The Italian force completed its pullout from Beirut. The departure of nearly all the 1,385 Italians left only about 1,300 United States marines and 1,250 French troops to protect areas of the Lebanese capital. Marine officers said the Americans would probably start withdrawing to ships offshore today and complete the pullout in about a week.
The possibility that U.N. troops who have been stationed in southern Lebanon since 1978 will be sent to Beirut to replace the departing Western troops seems unlikely now, according to United Nations officials.
The U.N. Human Rights Commission passed two resolutions accusing Israel of violating Arab rights in its occupied territories. The first, opposed by most Western countries, including the United States, condemned Israel’s policy of building settlements in the West Bank and also accused Israel of mass arrests, torture and confiscating property. The second, which only the United States voted against, assailed what it called Israel’s “inhumane treatment” of the Syrian population of the occupied Golan Heights.
A United States Senator held talks with Soviet officials today on President Reagan’s arms-reduction proposal and said afterward that he sensed a “new tone” on the Soviet side and a willingness to deal with arms-control questions. The Senator, William S. Cohen, Republican of Maine, met with the Soviet First Vice President, Vasily V. Kuznetsov, and a First Deputy Foreign Minister, Georgi M. Korniyenko, for two hours to outline the way Mr. Reagan’s arms-reduction proposal would work. Mr. Cohen refused to give details of his talks here, saying he would first speak with Secretary of State George P. Shultz.
Poland’s Primate was challenged by more than 2,000 Poles who packed a Roman Catholic Church in a Warsaw suburb for a protest mass. The congregation was protesting a decision by the Primate, Jozef Cardinal Glemp, under what church officials said was intense Government pressure, to transfer a priest who is an outspoken supporter of the outlawed union Solidarity. Twelve hunger strikers occupied a Warsaw church, demanding reinstatement of a pro-Solidarity priest who was transferred to a remote village far from the Polish capital. The strikers vowed to continue their protest until Father Mieczyslaw Nowak is brought back to St. Joseph’s Church, but church officials said Nowak’s transfer is irreversible. The priest’s supporters say he was removed because he often preached sermons favoring Solidarity, the now-outlawed independent trade union.
A Polish United Nations employee convicted of spying was released today after serving more than four years of a seven-year prison term. The release of the employee, Alicja Wesolowska, appeared to be a good-will gesture by the Polish Government during the visit of Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, who has been meeting with Poland’s top leaders, including Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski, to discuss the case. “I am just happy to be with my parents at last,” Miss Wesolowska said in a telephone interview tonight. “I think they have suffered more than I during this ordeal.” Miss Wesolowska said she had been released at 10:30 A.M. from a prison in western Poland. She said she took her parents by surprise when she arrived in her hometown of Torun in north central Poland early this evening.
Miss Wesolowska, 39 years old, was arrested in August 1979, when she returned to Poland to visit her parents while en route to Ulan Bator to take up a post as a secretary with the United Nations development program office there. In March 1980 she was sentenced at a closed trial in a military court to seven years for spying for an unnamed “NATO power.” At the time officials in Warsaw said privately that she worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Among the charges believed to have been lodged against her was that of giving parties at her New York East Side apartment so that CIA agents could mingle with third-world diplomats.
A letter signed by Red Brigades terrorists said that the group, which claimed to have killed U.S. diplomat Leamon R. Hunt in Rome, has targeted a second American diplomat for assassination. The letter, received by the Italian news agency ANSA, added to fears of Italian authorities that terrorist bands, thought to have been destroyed after the kidnapping of U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier, have regrouped after a two-year lull and plan new attacks. The letter did not name the diplomat who the letter said is targeted for assassination.
French coal miners went on strike, bringing new labor troubles to the nation, but a truckers’ strike that had stalled traffic for days ended with only a few rebels still blocking roads. The miners began what they called a two-day “renewable” strike, protesting a government plan to cut deficits in nationalized industries. Under the plan, an estimated 60,000 mining jobs would be eliminated by 1988 and coal production would be cut by a third.
Philippine opposition leader Salvador Laurel predicted that a panel investigating the August 21 slaying of Benigno S. Aquino Jr. will soon announce that accused assassin Rolando Galman was not the killer. Laurel, on a five-city U.S. tour, spoke in Millbrae, California, before a group opposed to the government of Ferdinand E. Marcos, who some have accused of responsibility in Aquino’s death.
Police opened fire on battling Sikhs and Hindus in the Indian town of Jind after a week of ethnic clashes that left 27 people dead and 225 injured in northern India. Officials of Haryana state earlier ordered police to shoot rioters and arsonists on sight. The fighting has spread to Haryana from neighboring Punjab state, where the majority Sikhs are seeking political and religious concessions from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government, and it has provoked a backlash among Haryana’s dominant Hindus. The Sikhs are a warrior class that broke from Hinduism 400 years ago.
