An attack on United States marines in Beirut killed one of them. At least a dozen marines were fired on by unidentified assailants as they were leaving a helicopter. Two Lebanese Army soldiers were wounded when they joined the marines in returning the fire. The dead marine was identified as Corporal Edward J. Gargano, of Quincy, Massachusetts.
President Reagan is notified there was an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and a Marine was killed.
Israel denied published reports that it was willing to withdraw its troops from Lebanon without a reciprocal pullout by Syria. An emphatic denial came from Dan Meridor, the Cabinet Secretary. The Israeli press published reports last week that were then circulated by United States officials in Washington that Israel had revised its policy and was willing to consider a pullout despite the presence of Syrian troops in eastern and northern Lebanon.
A network of Iranian terrorists capable of attacks against Western targets has been formed using Muslim extremists recruited in Europe, the Sunday Times of London reported. The paper said that the Tehran regime may be planning assassinations of high-ranking officials of France, which has supplied arms to Iraq in its war against Iran, and other nations. In response, French President Francois Mitterrand and President Reagan have tightened security precautions, it said.
The president of Chad, Hissen Habre, offended by the welcome received by a bitter rival in Ethiopia, will boycott talks aimed at ending 20 years of civil war, conference sources said. Habre will instead send a delegation headed by Interior Minister Taher Guinassou to the talks, which are scheduled to begin today under the sponsorship of the Organization of African Unity. The sources said Habre was offended when rebel leader Goukouni Oueddei was welcomed to Addis Ababa by Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, stepping closer to reconciliation with the Arab world after four years of isolation because of Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, invited Iraq’s president to visit Cairo. Egypt’s official news agency quoted Mubarak as saying, “Egypt always welcomes (its) brothers-President Saddam Hussein and our Arab brethren.” In Bagdad, Hussein said in reply that only his preoccupation with his country’s war with Iran prevented him from visiting Egypt.
Continued aid for Nicaraguan rebels fighting to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government will be recommended by a bipartisan Presidential commission on Central America. Its report, scheduled for delivery to President Reagan Wednesday, also says that El Salvador needs six times as much military aid for 1984 and 1985 as Congress has appropriated.
Nicaragua charged that U.S. Navy ships were used to launch a series of rebel speedboat and warplane attacks on its territory. “The continued presence of North American warships in waters under the jurisdiction of Nicaragua makes us presume the high-speed boats… come from the North American ships,” acting Foreign Minister Victor Hugo Tinoco said in an official protest to the U.S. State Department. U.S.-made Pirana speedboats and an unidentified aircraft Friday fired at a sugar mill near Puerto Potosi, 36 miles south of Managua, officials said. The same day, a helicopter and another aircraft attacked the port at Masachapa.
Suriname’s left-wing ruler, Lieutenant Colonel Desi Bouterese, announced that Prime Minister Errol Alibux and his Cabinet have resigned and that a new government will be formed immediately. The surprise announcement, made in a television address, came only two days after the military government rolled back a series of tax increases in an effort to stem mounting labor unrest. Bouterese blamed “the difficulties of recent days,” which included a paralyzing strike by electrical workers, on mistakes that he said were made by Alibux.
Jacobo Timerman’s return to Argentina provoked a dispute in the Argentine press today over the assets of his newspaper, confiscated by a previous military Government. The daily Tiempo Argentino said in an article that it was taking two other newspapers, Clarin and La Razon, to court for implying wrongdoings in its purchase of the offices and workshops of La Opinion, Mr. Timerman’s former newspaper. Mr. Timerman returned Saturday after four years in exile and said he would reclaim the assets of his newspaper, a critic of the military Government until he was imprisoned in 1977 for alleged links with left-wing rebels. The editor was never formally charged, but his newspaper was taken over by the Government and closed a few months later. In 1982, its premises were sold to Tiempo Argentino.
China is tentatively investing in international capitalism worldwide on the eve of Premier Zhao Ziyang’s first visit to the United States. In the United States, China has invested in a meat packing plant in Clive, Iowa; a personal computer company in Amherst, New Hampshire, and in a joint trading venture with the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation.
Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang arrived at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and headed for Colonial Williamsburg to continue an eight-day tour of the United States. Zhao, who is to meet with President Reagan on Tuesday, is the first high-ranking Chinese official to visit the U.S. in four years. Zhao flew from Hawaii in a special U.S. Air Force jet after spending Saturday sightseeing in Honolulu.
Despite their receipt last week of a letter that handwriting experts said appeared to have been written by a well-known international terrorist, officials have made little headway in their efforts to solve the New Year’s Eve bombings in France that killed 5 people and wounded 50. One bomb went off in a Marseilles railroad station, the other aboard a high- speed train 120 miles to the north. The letter, received by Agence France-Presse in West Berlin on Thursday, said the bombings were carried out by a group called the Arab Armed Struggle. Experts said that the handwriting in the letter was that of a terrorist known as Carlos, who is known to have been affiliated with the group at least since 1975. Agence France-Presse said its sources in French counterintelligence said that Carlos, a Venezuelan whose real name is Illich Ramirez Sanchez, was in East Berlin. But the letter offered no clues as to why Carlos would reveal himself through his handwriting several days after similar notes were sent to news agencies in Paris and handed out to journalists in Lebanon.
Danish voters elect a new Parliament Tuesday, with 13 parties running 1,139 candidates for the 179-seat Parliament. Opinion polls point to a strong showing by Prime Minister Poul Schluter, a Conservative, over the opposition Social Democrats, the country’s biggest party. The Prime Minister heads a 16- month-old coalition of four parties. Voter surveys indicate the Conservatives may double their 26 seats in Parliament. Conservative gains could end a string of foreign-policy defeats suffered mainly at the hands of the Socialists, who got Denmark to break with NATO and oppose the new missiles.
The hiring of a Nazi war criminal by American intelligence authorities after World War II is being investigated by the Justice Department in the second such case in a year. The subject of the investigation is Robert Jan Verbelen, a former Belgian SS officer.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law and political opponent, Maneka Gandhi, announced today that she would run for Parliament in a constituency represented by her brother- in-law, Rajiv Gandhi, who is regarded as the Prime Minister’s political heir. The 27-year-old Maneka Gandhi, widow of the Prime Minister’s younger son, Sanjay, promised to field 200 candidates in her party’s campaign for national elections, which must be held by next January. Her national Sanjay Front is expected to concentrate on the state of Uttar Pradesh, the northern electoral stronghold of the Prime Minister’s Congress Party.
South Africa made an offer of direct negotiations between its representatives ruling South-West Africa and the insurgents who have been fighting South Africa’s domination of the territory for the last 17 years.
Anti-government guerrillas in Uganda abducted 11 International Red Cross workers, including four Swiss citizens, from an area about 40 miles west of Kampala, Radio Uganda reported. The broadcast said that the workers, riding in two Red Cross vehicles, were ambushed as they were on the way to conduct a census in camps for people displaced during a government offensive against rebels last March. No communication has been established with the guerrillas since the abduction of the group, which includes three women.
Deciding that ”hunger does persist” in the United States, a Presidential commission concludes nevertheless that ”allegations of rampant hunger simply cannot be documented.” President Reagan’s Task Force on Food Assistance, in the final draft of its report, says Federal cutbacks in such assistance, made at Mr. Reagan’s request, have not harmed the poor and that it ”does not see a need for major new spending initiatives or programs.”
President Reagan watches the Washington Redskins beat the 49ers to move onto the Superbowl.
Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that President Reagan has done more than any of his predecessors to focus attention on the problems of the nation’s schools. Emeral Crosby, Detroit school superintendent, replied that Reagan has allowed the education budget to fall behind inflation and that more money, not just a stand against violence in the classrooms, was needed.
Rita M. Lavelle faces sentencing today in federal court on her conviction of two counts of perjury and one of obstructing justice. Lavelle, the former Environmental Protection Agency official in charge of the “superfund” toxic waste cleanup program, could get a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $19,000 fine.
