1. The unbearable ease by which the banks handover huge sums, unbacked by collateral, is in utter contrast to the tremendous difficulty households or small businesses have in extracting credit from the banks, and forget about unsecured credit.

2. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." Images from the day reveal that Mr Arafat was wearing a holster as he made his address though it is not known whether it contained a gun. 4 November, 1'77 Security Council imposes mandatory arms embargo against South Africa 8 May, 1'80 Unicef declares smallpox eradicated three years after the last recorded case 1 January, 1'82 Javier Perez de Cuellar appointed secretary general December, 1'84 UN sets up emergency office to coordinate African famine relief 16 September, 1'87 UNbacked Montreal Protocol on the environment agreed The UN Environment Programme UNEP oversees a landmark agreement to phase out the ozonelayer depleting substances by the year 2000.