiercely authoritarian Taliban movement captured a key city in Afghanistan, extending its dominion to 90 percent of the country. Good news: The Taliban began fighting with allies. (5/28)

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More Miscellany: A series of twisters killed more than 28 people in central Texas, re-devastating a tiny town hit by a tornado eight years ago. Up-and-coming Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., will quit her job this summer to anchor a Saturday morning CBS news show. The New York Times, pointing to George Stephanopoulos, speculated Molinari may use the TV job to advance her political career. Dutchman Arie Luyendyk won the Indianapolis 500. Controversy erupted over the final lap, in which officials sent mixed signals as to whether drivers were supposed to slow down because of a near-accident. The runner-up, chronic hard-luck racer Scott Goodyear, complained the mix-up had prevented him from passing Luyendyk. The Dow Jones industrial average extended its record-breaking run to nearly 7,400. A new report suggests that studies on the health risks of breast implants may be skewed because women who get the implants are (among other things) more likely to be alcoholics, more likely to be promiscuous, and more likely to dye their hair. (5/28)