A jury ruled that the Dalkon Shield contraceptive device was “dangerously defective,” but the Jury’s $295,000 damage award to a woman was overruled. U.S. District Judge Robert Belloni said in Eugene, Oregon, that Pamela Van Duyn, 32, of Portland, was not entitled to damages because she was more at fault than the A.H. Robins Co. It was the first ruling in a consolidated trial in which 13 women contend that the device caused pelvic inflammatory disease that damaged their reproductive organs. The ruling is binding on all defendants.
More than four years after five members of the Communist Workers Party were killed during an anti-Klan rally, nine members of the United Klan of America and American Nazi Party go on trial today in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on federal charges of violating the Communists’ civil rights. The Communists died November 3, 1979, in Greensboro, North Carolina, during a “Death to the Klan” meeting that turned into a shootout with the Klansmen and Nazis. Five of the defendants were acquitted in state court in 1980 on charges of murder and rioting.
Charging individuals and businesses user fees for services now subsidized by the government could cut the fiscal 1984 federal budget by $6.2 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. A CBO report cited seven areas as “likely candidates” for user fees that could bring in $31 billion over the next five years. The seven areas are: dredging harbors, maintaining inland waterways, providing irrigation water, keeping the Coast Guard afloat, keeping the airways under control, maintaining the post office and keeping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Up to 300 Grumman-Flxible buses failed steering inspections and will be yanked from New York City’s streets this morning, the Transit Authority said. To the city’s 1.75 million-a-day bus commuters, the latest rush-hour headache, with 45% of the fleet out of service, means more crowding and delays. It was the third time the buses have been sidelined — first for cracked frames and then because of weakened vertical support panels. The Southern California Rapid Transit District also has had similar troubles — structural cracks and engine breakdown — with its 230 Grumman-Flxibles.
Half of 750 job applicants at the Alcoa aluminum plant in Vancouver, Washington, in the last three months were turned down because they failed drug tests, said Carl Sedler, Alcoa personnel director. urine tests, conducted by a hospital laboratory, indicated whether drugs had been used in the preceding two to three days. Evidence of marijuana use was the most prevalent, and about 1% of the 375 rejected showed indications of hard drug use, such as heroin, Sedler said. He added that none of the applicants denied using drugs. “Not even one said they would stop if we hired them,” he said.
A church vs. state issue in Nebraska has aroused conservatives across the nation. When a judge in Louisville, Nebraska, ordered seven Baptist fundamentalists jailed and issued warrants for the arrests of their wives, their pastor and their pastor’s daughter, he set to boiling a controversy about church-state relations that had been simmering since 1977. In that year, the Faith Baptist Church in Louisville opened a school without applying for state approval.
David Tom, a Chinese immigrant who never learned English and was mistakenly kept in mental institutions for 31 years, wandered away from his new home and was missing for more than a day before he turned up 10 miles away. ”David was not having one of his good days Friday,” said Peter Porr, executive director of the Association of Chinese from Indochina. ”Let’s say he got up on the wrong side of the bed.” Mr. Tom, 54 years old, was released December 29 from the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute. He needs constant care because he has few basic living skills. On Friday, he wandered away from his new home at the association, officials there said. Twenty-six hours later, he walked into a Chinatown police station 76 blocks away.
The rate of increase in the number of black elected officials nationwide was greater last year than in any year since 1975. The number of black elected officials rose by 8.6 percent in 1983, the Joint Center for Political Studies said.
A TV movie tonight about incest between a father and daughter will topple one of television’s strictest taboos. The ABC-TV movie, ”Something About Amelia” is the latest example of the increasingly flexible standards, especially regarding sexuality, that the three major networks are applying during evening hours. The networks now concede that they no longer design series to appear at 8 P.M. with children in mind.
NCAA announces that basketball tournament will have 64 teams.
Washington Capitals Bengt Gustafsson scores 5 goals to beat Philadelphia 7-1.
