Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, said today that he was willing to send an inquiry team to question the occupants of the besieged Libyan Embassy here about the incident Tuesday that resulted in the death of a policewoman and the wounding of 10 protesters, the BBC reported tonight. Colonel Qaddafi was quoted as having said at a news conference in Tripoli that any Libyans involved could be taken back to Libya and tried there before international observers, the BBC said. But he insisted that no Libyans in the embassy were armed and said the British Government should investigate the activities of the police and of the demonstrators outside the embassy. It was not known whether his proposals had been officially forwarded to the British Government. The Foreign Office said it would have no comment. The news conference came at the end of a day of apparently fruitless negotiations in Libya aimed at ending the five- day police siege of the embassy here.
Frustration in the British Government was said to be growing amid reports suggesting that Libyans might have planted the bomb that exploded Friday at Heathrow Airport. The casualty count at Heathrow was fixed today at 25 people, five of whom were still hospitalized with burns and cuts suffered when the two-pound device went off in a baggage claim area. Responsibility for the bombing was taken today in a phone call to the Press Association, Britain’s domestic news agency, by a man saying he was from the Angry Brigade, a group that set off bombs at Government offices and the homes of ministers in the 1960’s. The police continue to investigate possible Libyan connections, however. The bomb resembled devices that had previously been used in attacks thought to be part of the campaign by Libya against anti-Qaddafi exiles.
Two Egyptian newspapers said today that the shooting at demonstrators from inside the Libyan Embassy in London harmed all Arabs. The papers accused Colonel Qaddafi of barbarism. The attacks, in the Government daily Al Ahram and in the weekly Akhbar El Yom, were the first of their kind since President Hosni Mubarak took office in October 1981 and directed the press to refrain from tirades against Arab countries and their leaders.
More than 35 anti-missile demonstrators broke through an outer barbed-wire fence around the U.S. nuclear missile base near Mutlangen, West Germany, before being evicted by dozens of German police. A police spokesman confirmed that an American soldier fired two warning shots into the air when he saw four protesters, three men and one woman, head toward the inner fence around the Pershing 2 missile base. An estimated 30,000 demonstrators staged anti-missile marches and rallies elsewhere around West Germany, building toward what organizers hope will be mass protests Monday.
Yugoslavia detained former Vice President Milovan Djilas and 27 other people who met in a Belgrade apartment on suspicion of “hostile activity,” the national news agency Tanjug reported. Djilas, 73, was released after 18 hours, but his apartment was searched and he was warned by authorities not to give interviews or hold lectures. Once an heir apparent to Marshal Tito, Djilas became disenchanted with communism in the 1950s.
The Soviet newspaper Pravda rejected new Western proposals for force reductions in Western Europe that the Reagan Administration had presented as a possible opening toward wider improvement in East-West relations. It was the second time in a week that the Kremlin had reacted negatively to a new Western arms initiative. The Soviet Union dismissed as a “public relations” ploy the new Western proposals advanced two days ago at the Vienna talks on mutual and balanced force reductions in Central Europe. The Communist Party newspaper Pravda said the proposals, the latest in the decade-old deadlocked talks, “do not reflect even a semblance of any intention to really settle the differences existing between the participants in the talks.” The proposals were described by U.S. spokesmen as a new approach to both the counting of troops and the process of eventual force reductions and limitations.
West Germans say they saw a United States Army helicopter enter Czechoslovak airspace Friday, when American officials say it was fired on by two Soviet-built fighter planes. West German border police said that at least eight people have asserted they saw the helicopter fly into Czechoslovak air space. Statements to the border police by the helicopter crew that they were in West German airspace when fired on could not be confirmed by a United States Army spokesman in Stuttgart.
Pope John Paul II said today that the efforts of Poles represented by the banned Solidarity labor union ”cannot be erased.” ”One must think with respect at this great effort of the Polish spirit which, under the name Solidarity, finds recognition in many societies the world over,” the Pope said in an address to Polish pilgrims at the Vatican.
