WEEK IN REVIEW A LOOK BACK AT THE TOP STORIES FROM THE LAST WEEK

WORLDPrisoners of war

President Clinton pledged that the United States will doeverything in its power to gain the return of three Army soldierscaptured near the Yugoslav-Macedonia border as Yugoslav state-controlled television announced that the captives would facecriminalproceedings before a military court."There was absolutely no basis for them to be taken," Clintonsaid. "There is no basis for them to be held. There is certainly nobasis for them to be tried."NATO, meanwhile, stepped up its bombing campaign against Yugoslavmilitary sites amid ethnic cleansing in the besieged province ofKosovo by paramilitary and regular Yugoslav troops backed by tanks.As the allied air campaign, which now includes targets in thecapitalof Belgrade, failed to slow the humanitarian disaster taking placeinYugoslavia many in the United States and Europe called for groundtroops, but the Clinton administration remained steadfast inrejecting such a broadening of the war.Ethnic cleansingKosovar refugees arriving in Albania and Macedonia told of beingcrammed into rail cars at gunpoint and a terrifying journey to thefrontier. For some, the forced journey was too much. At least twopeople died aboard the packed trains Thursday.The Serb campaign to rid Kosovo of its ethnic Albanian majoritybegan in small villages, then reached the cities and finally theprovince's capital, Pristina, which the refugees described as aghosttown.By Thursday, at least 156,000 Kosovo Albanians had fled thecountry since NATO airstrikes on Serb forces began March 24. Thenumber of new arrivals so swelled that "nobody knows how to countthem any more," said Judith Kumin, spokeswoman of the U.N. HighCommissioner for Refugees.International organizations rushed to get more supplies to therefugees, while Western European nations met in an emergencyconference in Bonn, Germany, to promise more aid.NATIONInternet catches fluOne week after the cunning e-mail virus named "Melissa" beganswamping computers across the country, authorities arrested David L.Smith, 30, in New Jersey and charged him with creating the bug henamed after a topless dancer.But even as corporate computer network managers were grapplingwith Melissa, new variants on the virus were being detected, onesthat like Melissa arrive via incoming electronic mail andessentiallymorph into electronic chain letters when opened by the recipient.If that were not enough, specialists reported the presence of"Papa" - another e-mail-launched virus that makes use of Microsoft'sExcel spreadsheet program to send out multiple e-mail messages.Melissa and Papa signaled the arrival of a new generation of virusesthat send themselves and raised questions among security expertsabout Microsoft's ability to protect its software customers.School safetyGrants totaling more than $300 million will be awarded to 50 townsand cities this summer to help them provide safer schools and betterlearning environments for students, the Clinton administrationannounced.Under the program, communities seeking funds must submit a planthat includes the involvement of local school administrators, lawenforcement officials, community organizations, mental health andmedical counselors, families and students.Attorney General Janet Reno said the problems of school violenceand underperforming students must be addressed with a community-wideapproach."Law enforcement alone can't do the job," she said. "But whencommunities work together, we can prevent violence in all its formsbefore it occurs and give our young people a safer, healthierenvironment in which to learn."REGIONALOut of the bagA proposal to trade 2 million acres of federal, state and privatelands has been shelved after criticism from the federal Bureau ofLand Management that it had not been informed of the trade.Clearwater Land Exchange of Orofino, which has been working on thecomplicated swap for about five years, said recent publicity gavethewrong impression about what would have been one of the largest landdeals in the West.The land broker said The Spokesman-Review's coverage of theproposal was premature."That's our fault. We talked about an idea before we had reallyfleshed it out," said Darrel Olson of Clearwater Land Exchange.