An American flier will not be freed until “the war” is over and American forces leave Lebanon, Syria’s Defense Minister announced. He confirmed a report that the other American airman in the attack bomber shot down Sunday had died and said his body would be delivered to the American Embassy.
Moscow condemned the American air strikes against Syrian positions in Lebanon, terming them “a serious threat to peace in the Middle East and not only in that region.”
President Reagan attends a National Security Council meeting.
Some Senators expressed fear that President Reagan was leading the country into war. They renewed calls for the removal of American troops from Lebanon. Senator Barry Goldwater said, “the time to withdraw our forces is now.”
George P. Shultz urged Moscow to use its influence with Syria not to widen the conflict in Lebanon. Speaking at a news conference, the Secretary of State said “we will defend ourselves” if attacked again.
No broader American military role in Lebanon or the Middle East is planned by Washington, according to Reagan Administration officials. Rather, they said, American policy remains fixed on efforts to strengthen the Lebanese Government and to convince Syria that Washington is willing to defend its forces.
A car bomb exploded in a crowded quarter of predominantly Muslim West Beirut, killing 14 people, wounding 83 and setting several buildings and 30 cars on fire, the police said. There were no obvious military or political targets in the area.
American intelligence in the Mideast has suffered because of the pullout of Palestinian guerrillas from Beirut last year, according to Reagan Administration officials. They said the C.I.A. had secretly established a large and highly productive network of sources among Palestinian leaders and fighters that it was unable to replace after the pullout.
A warning on arms negotiations was given by the chief of the Soviet general staff. He said that United States efforts to achieve military superiority were moving the negotiations on limiting intercontinental nuclear weapons “in the same direction” as the talks on medium-range weapons that were broken off by the Soviet Union on November 23.
Dutch trains began running normally and garbage collectors began clearing piles of refuse from the streets of Amsterdam as month-long public sector strikes against a wage cut came to an end. The unions had unsuccessfully opposed government plans to cut public sector wages and Social Security payments by 3% in 1984.
The Sandinistas’ conciliatory gestures have been largely superficial moves aimed at improving Nicaragua’s image without substantially changing conditions in the country, according to Nicaraguan domestic critics of the government. In a series of interviews, they said the government had not offered basic concessions.
The attorney general in Grenada’s interim government, Antony Rushford, said that he has resigned and is leaving the island because the governor general, Sir Paul Scoon, is not doing enough to restore constitutional government. “I have never known a situation where a governor general appoints himself savior of his people, calls in foreign armies and then does very little to bring about the restoration of constitutional civil government, which I consider my main task,” said Rushford, a British lawyer and former adviser to the government in London. Scoon appointed Grenada’s interim administration, including Rushford, after the U.S. invasion.
Six Honduran gunboats and three or more aircraft attacked fishing boats off both Nicaraguan coasts and strafed the border port of Potosi, killing at least three people and wounding five, Nicaraguan officials reported. The Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry sent a stiff note of protest to the Honduran government on the attacks, which allegedly occurred Sunday and Monday. El Salvador and Honduras share the Gulf of Fonseca with Nicaragua.
The military ruler of Bangladesh, Lieutenant General Hussain Mohammed Ershad, held out an olive branch to political leaders opposed to his martial law regime, saying he is willing to discuss his controversial timetable for elections. Ershad, alluding to the assassinations of two former Bangladeshi presidents in the nation’s brief 12-year history, said he wished to avoid “further bloodstained transfers of power.” Ershad has scheduled presidential elections for next May, to be followed by parliamentary elections in November. Opponents of his regime want the dates for the elections reversed.
Two armed North Koreans captured over the weekend are agents assigned to a unit that specializes in espionage and sabotage against South Korea, a Seoul official told Parliament today. Deputy Defense Minister Kwon Yong Kak, in a report to the National Defense Committee of Parliament, said the two captured agents belonged to the 313th Liaison Unit of the Liaison Department of the ruling North Korean Workers Party. It is based in Wonsan on North Korea’s east coast, he said.
Mr. Kwon identified the two men as Chon Nam Chun, 27 years old, the leader, and Lee Sang Kyu, 23. They were captured late Saturday near Pusan, South Korea’s second largest city. About 20 minutes later, South Korean Navy and Air Force units sank what they reported to be a North Korean spy boat in waters nearby. The Deputy Defense Minister said the sunken boat was a five-ton vessel that usually carries five men, and South Koreans believed three more North Koreans were killed when the boat went down.
