Portrait of the week
rr wo thousand five hundred miles south- '. west of Anchorage, Alaska, a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747, having strayed from its flight path to Seoul, was intercepted by Russian Sukhoi SU-15 fighters and shot down over the Sea of Okhotsk. There were 269 people on board, and all were killed. Russia took several days to admit that prders had been given 'to stop the flight': it was said first that warning shots had been fired near the aeroplane, which was not showing any navigation lights; that it had deliberately invaded Russian air space; also that the 747 had been mistaken for a US air force RC-135 reconnaissance plane, a much smaller converted Boeing 707 which had been near the Kamchatka peninsula at the relevant time. President Reagan interrupted his holiday to consider how to deal with 'this murderous terrorist act': he demanded reparations but announced no more than minor sanctions against Russia, hoping that the nuclear arms limitation talks in Geneva would not be interrupted. The visit of the Russian foreign minister, Mr Gromyko, to Paris was postponed but he went to the European security conference in Madrid where he was expected to meet the US Secretary of State, Mr Shultz. The state of Ohio banned the sale of Russian vodka, and Canada suspended all Aeroflot flights for two months. An Aeroflot aircraft crash- ed in Kazakhstan, killing everyone on board.
At the TUC's annual congress in Blackpool, the Russian trade union observers were allowed to observe as usual, but a statement was issued deploring Russia's destruction of the Korean aeroplane. Mr Scargill, the miners' leader, fresh from his trip to Moscow last week, went so far as to regret the loss of life. He also regretted the TUC's decision to talk to Mr Tebbit about the Government's legisla- tion to reform the unions. The TUC chair- man, Mr Frank Chapple, commenting on the candidates for the Labour Party leader- ship, described Mr Hattersley as 'a disaster' and 'an embarrassment', and Mr Len Mur- ray advised them all to stay away from Blackpool. However, Mr Hattersley, Mr Shore and Mr Kinnock duly turned up. Sir Robin Day apologised to Mr Foot for hav- ing disclosed that he (Mr Foot) had said privately that Mrs Thatcher was right to order the sinking of the General Belgrano during the Falklands war last year. Mr 'Bob' Reid was appointed to succeed Sir Peter Parker as chairman of British Rail, and John Gilpin died at 53. The creditors of Mr William Stern, the property dealer who went bankrupt with debts of £148 million, were told that they could expect to be repaid at the rate of 0.0018 pence in the pound.
Mr Begin continued to postpone his, resignation as prime minister 0,1 Israel, as his nominated successor, Mr it zhak Shamir, appeared to be having trouble holding together the coalition government: Mr Shamir, the former terrorist leader of the Stern Gang, which murdered Lord Moyne in Cairo, defeated the Moroccan' born deputy prime minister, David LevY, for Mr Begin's job. The Israel Defence Force's withdrawal of troops and armour, from the Chouf mountains to the river south of Beirut was followed In' evitably by renewed fighting between Drul.e, and Christian militias. Israel warned that would retaliate if Syria extended its contt0,1 in Lebanon, and indiscriminate shelling I° and around Beirut caused the deaths of tsy° US Marines. In Sind province, Pakistan, several policemen were shot in riots agaInsAt President Zia's government, which blame° Jews and foreigners for the disturbances. In Zimbabwe, six white airforce officers, be ing been acquitted of charges of treason hY Harare High Court, were rearrested and d!. tamed again for an indefinite period. OA Mississippi, Jimmy Lee Gray was execute° in the state penitentiary's gas chamber' seven years after his conviction for murder' ing a three-year-old girl. The British yacht Victory '83 was beaten 4-1 by Australia II in the series of races 1,0 decide the challenger for the America s Cup, due to begin next week. A gypsy tune teller, Mrs Rose Stevenson (a" Madame Rose), was imprisoned for tvy° years for obtaining £900 by deception. She had taken £400 off one man after telling him that the evil spirits which were respow sible for his impotence could only be banished it' he parted with the money,: which she had washed in holy water. I" unexploded mortar bomb was found in B stream on the Balmoral estate; and s 15-year-old girl who won a cricket essr.° competition at school was admitted to we pavilion at Lord's to watch Somerset be
'I'm perfectly happy with junk food.'
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