PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
In South Africa, violence spread to Indian and black townships outside Dur- ban, blacks attacking Indians and blacks. At least 66 deaths were reported, including some black members of the security forces, but no whites. The South African foreign minister, Mr R. F. 'Pik' Botha, met offi- cials from the United States, Great Britain and West Germany in Vienna and Frank- furt and hinted at the possibility of political concessions, including the offer of a com- mon South African citizenship to all re- gardless of race. Returning to Johannes- burg, he seemed to suggest that Mr Nelson Mandela might be released unconditional- ly. In Zimbabwe, restrictions on the opposition Zapu party grew tighter and tighter, but in Uganda the government of Major-General Tito Okello released 1,700 political detainees. The Pope began a tour of Africa in Togo. In the Ivory Coast he opened a cathedral and in Cameroon he made a plea for religious tolerance, thought to be directed at Islamic fun- damentalists. In Japan, a Boeing 747 crashed while on an internal flight, killing all but four of the 524 people on board. Part of its tail had broken off. Evidence started to surface implicating French milit- ary intelligence in the sinking by mines of the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour last month, when one crew member was killed. A car bomb in Beirut killed about 15 people. Toxic gas es- caped from a Union Carbide plant in West Virginia, injuring 135 people. American record companies agreed to print warnings on records with sexually explicit lyrics.
MR ALASDAIR Milne, director-general of the BBC, said that he was in charge of the BBC and that the banned documentary about Northern Ireland would be shown in due course, but not in the autumn, as the BBC governors thought that would be too soon. Martin Galvin, a leader of Noraid, the American group which helps the IRA, attended an IRA funeral in Londonderry despite an exclusion order banning him from the UK. An IRA rally in West Belfast was attended by 116 members of Noraid. The Government considered obliging elected officials in Northern Ireland to disown violence before taking their seats. Trouble broke out on the railways, where 270 guards reacted to BR's attempt to introduce driver-only trains by stopping work, leading to infuriating delays for those hoping, from necessity or sen- timentality, to travel by train. BR threatened to sack the guards: their union threatened a national strike. Mr Ted Knight, leader of Lambeth Council, and four of his colleagues announced that they were to visit Nicaragua, Cuba and the Soviet Union at a cost of £11,000 to their ratepayers. A man accused in court of blinding his own son committed suicide. Five members of a pub domino team disappeared after playing in the final of a dominoes match and were found dead in Leith docks, into which they appeared to have driven while trying to take a short cut. The football season began at Wembley, where Everton beat Manchester United. There was no drinking inside the ground but plenty on the way to it. Peter Dowdes- well, who holds 244 world eating and drinking records, was advised by doctors to rest on his laurels, but said he was going to try to break the world snails record. The newspapers were full of boring stories about the bad weather, which has gone on
Previous page
