PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Leaders of the parties mime their election promises Mr John Major, the Prime Minister, hinted during a visit to Pakistan that he had hopes of persuading his European Union colleagues to allow a two-speed Europe that might allow Britain to opt out of poli- cies it did not like. At the Khyber Pass he was photographed wearing a memorably funny hat. The European Commission said it wanted to take Britain to court over the merger between British Airways and Amer- ican Airlines. Mr Douglas Hogg, the Agri- culture Minister, was threatened with legal action in the European Court after a Euro- pean Parliament report criticised his actions over bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Mr Tony Blair, the Leader of the Opposition, said that the Labour Party when it came to power would immediately stop assisted places at independent schools and at the same time make children do more home- work. The Conservatives immediately said they thought homework even more impor- tant. The Department of Transport is to draw up plans to privatise London Under- ground if the Conservatives form the next government. GEC-Alsthom, the Anglo- French engineers, has paid several million pounds to London Transport as a penalty for a 12-month delay in the delivery of new trains. The Irish Republican Army attacked an unmanned police station in Co. Fer- managh. The Right Reverend David Shep- pard, aged 67, is to retire as Bishop of Liv- erpool at the end of the month. Chester Cathedral continued taking up its sand- stone floor to install heating despite protests that it is of historical importance. A British yachtsman taking part in a round- the-world race, Mr Tony Bullimore, was rescued after spending four days lashed into a makeshift hammock in the upturned hull of his craft in cold seas more than 1,000 miles off Australia. Mr Richard Bran- son failed in his attempt to balloon from Morocco round the world when he was forced to land in the Algerian desert. A woman was drowned at Caversham, Berk- shire, when she fell through ice on the Thames trying to save a dog; the dog sur- vived. Harman Grisewood, the former head of the Third Programme, died, aged 90. Elspeth Huxley, the writer on Kenya, died, aged 89. Diana, Princess of Wales, visited Angola to support the campaign by the Red Cross against anti-personnel mines.
THOUSANDS of Bulgarians demonstrated in Sofia against the Socialist government made up of former communists; in return the government made vague promises of early elections. President Slobodan Milose- vie of Serbia also gave some ground in the face of continued demonstrations in Bel- grade (which attracted more than 300,000 on 14 January, New Year's Day in the Orthodox calendar) and international pres- sure to recognise victories by the opposi- tion coalition, Zajedno, in local elections last November. Thousands rioted in Seoul in protest against removal of security of employment. President Boris Yeltsin of Russia, in hospital with double pneumonia, sent proposals for referendums on unifica- tion 'in some form or another' in a letter to President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. King Hussein of Jordan and Mr Dennis Ross, the American envoy, succeed- ed in their attempts to get Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, to agree to a plan to withdraw troops from the Palestinian city of Hebron; 80 per cent of the territory is to come under Palestinian control in the next week. Armed Islamic militants slit the throats of 14 people in the village of T'Binet south of Algiers and stuck some of their heads on stakes. Sudan lost two towns on the Ethiopian border to rebel forces. A French yachtsman taking part in a round-the-world race, M. Thierry Dubois, was rescued from the sea more than 1,000 miles off Australia. A Swiss, M. Bertrand Piccard, failed in his attempt to balloon round the world when he was forced by kerosene fumes to ditch in the Mediterranean. An American, Mr Steve Fossett, was the next one to try, setting off from St Louis, Missouri. Archaeologists claimed to have discovered remains of Aristotle's Lyceum in Athens. CSH
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