The Keystone cosmonauts continued their exploits aboard the Mir space station. First they ruined one of the station's modules--and all of the experiments being conducted by American astronaut Michael Foale--when a supply ship rammed into Mir. Then the Russian station commander developed a heart arrhythmia, obliging NASA to substitute Foale for the Russian in a repair mission--Foale may have to wear a spacesuit that doesn't fit him. Then, while practicing for the repair mission, one of the cosmonauts yanked the wrong cable, causing the station to lose steering, power, and communication for hours. Critics groused that Mir is "a bucket of bolts" and that the United States should stop using and subsidizing it. NASA officials maintained that the screw-ups have been valuable learning experiences. (7/18)

Newt Gingrich has evidently survived a coup attempt. Various reports, denied by each of the principals, allege that House Majority Whip Tom DeLay presided over a recent meeting where Gingrich's ouster was discussed, and that Majority Leader Dick Armey backed out of the plot at the last minute--because he realized he wouldn't get Gingrich's job. (See Slate's "Assessment" of Armey.) Rep. Bill Paxon, the chairman of the GOP leadership team and the rebels' apparent choice for speaker, resigned, explaining that his loyalty to Gingrich had been "cast in doubt." Everyone infers that Gingrich fired him. (He can't fire Armey or DeLay because they were elected, not appointed.) Pundits concluded that the rebels have botched the coup and squandered the boldness that will be needed to topple Gingrich in the future. Contrarians theorized that Paxon is in a better position to overthrow Gingrich from the outside. Republicans expressed disgust that they're killing each other and that the White House is loving it. White House aides humorously compared the GOP's situation to Cambodia. (7/18)

The FBI is looking for a serial killer in the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace. A car found near the crime scene in Miami Beach has been linked to Andrew Cunanan, a gay prostitute who was already being hunted for allegedly killing four other men. Analysts suggested that Cunanan wanted to earn the top spot on the FBI's most wanted list; everyone agrees that he has succeeded. He was briefly overshadowed by retrospectives on Versace's career, in which the sympathetic spin on Versace's style (daring and populist) buried any mention of the unkind spin (tacky and vulgar). But within two days, the media had stampeded past the corpse and swarmed credulously over a false report of Cunanan's next kill. (7/18)

The Dow Jones industrial average surged past 8,000. It has climbed 33 percent in the past seven months, 50 percent in the past year, and 100 percent in the past two and a half years. The bull market has now run so far, so long, that the usual psychological taxonomy has reversed: Fear and caution are driving the fainthearted to buy stocks, lest they miss future gains, while the few remaining bears are holding out on faith and grit. (7/18)

Miscellany: The Internet crashed for several hours on July 17. Doomsayers warned once again that traffic overload will eventually cause an Internet "meltdown." Computer apologists blamed a derelict technician at the Virginia company that registers and updates Web addresses. The U.S. death rate from AIDS fell 19 percent between 1995 and 1996. JonBenet Ramsey's complete autopsy report was finally released. It shows that her skull was horribly fractured and that her body exhibited possible signs of sexual abuse. Scientists are touting a new flu-vaccine nasal spray. They say it works better than shots, and kids love it. O.J. Simpson's house was sold for $2.6 million. President Clinton nominated Army Gen. Hugh Shelton to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Shelton's chief liability: little experience in Washington. His chief asset: no known experience in adultery. (7/18)

Business portents: 1) Woolworth announced it will close its 400 five-and-dime stores, ending 117 years as America's all-purpose retailer. The culprits: Wal-Mart and other discount megastores. Sentimentalists mourned the death of mercantile civil society. 2) John Walter resigned as president and CEO of AT&T, just nine months after coming over from a printing company. AT&T's board finally decided that critics had been right all along: Walter didn't understand the business. He gets a $26 million severance package for his trouble. The New York Times noted that in the world of CEOs, "the pay and the perks may be lavish, but the leash is short and getting shorter." 3) Law-enforcement agents armed with 35 search warrants seized records from Columbia/HCA, the world's biggest health-care company, in simultaneous raids in six states. Prosecutors say they have evidence of Medicaid fraud by the company's executives. (7/18)

