The first American nuclear cruise missiles deployed in Europe are operational, the British and West German defense ministries announced. The British report on six cruise missiles stationed in Britain came a day after the West Germans announced their first battery of U.S. Pershing 2 missiles is operational. Last month Moscow has suspended the Soviet-American talks in Geneva on limiting medium-range missiles after the West German parliament approved deployment.
The Soviet Union confirmed that Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko would meet with Secretary of State George P. Shultz in January, but it dismissed Washington’s stated hopes of using the meeting for reopening the arms control issue as an attempt to “instill complacency” among Americans and Europeans.
A military coup in Nigeria toppled the Government of President Shehu Shagari, broadcasts from Lagos said. An army officer, Brig. Saleh Abacha, announced that a military government had been set up to replace the civilian administration, which he said had been “inept and corrupt.” It was announced that the 1979 Constitution had been suspended, all political parties banned, and a nightly curfew imposed. Nigeria’s National Assembly is dissolved after the military coup.
A pullout of the U.S. marines from Beirut was called for by Walter F. Mondale. He urged President Reagan to begin the withdrawal of the 1,800 marines immediately. The former Vice President, considered the front-runner among the eight Democrats seeking the 1984 president nomination, made the call in a statement that also criticized the Reagan Administration’s overall policy in Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the captured United States Navy navigator-bombardier in Syria, where he had gone to seek his release. The flier, Lieutenant Robert O. Goodman Jr., assured the Democratic Presidential contender that he was still being treated well by his captors. A scheduled meeting between Mr. Jackson and President Hafez al-Assad did not take place.
The Soviet press said today that the rulers of Iran were influenced by blind fanaticism and warned the Iranians to halt what it called a growing anti-Soviet campaign. A commentary in the Communist Party daily Pravda signaled a new low in relations between the two countries. The article was directed chiefly at the trial of members of Iran’s banned Communist Party by a military tribunal on charges of espionage. Pravda termed the proceedings a “judicial farce” and said they were being used to fan hostility toward the Soviet Union. “The tribunal is characteristic of the atmosphere that is being generated in Iran,” Pravda said. “A state of spy mania, of physical and moral terror is being whipped up in every way.”
Bombs exploded in France, in the railroad station in Marseilles, and on a high-speed train on its way to Paris. The train explosion killed three passengers and injured 20. The train had left from the Marseilles station. The explosion at the St. Charles station in Marseilles about 15 minutes later killed two people and wounded 34. The international terrorist “Carlos” later claimed credit, saying the attacks were revenge for a French air strike against a terrorist training camp in Lebanon the previous month.
While celebrating a New Year’s Eve Mass, Pope John Paul II singled out for special mention his recent visit to a Rome prison where he held an emotional meeting with Mehmet Ali Ağca, who is serving a life sentence for trying to kill him. “My recent visit to the Rebibbia prison is still having a profound impact on me,” the Pope said during his sermon. “There I met our brothers and sisters and brought to them the loving words of understanding and friendship,” the Pontiff said before more than 2,500 people, ranging from wealthy Romans in fur coats to Franciscan friars in simple brown robes.
President Henryk Jablonski appealed today for national reconciliation in Poland as an amnesty for political dissidents and underground Solidarity activists expired. “All Polish patriots must integrate and work for the common good,” he said in a New Year’s message. “The conviction that we can improve our collective and individual fate only by way of agreement on the most important issues of the nation and state is taking an ever deeper hold on the broad mass of society.” The authorities said about 1,000 people had surrendered under the amnesty, which was proclaimed when martial law was lifted in July. The offer was due to run out at midnight. The authorities said the amnesty was intended to help heal the social and economic crisis caused by the Solidarity challenge to Communist rule. Most of those who accepted the offer were minor offenders and there was no sign the underground leadership, headed by Zbigniew Bujak, had surrendered.
