The Russian Parliament overwhelmingly rejected Viktor Chernomyrdin, President Boris Yeltsin's nominee for prime minister. This completes the collapse of a deal under which Communist delegates had agreed to confirm Chernomyrdin in exchange for getting a greater say in approving Cabinet ministers. Yeltsin can force Parliament to vote twice more on Chernomyrdin, but analysts worry Russia has no time for further squabbling. President Clinton said he will go to Russia for a summit, as planned, in order to keep Russia "on the path of reform." The spins: 1) Clinton is withholding U.S. economic aid as an incentive to Russia to continue free-market reforms. 2) Thanks to the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton lacks the domestic political clout to win Congress' approval of economic aid, so he has nothing to withhold. 3) Clinton has no illusions about saving Yeltsin. He's just trying to save himself. (8/31/98)

The Russian crisis caused world markets to plummet. The Dow dropped 513 points Monday, prompting analysts to announce the arrival of a bear market. Two scary things about the Russian chaos: 1) Investors were only beginning to calculate their Russian losses, currently estimated at $100 billion (George Soros lost $2 billion). 2) The crisis might spread to Latin America, a major U.S. trading partner, as stressed international investors liquidate their holdings there to raise cash to cover their Russian losses. U.S. lenders hold much of Latin America's substantial debt, so if the region tumbles, the United States could follow. (See Slate's "Moneybox" on the stock market dive.) (8/31/98)

President Clinton discussed forgiveness. Before a friendly church audience, he said: 1) "I'm having to become quite an expert in this business of asking for forgiveness." 2) "It is important that we are able to forgive those we believe have wronged us, even as we ask for forgiveness from people we have wronged." 3) "The anger, the resentment, the bitterness, the desire for recrimination against people you believe have wronged you--they harden the heart and deaden the spirit and lead to self-inflicted wounds." Clinton cited the example of Nelson Mandela, who has forgiven his captors. Analysts think Clinton was saying he must forgive Ken Starr (for persecuting him) in order to ask for the nation's forgiveness. The spins: 1) At last, Clinton is really beginning to apologize. 2) He's even being magnanimous toward Starr. 3) Magnanimous? Clinton's delusion that he should be granting forgiveness, not asking for it, shows how morally obtuse he is. 4) He's only talking about seeking forgiveness because he's under political pressure to do so. 5) Stop complaining. From a morally obtuse president, this is the best apology we're going to get. (See Slate's complete Flytrap coverage.) (8/31/98)

Sports news: 1) Toms River, N.J., won the Little League World Series. This is the first time in five years an American team has won the championship. The kids beat their Japanese opponents the American way, with home runs and bad pitching. 2) Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa belted their 55^th and 54^th home runs, respectively. Both are still on track to break the record of 61 held by Roger Maris. Tainting McGwire's achievement was the news that he takes androstenedione, an over-the-counter muscle-building substance banned by the NFL, the NCAA, and the International Olympic Committee--but not by baseball. Sportswriters cheered the McGwire-Sosa assault on the record, contrasting the feel-good unity of this year's chase with the hostility Maris faced from fans in 1961 when he pursued Ruth's mark of 60. They attributed this year's home run spree to the relentless expansion of the major leagues, which has diluted pitching quality, while simultaneously paying tribute to McGwire's talent: He is the first player to hit more than 50 home runs in three consecutive seasons. (For more on the androstenedione flap, see Slate's "Explainer.") (8/31/98)

The United States apprehended two suspects in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, both reportedly followers of Osama Bin Laden. Suspect Mohamed Rashed Daoud al Owhali confessed to bombing, telling investigators that he had attended meetings with Bin Laden and graduated from his terrorist university in Afghanistan. The United States charged him with 12 counts of murder in New York as authorities flew the second suspect, Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, from Pakistan to the United States. Earlier in the week, newspapers reported that Bin Laden had twice plotted the assassination of President Clinton and that the United States had charged him with sedition this summer in a sealed indictment. Observers speculated that the Kenyans extradited al Owhali to ward off retaliatory terrorist bombings. Also, the Egyptian government repeatedly denied press accounts that it was holding terrorist Abu Nidal, whose forces have killed or injured more than 900 people in raids in 20 countries during the past 25 years. (Read up on Afghanistan, Bin Laden, etc., in "Explainer.") (8/28/98)

After a weeklong buildup in the media, Hurricane Bonnie failed to destroy North Carolina. Meteorologists downgraded the hurricane to a tropical storm Thursday morning as it weakened and hit the coast. Bonnie got a second chance to wreak havoc several hours later, when it bounced back into the ocean and gathered enough power to regain its hurricane status. Heavy rains and flooding killed only two, and estimates of property damage hovered at about $1 billion. (8/28/98)

Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a 90 day investigation of Vice President Gore for suspected campaign finance violations. The investigation could lead to the appointment of a new independent counsel. Desperate for a new angle on the story, the press inflated Missouri Democrat Rep. Richard Gephardt's blunt criticism of President Clinton into a veiled call for his impeachment. (8/28/98)

A federal appeals court rejected the Clinton administration's plan to use statistical sampling in the 2000 census, siding with the lawsuit filed by House Republicans. Supporters of sampling--basically Democrats--said the technique, which extrapolates the number of residents based on evidence other than direct head count, was warranted because traditional census methods missed 1.6 percent of the population in 1990. Census data are politically important because they are used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives and to distribute federal monies. As a contingency, the Census Bureau is preparing two methods for the 2000 count as the administration appeals the ruling. The ruling's big losers were states like California that have large black, Latino, and Native American populations, which are routinely undercounted. Renters and children are also among the undercounted. The Washington Post editorialized in favor of sampling, calling objections to the method "chiefly political." The judgment raises "the possibility that the law requires a census less accurate than the best one science could devise," the paper wrote. (8/26/98)