Bill Cosby testified in the extortion trial of Autumn Jackson. She is accused of demanding $40 million in exchange for not publicly claiming to be his illegitimate daughter. Cosby admitted committing adultery with Jackson's mother 20 years ago, but denied that he is Jackson's father. Most interesting news so far: 1) A real-estate agent testified that Jackson inquired about a $1.25 million house shortly before the alleged extortion. 2) When Cosby's lawyer offered Jackson $24 million to keep quiet, she replied: "It's enough to sustain me for the time being, I guess." 3) Jackson's lawyer noted that Cosby had subsidized Jackson's education and had told her that he loved her--and therefore she was entitled to believe that she was Cosby's daughter and to demand what she considered to be her fair share of his estate. (7/16)

Update on the campaign-finance scandal hearings: Everyone now agrees they're boring. Nevertheless: 1) The committee released documents showing the first direct evidence of an illegal campaign donation--a 1992 memo from John Huang requesting reimbursement from the Lippo Group for a $50,000 gift to the Democratic National Committee. 2) Documents also show that in 1995 a Hong Kong businessman got a meeting with then-deputy national security adviser Sandy Berger at the DNC's request, shortly after the businessman's wife gave the DNC $100,000. 3) Democratic Sens. John Glenn and Joseph Lieberman were briefed by the FBI and now say they're convinced of the Chinese plot to influence U.S. congressional races. The media anointed Lieberman the committee's Howard Baker. For Slate's take, see Jacob Weisberg's "Dispatch."(7/16)

Cambodian body count: 40 political opponents of dictator Hun Sen have been executed since his July 5 coup. A U.N. official said that some victims had their eyes gouged out, and others were shot while surrendering. Meanwhile, Hun Sen promised human rights and political freedom to all. (7/16)

Another newborn baby was left for dead in New Jersey. This time, the accused mother/perpetrator is a 16-year-old Dominican tourist who delivered her baby in a bus-station bathroom and left it in the toilet. The baby was found 10 minutes later and is in critical condition. This is the fifth case in the last eight months in which a girl in or from New Jersey has been charged with killing or abandoning her newborn baby. Experts speculate that the previous cases may be inspiring copycats. (7/16)

After an extensive investigation, Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr announced that former White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster killed himself. This confirms the conclusions of five previous investigations. Meanwhile, NASA scientists reassured skeptics that the Pathfinder probe really is sending images from Mars, not Arizona. (7/16)

President Clinton will support legislation banning health insurers from using genetic information to raise premiums, according to the Washington Post. Current law prohibits group health insurers from using this information to deny or cancel coverage, but lets them raise premiums. Insiders say the new proposal has a good chance of passing. The Post sees it as another step in the government's struggle to catch up with the biotech revolution. Future proposals, including a ban on genetic discrimination in employment, are expected to prove more contentious. (7/14)

Cuba charged that the perpetrators of two July 12 hotel bombings in Havana"came from the United States." The bombs reportedly injured three people. The United States asked Cuba to cough up the evidence, if it has any. Cuban exile groups in Costa Rica and Spain, which had previously threatened to attack Cuban hotels, didn't claim responsibility for the bombings. Earlier this month, Cuba filed a complaint with the United Nations claiming that an American plane had deliberately dropped an insect pest on Cuba last year. (7/14)

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited her Jewish roots. She returned to her birthplace, Prague, for the first time since reporters disclosed that she had been born Jewish. There, she toured a Jewish cemetery and found her grandparents' names on a synagogue wall commemorating victims of the Holocaust. Afterward, she said her new awareness of her heritage gives the Holocaust "an even more personal meaning for me," but added that she still respected her parents' decision to spare her "certain death" by converting to Christianity. Observers said she was so choked up that she really must not have known about her background until now. (7/14)