T he International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium published the draft sequence
of the human genome of which President William Clinton, when it was announced last year, said: 'Today we are learning the language in which God created life': the report revealed that human beings have between 30,000 and 40,000 genes — far fewer than the 100,000 expected by some scientists — and that hundreds of human genes seem to have been acquired from bacteria, Labour tried to give the impression that it would get rid of comprehensive schools if it were re-elected. Underlying inflation fell from 2 per cent to 1.8 per cent, the lowest since the standard of measure came into use in 1976. Those unemployed and claiming benefit fell by 25,500 to 1,004,800. Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was reproached by the European Commission for public-spending plans that would lead to small budget deficits. Mr Peter Mandelson visited newspaper offices and said that he would not mind being a European Commissioner; the next day he expressed surprise on the wireless that newspapers were speculating that he might want to be a European Commissioner. General Sir Charles Guthrie, the Chief of Defence Staff, said that he thought the European Union Rapid Reaction Force
would not be effective in his lifetime; of America's National Missile Defence project he said: 'I have talked to a lot of Americans about this. And they are going to do it.' After a meeting at Cahors with Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, President Jacques Chirac of France said that he had 'tremendous reservations' about the American plan. M. Chirac said he would allow British immigration staff to question suspicious railway passengers while they were still in France. The cost of dealing with asylum-seekers was put by the Home Office at £835 million for the current tax year. The nation was cheered by Miss Ellen MacArthur coming second in a French round-the-world yacht race. Tens of thousands of piglets were found to have died of porcine dermatitis necropathy syndrome and postweaning multisysternic wasting syndrome, both having unknown causes.
MR Arid l Sharon, the newly elected Prime Minister of Israel, set about forming a coalition government including Labour, and so held talks with Mr Ehud Barak, his predecessor. Israeli helicopter gunships killed, by destroying his car with missiles. Massoud Ayyad, a member of the bodyguard unit of Mr Yasser Arafat, the President of the Palestinian entity. The next day a Palestinian drove a bus into a queue of
Israelis at a bus stop, killing eight. President Clinton was persuaded to return to the White House furniture which he had taken with him when he left office; he was also criticised for pardoning Mr Marc Rich, a Belgian-born fugitive financier, who had given lots of money to the Clinton Library. The EU formally censured Ireland for cutting taxes at a time when its economy was overheating and inflation already too high; Mr Charlie McCreevy, the Irish finance minister, called the criticisms "unwarranted and disproportionate'. Mr Josep Pique, the Spanish foreign minister, said that Gibraltar was 'an economic parasite.; a damaged British nuclear submarine, Tireless, is awaiting repairs at Gibraltar. A United States nuclear submarine collided with a Japanese fishing vessel 20 miles south-east of Pearl Harbor, and nine Japanese were lost. China said it would build a 650-mile railway southwards across Tibet to Lhasa; most of the line would be on land above 12,000 feet. An earthquake in El Salvador killed hundreds, a month after one that left a million homeless. Nasa landed a spacecraft the size of a car on a potato-shaped asteroid 21 miles long and 196 million miles away. In Bulgaria a constitutional court ruled that King Simeon II is ineligible to stand in presidential elections.
Previous page
