Britain pressed Libya for permission to search the Libyan Embassy in London and question people who have been trapped in the building by the police since the fatal shooting Tuesday of a policewoman outside. As of tonight, there had been no Libyan reply. Diplomatic activity to resolve the crisis has shifted to Tripoli, the Libyan capital, a Foreign Office spokesman said. Scotland Yard remains in telephone contact with those inside the Libyan Embassy in St. James’s Square. The British have seemingly concluded that only Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, the volatile Libyan leader, is able to make the decisions needed to resolve the deadlock arising out of international laws governing diplomatic immunity. The Vienna Convention of 1964 prohibits the search of embassy premises or the prosecution of an accredited diplomat without permission.
The British apparently hope to be able to clear the embassy, establish responsibility for the burst of submachinegun fire that killed Constable Yvonne Fletcher and wounded 10 Libyan exiles, and then deport the diplomats and students who are occupying the building. But Arab diplomats and others who know Libya well said they doubted that Colonel Qaddafi would agree to the necessary waivers, and the Libyan leader said in a television interview that only the withdrawal of the police cordon would defuse the situation.
He said that it was the British police that had carried out “a sudden armed attack” on the embassy, supported by helicopters and by people from the Middle East who were not Libyans, and he blamed them for the death of Constable Fletcher. A British spokesman called the charges “totally false.” “We are prepared to sit it out for as long as it takes,” a Scotland Yard officer said. He conceded that the police were not certain that the gunman was still in the embassy and not at all certain that they would be able to identify him if they got the chance.
There was no confirmation of an ABC News report that an American spy satellite had intercepted a message from Tripoli to the embassy ordering it to use force against anti-Qaddafi demonstrators. The report said that United States officials had warned Britain, but that the warning came too late to stop the shooting on Tuesday. The Foreign Office said in a statement: “No specific information which would lead us to believe that an incident of this kind would occur was in our hands before the incident itself.” A spokesman declined to say whether such information came in later.
Egypt and the Soviet Union have agreed in principle to exchange ambassadors after a three-year break, Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali said in a statement reported by Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency. Vladimir Polyakov, Moscow’s last ambassador to Cairo, was expelled in 1981 by then-President Anwar Sadat. Polyakov, who now heads the Middle East Department at the Soviet Foreign Ministry, has been in Cairo this week for talks that the Egyptians describe as positive.
France’s leftist alliance held together, but it was weakened. After eight hours of debate in the National Assembly, the Communists announced grudgingly that they would support a confidence motion sought by the Socialist leadership. The French Communist Party fell into line and voted to remain in the government of Socialist President Francois Mitterrand despite objections to his plans to modernize state-owned industries by cutting thousands of jobs. Communists and Socialists in the National Assembly, or Parliament, joined to cast 329 ballots in support of the government in a vote of confidence. The opposition cast 156 votes against the motion. It was believed that the Socialists pushed for the vote in a last-ditch effort to resolve months of bickering with the Communists and force them to support the government or quit the coalition.
The Soviet navy is testing a surface skimmer designed to carry hundreds of troops at speeds up to 345 m.p.h., a Jane’s yearbook reported. Ray McLeavy, editor of Jane’s Surface Skimmers, said the U.S. Navy is moving towards its own version of the hovercraft, which cruises over water at heights of 11 to 46 feet. He said the craft, if dispatched from bases on the U.S. coasts, could carry assault troops and tanks to almost any coastline in the world within three to four days. The Soviet version has eight turbine engines mounted on stub wings plus two booster jets on the tail.
West German police stopped hundreds of anti-nuclear protesters from blocking access to U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization military bases across the country. No violence was reported in the protests that kicked off five days of anti-nuclear “Easter Marches.” The protests, which a parliamentary spokesman for Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s party quickly labeled Communist-inspired, are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of West Germans, culminating in mass demonstrations on Monday.
