U.S.-Soviet contacts remain resilient at nongovernmental levels despite the breakdown of official negotiations in arms control and a decline in cultural exchanges. A broad range of contacts remain, from scholarly exchanges to athletics, and are being increased by American groups. Most people working in joint ventures said in interviews in the last week that the chill in relations that set in four years ago after the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan had impeded contacts. They said the Soviet downing of a South Korean airliner on September 1, killing 269 people, had caused further damage.
U.S. warships off Beirut bombarded Syrian-controlled areas in the hills above the city after two American F-14 fighter jets were shot at by Syrian antiaircraft gunners. An American military spokesman said the F-14’s, flying from the aircraft carrier USS Independence, were on a “tactical air reconnaissance mission.” In Damascus, a Syrian spokesman confirmed that Syrian antiaircraft units had fired on the American planes. He called the subsequent American naval bombardment “part of the framework of the continuous acts of aggression committed by the American forces against our forces in Lebanon.” He offered no information on casualties.
Today’s shelling, combined with renewed Israeli Navy shelling of besieged Palestinian positions in the northern port of Tripoli, and an ambush of an Israeli convoy in Sidon to the south, strained a cease-fire that has been in force since Friday between Lebanon’s warring factions. A spokesman for the 1,800-member United States Marine contingent in the international force here said the cruiser USS Ticonderoga and the guided missile destroyer USS Tattnall opened fire with five-inch guns after the F-14 crews reported that they were under attack.
In northern Lebanon, meanwhile, witnesses said Israeli gunboats shelled Palestinian guerrillas awaiting evacuation with their leader, Yasir Arafat, by five Greek ships expected in Tripoli on Monday. The Palestinians, besieged in the port by anti-Arafat rebels supported by Syria, returned the fire with artillery and rockets. The intention of the Israeli shelling, a Western official in Beirut speculated, may have been to satisfy Israeli public opinion that Mr. Arafat and his 4,000 guerrillas are not being allowed to leave without punishment.
Efforts to resume talks aimed at reconciling Lebanon’s warring factions suffered a setback today when the Foreign Ministers of Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon failed to agree on a date for a second round of negotiations. Some officials here said the lack of visible progress at the meeting had raised questions about whether and how long the cease-fire proclaimed in Lebanon last week would hold. The Foreign Ministers, Abdel Halim Khaddam of Syria, Prince Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Elie Salem of Lebanon met here for more than six hours, and announced tonight that they would meet again in Saudi Arabia in the first week of January. The reconciliation talks, which began in Geneva, have been recessed since November.
Kuwait accused nine Iraqis and three Lebanese, all said to be Shiite Muslims, in the bombing last week of the United States Embassy, the French Embassy and four other targets in the Persian Gulf nation. The authorities said 10 of the accused had been arrested, had confessed, and would be tried immediately.
U.S. intelligence has no firm idea about whom was behind the truck bombings that destroyed the United States Embassy in Beirut seven months ago or the four similar truck bombings in the Middle East since then. State Department officials, meanwhile, said that no new, permanent defenses against a truck-bomb attack had been installed at any United States Embassy, but that various steps were being taken to improve security.
Israel radio reported that President Reagan made a secret agreement to increase U.S. military aid in 1986 after Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s visit to Washington last month. The radio said Reagan added a “secret annex” to Israel’s economic aid request to the United States saying he would “show understanding of Israel’s defense needs and fix appropriate military aid.” In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Anita Stockman denied the report, saying, “There were no secret agreements that were signed while Shamir was here.”
Israel ordered disciplinary action against military personnel found negligent in the truck-bomb explosion last month at an Israeli military compound in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. However, it was not specified what actions might be taken. An inquiry panel, appointed by the Defense Ministry, said that only some of the recommended security measures had been put into effect and that those proved inadequate to prevent the blast, in which 29 Israelis and 32 Lebanese and Palestinians died.
The car-bombing of Harrods in London Saturday that killed 5 people and injured 91 was carried out by members of the Irish Republican Army, the I.R.A. said in Dublin. But the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau said it had not been authorized by the Army Council and that immediate steps had been taken “to ensure that there will be no more repetition of this type of operation again.”
An estimated 100,000 Spaniards marched through the streets of Seville in the third consecutive day of protests by teachers, parents and students against an education reform bill. The Roman Catholic Church and right-wing politicians say the draft law, which is intended to reduce differences between public schools and church-run but state-subsidized private schools, is part of an ideological war against the Catholic hierarchy and its role in education.
