Sir: As I drove to work at the United Nations this morning (27 June) I heard the arrest of the opposition leader in the former Zaire, Mr Tshisekedi, reported on the radio.

Mexico blocked a Western attempt in a UN-backed forum to launch negotiations towards a global ban on landmines. Western diplomats expressed disappointment over the veto, saying it seemed to break a Mexican government pledge won by US President Bill Clinton last month.

Geneva (Reuters) - Switzerland said it was considering a Zairean rebel request to freeze President Mobutu Sese Seko's assets in the country. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the demand came from the interim public prosecutor in the rebel-held city of Lumumbashi. "This request is now being examined," she said. Switzerland had previously said it wound consider such a request only if it came from the government.

Sir: I am surprised never to have seen in any British media what seems to me the best reason not to vote for John Major.

East Timor accusation

Gavin Green reports from Geneva, the catwalk of car shows, where Mercedes chose its moment to step wildly out of character

There Are three easy ways to impress your friends with your rock'n'roll punditry and precognition. The first is to listen to the Radio 1 breakfast show. If you hear any band names you don't recognise, feel free to quote them whenever someone asks you to predict the next big thing. The second is to watch the ITV Chart Show and repeat the above instructions. The third way is to go to the NME's Brat shows at the London Astoria, or to their touring counterpart, the Bratbus. There are four upcoming bands on each bill, mind, so you have to be selective in your endorsements. Last year's travelling line-up included Heavy Stereo (who have just been dropped by their record company) and Fluffy (we can but hope). But each gig is an early chapter in at least as many success stories.

PACKED LIVES

Mary Shelley liked the theatre. Attending a tacky vaudeville based upon her 1819 novel Frankenstein, her response was typically delight not disdain. She liked spectacle and she liked plot. And so I wonder what she would have made of the poet Liz Lochhead's febrile 1984 psychodrama, Blood and Ice, which in a conventional sense lacks both of those qualities, concentrating instead on weaving a spider's web of connections between Mary's own life and the that of her literary monster.

If the size of the ozone hole over Antarctica is maintained until the middle of next week, it will be another record-setting season, the World Meteorological Organisation said. The hole's advance to a latitude of nearly 50 degrees south for a few days during the past week was "an extremely rare event".

GEORGE ELIOT: A LIFE by Rosemary Ashton, Hamish Hamilton pounds 25

The Roman naturalist Pliny described eclipses as "the most marvellous and indeed portentous occurrence in the whole of our observation of nature". Even a few centuries ago, in the wake of last Saturday's eclipse we would all have spent this week scanning the headlines for signs of catastrophe. As to who would reap the particular whirlwind, eclipses have a long tradition of creating problems for rulers. That this solar eclipse occurred in the 30-degree portion of the sky assigned to Libra, the sign opposing John Major's sun in Aries, would have undoubtedly been remarked upon.

Equestrianism

Four years ago, Phil Collins earned pounds 12.6m. Two years ago, he left his wife and family to go and live near Lake Geneva with a woman half his age. But despite all this, he still calls himself `an ordinary bloke from Hounslow'. In a revealing interview, he talks frankly about money, love and music