PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Mr John Major, the Prime Minister, made a Cabinet reshuffle: Jeremy Hanley became Chairman of the Conservative Party, Employment went to Michael Por- tillo, Education went to Gillian Shephard, Agriculture went to William Waldegrave and Transport went to Brian Mawhinney; Jonathan Aitken became Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Viscount Cranborne became Lord Privy Seal. The Labour Party elected Mr Tony Blair as its new leader. Mr Neil Kinnock, the last leader but one, is to take up a job as one of Britain's two Com- missioners to the European Community at a salary of £140,000; his wife is a European MP. Sir George Young, the Housing Min- ster, said that young, single mothers would no longer have an automatic right to per- manent housing. A baby taken from a Not- tingham hospital at the age of four hours was found in a house nearby 15 days later; she is well. A British couple were under arrest in Rumania, accused of trying to smuggle out a little child for adoption. Mr Dick Spring, the Irish Tanaiste and foreign minister, complained that remarks by Sir Patrick Mayhew, the British Northern Ire- land Secretary, were unhelpful and one- sided after he said that Dublin's constitu- tional claims to the north were a great obstacle to peace. Sinn Fein convened a
conference for Sunday to decide on a response to the Anglo-Irish declaration published last December. Sir George Gar- diner, the Conservative MP for Reigate, became a Catholic. The contents of the traitor Kim Philby's flat in Moscow were auctioned at Sotheby's for £152,628 by his widow. Fourteen witnesses in the trial of policemen accused of changing evidence told an Old Bailey Court that Winston Sil- cott, who is innocent of PC Trevor Blake- lock's murder at Broadwater Farm, did indeed have a leading role in his killing. Only banisters, not solicitors, will continue to wear wigs in court, the Lord Chief Jus- tice said. Railway signalmen held their sixth one-day strike. The Oldie magazine is to close after 65 issues.
HUNDREDS OF thousands of Hutu peo- ple fled Rwanda for Zaire. Most ended up at Goma, in a volcanic region lacking in water and food. The (mainly Tutsi) Rwan- dan Patriotic Front declared itself the vic- tor in the civil war and closed the border near Goma; it appointed an interim gov- ernment with a Hutu president and prime minister. Jordan and Israel had official talks for the first time, in a tent straddling the border. M. Jacques Santer, who was chosen to be new President of the Euro- pean Commission after M. Jean-Luc Dehaene was vetoed by Britain, said in a speech that he had exactly the same opin- ions on European federalism as M. Dehaene. President Mitterrand of France, who is 77, had another operation, following one for cancer of the prostate two years ago. A seven-storey building housing Jew- ish charitable organisations was destroyed by a bomb in Buenos Aires; at least 25 were killed and 100 injured. The Central Intelli- gence Agency of the United States is to be overhauled in an attempt to prevent spying in its ranks. Mr Silvio Berlusconi, the Ital- ian Prime Minister, had a row with his inte- rior minister, and other coalition members, who accused him of improperly issuing a decree freeing officials accused of corrup- tion charges. An Italian woman gave birth through artificial means at the age of 62. Brazil beat Italy in a penalty shoot-out to win the World Cup; civil servants were given a day off. Jean Borotra, the 'Bounc- ing Basque', the champion of Wimbledon in 1924 and 1926, died, aged 95. Jupiter was hit by bits of a comet, the explosions of which produced clouds of dust the size of the Earth. Employees of Melbourne City Council are to be given up to four days' holiday a year to donate sperm.
CSH
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