14 NOVEMBER 1958, Page 3

Portrait of the Week

THE FOREIGN SECRETARY announced that the Soviet Union had carried out two nuclear tests since the opening of the Geneva talks. He found this 'regrettable,' though Mr. Dulles told .a press con- ference that the Russians were under no legal obligation to suspend their tests and could not be accused of bad faith. Britain and the United States continued to refrain from conducting fur- ther tests of their own, and the Geneva talks plodded on. The annual parade in Red Square in commemoration of the Russian Revolution was notably less military than usual in character; Mr. Khrushchev, welcoming Mr. Gomulka to Moscow, talked of handing over Soviet control of East Berlin to the East German Government and called on the Western Powers to recognise, that regime. Mr. Khrushehev, and Mr. Gomulka later signed a joint declaration strengthening the Warsaw Pact.

KING HUSSEIN of Jordan, flying to a European holiday and in quest, it was rumoured, of a bride, Was harried by Syrian jet fighters over Syrian . territory and flew back to Airman. Mr. Bevan's trip to Portugal was more p:icifically frustrated by Dr. Salazar's Government, which refused to per- mit a lecture tour planned by the (Portuguese) Opposition. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Belgian priest, Father Georges Pire, who works hard for refugees.

BRITISH CIVILIANS in Cyprus were issued with arms, and it was explained in London that this gave them the legal status of special constables. Greek Cypriots employed at air bases and at NAAFI shops and canteens .were discharged in the interests of security and replaced by men of the RAF and by girl volunteers recruited in London, respectively. Tunisia refused an arms deal with Britain and the United States because of implied disrespect to her sovereignty the vendors had asked for .assurances' that the arms would not find their way into the hands of .the FLN. Presi-' dent Bourguiba is now tapping on the counters Of Scandinavian gunsmiths. Agents of the FBI in Florida seized an aircraft loaded with arms in- tended for Fidel Castro, the Cuban rebel leader. A thirty-day siege was declared in Argentina, after oil workers had struck in protest against United States economic penetration : ex-President Peron telegraphed encouraging noises to the strikers.

ONE OF THE TWO Communist members of the executive of the AEU lost his seat to a non-Com- munist. The Church Assembly, continuing its meetings, hotly debated the system by which parishioners qualify for inclusion on parish eled- toral rolls. The eighth-century treasure found in the Shetlands during the summer turned out not to be bronze but silver and one of the most im- portant discoveries ever made in Britain. The last Lord Mayor's Show to take place on a working day took the Golden Jubilee of the Territorial Army as its theme.

MR. DONALD CAMPBELL broke his own world water- speed record by averaging 248.62 miles an hour Over Coniston Water. An Australian horse won the Washington International, after a protest against an English-bred American-trained horse' had been upheld, and with the much-fancied Irish 13allYmoss third. Two Soviet horses, their jockeys Wearing blue, also ran. Lock and Statham enjoyed bowling successes in Australia, and E. R. Dexter is likely to fly out to reinforce a team weakened by sickness and injuries. K. Gaily, the long- distance runner, trotting through Bournemouth in a luminous track-suit, was savaged by an owl. The Queen, attending the last performance at Covent Garden of Boris Godimov, had to sit through four-and-a-half hours of singing in Russian. Mme Maria Callas, the soprano, dismissed by the Metropolitan Opera in New York, claimed to have received a telegram from Mr. David Webster, at Covent Garden, saying, 'Come, come, come!'