PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Bedlam Midsummer was celebrated with the now traditional confrontation between the Wiltshire Constabulary and convoys of 'hippies' in the area surrounding Stonehenge. Six British soldiers were mur- dered in an IRA bomb attack in Lisburn, Co Antrim. The soldiers had just finished taking part in 'a charity `fun-run'. Two senior IRA men were convicted at the Central Criminal Court of hiding the largest explosives cache ever found on the British mainland: they were sentenced to a total of 37 years in prison. The Govern- ment again ruled out internment as a possible solution to combat the IRA. Unemployment fell to its lowest level for seven years — belOw 2.5 million. Britain expelled an attaché at the Israeli Embassy as well as an official of the London office of the PLO. The TUC was told by the electricians' union that it would not pull out of no-strike deals, making its split from the Labour movement now inevitable. Mr Peter Clowes, the financier whose invest- ment businesses are under investigation, was arrested and charged with perverting the course of justice. British hooligans attracted the attention and censure of the world's press in scenes of violence at the European football championship: Eng- land's team lost all their matches. England were decisively beaten in the Second Test Match. The English golfer, Nick Faldo, was beaten in a play-off by the American, Curtis Strange, in the US Open Cham- pionship.
AT the annual summit meeting of the seven major industrial nations, debt relief measures aimed chiefly at the countries of sub-Saharan Africa were agreed upon. Meeting in Toronto, the leaders of the West also lauded the new era of reform in the Soviet Union, backed Sir Geoffrey Howe's war against drugs and hijacking and appealed for clemency for the 'Sharpe- ville Six', due to hang in South Africa next month. The Japanese economy expanded at an annual rate of 11.3 per cent in the first three months of the year. The Dalai Lama, exiled leader of the Tibetan people, said for the first time that he would be prepared to recognise China's right to direct Tibet's foreign affairs and maintain some troops on Tibet's soil. President Turgut Ozal of Turkey narrowly escaped death when he was shot in the hand while addressing his party congress in Ankara. American mid-west states prepared to face the worst drought since the dust-bowl days of the 1930s: some blamed the conditions on the 'greenhouse' effect of excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The EEC agreed to ban aerosol sprays, be- lieved to threaten the ozone layer, in their present form within ten years. The British government said that they would cut their sulphur dioxide emissions — thought to be a major cause of 'acid rain' — by 60 per cent by the year 2003. Mr Michael Dukakis angered British Conservative and Unionist MPs by saying that he would support `affirmative action' to favour Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland if he wins the US elections. President Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan decreed that Sharia, the Islamic legal code, would take effect immediately as the supreme law in Pakistan. Lieutenant General Henri Namphy seized power in Haiti declaring himself President, thus returning the country, after only a brief interlude, to military rule. The General broadcast to his people: 'You know how we love our army . . . and you know how the army also loves the Haitian people. You know that General Namphy loves you
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