Argentine federal police arrested retired Vice Admiral Ruben Chamorro, director of the Naval Mechanics School in Buenos Aires from 1976 to 1978, in an investigation of widespread allegations that suspected leftists were tortured and murdered at the school. Chamorro, the Argentine naval attaché in South Africa, was arrested on arrival from Cape Town, officials said. He is the latest of several high-ranking military officials to be arrested in connection with the disappearance of thousands of people in the former military government’s so-called “Dirty War” against subversion in the 1970s.
The children of Argentines who disappeared in the hands of the nation’s state security forces in the 1970’s exhibit disorders ranging from emotional problems to chronic physical ailments. The disorders, according to specialists who have been working with the children, result from an intense combination of four traumatic childhood syndromes.
A motorist driving through eastern El Salvador has the eerie feeling that it has been evacuated. By contrast, traffic moves briskly along the western highways to this city, and the towns and small villages in this rich coffee-growing land bustle with activity. The sense of abandonment in eastern El Salvador is not an illusion. Although no official figures are available, Salvadoran officials believe that thousands of refugees have fled the embattled east to settle in the west. Most of the refugees stop at the first point west, San Salvador. Others move on to such provincial capitals as Sonsonate and Santa Ana, the second largest city after San Salvador, and the western cities are bulging with refugees in search of work. This influx has Government and church officials here concerned that western El Salvador, which until now has been virtually free of serious guerrilla activity, is becoming vulnerable to political and military operations by leftist insurgents.
The chairman of the Organization of African Unity, Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia, has undertaken a new effort to break a deadlock in the conflict over Western Sahara, diplomats said today. Colonel Mengistu offered a series of proposals to Morocco and its adversary, the Polisario Front, which is fighting for independence of Western Sahara, the diplomats said. They said one of the main proposals was that an O.A.U. special committee on the conflict should separately hear the views of the two sides about organizing a referendum on self-determination for the Moroccan-ruled territory. Such a referendum was to have been held last year, but no progress has been made since September.
Walter F. Mondale won handily the Iowa Democratic Presidential caucuses, and Senator John Glenn, running far back in the eight-candidate field, appeared headed for a defeat that threatened to hobble his Presidential aspirations. In unexpected performances, Senator Gary Hart finished a distant second and George McGovern was close behind in showings that represented a surge for Mr. Hart and a political resurrection for Mr. McGovern, the Democratic nominee in 1972.
President Reagan addresses the Iowa Caucus Kick-off Rally of 6,000, in Waterloo, Iowa. President Reagan sought to upstage the Iowa Democratic caucuses in visits to the Iowa municipalities of Waterloo and Des Moines, the site of his early radio announcing career. Mr. Reagan drew rousing cheers as he accused the Democrats of catering to special interests and lacking the “values, judgment and courage” to govern.
President Reagan grants an interview to the WHO radio station. Mr. Reagan reminisced about the liberties he used to take in recreating Cubs’ games. He hailed former Representative H. R. Gross for being “a true pioneer” as the station’s first news broadcaster. Mr. Gross, sitting at the President’s side, said that in those days Mr. Reagan “belonged to the wrong party.” Mr. Reagan replied, “But I outgrew that.”
The controversial school prayer issue, pushed by White House officials and some members of Congress, will come up in the Senate this week, aides to Senate Majority Leader Howard H. Baker Jr (R-Tennessee) said. But Baker also predicted a filibuster by opponents of the proposal to reverse the 20-year-old Supreme Court rulings that prohibited state-directed prayer and Bible readings in public classrooms.
The Administration was assailed by Lane Kirkland, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Mr. Kirkland said the Administration had not addressed any of the basic economic problems facing the nation-high unemployment, “enormous” deficits, “steadily decaying” public facilities and a loss of basic industries.
A broad range of liberal and conservative church groups has joined in asking the Supreme Court to review the tax-evasion conviction of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Church organizations as diverse as the National Council of Churches and the National Association of Evangelicals said the conviction of Moon, who heads the Unification Church, “severely threatened rights of all religious groups.” Moon was convicted in May, 1982, for failing to pay $150,000 in personal income taxes. Moon maintains that the money was not personal income but church contributions.
New Hampshire’s primary on February 28 is the opening one, and since 1952 no one has been elected President without first winning there. New Hampshire has a nonwhite population of only 1 percent, the next to lowest in the country, and it is the fastest growing state east of the Mississippi, except for Florida.
The pesticide EDB, at the levels now being found in foods, poses little immediate risk to consumers, according to several leading scientists and regulators. The real risk, they say, is in eating EDB-contaminated foods over very long periods.
Applications to private colleges in the Northeast are reaching record proportions, and six of the eight Ivy League colleges have received more freshman applications than at any time in their histories. The trend is occurring at a time when the number of students graduating from high schools is declining.
Strategic Air Command bombers armed with nuclear weapons are on 24-hour alert at 14 air bases around the country. At K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Upper Michigan, a 60-man crew is always on alert duty, ready to fly to possible targets in the Soviet Union, and the lives of the 9,300 military and civilian personnel center on the alert crews.
