PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, went to Washington, where he called Presi- dent Bill Clinton of the United States `someone I can trust, someone I can rely on, someone I am proud to call not just a colleague but a friend'. Mr Blair also said that he would back Mr Clinton in any war against Iraq, and suddenly announced that Mr Bob Hope, the singer, was going to be knighted. Republicans murdered two men in Northern Ireland within 24 hours; a loy- alist also escaped unhurt when a masked gunman opened fire on him. One hundred and fifty-five German economics professors wrote to the Financial Times (and the Frankfurter Allgemeine) urging the post- ponement of a common European curren- cy, saying economic conditions are 'most unsuitable'. Lord Neill, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said that political donations of more than £1,000 ought to be declared. Privatised monopolist train-operating companies were given twice as many reprimands for failing to provide good services in the past ten months as in their first year of existence. The Bath and England rugby prop Kevin Yates was found guilty by the Rugby Foot- ball Union of biting an opponent's ear dur- ing a London Scottish and Bath match in January. The Prince of Wales visited Nepal and Bhutan, where he spoke to King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, who is married to four sisters. Enoch Powell, the brilliant outsider of Conservative politics, died, aged 85. Headline inflation fell by 0.3 of a percentage point to 3.3 per cent; the so-called underly- ing rate fell to 2.5 per cent. Unemployment fell by 12,300 to 1,398,500. A self-styled anarchist pop singer drew attention to him- self by pouring a bucket of water over Mr John Prescott, the Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions.
PRESIDENT CLINTON, on being asked at what point he might consider resigning, said: 'Never. I would never walk away from the people of this country and the trust they've placed in me.' He was being ques- tioned during further scandal concerning his alleged sexual misconduct with an accuser, Miss Monica Lewinsky, who also claims that he was responsible for encour- aging her to lie on oath. Mr Clinton also made it clear that he was anxious to attack Iraq: 'Saddam Hussein must know that we are determined to prevent him from threat- ening his neighbours and the world with weapons of mass destruction.' President Boris Yeltsin of Russia met Pope John Paul during a visit to Italy. Between 2,000 and 5,000 people were killed when a powerful earthquake struck northern Afghanistan, which is isolated from relief by mountains, snow and the civil war. Nigerian troops, ostensibly acting as peacekeepers, bom- barded Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, in the vanguard of the army of Pres- ident Ahmed Tejan Kabbah which seeks to recapture power from the junta led by Lieutenant-Colonel Johnny Koroma. The French Prefect of Corsica was shot dead by Corsican nationalists. A member of the Kuwaiti royal family was stabbed in the stomach during a brawl at a hotel bar in Jakarta. Rioters angry over soaring food prices smashed windows of Chinese-owned shops in the Indonesian provincial town of Ende on Flores island. Officials from Hong Kong tested the blood of 38,000 live chick- ens in China before allowing the resump- tion of imports. Maurice Schumann, the former French foreign minister, died aged 86. Police in Cologne confiscated a carnival mask depicting Hitler from a shop window; they said they suspected it had been made
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