Curbs on the death squads in El Salvador apparently are being applied by Salvadoran authorities, who pledged to do so, State Department officials said. As a result, the officials said, the Administration intends to live up to its reciprocal pledge to the Salvadorans to ask Congress for a substantial increase in assistance to El Salvador.
Brunei gains complete independence from Britain. The oil-rich sultanate of Brunei in southeast Asia today declared its independence as an Islamic nation, ending 96 years as a British protectorate at the stroke of the new year. With shouts of “Allah Akbar,” or “God is Great,” and a 21-gun salute, the tiny country of 205,000 citizens became the world’s newest independent nation and one of its wealthiest. The declaration just after midnight by Sultan Sir Muda Hassanal Bolkiah, 37, ended the vestiges of British control-over defense and foreign affairs-and cut the ties that London has maintained since 1888.
Violence in Bangladesh between supporters of rival candidates in rural elections killed 4 people Friday, raising the death toll to 10, the newspaper Dainik Bangla reported today. Earlier, officials said that 6 people had died and that more than 200 were injured in the first three days of voting, which began on Tuesday. At several places the police used riot sticks and fired blank shots to disperse crowds who broke into voting rooms, beat up polling officers and snatched away ballot boxes. Authorities have so far have suspended voting at a hundred centers because of the violence, official sources said. Voting to choose 4,400 rural councils continues up to January 10.
A powerful pre-dawn earthquake centered in a mountainous region on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Central Asia killed at least 12 persons, injured 38 and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, authorities reported. The quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale as recorded in Peshawar, 100 miles northwest of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. However, the National Earthquake Information Service in Golden, Colo., said its seismographs showed a far more damaging 7.0 reading. Most of the victims were killed or injured by collapsing walls in their homes as they slept, authorities said. They expressed fears that the toll would be higher as rescuers searched the rugged area.
A high-ranking South African naval officer was sentenced to life imprisonment and his Swiss-born wife was given a 10-year term for spying for the Soviet Union following a closed-door trial in Cape Town. Commodore Dieter Gerhardt, 47, and his wife, Ruth, 41, had pleaded not guilty. Gerhardt maintained that he was a double agent working for an unnamed friendly Western country and had fed “disinformation” to the Soviet Union for more than 20 years. Gerhardt was commander of the South African Navy refitting dockyard at Simonstown near Cape Town at the time of his arrest last January.
South African Prime Minister P. W. (Pik) Botha issued a thinly veiled warning to neighboring black states in a New Year’s message broadcast to the nation from Johannesburg. Without referring to any particular country, Botha said, “The republic has not come anywhere near to using the weaponry it could well utilize in the event of greater pressure against the country.” The warning came as South African troops were involved in fighting in southern Angola against rebels of the South West Africa People’s Organization, which is seeking to end South African rule in Namibia (South-West Africa). In neighboring Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Robert Mugabe said in a New Year’s message that South Africa was training anti-government rebels to kill white farmers and government supporters in Zimbabwe.
Ending a long-running dispute, the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations paid $19,715 in taxes on his 25-room mansion in Englewood, New Jersey, in what one official called a precedent-setting case. Ambassador Ali A. Treiki has battled the Bergen County community for a year over whether the $1-million estate is tax-exempt because it is the property of an official on a diplomatic mission. Treiki paid the taxes on deadline after the Bergen County Board of Taxation on November 15 dismissed Treiki’s appeal of his denial of tax-exempt status. “It’s a precedent-setting case. I can’t recall any other government that’s paid a city its taxes, even under protest,” City Manager William Sommers said.
A federal judge in Washington blocked the Reagan Administration from implementing new rules that would give more weight to job performance ratings in determining pay raises and layoffs for most federal employees. In a 26-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Barrington D. Parker said that, although congressional actions last November were “somewhat confused,” it was clear that Congress intended to block the regulations, which would affect 1.4 million federal workers, including 300,000 in the Washington area.
