EVENTS

WANTED: HEAVYWEIGHT AT STATE The administration is looking for a foreign policy heavyweight to replace the first key member of President Clinton's national security team to resign. Clifton Wharton, the State Department's No. 2 man, blamed ``sustained anonymous leaks to the media'' for his departure after eight months as one of the highest-ranking black officials. He said leaks were impairing his effectiveness. His departure was seen as a response to criticisms of recent US actions in Somalia, Bosnia, and Haiti. But critics continue to call for more foreign policy direction and a stronger administration team in that area. Mediator to meet president

United Nations mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg met Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic Nov. 9 to discuss reviving peace talks, but sharp Bosnian criticism of UN peacekeepers in Sarajevo put the session under a cloud. Meanwhile, three children and a teacher were killed and at least 20 wounded when a shell exploded in Sarajevo. PLO official wounded

An assailant shot PLO chairman Yasser Arafat's top political aide in south Lebanon Nov. 9. The wounding of Zeid Wehbe was the first against such a high-ranking PLO loyalist in Lebanon since the Sept. 13 Israeli-PLO accord. Arrests in Muslim sweep

Security forces swept through more than a half-dozen French cities Nov. 9, arresting up to 75 Muslim fundamentalists who advocate the violent overthrow of Algeria's military-backed regime. The arrests came 10 days after the release of three French consular officials who had been held hostage in Algiers for a week. Sexual harassment ruling

The Supreme Court, in an important ruling for the American workplace, on Nov. 9 made it easier to prove on-the-job sexual harassment. The court unanimously revived a Tennessee woman's lawsuit against a former boss she accuses of off-color behavior. The justices reversed lower court rulings that had thrown out the lawsuit because the woman had failed to prove that her boss' conduct had caused her ``severe psychological injury.'' California fire arrest

A 17-year-old was arrested in connection with a wildfire that burned two dozen homes in Anaheim, Calif., last month. The teenager confessed. Up to five other youths may have been involved. Investigators say 19 of 26 wildfires that killed three and destroyed hundreds of southern California homes were arson. A homeless man has been charged with causing one in Altadena. Grazing filibuster ends

The Senate on Nov. 9 ended its effort to block reform of federal range-land policy, freeing the Clinton administration to raise grazing fees and enact other changes by executive authority. The Senate ended a filibuster, a parliamentary tactic that Western senators used for weeks to prevent consideration of a compromise Interior Department spending bill, after the language to increase grazing fees was dropped from the bill. Prices drop due to car costs

Prices paid to producers declined 0.2 percent in October, pulled down largely by a peculiarity in the way the government calculates new car prices at the start of a model year.