THE WEEK

By MELISSA AUGUST, CHRISTINE GORMAN, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, MICHAEL QUINN, ALAIN SANDERS AND SIDNEY URQUHART

NATION

A BALANCED-BUDGET BLUEPRINT

After months of talking about it, Republicans finally announced a plan of bold spending cuts designed to balance the budget by 2002. Senate leaders proposed slashing nearly $1 trillion during the next seven years. A House plan foresaw even deeper cuts: $1.4 trillion worth, the extra trims needed to offset a $350 billion tax cut. The G.O.P. lawmakers said they would chop billions from projected outlays for Medicare and Medicaid, eliminate scores of federal social programs and abolish the Commerce Department. (House Republicans would also ax the Education and Energy departments.) Democrats promptly labeled the proposals unfair to working families, the elderly and the poor, and warned that the cuts were dangerous for the economy.

A SECOND SUSPECT

Terry Nichols, initially detained in Kansas as a material witness to the Oklahoma City bombing, formally became a suspect as federal prosecutors accused him of participating in the April 19 attack; the charges could bring him the death penalty if he is convicted. Nichols was transferred to the same Oklahoma federal prison that holds the other suspect in the case, Timothy McVeigh, an old Army buddy with whom Nichols apparently shared a strong dislike of the government. Meanwhile, federal agents in Arizona arrested Steven Colbern, a biochemist, on unrelated weapons charges. He was picked up after investigators received a tip that Colbern owns a brown pickup truck similar to one a witness claims to have seen escorting McVeigh prior to his arrest.

LEGAL REFORM SCALED BACK

Filibustering Democrats held their ground in the Senate and stymied majority leader Bob Dole's efforts to approve a sweeping legal-reform bill, which, like a House-passed version, would have capped punitive damages in all civil lawsuits. By a 61-to-37 vote, the Senate accepted a severely trimmed-back proposal limiting punitive damages only in product-liability cases-leaving the two chambers far apart as they prepare to reconcile their bills.

DEUTCH TAKES OVER THE CIA

By a vote of 98 to 0, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch to become the new director of the C.I.A. Deutch will arrive at the troubled spy agency, which has been demoralized by the Aldrich Ames and other scandals, with a mandate to review priorities, revamp operations and replace top personnel.

U.S. TURNS BACK 24 CUBANS

A week after announcing a new policy of forcible return of Cuban boat refugees, the Clinton Administration, true to its word, repatriated 24 Cubans who had been rescued at sea.

THE SIMPSON TRIAL

Nearly four months after the opening of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the prosecution introduced its most damning evidence: the apparently incriminating results of DNA blood tests. Forensic scientist Robin Cotton testified that a blood drop found at the crime scene matched Simpson's -- with a 1-in-170 million chance it could have been someone else's-and that blood found on a sock at Simpson's estate matched his slain ex-wife's, with an even smaller margin of error. On cross-examination, the defense repeated its dual themes that the blood sent to Cotton's lab may have been contaminated or planted to frame Simpson.

WORLD

V-E DAY PLUS 50

In Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Moscow, the church bells rang out, the crowds wept and cheered, and the leaders of today's far-from-peaceful world gathered to honor the millions who died in World War II. The Moscow celebrations were perhaps the most poignant. Six thousand Red Army veterans, in their 70s and 80s, marched through Red Square to celebrate their victory over the Nazis and mourn the 27 million soldiers and civilians who perished. Coming directly from a wreath laying in Washington to meet Russian President Boris Yeltsin, President Clinton recalled the friendship between America and the U.S.S.R. during World War II and told the veterans, "You wrote some of the greatest chapters of heroism."

THE SUMMIT: LITTLE PROGRESS

President Yeltsin agreed to join Clinton's Partnership for Peace, begin a limited membership in nato and cancel the most objectionable part of Moscow's nuclear-reactor sales to Iran. As for Chechnya, Clinton's request that a two-week cease-fire be extended got a sharp nyet, and both sides resumed shelling. In Washington, Senate Republicans, led by presidential candidates Bob Dole and Richard Lugar, were quick to declare the Moscow summit a failure and threatened to cut U.S. aid to Russia.

NONPROLIFERATION EXTENDED

After nearly four weeks of back-room politicking, a global conference at U.N. headquarters in New York City extended the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons indefinitely.

ZAIRE: A DEADLY VIRUS

An outbreak of the lethal Ebola virus -- the first in 16 years -- has claimed dozens of lives in Zaire. In the quarantined city of Kikwit, residents began torching their homes and fleeing into the surrounding bush. There is no treatment for Ebola, whose victims bleed to death.

U.N. TO SERBS: TSK, TSK

As shelling by Bosnian Serbs intensified around Sarajevo, United Nations civilian envoy Yasushi Akashi overruled calls from U.N. military commanders for a nato air strike and sent a letter of protest instead. Akashi's move was sharply criticized by U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright, who told senior U.N. officials she was "baffled" by the decision.

HISTORIC BRITISH-I.R.A. TALKS

Representatives of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, sat down with a British government minister. It was the highest-level contact between the two sides in more than 20 years. Under discussion: arms and explosives in Northern Ireland.

BUSINESS

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

MCI Communications announced that it will invest as much as $2 billion in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The partnership will link movies, TV stations, newspapers and publishing to a vast telecommunications network with access to the Internet.

THE ARTS & MEDIA

NATIONAL BARD

Robert Hass, critic, teacher and poet (Field Guide, Human Wishes), was named the nation's new poet laureate, a job one of his predecessors described as "ill paid, ill defined and irresistible." He takes over from Rita Dove.

SPORT

SAILING TO VICTORY

In one of the most dominating performances in the history of the America's Cup regatta, Team New Zealand's Black Magic I won the fifth straight of five races off the shores of San Diego and took home the world's premier sailing trophy. --By Melissa August, Christine Gorman, Belinda Luscombe, Michael Quinn, Alain Sanders and Sidney Urquhart