And all of this is happening before the special prosecutor in the case Kenneth Starr has even

And all of this is happening before the special prosecutor in the case, Kenneth Starr, has even submitted his report to Congress that may or may not provide grounds for impeachment. The report should reach Congress by the end of this month."Clinton finds himself like a character in a horror movie, trapped alone in a room with the walls closing in," remarked Allan Lichtman, a political scientist at the American University in Washington. Then we will balance the budget."Whether it is implemented depends on the fate of Russia's unloved acting premier, Viktor Chernomyrdin, who intensifiedhis election campaign by announcing that he would create "an economic dictatorship".As he laid the plan before the upper house, the Kremlin made a new attempt to secure him in his job by flourishing a power-sharing offer at parliament.Further report, page 13. BILL CLINTON was facing the biggest test of his two-term presidency last night, with both supporters and opponents now speaking openly in Washington about the prospect that the eight-month scandal over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky could finally force him from office.

Even as he wound up his visit to Ireland last night, Mr Clinton's political fortunes appeared to be in meltdown as commentators and fellow politicians digested the shock of a blistering attack in the US Senate by Senator Joseph Lieberman. The proof of the pudding will be in the number of new families approved for adoption and the number of adoption applications.Charlotte Collier is a partner at Atkins Hope. IGNORING BILL Clinton's pleas, delivered in person only three days ago, Russia made clear yesterday it intended to print money to try to avert its hastening economic collapse. By performing all his tunes on a crunchy electric guitar, rather than an acoustic one, though, he seemed keen to subvert the "sensitive- folky" image with which he's been branded.The music is one thing, but Smith the man is another. After "Rose Parade", one fan shouted "I hope you realise that's one of the best songs of the last 20 years!" Clearly embarrassed by this unbridled flattery, Smith eventually mumbled, "well, I'm glad you think so".

This brought out the mothering instincts again, and in a moment redolent of an animation sequence from Ally McBeal, I could easily imagine several doe-eyed girls nearby metamorphosing into big, broody hens.Characters in the city-life cameos Smith has recently taken to writing in Brooklyn bars often sound lost, confused or defeated. "Waltz No.2", a sweetly clunking half-ballad which cleverly referenced The Everly Brothers' "Cathy's Clown" was a case in point, its protagonist "staring into space like a dead china doll". Instead the country will churn out roubles to pay off its debts, before trying to bring the currency back under control by tying it to foreign reserves. When Mr Clinton was in Moscow this week, Boris Yeltsin indicated he might have to make some "tactical adjustments", although the US leader urged him to stick by reforms, and to avoid stoking inflation.Boris Fyodorov, a deputy prime minister, and one of a small coterie of economists heading efforts to salvage Russia from its crisis, made the strategy clear last night: "We will pay just about all the debts that can be paid. Efforts by Washington and the International Monetary Fund to persuade Moscow to pursue tough monetarist remedies appear to have failed. Where so many children need the love and stability that only a family can provide, Mr Boateng's announcement is to be applauded.However, adoption is a service for children and the welfare of the child must come first.A child should be placed for adoption within a family that can meet all their needs.

Usually - for African, Caribbean, French, Irish, or Scottish children, for instance - this means identifying an adoptive family which either shares the child's cultural and ethnic background or which has a lot of experience of such a background and is sensitive to it.The new guidance to end automatic exclusion of some prospective adopters seems to be a move in the right direction. The 1990 guidance was felt to be the same.What remains to be seen is how the guidance will be applied. There are many accounts of prospective adopters who found the selection process bruising and insensitive.Choosing adopters must be done with care and families should not be excluded on ideological grounds. It seems to me that this is where much of the difficulty is encountered. Also, families keen to be approved for adoption will (entirely understandably) present themselves in the best light possible. Given the number of children who need families, any movement towards encouraging more families to offer themselves as carers for these children must be welcomed.Adoption is for life and so the utmost care needs to be exercised by those preparing the guidelines for the selection of adopters and by those who implement the guidelines when they undertake the task of approving families for adoption.

Also, there is a growing number of children in care who have very particular medical needs or who are handicapped. These children can be difficult to place for adoption and often desperately need the love and security that such a placement can provide.In trying to attract suitable families, local authorities need to look as widely as possible. This seems to be close to what Mr Boateng MP restated last week.Any child who cannot be brought up within their natural family needs to have parents who will be extra special. Parents who will help that child understand their past, love that child absolutely and help them achieve their potential.

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