People: Jogging Yasser loves taking the Mickey

THE PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, who decided yesterday to allow Palestinians to attend the delayed Middle East peace talks has, his wife reveals, a lighter side. Suha Arafat, 29, confided that Mr Arafat is devoted to Mickey Mouse, jogging and chess. He 'always finds the time to read, loves to play sports, often jogs and is a good chess player as well.' And just how does he manage to find the time? 'He only sleeps three to five hours a day,' she said.

The leader of America's Nation of Islam black Muslim group, Louis Farrakhan, who is accused by Jewish leaders of being violently anti- Semitic, has been playing Mendelssohn to try to lay the accusation to rest. Mr Farrakhan, who studied the violin as a child, played Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto at a festival celebrating black musicians' roles in classical music. Mr Farrakhan said he was 'in love with' the work of Mendelssohn, whose parents converted from Judaism to Christianity. His performance, he said, proved he was not anti-Semitic: it made a statement 'bigger than words'.

Seiroku Kajiyama, Japan's former Justice Minister, now a leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has been philosophising again. He was the one who affronted the US by saying foreign prostitutes in Japan, like blacks in the US, 'ruin the atmosphere'. He told his party that Japanese should have at least three children to preserve the 'competitive spirit' in a market economy. Large families, said Mr Kajiyama - the youngest of 10 children - fostered a spirit of competition among children, particularly at meal times, when they fight over food.

The former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos is being courted by an American lawyer, James Paul Linn. Her spokesman would not confirm or deny a report in the Manila Bulletin that she was to marry, but said he was not surprised at the report, which said the lawyer was a constant visitor to the Manila hotel where Mrs Marcos lives.

It was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' first interview in three decades. The former First Lady spoke only of her publishing career. Mrs Onassis, 63, talked to Publishers Weekly about her 15 years as an editor at Doubleday. She came to publishing for 'obvious reasons - I'd majored in literature. I had many friends in publishing. I love books, I've known writers all my life.' Mrs Onassis edited Bill Moyers' Healing and the Mind, a bestseller, and Michael Jackson's autobiography, Moonwalk.