PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
`They say they've been marching here for the past billion years!'
There was rioting in several towns in Northern Ireland after a parade of Orange- men was allowed to march in silence through a Catholic area on the Garvaghy Road on its way back from a church in Drumcree to Portadown. There had been local rioting in the early hours of the morn- ing of the march as police drove local peo- ple away from the road and police barri- cades had prevented them from going to Mass at their parish church on Sunday morning. After the march there was rioting in Belfast and other urban areas; 231 cars were set on fire within 24 hours at Newry, Co. Down, an Orange Hall at Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, was burnt down and a train set on fire at Lurgan, Co. Armagh. There was `compelling evidence' that Mr Neil Hamil- ton, the former MP, sought to conceal cash payments from Mr Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrods, according to the report from Sir Gordon Downey, who also strongly criticised four other former Con- servative MPs. Mr Hamilton then surprised critics by pointing out that he could not resign from the Conservative party since, as a sitting MP, he had not been a member of his constituency association for years. Headline inflation rose to 2.9 per cent, and, before interest rates went up again, the pound reached new heights, fetching more than ten French francs. Shares worth a total of £2 billion have gone unclaimed by cus- tomers of building societies and of Norwich Union when they were floated on the stock market. British Airways and its staff contin- ued to wrangle and flights were cancelled. Dixon's is to take on 3,000 more workers; Allied Domecq 4,000. Buyers competed to buy the last 1,000 Ladas to be produced for the British market; the Russian motor-cars cannot meet new exhaust regulations. The motor-car toll for frequent users of the bridge to Skye is to be reduced from £2.50 to £1.25 through a government subsidy. Three British schoolchildren died when their bus fell into a valley in the French Alps. Pete Sampras won the Wimbledon men's final against Cedric Pioline in 94 minutes, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Mrs Cherie Blair, the Prime Minister's wife, was said to have spent £2,000 for an English hairdresser to attend her during the recent summit in Denver, Colorado.
THE unmanned spaceship Pathfinder land- ed on Mars where a robotic vehicle, Sojourner, crept over the surface at a fifti- eth of a mile an hour taking photographs. A supply ship was sent to the space station Mir orbiting the Earth to help its crew mend a dangerously damaged module. Thousands of people fled from Phnom Penh as the forces of Mr Hun Sen gained the upper hand against his rival joint pre- mier, Prince Norodom Ranariddh; King
Sihanouk, safely in Beijing, appealed for peace. A summit in Madrid of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation resolved to invite Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to join. The Institutional Revolu- tionary Party, which has held power in Mexico since 1929, was defeated in elec- tions and an opposition candidate also became mayor of Mexico City. There were clashes between Muslims and Israeli troops after a poster showing the prophet Mohammed as a pig was pasted up in Hebron. Police stormed the Anglican cathedral in Nairobi and nine people were said to have been killed in demonstrations demanding constitutional reform in Kenya. Moscow police defused a bomb placed inside a gigantic unfinished statue of Peter the Great near the Kremlin; the explosives were said to have been put there by a com- munist group opposed to plans to remove Lenin's body from Red Square. Thirty peo- ple died when a bomb blew up a crowded train in Punjab. Twenty people were killed when a bus ran into a river in northern Iran. James Stewart, the film actor, died, aged 89. Saudi Arabia has arrested 19,700 beggars in the past year, according to Arab News. Gold fell to its lowest for 12 years after it was discovered that Australia had sold two-thirds of its reserves in the past six months.
CSH
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