EVENTS
CLINTON MOVES TO REMEDY SETBACKS President Clinton, admitting that his administration appears unfocused, is adding an experienced Washington hand to his senior staff and plans to spend more time traveling to explain himself to an increasingly skeptical public, the Associated Press reports. Roy Neel, chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, will move over to serve as deputy White House chief of staff, according to Neel associates. Clinton has huddled repeatedly with political advisers in recent days, expressing the dual goals of improving relations with Congress and reversing the recent slide in public support for his economic program. Sessions, Reno to meet
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director William Sessions, whose job security has been in question since a Justice Department report accused him of ethical lapses, will meet with Attorney General Janet Reno this week to find out how she views his future, a department official said on condition of anonymity. Charges against him include inappropriate use of government cars and planes and use of government funds to build a fence around his home. Vaccine plan changed
The Clinton administration has dropped its plan to make the government the sole purchaser of childhood vaccines for free distribution to rich and poor alike, officials acknowledged yesterday. Instead, it is now backing a compromise to provide free, government-purchased vaccine to all children uninsured or on Medicaid, officials said. The move is expected to cut the cost of Clinton's $1.1 billion immunization initiative in half. Mideast talks extended
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara confirmed yesterday in Damascus that Arabs have decided to extend their current round of peace talks with Israel for a third week. He said the negotiations, which resumed in Washington April 27 after a four-month suspension, had not made any significant progress. In Jerusalem, however, Nabil Shaath, a political adviser to PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, said Israeli and Palestinian negotiators could produce a declaration of principles governing major areas of an agreem ent during their current round of peace talks. Rafsanjani to run again
Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani will run in Iran's June 11 presidential elections and has filed his application, Hamshahri newspaper reported yesterday. Mr. Rafsanjani, a self-declared pragmatist running on a platform of economic reform, is widely expected to win a second four-year term. He was elected president with 94.5 percent of the vote in July 1989 Split decision
It was a draw for the Democrats and the Republicans as Ohio voters sent a former Bush administration lawyer to the House, while Wisconsin voters narrowly elected a Democrat to succeed Defense Secretary Les Aspin in Congress. Ohio Republican Rob Portman trounced Democrat Lee Hornberger Tuesday and will succeed former GOP Rep. Willis Gradison, who resigned to become a lobbyist. Portman had won 70 percent of the votes. In Wisconsin, Democratic state Rep. Peter Barca edged Republican Mark Neumann for the Hou se seat Mr. Aspin held for 22 years before resigning to join President Clinton's Cabinet. Strike to widen
The IG Metall union said yesterday its three-day-old strike in eastern Germany would spread after talks aiming to end the region's first legal work stoppage in more than 60 years collapsed. `Honest Poverty' sells
A book attacking Japan's increasingly money-centered, disposable society and extolling the virtues of a simple life has become a runaway best-seller. To the astonishment of both author and publisher, whose initial print run was just 8,000, "The Concept of Honest Poverty" by Koji Nakano has sold 600,000 copies in the past eight months. It has been reprinted 40 times.