Madrid police questioned the owners of the burned-out Alcala 20 discotheque about reports that emergency exits were locked, contributing to the fire that killed at least 79 people. Judge Jacobo Lopez ordered the detention of the four co-owners and the manager of the popular night spot after questioning 21 of the employees and patrons who escaped the blaze. “There are elements that could point to possible negligence, to a crime of omission.” a court source said.
Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party suffered one of its worst postwar election setbacks, losing its majority in Parliament’s powerful House of Representatives. Japan’s ruling conservative party must now seek support from independent conservatives to retain control of the 511-member lower house, which elects the country’s Prime Minister and originates all significant legislation. The results are seen as a serious blow for Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos charged that the Roman Catholic clergy and middle class are plotting to topple his government. Marcos, speaking at the mountain resort of Baguio, said a conspiracy of the “clergy-bourgeois clique” had been discussed in a Communist document that “fell into the hands of government authorities.” The outspoken Catholic primate of the Philippines, Cardinal Jaime Sin, has urged Marcos to begin the process of national reconciliation or face a bloody upheaval, and bankers and businessmen have demonstrated against the regime’s excesses.
The head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, John Ryan, resigned over a training exercise in which agents wearing clown masks terrorized a Melbourne hotel. Armed agents knocked down a door to a 10th-floor room, then rounded up hotel employees and herded them into a kitchen before fleeing. Several of the agents were later arrested by police. Officials said that the agents were practicing the rescue of hostages but that the exercise got out of hand.
An engine on a Northwest Orient DC-10 caught fire as the plane was being started at Winnipeg International Airport today, forcing 280 people to flee the jet, officials said. A spokesman for Transport Canada, Don Beaulieau, said airport workers put out the fire with extinguishers within a few minutes and passengers were taken back to the terminal. They left later on a second flight bound for Minneapolis, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale. Mr. Beaulieu said the cause of the fire was not known, but that it probably broke out as fuel was being injected into the engine. No injuries were reported.
Roberto d’Aubuisson won his party’s nomination for President of El Salvador. He is the leader of the far-right National Republican Alliance, and in his acceptance speech he criticized the United States Embassy for accusing military officers of participating in death squads.
Peru’s justice minister announced his resignation after the accidental police killing of a U.S. nun held hostage by prison inmates during an escape attempt, but President Fernando Belaunde Terry refused to accept it. Belaunde expressed his “full confidence” in Justice Minister Ernesto Alayza and also in Interior Minister Luis Percovich, the state news agency reported. Opposition groups had demanded the resignation of both officials after last week’s police shooting of Irish-born Joan Mary Sawyer, 51, a naturalized U.S. citizen and member of the Missionary Sisters of St. Colomban.
Education Department auditors have challenged the way federal school aid recipients spent $42 million in the last half of fiscal 1983, the agency’s inspector general, James B. Thomas Jr., said in a semiannual report to Congress. Thomas said that investigations by his office resulted in 105 indictments and 54 convictions during the six months ending last Sept. 30. Many of those cases involved the Guaranteed Student Loan and Pell Grant programs for college students, including fraudulent applications by aliens. The audits turned up $14 million in unjustified costs and also questioned $28 million in other expenditures, he said.
A loophole in the federal wiretap law allows anyone, whether citizen, law enforcement officer, or spy, to intercept legally the millions of private messages transmitted by computer daily around the United States, telecommunications experts say. Three Congressional panels are considering rewriting the law.
President Reagan drops by a Christmas tour for members of the White House staff.
Gerald R. Ford’s acting debut will take place Wednesday night playing himself in an episode of the television soap opera “Dynasty.” The former President of the United States will help portray a world of wealth that he is beginning to know well, his associates say. No other recent former President has been as active as Mr. Ford. This year he will earn close to $1 million from a multitude of sources, including his role as an adviser to businesses and speech maker.
An old apartment building housing mostly elderly and handicapped people caught fire in Detroit early today, killing at least six people, the authorities said. The fire broke out at 5:14 A.M. in the three-story building, said the fire battalion chief, Alex W. Meldrum. He said that 30 to 50 people, most of whom are elderly or handicapped, lived there and that at least 20 were rescued from windows. There was only one stairway and one exit, in the center of the 200-foot-long structure.