AFC Conference Championship Game:
The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Seattle Seahawks, 30—14 to win the AFC Championship and move on to the Super Bowl. Seattle had defeated Los Angeles twice during the regular season, but this game had a very different outcome. The Raiders outgained Seattle in total yards 405–197, intercepted five passes, jumped to a 20—0 halftime lead, and overcame four turnovers of their own en route to a 30—14 victory. The Seahawks were held to 65 rushing yards while Raiders running back Marcus Allen ran for 154 yards, caught seven passes for 62 yards, and scored two touchdowns. Seahawks running back David Hughes returned the opening kickoff 34 yards to the 40-yard line, and his team drove to the Raiders 34 from there. But defensive back Lester Hayes picked off a pass from Dave Krieg and returned it 44 yards to the Seattle 26. On the Raiders ensuing drive, a 19-yard run by Allen set up a 20-yard field goal by Chris Bahr. In the second quarter, Allen broke off a 16-yard run, while Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett completed passes to Cliff Branch and Malcolm Barnwell for gains of 11 and 20 yards on a 61-yard drive that ended with Frank Hawkins’ 1-yard touchdown run. Then Seattle went three and out and LA got the ball back with good position on their 40-yard line. Plunkett’s 49-yard completion to Barnwell then set up Hawkins’ second rushing touchdown, making the score 17—0. With 1:02 left in the half, Seattle desperately tried to put some points on the board before halftime, but defensive back Mike Davis intercepted a pass from Krieg at his own 40-yard line. A 20-yard completion from Plunkett to Barnwell then set up Bahr’s 45-yard field goal to give the Raiders a 20—0 halftime lead.
In the second half, Seattle finally got a scoring opportunity when Hawkins fumbled the ball on the first play from scrimmage and the Seahawks recovered. However, all they got from this was Krieg’s third interception, this one to linebacker Matt Millen on the first play after the fumble. At this point, Krieg was benched and replaced by backup Jim Zorn. Meanwhile, LA drove to the Seahawks 9-yard line. Defensive back Gregg Johnson intercepted a pass from Plunkett in the end zone to keep his team in the game, but even this turned out to be insufficient. Just two plays later, Davis recorded his second interception of the day, this one on the Seattle 46. On the next play, Allen took off for a 43-yard burst, and then caught a 3-yard touchdown pass to make the score 27—0. After being completely dominated up to that point, Seattle finally managed to strike back, moving the ball 74 yards in 10 plays and scoring on Zorn’s 11-yard touchdown pass to running back Dan Doornink. Then Seattle linebacker Bruce Scholtz intercepted a pass that bounced out of Barnwell’s hands on the Seahawks 25-yard line, but once again Los Angeles’ defense proved too formidable, as a 2-yard loss on a screen pass to Curt Warner, a holding penalty, and incomplete passes pushed Seattle out of field goal range and forced a punt. The start of the fourth quarter saw the Seahawks blow another scoring chance when Vann McElroy intercepted a pass from Zorn after the team had recovered Plunkett’s fumbled pitch to Allen on the Los Angeles 25-yard line. Then the next time they had the ball, they drove to the LA 40-yard line, only to see Greg Townsend sack Zorn for a 23-yard loss on fourth down and 4. After the turnover on downs, Bahr kicked a 35-yard field goal to give the Raiders an insurmountable 30—7 lead with 3:57 left. At this point, all that remained was Zorn’s meaningless touchdown pass to tight end Charle Young, making the final score 30—14.
Seattle Seahawks 14, Los Angeles Raiders 30
NFC Conference Championship Game:
The Washington Redskins beat the San Francisco 49ers, 24—21 to advance to the Super Bowl. After the 49ers erased a 21—0 fourth quarter deficit, two controversial penalties against San Francisco led to the Redskins’ kicker Mark Moseley overcoming an awful day and kicking the winning field goal.
