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In Baku, capital of the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, a malfunctioning electrical cable ignited gases trapped in a subway tunnel, sparking an explosion that killed 288 people and injured 200 more; most of the victims died from carbon-monoxide poisoning. Officials blamed the accident on outdated Soviet equipment.
NATION
ESPIONAGE MALPRACTICE
The CIA made a shocking confession to two congressional committees: in the last years of the cold war, it knowingly passed on questionable information to the President and the Pentagon. The agency's new director, John Deutch, told stunned legislators that CIA officers had on occasion obtained and relayed information from Kremlin insiders whom the agency suspected of being double agents. The CIA did not properly warn U.S. national security officials that the information might be tainted; worse, the information may have prompted the expenditure of billions on unnecessary defense projects. "Devastating" and "inexcusable" were Deutch's assessments. He pledged an intensive effort to "reconstruct" the agency's spying operations.
BUDGET GRIDLOCK
President Clinton and the Republican congressional leadership met behind closed White House doors to discuss how to bridge their differences over the G.O.P.'s seven-year balanced-budget plan, which includes large tax cuts and a Medicare overhaul. In an unsurprising development, no agreement was reached--not on the budget plan and not on an extension of the nation's debt ceiling, which is scheduled to expire sometime this month. Republicans have said they won't agree to more than a brief extension of the debt--which must be approved by Congress and is necessary to avert default on billions of dollars in government bonds--unless President Clinton agrees to accept the main provisions of their budget package. So far, the President has rejected making a deal.
RECRIMINALIZING ABORTION
In the first such vote since the Supreme Court decriminalized most abortions in 1973, the House voted 288 to 139 to ban a very rare form of late-term abortion that anti-abortion legislators described as particularly brutal to fetuses. Despite the likelihood of a Senate filibuster and a presidential veto, abortion-rights advocates said they feared that the House bill, which would impose criminal penalties on doctors, could presage the passage of even more restrictive legislation.
NOT SO FAST
In an embarrassing setback for the G.O.P. leadership, the House voted to instruct its team of conference negotiators with the Senate to drop a string of restrictions on the Environmental Protection Agency that the House had previously attached to an EPA spending bill. Moderate Republicans joined ranks with Democrats to repudiate the controversial restrictions, which would severely curtail the agency's enforcement of air- and water-quality laws.
WHITEWATER SPLASH