March 3, 1993

Clinton and Republicans Talk The President met with Republican lawmakers, who seemed pleased with his attention but no less antagonistic to his economic program. Page A20. Repeal of Gun Ban Falters A move to repeal New Jersey's ban on military-style semiautomatic weapons appeared to fail amid defections by G.O.P. senators. Page B1. Trafficker Seeks U.S. Help Pablo Escobar, a Colombian fugitive known for his empire of drugs and terrorism, says he will surrender if the U.S. protects his family. Page A3. Ferry Accident Kills 147 Zairians expelled from Congo crowding onto a small river ferry to Kinshasa were thrown into the river when the gangplank snapped. Page A5.

THE Agriculture Department is in the hot seat. Critics on all sides say the real culprit in the deaths of three children earlier this year from tainted hamburgers sold in the Northwest is the Agriculture Department itself. It is a charge vehemently denied by the department. Gerald Kuester, a microbiologist who spent 20 years at the Agriculture Department and at the Food and Drug Administration before becoming the director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, blames "the institutional thinking" at the Agriculture Department for the outbreak of food poisoning from the deadly bacterium, E. coli 0157:H7.

For years the popular mythology in Japan has been that plant closings and corporate layoffs were quintessentially American. Humane Japanese companies would rather accept losses than cast an employee into the street. But throughout the country the dreaded phrase these days is "kata tataki," or "tap on the shoulder." Not only are industrial workers getting the tap, but even employees of the richest and seemingly most secure companies.

Years before he began ordering the Branch Davidians to arm themselves for the apocalypse, before he told them he was Jesus Christ, David Koresh built up his following in a far more ordinary way: by playing rock music with them, sharing an occasional beer, and, most of all, by preaching Scripture with unwavering conviction. Even some sect members who came to conclude that he was dangerously unstable, and who managed to shake free of his cult, described him as having first lured them with his fondness for good times and a gentle promise of truth.

What started a year ago as a modest bribe for a cleaning contract in Milan has grown into one of the most extraordinary scandals of postwar Europe, revealing the vast corruption that cements patronage and power among Italy's political barons. Italy's many previous scandals have implicated the mob, the generals, the Vatican or the politicians. But the recent revelations have exposed startling levels of bribery involving the power elite, once an untouchable network of dynasties, family money, state largesse and high-flying entrepreneurs.