The fight against school crime and violence will be joined by the Government. President Reagan plans to announce a new program soon, and one of the proposals would seek to limit the legal rights of children facing suspension from school.
The President and the First Lady attend a New Year’s Eve party at the Annenberg home in Palm Springs, California.
A national computerized F.B.I. file would be widely expanded to distribute information about people who are not wanted for a crime, under recommendations being considered by an advisory group for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Massachusetts had the most liberal U.S. House delegation of any state in 1983, but West Virginia was coming up fast, Americans for Democratic Action reported. The ADA, in a comparison limited to states with four or more House members, said Massachusetts’ 10 members, all but one of them Democrats, earned a composite rating of 83 on a scale of 100, based on their votes on selected issues. West Virginia, whose four House members rated only a 36 in 1982, climbed to an 81 in 1983. Rated behind Massachusetts and West Virginia were Connecticut with a 75, New Jersey 67, Maryland and Michigan 65, Minnesota and Washington 60, New York 59 and California 56.
Americans are optimistic about 1984, in sharp contrast to their gloomy mood four years earlier, according to a poll by The New York Times. But the levels of satisfaction with the present and of hope for the future vary widely among different population groups.
The Bell System’s new life as eight separate companies begins today as does a new era for American telecommunications and American business. But no one knows how the Government-directed breakup of the once-unified giant will turn out.
A federal judge in Salt Lake City has declared unconstitutional a Utah law prohibiting merchants or clinics from providing contraceptives to minors without first notifying the juveniles’ parents. An attorney for Planned Parenthood of Utah, one of the plaintiffs in the federal suit, said the ruling by U.S. District Judge David Winder is the most liberal interpretation yet handed down on the issue of a minor’s right to obtain contraceptives without parental notification. Winder ruled that the law infringes on the right of minors to decide whether to bear children.
Elizabeth Bouvia has rejected an offer to starve to death in the home of a festival producer. The paralyzed Mrs. Bouvia, 26 years old, said Friday that the producer was “out for too much publicity.” Her petition to be allowed to starve at Riverside General Hospital is before the California Supreme Court. The producer, Robin Tyler, had said she sympathized with Mrs. Bouvia and would take her in if granted immunity from prosecution for aiding a suicide. The District Attorney’s office said it could not grant such immunity. Mrs. Bouvia says she is tired of living in a “useless” body.
The staff of The St. Louis Globe-Democrat has been asked to agree tentatively to pay cuts that the new publisher says he needs for the newspaper to survive. The agreement, announced Friday, would be effective when Jeffrey M. Gluck, publisher of the magazine Saturday Review, takes over Feb. 25. Employees of The Globe-Democrat are to vote on the pact Tuesday. Salaries would be reduced 6 percent and raises totaling 9 percent would be deferred through the life of a Newspaper Guild contract that expires in February 1985.
Thousands of followers of a yogi have gathered in Fairfield, Iowa, with plans to bring a “Taste of Utopia” through mass meditations. But many of the residents of the bustling little town (population 9,400) are picking up a different set of vibrations.
Benjamin Ward is appointed the first African American New York City Police Commissioner by Mayor Ed Koch.
A fresh blast of arctic air chilled parts of the West and the South, bringing freezing rain to Utah and snow to North Carolina. However, the record cold snap spared the already-frozen citrus crops of Florida. The record cold spell retreated somewhat as warmer air from the Southwest began to spread, but problems were not over in many regions. Snow and ice kept travelers’ advisories in effect for areas from Utah to North Carolina, where snow, sleet and freezing rain slickened roads. A rash of broken pipes plagued other widespread areas in Texas, Kentucky and Louisiana.
The raging floods that left thousands homeless in the West last winter caused more extensive damage than any other type of natural disaster in 1983, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported. But nationwide, despite an increase in flood insurance claims, the 21 disasters in 1983 did not cause any more damage than the average over the last five years, the agency said in the report. The government will pay $1.1 billion this year under the Disaster Relief Act, compared to an average $1.1 billion for 25 disasters each year for the last five years. More than $308 million in relief funding will be spent to help Westerners rebuild after the flooding.