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou said today that police files recording political convictions of hundreds of thousands of citizens would be destroyed early next month. In a statement on the eve of the 17th anniversary of the April 1967 right-wing coup, Mr. Papandreou said the files would be destroyed in the presence of local prefects, public prosecutors, the chief of the local police and representatives of the political parties. The files, kept by the security police in Athens and in all major cities, recorded the political activities of mainly Communists and anarchists. “The destruction of these files is a major step in safeguarding the equality of rights,” Mr. Papandreou said. He also said his government soon would introduce a bill in Parliament providing for stiff penalties in cases of torture by the police.
Eritrean guerrillas said today that their forces overran the Ethiopian Army garrison at Senafe, killing 60 Government soldiers and cutting the Addis Ababa-Asmara highway, the main link between the capital and the Eritrean provincial capital. A statement issued here by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front said a guerrilla force captured Senafe on April 16, routing the Ethiopian Government garrison protecting the town. Besides the 60 Government soldiers killed, another 100 were wounded and 50 others were taken prisoner, the statement said. Diplomats said the Eritrean guerrillas, who have been fighting for 23 years for the independence of Ethiopia’s northern province, control much of the countryside near Senafe, a village of about 10,000 people, but the Ethiopian Army controls the major towns and villages in the north.
Three people were killed today in violence in the states of Punjab and Haryana. Dozens of people were arrested, and curfews were imposed on several major towns. The Press Trust of India said a police sub-inspector and a constable were shot and killed by six armed youths traveling in a car near Ambala in northern Haryana. In the Punjab state capital of Chandigarh, a Hindu was shot and killed during a Sikh protest march and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was extended to last all day Friday. The three deaths brought to 156 the number of people killed in the latest outbreak of violence over Sikh demands for autonomy in Punjab.
South Korean police fired tear gas at rock-throwing students after memorial services marking the 24th anniversary of a 1960 student uprising that helped bring down the Syngman Rhee government. Thousands of students demonstrated on at least 10 campuses in the country, shouting slogans denouncing the government of President Chun Doo Hwan and destroying university property. No arrests were made, however, apparently in line with a government pledge to show patience with student unrest.
Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem, with green and gold the national colors.
American diplomats in Honduras said they could not rule out the possibility that two United States Army helicopters that came under fire Wednesday may have strayed over rebel-controlled territory in El Salvador.
Salvadoran guerrillas said they had fired on helicopters carrying two U.S. senators. Earlier, U.S. officials said that Democrats Lawton Chiles of Florida and J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana were flying to a Salvadoran refugee camp in Honduras, near the Salvadoran border, when one of two copters was hit by gunfire Wednesday and forced to land. Chiles said it was impossible to tell whether the copters were over Honduras or El Salvador when the firing began. A guerrilla broadcast said the copters flew 10 miles into rebel-held territory in Morazan province.
A Sandinista heroine was rejected by the White House as Ambassador to Washington at the insistence of the CIA, overruling a recommendation made by Secretary of State George P. Shultz, according to Reagan Administration officials.
Rebels battling the Marxist government of Angola said they will free many of the dozens of foreigners they hold. A statement issued in Lisbon and signed by Jonas Savimbi, leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, said that 16 British technicians captured at a diamond-mine complex earlier this year will be freed, along with 20 Czechs.
The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 8.3 percent from January 1 to March 31, well above the 5 percent pace of the last quarter of 1983, the Commerce Department reported. But economists attributed much of the increase to a sharp, unsustainable buildup of inventories of goods that businesses keep in factories and warehouses.
President Reagan receives word that a U.S. military helicopter carrying a Congressional Delegation in Central America was shot down — all onboard survived.
President Reagan addresses a group of dock-workers in Tacoma, Washington.
Damages for a record oil spill were ordered by a Federal District judge in Chicago. In a 111-page opinion, Judge Frank J. McGarr ruled that the Standard Oil Company and two subsidiaries must reimburse complainants, including the French Government, for cleaning up the damage down by the 1978 spill from a supertanker that polluted 130 miles of Brittany’s coastline.
