PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
`Trick or treat?'
Mr John Major, the Prime Minister, told the Commons that he had sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions notes of a meeting with someone he took to be a rep- resentative of Mr Mohamed Fayed, the Egyptian businessman. He was answering a question from Sir Peter Tapsell, who asked whether Mr Fayed 'will be prosecuted for attempted blackmail'. Mr Fayed utterly denied suggestions that he had tried to get a Department of Trade report on the Harrods takeover disavowed. The whole episode was inextricably confused by the resignation of Mr Neil Hamilton, the Minister for Corpo- rate Affairs, who had been a guest of Mr Fayed's at the Ritz in Paris. Mr Major had told the Commons that Mr Hamilton's min- isterial activities had been 'disabled' by `unconnected allegations' which he did not specify. Mr Tim Smith, a junior Northern Ireland Minister, resigned after allegations that he had taken money from Mr Fayed to ask questions in the Commons. Mr Major set up a standing committee under Lord Nolan to examine public conduct; it will spend the first six months examining the present imbroglio. Mr Major visited Northern Ire- land and suggested that he might have talks with Sinn Fein before Christmas. Mr Albert Reynolds, the Taoiseach of Ireland, visited him at Chequers and they agreed that it would be best if paramilitaries handed in
their weapons. Mr Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein leader, visited mainland Britain after an exclusion order against him and his colleague, Mr Gerard Adams, was lifted; he said he believed the British Government had a secret aim of seeking a united Ire- land. Two Irish Republican Army members were jailed for 25 years for bombings in north London. Prince Charles would like to change the name of his dynasty to Moun- batten-Windsor, according to extracts from a book about him, which also included title- tattle about his afairs with Mrs Andrew Parker Bowles. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution made 110 recom- mendations, including a reduction of road- building. Mr George Walker, the former boxer, was cleared by a jury of fraud involv- ing £19 million after a four-and-a-half month trial and 40 hours of deliberation. The Right Reverend Michael Turnbull, who has not committed gross indecency for 26 years, was enthroned as the Bishop of Durham. A rail tunnel under construction at Heathrow collapsed, undermining an office block and access roads to the airport.
ISRAEL ANNOUNCED that it was recruiting 19,000 foreign workers to replace Palestinians unable to leave the Gaza Strip and West Bank since they were sealed off following last week's bomb attack in Tel
Aviv. President Bill Clinton of the United States toured the Middle East, including Syria. The Bosnian government said that General Sir Michael Rose, the United Nations commander, should be court-mar- tialled for favouring Serbian forces, but he was confirmed in his post for the duration of his tour of duty. The United States offered to help Russia clear up an oil spillage from a pipeline in the Arctic which was said to be three feet deep, 30 feet wide and seven miles long. The Commonwealth of Independent States announced the establishment of an economic decision-making body in which Russia would command half the votes. A bomb in Sri Lanka killed more than 59, including Gamini Dissanayake, the oppos- ton candidate for president in next month's election. A bridge in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing 32. A South KOreall tenant escaped from the North where he had been held prisoner for 43 years. In Iran 150 writers called for the end of censorship. An Iranian delegation arranged a 24-hour ceasefire in Afghanistan. The Pope pub- lished a book called Crossing the Thresh° , of Hope. Jean Daste, the star of Jean Vig° s film L'Atalante (1934) died, aged 90. 11111 Lancaster the film star died, aged 80. Scien- tists said they had developed a strain of rice which produced a yield of 25 per cent mCSH
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