A springtime 1969 accident in a Chinese nuclear weapons factory caused “frightening” radiation danger and prompted the evacuation of more than 20 workers for treatment, the Chinese trade union newspaper Worker’s Daily reported. The disclosure came in an article about Atomic City, a site in the Gobi Desert where China conducts nuclear research and production. The report did not indicate how many workers suffered aftereffects from the accident, or how the mishap occurred. The accident was attributed to a lack of experience among workers and the plant resumed operation after 30 hours of repairs.
Members of the Philippines’ ruling party, the New Society Movement, agreed on a compromise succession proposal that would allow for presidential and vice-presidential elections within 60 days of the death or resignation of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The proposal, passed on a 112-6 vote during a caucus of party members who serve in the National Assembly, will be submitted to voters in a January 7 plebiscite. Under the proposal, the Speaker of the National Assembly would become acting chief executive until elections could be held.
France does not wish to provide a refuge for former Central African dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa and is searching for another country that will accept him, External Relations Minister Claude Cheysson told reporters. Bokassa, 62, flew to Paris on Sunday after being expelled from the Ivory Coast, where he had been living in exile. French paratroopers ousted Bokassa, the self-appointed emperor of the then-Central African Empire (now Central African Republic), in 1979 after he was accused of ordering the massacre of 50 to 100 schoolchildren.
President Reagan meets with representatives of NASA and the European Space Agency to discuss the current spacelab mission. President Reagan and Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany today hailed the flight of the space shuttle Columbia, carrying the European-built Spacelab, as an impressive example of international cooperation and perhaps a major step toward further American-European joint space ventures. The two leaders spoke to the six crewmen of the Columbia and to each other by way of a televised satellite conference hookup, shown at Mission Control here and to reporters at several American embassies in Western Europe. Mr. Reagan, speaking from the White House, opened the ceremonial telecast by saying, “The shuttle is demonstrating that technology can be used to bring people together in a new spirit of enterprise and cooperation.”
The inaugural flight of Spacelab aboard the space shuttle Columbia is highlighted by a wide range of more than 70 experiments. By the mission’s seventh day, scientists predicted that the many types of research scheduled for the 10-day journey would produce significant advances in astronomy, solar physics, atmospheric studies and biology.
Critics of the Administration’s Middle East policy in both parties expressed fears today that President Reagan was leading the country into war. They renewed calls for the removal of American troops from Lebanon. Supporters of Mr. Reagan argued that retaliatory air strikes ordered against Syrian positions over the weekend had been justified, to protect the Marine contingent based at the Beirut airport. But even these supporters worried openly that the intensifying battles in Lebanon could prove politically troublesome for the President and his fellow Republicans. “It makes us nervous,” said a Republican campaign strategist on Capitol Hill. “It’s the uncontrollable nature of the situation. The word is risky. We don’t know how it’s going to be perceived.”
One of the strongest reactions of the day came from Senator Barry Goldwater, Republican of Arizona, who said in a statement, “The latest loss of the lives of U.S. servicemen is an outcome which was predictable, and the time to withdraw our forces is now.” Echoing the views of many lawmakers, Mr. Goldwater added, “There is an increasing danger of our involvement in a major war in that area of the world as a result of our participation, as a superpower, in a peacekeeping effort.” Senator Goldwater’s statement, like many that were issued on Capitol Hill today, repeated previously held views and broke little new ground. But there was a clear increase in concern that President Reagan’s policy was leading the country on an uncertain and potentially dangerous course.
Federal educational assistance to minority and poor children has substantially declined under the Reagan Administration, a House subcommittee said today. The majority report, by the Government Operations Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources, was criticized as biased by 12 of the 14 Republicans on the panel. Under Administration initiatives, money that had been earmarked for several educational programs was folded into block grants in 1981, with responsibility for the grants transferred from the Federal Government to the states. The money available under the block grants was less than the total of the separate programs.
“The subcommittee’s investigation reveals that block grants have reversed 18 years of Federal educational civil rights policies that had been endorsed by every President, regardless of party, since 1965,” said Representative Ted Weiss, Democrat of Manhattan, who is chairman of the subcommittee.
More environmental funds are sought by William P. Ruckelshaus, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to agency officials. They said he sought an operating budget of $1.35 billion in the next fiscal year, about the same as in 1981, which was President Carter’s last budget. They said the request is opposed by David M. Stockman, the federal budget director.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s staff recommended that the undamaged nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reopen at reduced capacity pending an investigation-to be completed in mid-March-of management integrity and falsified records at the troubled power plant. Unit 1 could be ready to start up Feb. 1 at 25% capacity, a spokesman said, and would be monitored 24 hours a day by NRC inspectors. Unit 1 has been closed since the adjacent Unit 2 was crippled in March, 1979, by the nation’s worst commercial nuclear accident.
