T he black newspaper the Voice called for increased use of
police powers to stop and search in order to combat street crime in London, particularly the use of firearms. A judge told Ashley Walters, known as Asher-D in the group So Solid Crew, to expect a jail sentence after he admitted illegal possession of a firearm. A soul singer known as Do'reen ran from Tesco's at Shoreham in Sussex where she had been shoplifting and was killed by cars as she tried to cross the A27. Mr Richard Balfe, a Labour Member of the European Parliament for 22 years, joined the Conservatives. Another civil servant in the press office of the Department of Transport was suspended in the continuing controversy about what Mr Stephen Byers. the Secretary of State for Transport, said and did to whom. Sir Nigel Wicks, the chairman of the committee on standards in public life, hinted before holding an inquiry into relations between ministers, civil servants and special advisers that he might be sympathetic to the idea of an Act of Parliament to regulate the civil service. Postcomm, the postal regulator, showed signs of retreating from its proposal to end the monopoly of Consignia, as the Post Office calls itself, in delivering letters. Postmen decided to accept an improved pay offer instead of going on strike. The
government sold the last of 395 tonnes of gold from British reserves; the World Gold Council said that if Britain had kept the gold, instead of buying curos, dollars and yen, it would be £175 million better off. The Treasury suggested that it might be a good idea if the Accounting Standards Board of the Financial Reporting Council (a body responsible for enforcing accountancy standards) changed a rule known as FRS17, one consequence of which has been the dropping by many employers of final-salary pension schemes. Professor Roy Porter, the historian of madness, died, aged 55. West Sussex County Council is to build a rope-bridge for dormice 18 feet above a new relief road at Haywards Heath; an infra-red camera will monitor how many dormice use it.
AMERICAN conventional ground forces and Afghan troops, in an offensive codenamed Operation Anaconda, moved in on hundreds of Taleban and al-Qa'eda soldiers at Shah-i-Kot in the mountains south of Kabul near Pakistan. Heavy bombing of underground positions preceded the offensive, in which troops from Australia, Canada, Germany, Denmark and Norway also took part. Two American helicopters were shot down with the loss of seven men. Ger many was upset at America for revealing that German special forces were taking part in the offensive: This bit of information from the United States was not necessary.' said Mr Franz Borkenhagen, a defence spokesman. A single Palestinian gunman shot dead ten Israelis and escaped, and a suicide bomber brought the number of Israelis killed to 21 in 24 hours. In response Israel attacked targets in Palestinian territory. On another day a Palestinian man opened fire on a crowded Tel Aviv nightclub, a suicide bomber blew himself up on an Israeli bus, and gunmen ambushed Israeli motorists in the West Bank. Again Israel mounted air strikes, firing missiles at half a dozen targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dozens of people were killed in violence between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Coolum, Queensland, Australia, decided not to do anything like suspending Zimbabwe until after the elections of 9 and 10 March: supporters of the opposition in Zimbabwe and white people prepared in fear for the coming violence. President George Bush of the United States imposed tariffs on imported steel. Switzerland voted by a narrow margin to join the United Nations, with 54 per cent and 12 cantons to 11 in favour. CSH
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