PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The divided society Mr Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the political face of the Irish Republi- can Army, said that he was in 'absolute and implacable' opposition to elections for a convention in Northern Ireland. The con- vention was the idea of Mr John Major, the Prime Minister, in his response to the Mitchell committee's report on getting rid of terrorist arms in Northern Ireland; it is meant to choose negotiators from among its members to settle the future of the province. Mr Adams also said that he was holding out a hand of friendship to Mr Major, which for the time being was taken by the Secretary of State for Northern Ire- land, Sir Patrick Mayhew, at a meeting intended to persuade Mr Adams of the merits of the elections; Mr Major himself tried to persuade the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Mr John Hume, of the same thing. Gino Gallagher, a leader of the Irish National Liberation Army, was shot dead in a dole office in Belfast. Mr Michael Howard is to propose mandatory sentences for some crimes in a White Paper. The Leader of the Opposi- tion, Mr Tony Blair, came up with some new ideas about education, proposing some kind of accelerated tuition for clever chil- dren in comprehensive schools. Mr Kevin Maxwell and Mr Larry Trachtenberg face more charges concerning their business dealings; they had both been utterly cleared
on some fraud and conspiracy charges that took 131 days to hear. Three British sol- diers undertaking peace-keeping duties in Bosnia were killed when their vehicle hit a mine. Barbara Skelton, once the wife of Cyril Connolly and Lord Weidenfeld, and the lover of many others, died, aged 79. Someone claimed to have recorded a con- versation made by the Duke of Edinburgh on a mobile telephone. A survey found two thirds of adults could not spell 'accommo- dation'. Six 20-ton sperm whales beached themselves and died at Buchan. Live crus- taceans and molluscs on their way to mar- ket in Britain were said to come under European Community rules prescribing `rest periods' for them.
HILLARY CLINTON, the wife of the President of the United States, spent four and a half hours giving evidence in camera to a grand jury investigating the Whitewa- ter property company that failed. The Unit- ed States is to lend Russia $9 billion. New allegations were made public against Presi- dent Ernesto Samper of Colombia linking him financially to cocaine traffickers. There was a coup in Nigeria. More reports from Sierra Leone publicised the thousands of killings and mutilations that have been per- petrated during the civil war there. Red Cross officials said that half a million peo- ple in North Korea were entirely depen-
dent on foreign food aid. The United States mediated when Greek and Turkish forces occupied disputed though uninhabited islands in the Aegean. The Philippines and China exchanged fire at sea. India and Pak- istan blamed one another for fighting which left more than 20 dead in Kashmir. Stu- dents held the ambassadors of the Philip- pines and Pakistan when they occupied the Foreign Ministry in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, as they demonstrated for higher funding. Yemeni tribesmen kidnapped 18 French tourists. France said it would not be carrying out any more nuclear weapon tests at the Pacific atoll of Mururoa. Ethiopia made diplomatic protests to Israel on learning that Israeli hospitals routinely destroyed blood donated by Jews of Ethiopian origin lest they be contaminated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which can cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids). Magic John- son, the American basketball player who announced that he was carrying HIV, has taken up the sport again after five years. La Fenice, the Venice opera house, burnt down. Joseph Brodsky, the Russian poet who was exiled in America, died, aged 55. Harold Brodkey, the American writer, died, aged 65. New York taxi fares will rise in March in exchange for an undertaking from drivers to know the geography of Manhat-
tan and how to speak English. CSH
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