A draft registration-student aid issue will be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Accepting an appeal by the Reagan Administration, the Justices agreed to decide whether men in college may be constitutionally required to forfeit federal scholarship assistance when they fail to register for a military draft.
The National Unity Party, formed by backers of 1980 independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson, named a national committee and elected Anderson party chairman at a meeting in Washington. William Christopher, a Santa Monica architect, and Richard Sprague, an Oakland occupational therapist, were elected to represent California on the committee. The new party is seeking to qualify for the ballot in a number of states. More than 80,000 California voters must register as party members by early January if the party is to appear on the state ballot.
Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb became the first Southern governor to endorse Ohio Senator John Glenn for the Democratic presidential nomination. “He has the kind of values, compassion, experience, courage of conviction, depth of understanding and independent judgment I would like to see in the next President of the United States,” Robb said. So far, five Democratic governors have backed the front-runner for the nomination, former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, and three, including Robb, have backed Glenn.
Job prospects for June graduates are expected to improve slightly after two of the bleakest years for college graduates in decades, according to three reports on the employment market. But the reports said competition for jobs will be stiff.
A wall of flames 100 feet high roared through a Texas chemical plant, setting off explosions every few minutes and prompting firefighters to evacuate at least 600 persons, officials said. One firefighter was burned fighting the huge blaze at Hi-Port Industries in Highlands, 30 miles east of Houston, the Department of Public Safety said. Several others had to be treated for smoke inhalation. The fire reportedly spread from one tank of volatile liquid to another. Power was knocked out in the area, and more than 100 firefighters were involved in battling the blaze.
A Greyhound striker was run over and killed near Zanesville, Ohio, when a group of pickets swarmed around a bus as it slowed for a stop sign. The bus was being used to train replacement drivers. Authorities said they didn’t know whether the driver would be charged. Witnesses to the incident said the dead man had jumped up, trying to hit the bus’s outside mirror and lost his footing when he came down and fell under the bus.
A federal judge dismissed a scientist’s libel suit against Penthouse magazine after the U.S. government took the rare step of refusing to release documents because of national security. The suit, filed in Boston by James W. Fitzgerald, alleged that a June, 1977, article in Penthouse libelously charged him with espionage. He sought $3 million. The article concerned the alleged training of animals for military and intelligence purposes by the Navy and the CIA.
Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Steve Howe is suspended for 1 year for cocaine use.
The Philadelphia Phillies trade veteran first baseman Tony Perez to Cincinnati for a player to be named later.
NFL Monday Night Football:
Eric Hipple’s 10-yard touchdown pass to the rookie Jeff Chadwick, and two long field goals by Eddie Murray helped give the Lions a 13—2 victory tonight over the Minnesota Vikings. Detroit took sole possession of first place in the National Conference’s Central Division. Detroit (8-6) holds a one-game lead over the Vikings and Green Bay, each 7-7, and needs a victory in either of its remaining two games, against Cincinnati and Tampa Bay, to win the division title. The Lions’ last title of any kind came in 1957 when they won the National Football League’s Western Conference crown and the league championship.
The Lions scored all of their points in the second quarter as Murray kicked field goals of 50 and 42 yards. Detroit’s Billy Sims ran for 137 yards. Midway through the fourth period, Detroit’s defense produced a goal-line stand to stop Minnesota at the 1-yard line. The Lions surrendered the shutout with 2:43 to play when the punter Michael Black ran out of his own end zone for an intentional safety rather than risk a blocked kick. Such a block had produced a touchdown for Minnesota in its 20—17 victory over the Lions last September 25.
Minnesota Vikings 2, Detroit Lions 13
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1270.52 (+5.28).
Born:
Joakim Lindström, Swedish National Team and NHL centre (Olympics, 5th palce, 2018; NHL: Columbus Blue Jackets, Phoenix Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs), in Skelleftea, Sweden.
Kevin Payne, NFL safety (Chicago Bears), in El Dorado, Arkansas.
Marvin White, NFL safety (Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions), in Port Barre, Louisiana.
Died:
Robert Aldrich, 65, American director and producer (“The Dirty Dozen”, “Last Sunset”).
History Diaries 