Photograph: President Ronald Reagan with Nancy Reagan and Japanese Emperor Hirohito at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, 9 November 1983.
Backers of Yasser Arafat repelled a three-pronged attack by Syrian-backed Palestinians on the loyalists’ last stronghold in Lebanon. Lebanese leaders and Arab diplomats pressed efforts to arrange a cease-fire, apparently to get Mr. Arafat and his backers away from the densely-populated city of Tripoli, but there was no sign that any agreement had been reached.
Washington urged Mideast nations to halt the fighting between rival Palestinian factions around Tripoli. The State Department said the United States was contributing $1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross for relief work in the port city.
Israel’s decision to speed up Jewish settlement of the occupied West Bank came under sharp attack from scholars and policy-makers at a conference presided over by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford. Carter joined the criticism during the latest session, charging that the settlements have been an important factor in thwarting Mideast peace efforts. Carter and Ford are co-chairmen of the conference, being held at Emory University, Atlanta.
David Kimche, director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, met in Cairo today with Butros Ghali, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, to discuss the faltering relations between the two countries, the Israeli Embassy said. Mr. Kimche is the highest-ranking Israeli to visit Egypt in a year. The embassy said he might also meet with Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali. The massacre of Palestinians by the Lebanese Christian militia that occurred while Israeli forces encircled Beirut has set back relations with Egypt.
Nine Grenadians were appointed to serve as an interim government and to prepare for elections by Sir Paul Scoon, the Governor General. To head what he described as the Advisory Council, Sir Paul announced he had selected Meredith Alister McIntyre, an economist now serving in a high United Nations post.
Thousands of women held a 24-hour vigil at about 100 U.S. bases throughout Britain, demonstrating against plans to deploy American-made cruise missiles in the country. Nine of the protesters were arrested. The first of the cruise missiles are expected to arrive any day at Greenham Common, 50 miles west of London.
Ioannis Alevras, President of the Greek Parliament, refused to visit the Berlin wall during his current official visit to West Germany. A West German Embassy official here said today that the incident constituted the first time that a senior Western politician had refused to do so, and added that his government was “quite displeased.” Mr. Alevras, a senior member of the ruling Socialist Party, is visiting West Germany at the head of a six-member group made up of deputies from all three Greek parties, at the invitation of his West German counterpart.
The international terrorist known as “Carlos” has threatened to kill West German Interior Minister Friedrich Zimmermann if a terrorist suspect is brought to trial in Cologne, security officials reported. They said the threat was made in a letter from Carlos, 33, born in Venezuela as Ilich Ramirez Sanchez. The suspected terrorist is Gabrielle Knocher-Tiedemann, 31, who is serving a 15-year sentence in Switzerland for attempted murder. She was believed to have been a member of a group led by Carlos that attacked oil ministers meeting in Vienna in 1975, but it was not clear what specific charges she faces in West Germany.
Amsterdam brewer Freddie Heineken is kidnapped. Alfred Henry Heineken, multimillionaire chairman of Heineken Breweries and confidant of Dutch royalty, was kidnapped by three men, police in Amsterdam said. Heineken, 60, and his chauffeur were forced into an orange delivery van as they were leaving the company’s headquarters. No shots were fired in the abduction, and the empty van was found a short distance away from the kidnap scene. There was no immediate ransom demand or claim of responsibility for the abduction. Heineken is married and has one daughter.
The United States said it will cut off its 25% contribution to UNESCO’s budget if the organization moves to license journalists or to impose other restrictions on the press. State Department delegate Gregory Newell told the 161-nation conference of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris that the United States opposes a proposal by a loose coalition of Soviet Bloc and Third World countries that would grant governments such power under a “new world information and communication order.”
The State Department confirmed that it has refused permission to three Soviet newsmen based in New York to go to Cleveland to cover the convention of the U.S. Communist Party. A spokeswoman said the action was taken “on a reciprocal basis” because U.S. journalists based in Moscow are restricted to a 25-mile radius of their homes or offices unless given special permission by the Soviet Foreign Ministry. The three represent Pravda, the Communist Party daily, the news agency Tass and Soviet television.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is building up a floating oil stockpile on tankers outside the Persian Gulf in an apparent attempt to minimize the impact of Iranian threats to disrupt shipping in the gulf, industry sources said in Bahrain. Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the gulf if Iraq, its foe in a three-year-old war, attacks Iranian oil installations. The sources said that oil has been loaded at a Saudi port and tankers have carried it through the strait, even though the oil has not been sold.
