April 5, 1998

Judge Susan Webber Wright's dismissal of Paula Jones's sexual harassment case is seen example of how courts view such cases when there is little or no evidence of plaintiffs' charge; sexual harassment law has never fit into judicial system that favors objective standards and demands facts that can be sifted and weighed; sexual harassment encounters usually have no witnesses, and are usually defined not so much by facts as by interpretations of gestures, conversations, and context; so sexual harassment law demands that subjective feelings must be translated into objective facts; photos (M)

Article by Jim McCraw on driving turbo-charged model of 1999 Saab 9-3 auto from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Key West, Fla; says 5,800-mile trip was sponsored by Saab and Michelin; photo (L)

Coping column pays tribute to Hilda Schwartz, New Yorker, lawyer, Democratic activist and former public official and judge who died recently at age 90; her son, attorney John Schwartz, recalls strongwilled mother who demanded and won rights as professional woman; drawing (S)

Comment on continuing passionate debate over Atlantic slave trade, in light of Pres Clinton's visit to Africa and polemic that was unleashed over how or indeed whether Clinton should 'apologize' for centuries-long capture and sale into bondage of millions of Africans; in the end, an appropriately solemn Clinton stopped short of an outright apology for America's part in slave trade, finding other ways to express his regret as he focuses on future; charts illustrate various nations' involvement in Atlantic slave trade, and main places to which slaves were delivered (M)

American businesses are furiously lobbying Congress to approve $18 billion for the International Monetary Fund so the Asian bailout can continue.