Union leaders in Honolulu said they are pessimistic about the chances of avoiding a statewide walkout Wednesday by 40,000 public employees ranging from college professors to garbage collectors. Informal talks were continuing between negotiators for the four unions and the state, but spokesmen for both sides said they were not close to a settlement. At issue are wages, health insurance and other issues. Police and firefighters are not included in the threatened strike action.
Prison guards searched houses and barns near a landfill for three of four “extremely dangerous” convicts still at large after fleeing a prison work detail. Five prisoners at Ft. Pillow State Prison, about 40 miles west of Brownsville, Tennessee, escaped late last week while working in a silage pit on the prison’s farm. One was recaptured and a guard spotted three of the escapees near the landfill. The fourth inmate was believed to have fled the area. After the escape, the inmates held two families hostage, stole at least four vehicles and shot out the windows of a pursuing vehicle. No one was injured.
Financier Jake Butcher is expected to surrender business records to a federal grand jury today rather than go to jail to keep the documents he says might incriminate him, prosecutors said. Butcher, who was the primary promoter of the 1983 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, is under investigation over the collapse of a $3-billion banking empire. He has defied a court order for the records for eight months. His legal fight collapsed when Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor refused to intervene.
At least 18 people from Cuba and Bangladesh, including two children, were turned over to the United States Border Patrol after their boat was found washed ashore here today in a possible smuggling operation, the police said. The 10 men, six women and two girls were first spotted walking along Route A1A by a Boca Raton police officer shortly before 4 A.M. A 25-foot power boat was later found in the area, said Sgt. Linda Forst of the police. “It could be a smuggling operation,” she said. She said some of the Bangladeshis reported paying up to $1,200 per person to be brought to the United States.
Pilots took advantage of clear skies today to look for the overdue Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura, the first person to climb to the top of Mount McKinley alone in winter. At least three planes and a helicopter buzzed the icy flanks of North America’s tallest peak and by late in the day searchers had located Mr. Uemura’s snowshoes where he left them on the way up, in a basin at the 14,000-foot level. Mr. Uemura was to retrieve the shoes on the way down. Bob Gerhard, chief mountaineering ranger at the National Park Service’s Denali National Park, took a helicopter to the 20,320-foot mountain at midday and landed twice, but said he found “no evidence” of Mr. Uemura.
An experimental instrument package called the “Chicago Egg” was shipped from Chicago to Kennedy Space Center. Florida, where it will ride into orbit aboard a space shuttle next year to measure cosmic rays. The University of Chicago package of cosmic ray detectors. sealed inside a 10-by-12-foot, egg-shaped aluminum shell, is scheduled to be taken into orbit in March, 1985. It is the 32nd University of Chicago experiment built for space flight since 1958, and by far the largest at 5,000 pounds. The “egg” carries a new type of cosmic ray detector developed at the university to measure particles at higher energies than possible before.
Despite the alarms raised over falling test scores and other signs of trouble in American education, college deans say the quality of their science, engineering and humanities students has not slipped in recent years. In some cases, according to several hundred deans who responded to two federally funded surveys, the quality of students is even better than it was five years ago. The surveys were funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
It is hypothesized that the sun has a companion star that at regular intervals of about every 28 million years invades the clouds of comets surrounding the solar system and sends a billion of them flying in all directions, destroying much of the life on earth, according to two groups of scientists. The predicted return of the unseen star is 14 million years from now.
[Ed: This was eventually rejected as not physically possible. In order to avoid significantly affecting the orbit of the planets, as well as to avoid observation, Nemesis must remain at a distance from the sun. But astronomers argue that such an orbit would be inherently unstable. The idea has also been disproved by several infrared sky surveys, most recently the WISE mission in 2011. If there were a brown dwarf companion, these sensitive infrared telescopes would have detected it.]
Views on aging and intelligence long held by scientists are being challenged by researchers. The new research suggests that, among people who remain physically and emotionally healthy, some of the most important forms of intellectual growth can continue well into the 80’s.
Pedro Guerrero becomes the highest-paid Dodger in history, signing a 5-year contract that will reportedly pay him $7 million.
Born:
Trevor Noah, South African comedian, actor and TV host (The Daily Show, 2015-1922), in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Brian McCann, MLB catcher (World Series Champions-Astros, 2017; All-Star, 2006-2011, 2013; Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Houston Astros), in Athens, Georgia.
Ben Lovejoy, NHL defenseman (NHL Champions, Stanley Cup-Penguins, 2016; Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, New Jersey Devils, Dallas Stars), in Concord, New Hampshire.
Pat Lee, NFL cornerback (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 45-Packers, 2010; Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders, Detroit Lions), in Miami, Florida.
Ramzee Robinson, NFL defensive back (Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns), in Huntsville, Alabama.
History Diaries 