A top Nicaraguan rebel appealed to Americans to aid his forces in efforts to topple the Sandinista government. But the insurgent leader, Eden Pastora Gomez, in an interview in Manhattan, strongly warned the Reagan Administration against any direct United States military intervention in Nicaragua.
President Reagan arrives in Tokyo on a state visit to Japan. President Reagan and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone of Japan today pledged renewed efforts to solve mutual problems of economic trade and to press further for world peace and arms control. In separate statements issued after private conferences here, the two leaders praised existing relations but promised to work harder on a wide range of problems including high interest rates in the United States and the rebuilding of Japan’s defense structure. “Let us continue to go forward building on our progress step by step,” President Reagan said.
Prime Minister Nakasone, expressing concern that peace “could be gravely threatened,” emphasized the need for “rational dialogue” in the United States arms negotiations with the Soviet Union. Mr. Reagan replied that he would take no negotiating actions on the SS-20 Soviet missiles that might “adversely affect the security of Asia.” The missiles, currently being deployed by the Russians, are of increasing concern here.
The Soviet Government press agency, Tass, said today that President Reagan would seek to strengthen military ties with Japan during his visit. The press agency, in a dispatch from Tokyo, said “the Japanese are seriously concerned over attempts by overseas strategists to turn their country into a Pentagon nuclear missile launching pad.”
An air force colonel said today that he knew the man who the Government says assassinated the opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. It was the first public testimony linking a Philippine military officer to the reputed assassin, Rolando Galman, who was shot dead by soldiers moments after the August 21 assassination at the Manila airport. The officer, Colonel Arturo Custodio, 41 years old, said he went out drinking with Mr. Galman less than a month before the Aquino slaying. He told a government investigating commission that Mr. Galman told him then that he “had important work.” Colonel Custodio quoted Mr. Galman as telling him: “I have something important to follow up. My group instructed me.” He said Mr. Galman refused to say what the important mission was or to what group he was referring.
The official Angolan press agency said today that all 126 people, most of them civilian passengers, died aboard an Angolan Boeing 737 that crashed Tuesday on takeoff at Lubango Airport. Reports on Tuesday said as many as 150 people died. The Angolan agency said the dead included five crew members, two children and two army officers. It denied earlier reports that the plane was carrying army recruits. It quoted an Angolan Airline statement as saying that the cause of the crash was being investigated and all clues indicated it was the result of technical failures. The crash occurred as the plane took off for Luanda. No foreigners were reported aboard the aircraft, which came down about 900 yards from the end of the runway.
Subsidies for not producing milk would be received by farmers for the first time under a bill pushed through the House by members from states with large dairy farms. The measure was approved 325 to 91. A similar bill has been passed by the Senate. The House minority leader, Robert H. Michel of Illinois, implied that President Reagan might veto the controversial measure.
President Reagan’s dismissal of three members of the six-member United States Commission on Civil Rights prompted the House to deny funds for continued operation of the agency. The vote of 235 to 170 cleared the way for the legislators to establish a new civil rights monitoring agency as an arm of Congress instead of the executive branch.
A failure to enforce antitrust laws and consumer protection statutes is costing American consumers many billions of dollars a year, according to Congressional testimony by spokesmen for chain discount stores and small retail concerns. The Reagan Administration accused the businesses of running to the government for help rather than using the courts to defend themselves.
W. Wilson Goode’s stunning victory in becoming the first black Mayor of Philadelphia reflects dramatic changes in the nation’s fourth largest city. A decade ago, white Philadelphians poured out to help elect Frank L. Rizzo, a law-and-order Mayor, and entered eight years so marked by racial tension that in 1979 the city welcomed William J. Green, who ran as a healer. Knowledgeable Philadelphians attribute the change to demographics, economics and a new mood of pride and hope.
The easy victory of Daniel J. Evans to the Senate seat he held by appointment for two months reinforced Republican control of the chamber against a Democratic election drive next year. Washington state voters gave former Governor Evans 56.8 percent of the vote.
Initial viewing of videotape recordings from security cameras failed to produce any substantial leads as to who planted the bomb that exploded outside the Senate chamber Monday night, investigators said. FBI technicians plan to clean and enhance the images on the tape, but no results are expected before next week. Although the tapes show persons walking around the area where the bomb exploded, “they don’t show anybody who planted anything,” one official said. “There’s nothing of a substantial nature found yet.” Meanwhile, an official of the Federal Protective Service said security was being tightened at all federal buildings in the Washington area.
