December 18, 1992

Carla A. Hills, the only economic official in President Bush's Cabinet to emerge with an enhanced reputation, has helped to forge more than four dozen free-trade agreements during nearly four years as the United States trade representative. "You look at the economic achievements of the Bush Administration, and most of them lie on her doorstep," said Jeffrey J. Schott, a trade policy expert at the Institute for International Economics here.

``Babes in Toyland'' meets ``Dr. Strangelove.'' Dazzling mess.

After more than 18 months of racial and ethnic unrest, Jews and blacks joined hands last night in an emotional session at Harlem's historic Apollo Theater to recall their past alliances and pray for future healing. The reason for the gathering was the showing of a documentary on the black soldiers who liberated Jews from Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II. But the real drama occurred on the great stage of the Apollo after the house lights came up and Jews and blacks hugged, wept, held hands and vowed to put their differences behind them. Jackson and Dinkins Speak It was an emotional catharsis that included the singing of "We Shall Overcome," personal reminiscences from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Mayor David N. Dinkins's quoting the great Talmudic sage Hillel.

"LUNCH and dinner in New York City for $50 a day?" sniggered a seasoned veteran of Manhattan restaurants. "Is that sitting down?" A wisecrack like that would have been justified five or six years ago, before a recession, evolving dining habits and changing demographics opened a trap door in dining rooms through which customers disappeared at alarming rates.

Buses filled with nearly 400 bound and blindfolded Palestinians crossed the border into Lebanon tonight as Israeli troops carried out mass expulsions ordered by the Government and sanctioned by Israel's Supreme Court after a day of legal arguments and rancor. There had not been deportations of Palestinians on anything approaching this scale since the period soon after Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War.