Walter F. Mondale, after his big victory in Missouri’s caucuses, faced the next major round in the battle for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Gary Hart, who was not far ahead of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, vowed to stay in the race no matter how many of the remaining primaries and caucuses he loses.
In a typical campaign day Wednesday, Gary Hart, his staff and the news correspondents and technicians who follow him visited five cities, attended a dozen political events, saw thousands of people and filed scores of articles and television items. On the way from Ohio to Texas, they flew 1,790 miles and consumed 18 pots of coffee, nine gallons of milk and 180 tiny bottles of liquor.
A drop in serious crimes reported to the police in 1983 was announced by the FBI. The 7 percent decline was the second major drop in two years and the largest since 1960.
American medical education, according to Derek C. Bok, the president of Harvard, is in serious need of reform at every stage. He called for less pressure on undergraduate students to major in science and for more sophisticated use of technology in the clinical training of medical school students.
A halt in building the reactors at the Seabrook nuclear plant in New Hampshire prompted the layoff of 5,200 of the plant’s 6,200 workers. About half the laid off workers are from out of state. Many gathered at Pal’s Pub near the plant’s south gate to drink and commiserate before they left New Hampshire. A longtime pipe fitter who had never before been laid off said, “I’ve never seen such poor management in my life.”
Strong evidence has been discovered that a type of virus first identified in AIDS patients might be the long-sought cause of the disease, said researchers in the United States and France. The virus, called lymphadenopathy virus or LAV, was found in 11 patients, six with AIDS and five with the pre-AIDS immune disorder lymphadenopathy. “I’m convinced it has a role in AIDS,” said Luc Montagnier, head of the French group at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where the new virus was identified. In the most recent tests, the French have found evidence of the virus in 80% to 90% of American AIDS patients whose blood samples were sent to Paris, said Dr. Malcolm Martin, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland.
Most pregnant women can continue working until they go into labor but their cases must be considered individually, an American Medical Association council said. Factors to be considered include the strenuousness of the tasks the job requires and the employee’s general physical condition, said the Council on Scientific Affairs in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A reporter who had written a series of articles critical of Mexican federal judicial police said he was arrested, beaten and tortured with a cattle prod by Mexican authorities while covering a strike rally. Scott Lind, 29, a reporter for The Monitor in McAllen, Texas, said he was arrested in downtown Reynosa, Mexico, near where striking workers from a Zenith plant were holding a rally. Reynosa, a city on the Mexican border, is about three miles southwest of McAllen.
Advance ticket sales fell 72 percent below expectations, forcing the World’s Fair in New Orleans to ask the state for an emergency loan of $10 million to tide it over until May 12, the opening day, the fair’s president says. “I assure you construction will not stop and the fair will open on time,” Peter Spurney, head of the Louisiana World Exposition, said at a news conference Wednesday. An administration-backed bill asked the Legislature to give $10 million to a state agency to be passed on to the private fair corporation in the form of a short-term loan at 12 percent. Mr. Spurney said ticket sales were projected at $5 million for last month but the actual sale was $1.4 million.
The U.S. Navy has sold 11 old destroyers to other countries at the scrap-metal price of $5.2 million when it should have charged $36.4 million, the General Accounting Office said in a report. Prices ranged from $286,000 for four ships sold to Taiwan, South Korea and Greece in early 1981, to $930,176 for the destroyer USS Cone, sold to Pakistan in October, 1982.
Waters from the rain-swollen Snake River broke up Interstate 84 near the Oregon-Idaho border, while heavy rain and wet snow left two dead in traffic accidents on slick roads in Utah. Two persons were killed and five were injured in a car crash on a slick highway south of Salt Lake City, the Utah Highway Patrol said. Meanwhile, four families were evacuated from a trailer park as water pushed through an earthen dike at the confluence of the Snake and Malheur rivers in eastern Oregon. In Nevada, the Humboldt River threatened a bridge in Winnemucca, the community’s sole link to Oregon.