Results of balloting by striking Greyhound workers on a contract calling for wage and benefit cuts will be announced today, union officials said in Phoenix. Drivers, mechanics and terminal and office workers struck seven weeks ago. Greyhound resumed limited service two weeks later, using new employees and non-strikers, and sporadic violence broke out as strikers tried to halt buses. The union leadership recommended acceptance of the contract, which calls for a 7.8% wage cut, a 4% employee contribution to the pension plan and is intended to save Greyhound $160 million over three years.
Public records indicate that an assistant secretary of the Navy, George A. Sawyer, approved millions of dollars in contracts for companies that employed him immediately before and after his government service, the New York Times reported. Sawyer, who was appointed in April, 1981, and quit two years later, took unusual steps to award a $1.13-million contract, without bidding, to John J. McMullen Associates of New York City, the newspaper said. Sawyer had quit the presidency of McMullen, a small marine architectural concern, to take the navy job. While in the Navy Department, Sawyer also was a supporter of the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics, the newspaper said, and when he left the navy, he joined General Dynamics as executive vice president.
Veterans and the handicapped should have no more than a limited advantage in applying for state and local government jobs, the Montana Legislature decided after debating the job-preference issue during a six-day special session. Last June the state Supreme Court interpreted the current law as giving an absolute preference to veterans, the spouses and dependents of disabled veterans and the handicapped. Until then, the preference had been used only as a tie-breaker between equally qualified applicants. The new bill keeps that distinction. A preference holder will get the job only if that person is “substantially equally qualified.”
Nine District of Columbia police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with the death of a man who was not charged with a crime until five hours after he died in police custody. The nine officers will stay on leave until a police investigation is completed in the death Thursday night of Darryl Rhones, 24 years old, of the District of Columbia. According to the authorities, Mr. Rhones was approached Thursday night by three police officers who wanted to question him about a shooting two hours earlier. A struggle ensued, and several eyewitnesses said they saw police officers beating Mr. Rhones with blackjacks. A District of Columbia official also said several officers accidentally dropped Mr. Rhones, head first, onto the pavement as they struggled to put him inside a patrol car. The police said they found a gun on Mr. Rhones. Mr. Rhones was put in a detention cell, where he later was found unconscious. He died at George Washington University Hospital.
The Duluth, Minnesota, school board narrowly approved a new contract with striking teachers after the teachers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the agreement. After an 18-day walkout, school will resume today for the district’s 25 schools and 15,000 students, administrators said. Teachers had been without a contract since July. The new contract, as outlined at the board meeting, includes a 14.9% increase in salary and fringe benefits over two years. The salary increase alone amounts to 5% for the 1983-84 school year and 4.4% next year.
One American in eight has “serious trouble” obtaining medical treatment when it is needed, and one in nine has no regular source of care, according to a major survey of the nation’s health care. The report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation concluded that “the United States has not yet fully achieved the goal of universally accessible health care. There are still large gaps. . . and the burden falls disproportionately” on blacks, Latinos, the poor, the poorly insured and “a growing class of have-nots, the unemployed,” said Dr. Robert Blendon, an official of the foundation, which specializes in health improvement and medical care.
The rebuilt Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont opened almost three years to the day after the original was destroyed by fire. The new lodge, a hotel operated by the Austrian family of singers, was rebuilt at a cost of $7 million on the Trapp family estate in Stowe.
A Greenville, South Carolina, father who did not want his white daughter escorted by a black student at a beauty pageant withdrew her from the contest, said Richard Babb, principal of Parker High School. The father, Thomas Mull, told his daughter, a freshman whose name was not given, to withdraw from the pageant during intermission Saturday. Mr. Mull told officials that his objection was based on his religious beliefs against interracial dating and marriage, not racial prejudice.
Soup kitchen operators across the country report a marked increase in the demand for food, and some medical officials report an increase in malnutrition cases. They and people they assist said they were angry about the recent comments of Edwin Meese 3d, the White House counselor, who said he had not seen any “authoritative” or “authenticated” reports of hunger.
Rolling Stone Keith Richards marries model Patti Hansen.
Wrestler Hulk Hogan (30) weds Linda Claridge.
The NBA San Diego Clippers are on a 29-game road losing streak, losing tonight to the Golden State Warriors, 99—97.
NFL Football:
The Atlanta Falcons beat the Buffalo Bills, 31—14. William Andrews rushed for 158 yards and scored three touchdowns. Andrews, who wound up with a career-high 1,567 yards for the season, scored on a 10-yard run with 3:27 left in the first quarter and on a 1-yard run midway through the second. He caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Steve Bartkowski with 4:23 left in the game. The victory gave Atlanta a 7-9 record, while Buffalo wound up 8-8.