The United States has asked its allies, including Israel, to stop all arms shipments to Iran and Iraq, Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. Murphy, winding up a 12-day Mideast tour, announced U.S. support for Egypt’s offer to mediate in the 312-year-old Iran-Iraq war but said Iran has ignored all attempts at a political settlement. Asked if the Israelis are providing non-Arab Iran with weapons. Murphy told reporters. “We have been assured that they are not.”
A Tunisian government report on the “bread riots” that swept the country in January has accused senior Interior Ministry officials of negligence and corruption and declared that former Interior Minister Driss Guiga exploited the violence to further his political ambition. The report, published in the official press, put the casualty figure in the riots at 89 dead and 938 wounded, although other sources cite higher figures. President Habib Bourguiba has ordered that Guiga, who fled the country for London, be tried on charges of treason.
Indian and Bangladeshi border troops exchanged fire in a dispute over New Delhi’s plans to build a 2,500-mile barbed wire border fence to deter illegal immigrants, Indian officials reported. A government spokesman in Dhaka said one Bangladeshi serviceman was injured in the clash. An Indian government spokesman said no Indians were injured in the exchange of fire. which by both accounts took place near Dhubri, in Assam state, 800 miles southeast of New Delhi.
A Vietnam war veterans’ group has been asked to visit Hanoi periodically for talks with the Vietnamese Government, which has no formal diplomatic ties to the United States. The Reagan Administration says it opposes the plan, but a State Department official indicated that officials would probably not seek to prevent the veterans’ group, the Vietnam Veterans of America, from talking to the Vietnamese.
Salvadoran guerrillas knocked down power lines to black out the capital of southeastern Usulutan province, breaking an undeclared Easter truce that has been honored each year since the war broke out in 1979. The rebels toppled high-voltage electrical cables in the province, cutting off power to the city of Usulutan, the provincial capital, 62 miles southeast of San Salvador, military officials said. Most of the nation, however, was reported quiet as Easter approached.
CIA-aided Nicaraguan insurgents based in Costa Rica face a cutoff of aid if they fail to pursue the Central Intelligence Agency’s objectives, according to guerrilla officers, Government officials and diplomats in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital. The CIA has suspended aid to the Costa Rican- based group more than once, the officers and officials say. Only recently has the CIA begun using the threat of reduced aid to prompt military actions, they say.
The sole candidate in Zanzibar’s presidential election received 87.5 percent of ballots cast, election officials announced today. The candidate, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, has been interim president since Aboud Jumbe stepped down in January amid controversy over Zanzibar’s 20-year-old union with Tanganyika to form Tanzania. The electoral commission chairman announced that Mr. Mwinyi received 193,737 of the 221,273 votes cast in the election Thursday.
A law linking Federal student aid to draft registration appears to have achieved most of the objectives sought by its proponents, but the Supreme Court is still considering its constitutionality. Campus financial aid officers report that most students have complied with the law, which requires students seeking Federal aid to certify that they have registered for a possible military draft or, in the case of women or men under 18 years old, to certify that they are not required to do so.
The discovery of the cause of AIDS might have been made at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Dr. James O. Mason, head of the Federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said he believes a virus discovered by French researchers is the cause of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome called AIDS.
Proposed immigration law revisions have deeply divided the Democratic Party. As the House nears debate on the potent election-year issue, Hispanic groups are pitted against organized labor. The AFL-CIO wants a statutory ban on employment of illegal aliens, contending that they depress wages and working conditions for American citizens. Hispanic groups say the revised law would increase the likelihood of discrimination against Americans of Hispanic descent.
President Reagan enjoys a horseback ride following his chore of wood cutting at his ranch near Santa Barbara, California.
