August 24, 1996

Control of the United States Senate, which seemed safely Republican year ago, is now an issue in November after series of primaries where Republican voters chose very conservative candidates over moderates whom Democratic politicians fear more; while open seats are not the only battlegrounds (thirteen Republicans are running for re-election), of the 14 open seats, only two or three do not seem competitive; while decisions of Republican voters may have made many Senate races competitive for Democrats, National Republican Senatorial Committee has almost three times amount of funds as its Democratic counterpart; photo; chart on election races in 14 states (L)

Federal Bureau of Investigation confirms that its crime lab found traces of plastic-explosive residue on pieces of wreckage of Trans World Airlines Flight 800, and that findings have been backed up by tests at independent laboratory; James K Kallstrom, senior agent supervising FBI probe, sees little chance that both lab tests could be proved wrong, yet he emphasizes that additional evidence would be needed before crash could be classified as criminal act; still, discovery of chemical PETN seems to knock from contention the theory that mechanical failure caused plane to explode (M)

Thousands of doctors, frustrated by price controls, red tape and sometimes intrusive oversight of managed care, have started building lucrative practices in fields like cosmetic surgery and infertility treatment, where patients will pay even when insurers will not; major reason specialists can find enough patients paying out of their own pockets is the stunning increase in family income of wealthiest Americans; photo of cosmetic surgeon; chart on surgeon's fees for common cosmetic procedures (L)

Regional leaders in East Africa are making serious effort to confront leaders of recent coup in Burundi by imposing trade embargo on country; driving force behind embargo is Julius K Nyerere, former President of Tanzania and elder statesman in African politics; decision by Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Zaire to join in trade sanctions on Burundi caught many Western diplomats by surprise; for first time African countries have taken initiative and staked high moral ground, while the US and Europe have hesitated (M)

Although investigators are still looking for conclusive proof that an explosive device destroyed TWA Flight 800, they are investigating number of terrorist groups as well on possibility that attack could have been domestic criminal act; included in investigation is meeting in June in which terrorist groups backed by Iran met in Teheran (M)