Bill Kenney threw two touchdown passes today and raised his season passing total to 4,348 yards as Kansas City beat the playoff-bound Denver Broncos, 48—17, before the second-smallest crowd in modern National Football League history. A wind-chill index of minus-30 degrees helped hold the crowd to 11,307. There were 26,377 no-shows as the Chiefs finished their 12th consecutive non-playoff campaign with a 6-10 record. The smallest crowd in modern history was 10,020 for a 1974 game in Atlanta in a snowstorm. The Broncos, already assured of a wild-card berth, ended the regular season 9-7 and will be at Seattle in the first round of the playoffs. Lucious Smith got the Chiefs rolling on the third play of the game, when he intercepted a John Elway pass and ran 58 yards to score.
The Chicago Bears edged the Green Bay Packers 23—21 as Bob Thomas kicked a 22-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining to give Chicago the victory. There was a wind-chill factor of minus-34 degrees at Soldier Field. Both teams finished 8-8.
Kim Anderson’s 71-yard interception return and Raul Allegre’s two field goals sparked the Colts to a 20—10 victory over the Houston Oilers. Anderson cut in front of Houston’s Donnie Craft coming out of the backfield and picked off Oliver Luck’s swing pass, racing down the right sideline for a touchdown. Mike Pagel hit the tight end Pat Beach for a 12-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. The Colts ended the season with a 7-9 record. The Oilers tied the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the worst record, 2-14.
In one of the most improbable games of the National Football League season, the Los Angeles Rams ended the playoff hopes of the New Orleans Saints today by winning, 26—24, on a 42-yard field goal with two seconds left to play. The victory gave the Rams a 9-7 record and put them into the playoffs for the first time since 1980. The Saints could have made the playoffs as a wild-card team with a victory. But when and where the Rams play their next game will not be determined until after the Dallas Cowboys, who have earned a wild-card spot, play the San Francisco 49ers Monday night in San Francisco. If the 49ers win, the Rams will be the other National Conference wild-card team and will play the Cowboys December 26 in Dallas. If the Cowboys win, the Rams will be the N.F.C. West champions, and the 49ers will play the Cowboys in Dallas in the wild-card game. The victory, which also gave the Rams their first winning season since 1980, was achieved without their offense scoring a touchdown. Their points came on a safety, two pass interceptions returned for touchdowns, a 72-yard return of a punt for a touchdown, three extra-point kicks and the final field goal.
It was also achieved without a great deal of help from Eric Dickerson and without their quarterback, Vince Ferragamo, completing a pass in the second half until 1 minute 51 seconds remained. Dickerson ran 19 times for 80 yards to finish his rookie season with 1,808 yards. He is certain to be the league’s leading rusher. William Andrews of the Atlanta Falcons finished with 1,567 yards, and Tony Dorsett of the Cowboys, with 1,289, is 519 behind Dickerson. But Dickerson also fumbled twice, once, in the first quarter, at the Saints’ 7-yard line, after the Saints had taken a 7-0 lead. Ferragamo’s problems were just as unsettling. By the time he found a receiver in the final two minutes, the Saints were leading, 24—23, the Rams were at their 20, and the sellout crowd of 70,148 in the Louisiana Superdome was making so much noise that the Rams could barely hear Ferragamo calling signals. Nevertheless, Ferragamo completed four consecutive passes, then two more after two incompletions and a 15-yard personal-foul penalty to bring his team to a second down at the New Orleans 25 with 6 seconds left. From there, Mike Lansford, who had been on the injured list through the first 12 weeks of the season, kicked his fourth field goal of the season.
The Seahawks reached the playoffs for the first time in the club’s eight seasons by defeating the New England Patriots, 24—6, in the Kingdome at Seattle. The Seahawks and the Cleveland Browns ended their seasons with the same record, 9-7, but the last conference playoff berth went to Seattle because the Seahawks defeated the Browns, 24—9, in their only meeting October 2. Dave Krieg, the Seahawks’ quarterback from Milton College in Wisconsin, passed for two touchdowns for Seattle. The result set up a third game this season between the Broncos and the Seahawks. The Seahawks won the first, 27—19, on November 6 at Seattle and the Broncos the second, 38—27, on November 20 in Denver. Krieg’s touchdown passes went to Steve Largent, the favorite receiver of his predecessor at quarterback, Jim Zorn, and to Dan Doornink, the fullback. Krieg, completing his third pro season, also scored on a 2-yard bootleg run. Curt Warner, the Seahawks’ rookie running back from Penn State, gained 116 yards in 25 carries and finished the season with 1,449 yards to lead the A.F.C. in rushing. Turnovers, 2 by the rookie quarterback, Tony Eason, hurt the Patriots, who completed their season with an 8-8 record.