Bluebonnet Bowl, Houston, Texas: Oklahoma State 24, Baylor 14. Quarterback Rusty Hilger and tailback Ernest Anderson sparked Oklahoma State past Baylor, 24—14, as a near-sellout crowd of 50,090 in the Astrodome watched the 25th Bluebonnet Bowl. Anderson carried the ball 27 times for 143 yards and a touchdown while Hilger completed 12-of-17 for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns to ignite the Oklahoma State win. Hilger, who was later named MVP, left the game late in the first half with a slight concussion. He didn’t return but Anderson’s nifty running and another strong performance by the Cowboy defense kept Baylor at bay. OSU held the Bears to just 134 yards on the ground and the Cowboy secondary picked off two passes to help seal the win. Touchdown passes from Hilger to Malcolm Lewis and Jamie Harris and a one-yard scoring run by Anderson gave OSU a 21—0 advantage before Baylor got on the scoreboard late in the first half. The Pokes added a Larry Roach field goal in the first half while Baylor found the end zone an additional time in the second to complete the scoring.
NFL Divisional Playoffs:
The improbable season of the Seattle Seahawks continued in sensational fashion today as they defeated the Miami Dolphins, 27—20, to advance to the American Conference championship game next Sunday. A victory would put them in Super Bowl XVIII on January 22 in Tampa, Florida. Despite their dominant win in the wild card round, the 9–7 Seahawks hardly seemed a significant obstacle for the defending AFC champion Dolphins (12–4). However, the Seahawks converted three turnovers in the second half into thirteen points, while running back Curt Warner rushed for 113 yards, caught five passes for 38 yards, and scored two touchdowns. By the end of the game, Miami turned the football over five times, including consecutive fumbled kickoffs in the closing minutes. After a scoreless first quarter in the Orange Bowl, the Dolphins scored first on rookie quarterback Dan Marino’s 19-yard pass to tight end Dan Johnson, but Uwe von Schamann’s extra point attempt was blocked. Seattle running back Zachary Dixon returned the ensuing kickoff 59 yards to set up Dave Krieg’s 6-yard touchdown pass to fullback Cullen Bryant and the Seahawks led 7—6. Near the end of the first half, Miami retook the lead with Marino’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Mark Duper.
In the third quarter, Seattle defensive back John Harris recovered a fumble that led to Warner’s 1-yard touchdown run and Seattle led 14—13. In the fourth quarter, Seahawks cornerback Kerry Justin’s interception of a Marino pass was converted into a 27-yard field goal by Norm Johnson, increasing the lead to four at 17–13. With time running out, Seattle made their only blunder of the day when Krieg threw an interception to Miami defensive back Gerald Small, who returned the ball 18 yards to set up Woody Bennett’s 3-yard touchdown run, giving Miami a 20—17 lead with 3:43 remaining. Seattle receiver Steve Largent, who had no receptions up to this point, caught a pair of passes from Krieg for gains of 16 and 40 yards as they drove to retake the lead 24—20 on Warner’s 2-yard touchdown run with under two minutes left. On the ensuing kickoff, Miami returner Fulton Walker fumbled and rookie reserve linebacker Sam Merriman recovered, setting up Johnson’s 37-yard field goal to extend the lead to seven at 27—20. Amazingly, Walker fumbled on the next kickoff as well; Seattle running back Dan Doornink recovered and the offense ran out the clock. This was Seattle’s only road victory in the postseason until 2012, when they won in Washington 24—14. Harris finished the game with an interception, a fumble recovery, and four tackles. Other key defensive players for Seattle included Dave Brown, who had 10 tackles, and Keith Butler, who had nine. Duper caught nine passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.
