PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
An IRA bomb at the Carlton club in central London injured 20 people: another at an RAF base in London exploded harmlessly. A former senior officer at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland was jailed for life for helping the IRA to murder a fellow prison officer. A hoaxer threw a fake bomb, with wires protruding, from his car into an army barracks in Kent. Mr John Major, Chancellor of the Exchequer, prop- osed a new European currency based on a unit to be called the ecu, operating along- side other European currencies, but not replacing them. Mrs Thatcher told the Tory Women's Conference that she would never run out of steam, and mentioned plans for private roads, new laws of divorce and a Bill to convert council house rents into mortgages. The press was given 12 months to replace the Press Council with a more effective watchdog. Members of the Prison Officers Association voted for in- dustrial action. An independent report into the death of Stephanie Fox, aged three, in Wandsworth, south London, battered to death by her father, revealed that social workers failed to take her into care even though it was known she had been injured on 30 occasions. The Prince of Wales's estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, bought and
saved the world's finest collection of apple trees in Kent. Britain ,took the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing by a passenger liner with a catamaran owned by Sea Containers; the Americans disputed the record, _claiming that the ship was a ferry and was carrying no passengers. Bernadette, a new musical produced by a former chauffeur, received a rapturous reception from its first-night audience and damning reviews from the critics.
AN EARTHQUAKE in the Caspian re- gion of Iran killed an estimated 48,000 people. The Iranian government said it would accept aid from any country other than South Africa or Israel, but some American relief workers were turned away as they attempted to enter the country to help. President Gorbachev hinted that he might cease to be general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. President Bush was obliged to accept the need for tax increases in spite of his promise of 'no new taxes' two years ago. Mrs Thatcher delayed an attempt by EEC leaders to give f11 billion in cash and credits to the Soviet Union. West Germany decided to give a £1.7 billion loan of its own. Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin border post, was re-
moved. Nicolae Andruta Ceausescu, brother of the executed Rumanian tyrant, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his attempt to stop the popular uprising. Dur- ing his stay in Washington, Nelson Mande- la accepted the gift of a Mercedes, wore a baseball cap and jacket belonging to the New York Yankees, and said the African National Congress was not wedded to socialism. An Israeli naval patrol sank a Palestinian boat off the southern Lebanese coast, killing two gunmen, and four Palestinians were killed in East Jerusalem during rioting. Government troops fought to regain control of eastern Sri Lanka, where Tamil Tiger rebels were said to have massacred 62 Muslims, including children, in one village. Eritrean rebels said that Ethiopian government forces killed 30 Eritreans and wounded 15 while they were watching the World Cup on television. Nearly 250 English soccer hooligans were sent home shortly before England reached the World Cup quarter-finals, beating Bel- gium 1-0. The second Test, against New Zealand at Lord's, was drawn. An Iranian donkey killed its master by biting his throat when he tried to separate it from its mate; and a Florida circus elephant killed his
trainer by sitting on him. SB
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