PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
'Hi, I'm Tony! Think of me as a blue under the bed.'
Some building societies further reduced mortgage rates. A Unionist crowd threw stones and petrol bombs at police in the Ormeau Road in Belfast after an Appren- tice Boys' march was prevented from going through a Catholic area. Mr John Bruton, the Taoiseach of Ireland, was accused of pandering to the Ulster Unionists in his negotiations with the British Government by Mr Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, the political face of the Irish Republi- can Army; Mr Bruton responded by telling Mr Adams that there was a consensus in Ireland against violence. Mr Tony Blair, the Leader of the Opposition, said that it was partly his Christian beliefs that put him against Conservatism. He then said his wife `has no desire to do my job', before flying to America to meet Mr Bill Clinton, the Presi- dent, and his wife Hillary. Left-wing dele- gates to the National Union of Teachers conference defeated proposals to put deci- sions to a ballot of members. A study by the University of Cambridge Local Examina- tions Syndicate found that candidates who would once have failed 0 level English would now be awarded grade C or better in GCSE examinations. Tens of thousands of Underground passengers in London were trapped in tunnels when a sudden power failure halted 350 trains. A private compa- ny is to re-open services on the line from Epping to Ongar in Essex. The Queen and other members of the royal family played some part in rounding up 75 polo ponies that had been turned loose to save them from a stable fire in Windsor. A goose was found dead in St James's Park after Mr Roy Hattersley had taken a dog for a walk there. Bruch's First Violin Concerto head- ed a poll of 80,000 listeners to Classic FM who sent in their favourite compositions. Greer Garson, who starred in Mrs Miniver, died, aged 92.
SOUTH KOREA went onto alert when troops from North Korea repeatedly entered the demilitarised zone established under the armistice signed in 1953 between the two countries; Mr William Perry, the United States Defence Secretary, called it `provocation'. Fifteen thousand people took refuge in the United States embassy compound in Monrovia as fighting in Liberia continued between the militia and the followers of Roosevelt Johnson; 400 people including 38 Lebanese were taken hostage. The United States began evacuat- ing its nationals. The Israeli air force made attacks on southern Lebanon in retaliation for rocket attacks by Islamic extremists on northern Israel. Thousands of Christian Palestinians were excluded from the holy places of Jerusalem over Easter as the West Bank continued to be sealed off. The Bosnian Serbs risked excluding themselves from talks intended to dole out internation- al aid when they refused to hand over pris- oners of war. Eleven thousand Argentine prisoners were involved in violent protest following an insurrection in Sierra Chica jail; 17 hostages were safely freed. French police stormed a prison in Dijon where 300 prisoners were holding out. Ron Brown, the United States Commerce Secretary, was killed in a plane crash during a storm in Croatia; he was 54. Applicants for motorcy- cle licences in Indonesia were required to visit hospitals to see accident victims. A man shot dead nine people preparing for a wedding in Vernon, British Columbia. A volcano on the island of Montserrat erupt- ed again. There were 719 murders in Sao Paolo in March, a record. CSH
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