Seattle Seahawks 27, Miami Dolphins 20
The San Francisco 49ers beat the Detroit Lions, 24—23, in the NFC playoff game today. Lions kicker Eddie Murray made three field goals, including a postseason record 54-yard kick, but missed two attempts in the fourth quarter, the second a potential game-winning 43-yard kick with five seconds left. Both teams came into this game missing key starters. The 49ers were without injured starting receiver Dwight Clark, while the Lions had to start quarterback Gary Danielson in place of injured starter Eric Hipple. Detroit scored first on Murray’s 37-yard field goal less than five minutes into the game. They were poised to score again on their next drive, but Ronnie Lott intercepted a pass from Danielson on the San Francisco 15-yard line. The 49ers offense then drove 85 yards in 10 plays and took a 7—3 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run from Roger Craig. On the first play of Detroit’s next drive, rookie linebacker Riki Ellison intercepted Danielson and returned the ball four yards to the Lions 24-yard line. Four plays later, Wendell Tyler’s 2-yard touchdown run increased their lead to 14—3 early in the second quarter. Things kept getting worse for Detroit as Danielson threw two more interceptions on each of their next two possessions, first to safety Dwight Hicks and then to linebacker Keena Turner. However, their defense managed to prevent the 49ers from converting either one of them into points. On their next drive, running back Billy Sims took off for a 56-yard carry to the San Francisco 1-yard line before being tackled by Eric Wright. Despite a first and goal on the 1, Detroit could not get into the end zone and settled for Murray’s second field goal, cutting the score to 14—6. Following a 49ers punt, Detroit moved the ball to San Francisco’s 37-yard line in the closing seconds of the half, where Murray made a playoff record 54-yard field goal that made the score 14—9 going into halftime.
In the third quarter, Danielson threw his fifth interception of the day and his second to Ellison, who returned it four yards to the Lions 45. Joe Montana’s 27-yard completion to tight end Russ Francis and Tyler’s 11-yard run gave the team a first and goal from the 7, but the Lions made a key goal line stand to force Ray Wersching’s 19-yard field goal, putting San Francisco up 17—9. Danielson then rallied the Lions back with six completions on a 10-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Sims’ 11-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 17—16 with 13:36 left in the fourth quarter. Their defense subsequently gave them a great chance to take the lead when they recovered a fumble from Craig on the 49ers 37-yard line. But penalties stalled the drive and Murray missed a 43-yard field goal attempt. Still, the Lions defense came up with another huge opportunity as Bobby Watkins intercepted a pass from Montana and returned it 24 yards to the San Francisco 27. This time the Lions offense managed to convert the turnover with a 2-yard touchdown run by Sims, giving them their first lead of the game, 23—17 with 4:44 remaining. Up to this point, Montana had been rather ineffective, completing just 12 of 25 passes for 151 yards with an interception and no touchdowns. But with the game on the line, Montana rallied his team with a scoring drive to put them back into the lead. Starting from their own 30-yard line, the 49ers advanced to the Lions 27 by the two-minute warning, with Montana completing four passes for 24 yards. Montana hooked up with Francis for a 13-yard gain on the next play, and then threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Solomon, giving the 49ers a 24—23 lead with 1:23 left. Detroit then drove 49 yards to set up a game-winning 43-yard field goal attempt for Murray in the closing seconds, but his kick was wide right by a narrow margin, enabling San Francisco to win the game. Montana finished the game completing 18 of 31 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown, with one interception, while also rushing for 16 yards. Danielson finished his only career playoff game completing 24 of 38 passes for 236 yards, but was intercepted five times. Sims was the top rusher of the game with 20 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught four passes for 26 yards.
Detroit Lions 23, San Francisco 49ers 24
Born:
Fred Bennett, NFL cornerback (Houston Texans, San Diego Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals), in Manning, South Carolina.
Jana Veselá, Czech WNBA forward (WNBA Champions-Storm, 2010; Seattle Storm), in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
History Diaries 