A fter eight weeks of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, 1,073,000 animals had
been slaughtered, 540,000 awaited slaughter and 419,000 carcasses awaited disposal; there had been 1,344 outbreaks. More than a million sheep and lambs, some starving in mud but trapped on bare pastures by prohibitions on their movement, also awaited slaughter. The government made plans to vaccinate half a million cattle in Cumbria and Devon, but hesitated in the face of opposition from farmers who learnt that their stock and milk would be hard to sell and no compensation was available. Further outbreaks of the disease were found in Northern Ireland. A group of New Zealand scientists said that the most likely origin of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Britain was an African antelope imported for a wildlife park and turned into cattle-feed on its death in the 1970s. Mr Kenneth Clarke was said to be part of a plot to replace Mr William Hague with Mr Michael Portillo as leader of the Conservative party after the election. A fight at a Hindu wedding reception on Easter Sunday at the Coach House pub in Bradford turned into six hours of rioting in which a 100-strong mob smashed pubs, threw petrol bombs, burnt cars and broke windows. An explosion at the Conoco oil refinery at Killingholme, on the Humber in Lincolnshire, was heard eight miles away; the
plant deals with 10 per cent of Britain's oil refming. A bomb containing a pound of high explosive went off on the doorstep of the Royal Mail sorting office at Hendon, in north-west London, at 11.30 p.m. on Easter Saturday; it was said to be the work of the Real IRA. A woman who pursued a white man and woman who stole her handbag near Euston station died after the thieves' car ran over her when she had been shaken from the bonnet; police said that the thieves were known to them as drug addicts. A report by Lord Nolan's committee, commissioned by Cardinal Connac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, recommended that a national database of candidates for the priesthood should be set up to ensure that no one convicted of offences against children be ordained. Harry Secombe, a member of the wireless comedians the Goons, died, aged 79. A sharp fall in the numbers of all 29 types of ladybird was reported.
ISRAEL bombed Syrian positions in Lebanon; it also occupied Palestinian-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip, after Palestinian mortars bombarded the Israeli town of Sederot. Mr Cohn Powell, the American secretary of state, called the Israeli action 'excessive and disproportionate'. After a day the Israeli troops withdrew from the
newly occupied areas. The Chinese allowed the crew of an American spy aeroplane that had crash-landed on Hainan Island to return to the United States; they kept the aeroplane. Mr John Prescott, the deputy Prime Minister of Britain, flew to Washington hoping to 'argue the case' for the Kyoto agreement on climate change, although no talks on the subject with members of the United States administration were scheduled. A Nigerian vessel, the Etireno, said by the international press to be carrying 180 child slave labourers for the cocoa plantations of Ivory Coast, was found, when it docked at Cotonou, the main port of Benin, to have a few dozen migrant workers of all ages aboard. The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association of South Africa mounted a campaign to stop the government importing cheap copies of patented antiAids drugs. The Russian news magazine Itogi and its sister newspaper Sevodnya, both known for their criticism of the rule of President Vladimir Putin, were closed by the government. Joey Ramone, leader of the punk band The Ramones, died, aged 49. The Japanese Imperial Household announced that Princess Masako was 'showing signs of pregnancy' after eight years of marriage to Crown Prince Naruhito; only males can succeed to the throne.
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