Week In Review A Look Back At The Top Stories From The Last Week

POLITICS

Had enough?

They showed videotapes of President Clinton praising John Huang at a fund-raiser. They waved public opinion polls. They told Janet Reno her credibility had been destroyed.

With Congress out of session and little else going on last week, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee finally got their chance to weigh in on the campaign fund-raising issue.

When committee chairman Henry Hyde quoted a CNN/USA Today poll showing that 73 percent of Americans believe an independent counsel should be appointed to investigate Clinton, Reno fired back that polls shouldn’t be a factor.

When Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R- Wis., challenged Reno about newly released White House tapes showing the president praising Democratic fund-raiser John Huang, Reno replied that nothing in the tape indicated the president knew of criminal activity.

“And to suggest that is to engage in the rumor and innuendo that we try to avoid in the Department of Justice,” she said

Which appears to be just the sort of attitude that made Republican members of the committee so angry last week.

WORLD

Grip and grimace

Tony Blair shook hands Monday with Gerry Adams, the first time a British prime minister has met a leader of Sinn Fein in 76 years.

For his trouble, angry Protestants shouted abuse at the prime minister and jostled him when he later visited a Protestant neighborhood in east Belfast. A Northern Ireland Protestant leader denounced him for giving respectability to the head of the Irish Republican Army’s political wing.

Sinn Fein recently was admitted to peace talks for the first time - after an IRA cease-fire last summer.

A British spokesman said after the meeting that Blair had told Sinn Fein leaders and other parties to the talks they have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shape history.

“If we don’t seize the opportunity now, we may not see it again in my lifetime,” Blair said.

Take heart

Two news stories last week offered respite from relentless bad news in two nations often depicted in bitter strife.

In Israel, a 3-year-old Arab girl named Rim is alive today because she received the heart of an 8-year-old Jewish boy named Yuval, who was killed in a bike accident.

The image of two mothers, an Arab and a Jew, weeping in each other’s arms gave Israel pause.

“Do you know what kind of heart you got?” sobbed Bracha Kavah, Yuval’s mother. “She got the heart of an angel. I’m so happy he was able to save her.”

To which Aani Aljaroushi, Rim’s mother, responded, “They have all the honor. We take our hats off to them. Thank you. Thank you very much. You saved my daughter’s life.”

Choose peace

In Northern Ireland, the family of the last person killed in the 28-year-old “Troubles” spoke not of revenge, but of peace.

Bernadette Martin, 18, a Roman Catholic, was killed as she slept in the farmhouse of the family of Gordon Green, 19, her Protestant boyfriend. The day after her funeral in July was the day that the Irish Republican Army resumed a cease-fire that has, so far, halted the killing in Ulster.

Bernadette’s mother, Margaret Martin, wants her daughter’s death to be the last.

“A lot of people have said they can’t understand my feelings,” she said. “But I have enough to deal with with my grief without dealing with anger too. That’s the only thing that’s keeping her father and me going.”

SPORTS

Pennant winners

The Cleveland Indians won the American League pennant for the second time in three years Wednesday, beating the Baltimore Orioles 1-0 in Game 6 on an 11th-inning home run by late substitute Tony Fernandez.

In the National League, the wild-card Florida Marlins, not even in existence when the Atlanta Braves began their record run of playoff appearances in 1991, beat Atlanta four games out of six to win the pennant Tuesday night.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by News Editor Kevin Graman from wire reports