The Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Portillo, suggested yesterday that Russia may drop its threat to Action expel the diplomats. "We hope that continuing discussions will produce an amicable conclusion to this regrettable incident," he said. Moscow's hardline Federal Security Service yesterday appeared to back off a demand htm that nine British diplomats be expelled for running a spying operation, but it insisted some officials would have to go. The softening of tone came as the British ambassador to Moscow, Sir Action Andrew Wood, met Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei fundraising Krylov, htm in a further attempt at compromise in a row which is both about espionage and the delicate task of saving face. Nine fundraising htm other votes were not recorded and two lone legislators from a info Christian party which wanted abortion outlawed, voted against.A deal had to be in place by a deadline of today, a day before the second anniversary of Mr Mandela's inauguration.. Mr Forsyth had been right to fly the Union Jack and "not to peddle this pathetic, multi-starred yellow flag", he said.Mr fundraising Rifkind replied: "It has, in fact, been the policy throughout the UK not to fly the EU flag Action from public buildings. But NP sources said the info party might now quit the info Action coalition government, as it felt its voice was ignored."There is a very strong sentiment in the party that the time has come to pull out of the government of national info unity," one senior NP source said.Inkatha's 48 members htm of parliament were nowhere to be seen during the vote.The 10 members of the right-wing Freedom Front, whose dreams of a separate white homeland have faded, abstained. It replaces the two-year transitional document fundraising htm and will be phased in by 1999, when new elections will choose the first majority-rule government.The ANC heads a government of national unity with the NP fundraising and the Zulu-led Inkatha Freedom Party, which boycotted the constitutional talks and yesterday's historic session of parliament.Deputy President FW de Klerk, South Africa's last white leader, who shared a Nobel peace prize with info Action Mr Mandela, said the constitution was flawed.The NP chief said his support was motivated partly by the fact that a "no" vote would have forced South Africa into "an inevitably confrontational referendum [that] could damage the interests of our country irreparably".

"Never again shall the laws of our land rend our people apart, or legalise their oppression and repression. Together we shall march, hand in hand, to a brighter future."The last-minute accord saved the country from a divisive referendum at a time when the economy is under pressure and political killings in the Zulu heartland have delayed local elections there.The majority ANC and the white-led National Party (NP) clinched their deal after reaching compromises on the right to single-language education, branded an apartheid hangover by the ANC, property rights and employer lock-outs.The new constitution was opposed by only two votes, although others abstained. Members of both houses of the first all-race parliament, gathered together as the special Constitutional Assembly approved the new constitution by a sweeping majority following an 11th-hour deal to bury remaining differences. "And so it has come to pass that South Africa today undergoes her rebirth, cleansed of a horrible past, matured from a tentative beginning and reaching out to the future with confidence," Mr Mandela told the assembly in Cape Town."This is our national soul, our compact with one another as citizens," the ANC leader said. Police chiefs yesterday called on doctors to play a part in the tougher vetting of firearms users to stem Britain's growing "gun culture". While rejecting psychological profiling as "ineffective", the Association of Chief Police Officers said GPs should have to fill in questionnaires aimed at revealing anything in an applicant's mental or physical health history which may make them unsuitable gun owners. People wanting a gun licence should also have to advertise their application in local newspapers.Jim Sharples, Chief Constable of Merseyside and association president, in evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee which is examining gun law in the wake of the Dunblane massacre - said police needed wider powers to turn down licence applications.The medical profession has already rejected the suggestion GPs should judge patients or breach confidentiality.. Cape Town - South Africa adopted a permanent post-apartheid constitution yesterday, putting aside divisions between black and white-led parties for what President Nelson Mandela called the nation's rebirth from a horrible past. "If it came to my attention that that was the case I would take an extremely serious view of it and expect the ombudsman to bring it to my attention."He said Mr Howard changes were mere clarification of what had always been government intention ever since an ombudsman for prisoners was first recommended by Lord Woolf in his inquiry into the 1989 Strangeways riots.After the hearing Sir Peter said that despite losing his powers he had no intention of resigning "at this stage"."It is important for both my staff and the work they are doing and particularly for the prisoners that we do the best we can for them.".

In about 10 per cent of cases, Prison Service papers take a month or more to reach him, making the system too bureaucratic for short-term prisoners, remand inmates and young offenders, he said.But Richard Wilson, permanent secretary at the Home Office, denied that there had been any "hanky panky" or "obstruction" with the work of the prisons ombudsman. It affects not only my status but the status of other ombudsmen," he said.He said the cases affected by the changes would be small - up to 6 per cent of its 1,800 a year - but the most important ones, often relating to the more vulnerable inmates.He said the erosion of his rights to examine documentation would legitimise what he suspected had already happened in some cases - that files had been "weeded" before submission to him, although he had no proof He also complained of delay in getting access to papers. Britain's first prisons ombudsman has been so stripped of power and independence by Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, that he should no longer carry the misleading title, angry MPs said yesterday. An influential all-party Commons committee rounded on Mr Howard saying that prisoners and the public were being fooled into thinking the man who investigates injustice in the country's 136 jails has greater effectiveness than he has. "From what we have heard he is not an ombudsman."He is a complaints investigator who does as much as the Home Office allows him to do," said Michael Lord, Conservative MP for Suffolk Central.MPs were attacking Mr Howard's decision on Tuesday to impose three restraints on Vice Admiral Sir Peter Woodhead's powers to investigate inmates' grievances: they restrict his access to documents making him dependent on what the Prison Service chooses to hand over; it removes his right to investigate or even check any decisions by ministers or advice to ministers; and it requires him to provide draft reports for Prison Service checking before publication.Sir Peter, who took up his post in April 1994, had told the Select Committee on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration that he was greatly concerned and disappointed by the changes, which further eroded his already "flaky" independence."The terms of reference, in my opinion, give too much control to the very organisation which is under scrutiny," Sir Peter told the committee."I think it is very important that I am seen to have that level of independence that gives me credibility with all parties. Not so the insult dished out by his Minister of State, David Davis, to the Labour spokesman Robin Cook. Rejecting a charge that the Conservatives face two ways on Europe, Mr Davis replied: "...looking at the honourable member for Livingston, if he had two faces, he wouldn't use the one he's got."Mr Cook may be a bit Puckish, but the personal jibe and the groans which greeted it only confirmed Mr Davis's reputation as an occasionally inept Commons performer.. Therefore the policy enunciated by Mr Forsyth was fully consistent with policy pursued by many years."With pro-European Tories finding new voice, Tim Devlin, MP for Stockton South, said there was a large community of nations queuing up to join the EU and "who look forward to the pleasure of flying a blue flag with golden stars on it".Repeatedly challenged by Labour to make clear whether the Cabinet agreed with the sceptic or the pro-European wing of the Conservative Party, Mr Rifkind hit back: "The Government's view on the EU is consistent with the views of the British public."Labour MPs jeered, but the Foreign Secretary's sharp response was appreciated on both sides of the House.