Ignoring a threatened veto, the House approved a Senate-passed compromise to pay farmers not to produce milk. The bill would pay. farmers nearly 80% of full price for milk they do not produce, reduce dairy-price supports by 50 cents and collect money to promote dairy products. Earlier, the House rejected an Administration-backed plan offered by Rep. Barber B. Conable Jr. (R-New York) that simply would have cut the support price by up to $1.50. The congressman said President Reagan will veto “anything but the Conable amendment.”
Former CIA agent Edwin P. Wilson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for trying to kill two prosecutors, five government witnesses and a business associate. U.S. District Judge Edward Weinfeld in New York also fined Wilson $75,000. Wilson previously was sentenced to 17 years in prison for selling explosives to Libya, and is to be resentenced for selling weapons to a Libyan intelligence officer.
A jury found Henry Lee Lucas guilty today of murdering his 15-year-old common-law wife in the second conviction arising from his assertion that he had killed about 165 people around the country. The verdict came just hours after Mr. Lucas tearfully testified that he stabbed the woman, Frieda Powell, with a butcher’s knife in a quarrel, then sat next to her corpse and “talked to her about trying to figure out what to do with her body.” He said he then dismembered the body because “it was the only thing I could think of.” “I’m not going to deny I’m responsible for taking her life,” said Mr. Lucas, 47 years old, wiping away tears. The seven-man, five-woman jury took two hours to reach a verdict.
NBC-TV announced that it will cancel its “NBC News Overnight” program effective December 2 because the show does not have sufficient advertising revenues to keep it on the air. The one-hour program. co-anchored by Linda Ellerbee and William Schechner, began a little more than a year ago.
The U.S. Postal Service, which wants to raise the cost of mailing letters and packages next year, is paying nearly $48,000 a month to lease and operate a seven-passenger private jet to fly its executives around the country. The arrangement was criticized today by Senator William V. Roth Jr., Republican of Delaware, chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, but defended by a Postal Service official as an efficient management tool. “Whatever the merits of the Postal Service’s recent request for an increase in postage rates, I find it very disturbing that an expensive lease on a private jet for the exclusive use of agency officials was even under serious consideration, much less approved,” Senator Roth said.
Oregon filed suit challenging the legal existence of Rajneeshpuram, a city formed by followers of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer had said he would take action on grounds that creation of the city violated the required separation of church and state under the Oregon and U.S. constitutions. The suit, filed in Wasco County Circuit Court, seeks to block Rajneeshpuram from performing legal functions and to permanently end state financial aid to the city. Aid has been temporarily cut off pending resolution of the city’s legal disputes.
A former Indian leader who became a fugitive last year after being convicted of racketeering and embezzlement was captured this afternoon in Canada, Federal officials here said. Robert Satiacum, 54 years old, former chairman of the Puyallup Indian tribe, was apparently alone and unarmed when Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested him after a chase of three to four miles near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, said United States Marshal Gene Corr. Mr. Satiacum was a leading figure in the Indian fishing-rights protests of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He was convicted last November of misusing tribal health funds and attempting to gain control of competing businesses through arson, attempted murder and other forms of racketeering.
A new view of the universe has been opened by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, revealing swirling cirrus clouds of dust, galaxies of a previously unsuspected nature and a gigantic dust ring beyond the orbit of Mars, possibly produced by recurring asteroid collisions.
NASA’s newest space shuttle, Discovery, flies on her 747 carrier from Vandenberg Air Force Base to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A snowstorm that set records in the Rockies dumped snow and rain on the upper Midwest as the weather-related death count climbed to four. The storm, which dropped almost two feet of snow in parts of the Rockies, spread about six inches in areas from western Kansas across parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and upper Michigan. Earlier, in Casper, Wyoming, the storm dropped a record 14.3 inches of snow in a 24-hour period. Twenty inches fell at the Alta ski resort east of Salt Lake City, and temperatures dropped below zero in the Laramie River Basin of Colorado.
University of Alabama first baseman Dave Magadan, who led the NCAA with a .535 batting average last season, wins the Golden Spike Award as the outstanding amateur baseball player in the United States.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1232.51 (+17.58).
Born:
Tony Barnette, MLB pitcher (Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs), in Anchorage, Alaska.
Ko Simpson, NFL safety (Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions), in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Joe Klopfenstein, NFL tight end (St. Louis Rams, Buffalo Bills), in Denver, Colorado.
Daniel Federkeil, Canadian NFL tackle (Indianapolis Colts), in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.
History Diaries 