Ottis Anderson ran for 156 yards and a touchdown and Roy Green caught a 10-yard touchdown pass to lead St. Louis (8-7-1) to a 31—7 victory over Philadelphia in bitter cold and snow. Anderson’s scoring romp of 12 yards over the right side finished a 63- yard opening St. Louis drive. Green, who early in the second period broke the Cardinal record of 73 receptions in one season, caught his touchdown pass just before the half. Harold Carmichael of the Eagles (5-11) caught his 589th pass to tie for fifth on the career list.
The Browns waited for their fate to be decided in Seattle after they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30—17, in Cleveland with Brian Sipe passing for four touchdowns. The Steelers, the A.F.C. Central Division title winners, started Cliff Stoudt at quarterback and used Mark Malone to replace him. The defeat was the fourth in the last five games for the Steelers, whose first playoff game will be December 31 or January 1 in Los Angeles against the Raiders. Terry Bradshaw, whose only appearance this season was for 16 minutes against the Jets last week, did not play because his right elbow and hand were re-injured against the Jets. The game was marked by several fights, the most notable one coming after Jack Lambert, the Steelers’ linebacker, tackled Sipe on the frozen turf after Sipe had released his pass. Lambert was ejected from the game and the 15-yard personal-foul penalty put the Browns on the Pittsburgh 15. A pass-interference penalty moved the ball to the 1 and two plays later Sipe passed to Henry Holt, a tight end, for Cleveland’s last touchdown. Sipe completed 14 of 22 passes for 199 yards with the other touchdown passes going to Holt, Rocky Belk and Ricky Feacher. The game may have been Sipe’s last with the Browns, for whom he has played nine seasons. His agent, Ed Keating, has been negotiating with the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League and Sipe will be a free agent as of February 1. Franco Harris of the Steelers had 56 yards rushing and became the first player in league history to gain 1,000 yards or more in eight different seasons. Jim Brown and Walter Payton each have seven.
The Raiders downed the Chargers, 30—14. Jim Plunkett passed for 332 yards and Chris Bahr kicked three field goals for Los Angeles, which clinched the home-field advantage for the American Football Conference segment of the playoffs. The Raiders, Western Division champions with a 12-4 record, will open the playoffs against the A.F.C. Central champion, Pittsburgh (10-6), at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Chargers finished at 6-10.
The Lions won the Central Division title and a playoff position just before their game began late yesterday afternoon against the Buccaneers in Tampa. The Chicago Bears eliminated the Lions’ last challenger, the Green Bay Packers, 23—21, on Bob Thomas’s field goal in the last 10 seconds. The Lions last won the division championship in 1957. Detroit’s 23—20 victory over Tampa Bay came after Eddie Murray made 3 field goals and Billy Sims scored the Lions’ first touchdown. Sims rushed for 56 yards and finished the season with a total of 1,040.
Buffalo Bills 14, Atlanta Falcons 31
Denver Broncos 17, Kansas City Chiefs 48
Green Bay Packers 21, Chicago Bears 23
Houston Oilers 10, Baltimore Colts 20
Los Angeles Rams 26, New Orleans Saints 24
New England Patriots 6, Seattle Seahawks 24
Philadelphia Eagles 7, St. Louis Cardinals 31
Pittsburgh Steelers 17, Cleveland Browns 30
San Diego Chargers 14, Los Angeles Raiders 30
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20, Detroit Lions 23
Born:
Edward Johnson, NFL defensive tackle (Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers), in Detroit, Michigan.
John Broussard, NFL wide receiver (Jacksonville Jaguars), in Kingwood, Texas.
Jordan Brown, MLB pinch hitter, first baseman, and leftfielder (Cleveland Indians, Miami Marlins), in Walnut Creek, California.
[Ed: Everybody makes jokes about Keith Richards… But he has been married to her for 40 years, and they have been a couple for 44. How many other celebrities can say that?]
History Diaries 