The first quarter was scoreless. The closest either team came was Washington’s drive inside the 49ers 30-yard line that ended when Joe Washington lost a fumble that was recovered by San Francisco lineman Lawrence Pillers. In the second quarter, Washington managed to fool the 49ers with a trick play when punt returner Nick Giaquinto threw the ball across the field to Darrell Green who took it all the way to the end zone, but Giaquinto inadvertently threw a forward pass rather than a lateral and the score was called back. Washington fans and news media at the time disputed whether this was actually a forward pass, calling it the “Micrometer Play.” The suggestion was that one would need a high precision measuring device to determine that the play was indeed a forward pass, and that the referees got the call wrong. The Redskins still managed to drive into 49ers territory, but ended up with no points when Moseley’s 45-yard field goal attempt went wide right. After forcing a punt, Joe Theismann’s 46-yard completion to tight end Clint Didier moved the ball to the 49ers 18-yard line, setting up a 4-yard touchdown run by fullback John Riggins with 6:16 left in the half. Later in the quarter, the Redskins drove deep into San Francisco territory, featuring a fourth down run by Jeff Hayes on a fake punt, but once again Moseley sent a field goal attempt wide right, this time from 35 yards, and the score remained 7—0 at the end of the half.
San Francisco started the second half with a drive into Washington territory, aided by a controversial ruling in which running back Wendell Tyler dropped the ball just a second after catching it and then dove on it. Officials ruled the play a fumble and recovery for the 49ers rather than an incompletion. But kicker Ray Wersching later slipped on the muddy field while attempting a 50-yard field goal and it fell well short. On Washington’s next drive, they ran another trick play, this time a pass from Riggins, who threw a 36-yard completion to Charlie Brown inside the 49ers 10-yard line. But all that led to was Moseley’s third missed field goal attempt of the day, this one from 38 yards, that he once again sent wide right. Midway through the third quarter, San Francisco receiver Freddie Solomon lost a fumble while being tackled by Green that linebacker Rich Milot recovered on the 49ers 36-yard line. A few plays later, a pass interference penalty on defensive back Ronnie Lott moved the ball to the 6-yard line, and Riggins took it the final six yards to the end zone with three more runs, making the score 14—0. Then on their next drive, Theismann completed a 70-yard touchdown pass to Brown, giving Washington a 21—0 lead with just over a minute left until the final quarter. But with 14:37 left in the game, 49ers quarterback Joe Montana completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wilson. San Francisco subsequently forced a punt, but returner Dana McLemore fumbled the ball and Washington’s Mark Murphy recovered it. Still, the Redskins were unable to capitalize, failing to get a first down and once again coming up empty when Moseley missed his fourth field goal attempt of the day, this time short from 41 yards. On the next play, Solomon caught a 76-yard touchdown pass from Montana. Later with 7:08 remaining, Wilson tied the game with a 12-yard touchdown reception.
The Redskins then marched on a 13-play, 78-yard drive that took 6:12 off the clock and set up Moseley’s 25-yard field goal with 40 seconds left in the game. This possession was aided by two controversial penalties:
- On second down and 10 on the San Francisco 45-yard line, Theismann threw a long incompletion intended for wide receiver Art Monk, but cornerback Eric Wright was called for pass interference at the 18-yard line. It seemed that nobody had a reasonable chance to catch the ball, which, under the rule, would have nullified any pass interference penalty. San Francisco head coach Bill Walsh was quoted after the game as saying “It could not have been caught by a 10-foot Boston Celtic.”
- On third down and 5 from the San Francisco 13-yard line, Lott was called for holding on what seemed to be a harmless act with Brown far away from where the pass fell incomplete.
The 49ers got the ball back one last time, but Montana, attempting a Hail Mary pass, was intercepted by Vernon Dean on the final play of the game, sealing Washington’s victory.
San Francisco 49ers 21, Washington Redskins 24
Born:
Kim Jong-un, North Korean politician (supreme leader of North Korea since 2011; leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea since 2012; third son of Kim Jong Il), in Wonsan, North Korea
Jeff Francoeur, MLB right fielder (Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins), in Atlanta, Georgia.
Kevin Whelan, MLB pitcher (New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers), in Kerrville, Texas.
Kevin Dockery, NFL cornerback (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 42-Giants, 2007; New York Giants, St. Louis Rams), in Memphis, Tennessee.
Aaron Rouse, NFL safety (Green Bay Packers, New York Giants), in Norfolk, Virginia.
Jesse Holley, NFL wide receiver (Dallas Cowboys), in Roselle, New Jersey.
History Diaries 