A 50-year feud over water from a valley 200 miles away has ended with an agreement that one official called “the beginning of a new era.” The settlement approved by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday contrasted with the strong-arm tactics the antagonists employed in the past, some of which were featured in the Roman Polanski movie “Chinatown.” The pact is to designed to lead over five years to rules on dividing water from the Owens Valley between Inyo County and Los Angeles. Mayor Tom Bradley immediately signed the agreement, which has been approved by the Inyo County Board.
The Owens Valley has been the city’s major source of water since the early 1920’s, when Los Angeles began buying land from farmers and ranchers for the water rights. The valley now provides 80 percent of the city’s water. A 1970 proposal by Los Angeles to increase pumping began a decade of litigation by farmers and ranchers who feared for the vegetation and wildlife. The new agreement gives Inyo County an equal voice in deciding how much water Los Angeles gets. Los Angeles will carry out wildlife and recreation projects to compensate for damage to the valley. Either side can back out of the agreement after a year.
A Los Angeles composer and publisher of religious music has been awarded more than $3.1 million by a federal jury that ruled the Archdiocese of Chicago was illegally photocopying his works. Dennis Fitzpatrick, president of FEL Publications Ltd., has been locked in a bitter battle with the archdiocese since he filed suit in 1976. The three-man, three-woman jury returned three separate verdicts. The largest was a $2-million award to compensate Fitzpatrick for the business he lost “in the past and in the future” as a result of a ban on FEL’s works imposed by archdiocese officials after Fitzpatrick filed suit. The jury also awarded $1 million in punitive damages and the $190,400 that Fitzpatrick sought as compensation for licensing revenues lost.
The theory about “Nemesis,” the ‘death star’ of the dinosaurs, first appears in print, in the science journal Nature. It would eventually be largely discredited. Nemesis was a hypothetical red dwarf or brown dwarf, originally postulated in 1984 to be orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 95,000 AU (1.5 light-years), somewhat beyond the Oort cloud, to explain a perceived cycle of mass extinctions in the geological record, which seem to occur more often at intervals of 26 million years. More recent theories suggest that other forces, like close passage of other stars, or the angular effect of the galactic gravity plane working against the outer solar orbital plane (Shiva Hypothesis), may be the cause of orbital perturbations of some outer Solar System objects. In 2010, A. L. Melott and R. K. Bambach found evidence in the fossil record confirming the extinction event periodicity originally identified in 1984, but at a higher confidence level and over a time period nearly twice as long.
However, in 2011, Coryn Bailer-Jones analyzed craters on the surface of the Earth and reached the conclusion that the earlier findings were statistical artifacts, and found that the crater record shows no evidence for Nemesis. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) failed to discover Nemesis in the 1980s. The 2MASS astronomical survey, which ran from 1997 to 2001, failed to detect an additional star or brown dwarf in the Solar System. Using newer and more powerful infrared telescope technology which is able to detect brown dwarfs as cool as 150 kelvins out to a distance of 10 light-years from the Sun, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE survey) has not detected Nemesis. In 2011, David Morrison, a senior scientist at NASA known for his work in risk assessment of near Earth objects, has written that there is no confidence in the existence of an object like Nemesis, since it should have been detected in infrared sky surveys.
Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen picks up his first Major League victory as the Royals beat the Tigers 5–2. It is the first loss of the season for the red-hot Tigers, who began the year 9–0 and will never fall out of first place in the American League East. Dan Petry pitches 8 innings, allowing 4 earned runs in the loss.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1158.08 (+1.57).
Born:
Ambiorix Burgos, Dominican MLB pitcher (Kansas City Royals, New York Mets), in Nagua, Dominican Republic.
Jesús Delgado, Venezuelan MLB pitcher (Florida Marlins), in Maracay, Venezuela.
Lee Da-Hae, South Korean actress (“My Girl”), in Seoul, South Korea.
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