PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The political row over the NHS intensi- fied. Health ministers will ask the Treasury for more funds on top of the extra £1.1 billion promised for next year. The Prime Minister remained convinced, however, that the problems of the NHS cannot be solved by cash injections alone. Tory 're- bels' continued to make waves for the Government's poll tax proposals. The Civil Aviation Authority gave the Scandinavian airline, SAS, the go-ahead to make a bid for a substantial stake in British Caledo- nian. The Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Whitelaw, was taken to hospital after collapsing from a slight stroke during the parliamentary carol service at St Mar- garet's Church, Westminster. The Japan- ese motor company, Nissan, announced plans to create 1,000 jobs at its plant in the North East. The Test and County Cricket Board ordered Mike Gatting, the English captain, to apologise for bad language used to the Pakistani umpire, who he claimed accused him of cheating. After two days without play the Second Test continued with the England players protesting strong- ly at the Board's instructions. Two armed and dangerous prisoners escaped from a top-security prison in Leicestershire in a
helicopter hijacked by an accomplice. It was announced that Herr Manfred Woer- ner, the West German Defence Minister, is to succeed Lord Carrington as Secretary- General of Nato. The Belgian Prime Minister, Wilfred Martens, resigned after suffering an electoral setback, following new rivalry between French and Flemish speakers. A man arrested in Dortmund in possession of 757 dummies, teething rings and two feeding bottles containing red wine was suspected of being a baby- robber.
THE US trade deficit for October was a record $17.6 billion. Imports of manufac- tured goods had risen dramatically, renew- ing fears of intensified pressures for some form of protectionism in the US Congress. Following the end of the Washington summit between President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev a White House spokes- man announced that there would be a further such meeting in Moscow in the first half of next year. The treaty signed in Washington was well received by Amer- ica's Nato allies in Brussels and the Soviet Union's Warsaw Pact allies in East Berlin. Clashes in the Israeli-occupied territories
between Palestinians and the Jewish au- thorities led to eight deaths in six days of unrest. The Prime Minister of New Zea- land, David Lange, said that the arrival of Major Alain Mafart in France, allegedly for medical treatment, was a 'blatant and outrageous breach' of an agreement be- tween France and New Zealand concern- ing the terms of his imprisonment. Major Mafart was convicted of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985. Meeting in Vienna, all the Opec states — except Iraq — agreed to maintain their crude oil price at $18 a barrel for the first half of next year. Immediately after the meeting the spot price fell below $17. The first Asean summit meeting for ten years opened in Manila. The long and excitable presidential election campaign in South Korea neared its end with opposition politicians com- plaining repeatedly about ballot rigging and pro-government bias on the state- owned television network. It was reported from Iran that the Ayatollah Khomeini was gravely ill in a Teheran hospital. Yascha Heifetz, first recognised as one of the world's foremost violinists at the age of 16, 70 years ago, died in Los Angeles.
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