PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
`Gentlemen of the jury, do you find the accused guilty or not guilty?' Four IRA men were shot dead by secu- rity forces near Coalisland while on board a hijacked lorry with a heavy machine-gun mounted on the back. One was Kevin O'Donnell, who was cleared in London a year ago of possession with criminal intent of two AK-47 rifles, found in the boot of the car he was driving. Local nationalists accused the SAS of having shot to kill. Unemployment was found to have risen in January by 122,000; repossessions of homes, too, reached a record 75,500 in 1991, and Ford in Britain announced a record loss of £590 million, but the Conser- vatives remained level with Labour in the polls. Inflation fell sharply from 4.5 per cent to 4.1 per cent. An inquest was held on a watercress farmer who killed his wife and himself, leaving an angry suicide note for Mr Major, because his company was about to collapse. Four City advisers were found guilty of misleading the stock-market over a Blue Arrow rights issue; their £356 million criminal trial set a record for cost. Sir Denis and Mrs Thatcher managed to sell their Barratt home in Dulwich at an estimated profit of almost £200,000. The Government agreed to allocate £121 million from EEC funds to specific projects in British coal- fields. Two men died and three were injured in an underground accident at Wearmouth colliery. The Labour Party drank champagne at a fund-raising dinner costing £500 a ticket. A bill to ban foxhunt- ing was defeated by 12 votes. Sunderland was given City status by the Queen to mark her 40th anniversary as monarch. The Duchess of York was found to have spent some time sitting under a medium's blue plastic pyramid in Islington, north London. Bayer, the German chemicals giant, has paid around £10 million to secure exclusive delivery of a valuable protein (AAT) pro- duced from the milk of a genetically engi- neered Scottish super-sheep called Tracy. Around 3,000 Tracys should be enough to treat the 100,000 sufferers from AAT defi- ciency. The 11th Earl of Southesk, aged 98, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fieldhouse, Commander-in Chief Fleet at the time of the Falklands conflict, 64, the poet George Macbeth, 60, and the novelist Angela Carter, 51, died.
ISRAEL killed the leader of the Hizbollah group, Sheikh Abbas Musawi, and five bodyguards in a helicopter attack on his motorcade in north Lebanon after three Israeli soldiers were killed by Arab terror- ists at an army camp north of Tel Aviv. Hizbollah launched 30 rockets towards Israel's 'security zone' in south Lebanon in retaliation. Iran and Lebanon predicted the fight against Israel would intensify. The UN agreed to send over 11,000 troops to Yugoslavia to help stop fighting. Greece protested over EEC plans to recognise Macedonia, fearing it had territorial ambi- tions. Russia, the Unite States and Ger-
many agreed to set up an international sci- ence centre in Russia to stop former Soviet nuclear scientists from selling their exper- tise to unstable countries. Ukraine was said to have taken control, without permission, of a strategic military unit at Uzin. Karol Lutkowski, the Polish Finance Minister, resigned over the economic crisis in his country. Patrick Buchanan dealt a severe blow to President Bush, obtaining more than 40 per cent of the vote to Bush's 58 per cent in New Hampshire's Republican primary election — the worst result for a president in New Hampshire since 1976. The Democratic primary was won by Paul Tsongas, who polled 34 per cent to William Clinton's 26 per cent. The trial began in New York of John Gotti, alleged Godfa- ther of the Gambino family. More died in clashes between soldiers and fundamental- ist guerrillas in Algiers. Nelson Mandela said the ANC would have to drop its plans for nationalising South African businesses. The National Front did well in local by- elections in Nice. Fighting continued in Somalia despite an agreed ceasefire. Venice agreed on a scheme to protect it from sinking by a barrier across its lagoon. Floods around Los Angeles caused at least eight deaths as cars and caravans were swept out to sea. Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed at least 17 men and then ate bits of them, was jailed for life in Milwaukee, Wis- consin.
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