Yearly utility bills for the 45 million American families who heat their homes with natural gas could go up by an average $50 to $65 in 1985 if pipeline companies pass on price increases predicted in a survey by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. Pipeline companies are expecting to pay 14% to 17% more for natural gas next winter when federal price ceilings expire on about one-third of the nation’s supply of the fuel. In the trade group’s survey, interstate pipeline companies said their contracts with gas producers will expose them to price hikes averaging 9% to 12% above inflation when the government controls come off next January under a 1978 law.
A United Airlines jet carrying 437 persons from San Francisco to Honolulu landed safely in Colorado Springs after being diverted because of a telephoned bomb threat. authorities said. Bomb squads searched the Boeing 747 and found no explosives, a United spokesman said. The jet was diverted after officials at KGO-TV in San Francisco told airport authorities that a caller had claimed there was a bomb aboard. The caller later demanded $50,000 for information on disengaging the device. The plane was sent to Colorado Springs, elevation 6,200 feet, because the caller had said that the bomb would explode when the plane reached an altitude of 4,500 feet.
Two New York City police officers, both 17-year veterans, and five other suspects were in custody on charges that they took part in a multi-million-dollar cocaine ring. Detective Leonard Caruso and officer Augustus Julbes face charges of conspiracy and extortion. Cesar Ramirez, the alleged ringleader who bragged that he “owns the 34th Precinct” where both officers worked, is charged with selling cocaine from his jewelry store. Authorities allege that Julbes was a “conduit of information” and “adviser to Mr. Ramirez” and that Caruso “extorted money, gifts, favors and loans” from Ramirez.
Air Force intelligence has funneled money through other agencies to bypass rules intended to control year-end spending and promote competition in contracting. officials said. A February 8 memo from the deputy director of estimates for Air Force intelligence said it was logical to spend money through the CIA because, “apparently, new regulations designed to encourage competitive contract negotiation do not apply to CIA…” Air Force officials said that similar memos could be found in almost any agency and they do not reflect improper activity. They said Air Force intelligence spent about $750,000 in each of the last two fiscal years, mostly through the CIA and some through the State Department, when it obtained funds too late in the year for the normal contracting process.
Divers have pulled four bodies and four automobiles from a bayou near the Gulf Coast. All the cars apparently missed a curve on an approach to the bayou bridge, said Capt. Charles Wagner of the Freeport police. Sgt. Harry Stiles of the Brazoria County sheriff’s office said Friday that a fisherman saw one body in East Union Bayou near a road. Divers sought the victim’s car but found the three other cars first. The victims were Sam G. Hall, 34 years old, Cathy Jaye Stewart, 36, Roma Alexia Gibson, 25, and James Clay, 30.
Directors of a home for neglected children in Cullman, Alabama, agreed to a grand jury’s demand that the entire staff be fired at the church-run haven where children were allegedly abused, physically and sexually. The Cullman County jury. after two days of testimony, returned five indictments against three persons who worked at the Church of Christ home. J. D. Alexander, 55, and John Symonds, 27, both of Cullman, were arrested, and each is free on $5,000 bond. Alexander is accused of second-degree sodomy involving a teenage boy. and Symonds is charged with beating, torturing, and abusing a girl. They were among seven workers fired by the home. A third unidentified suspect is expected to be arrested this week.
A former janitor is in custody and two teachers have been suspended from a day-care center where officials say children may have been sexually abused. ”It appears that a significant number of children have been molested,” said Donald Schlosser of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. He said a survey of parents whose children have attended the Rogers Park Jewish Community Center indicated that 32 children might have been molested. The former janitor, Decortic Parks, 45 years old, was charged last week with taking indecent liberties with children. Two teachers were suspended because they did not report information, Mr. Schlosser said.
[Ed: A 4-year-old girl named herself and two friends as victims of abuse by the janitor. After his arrest, a flock of children began telling the Chicago police tales of ”bizarre forms of abuse,” including having witnessed a murder at the center and seeing a baby killed, cooked in a pot and eaten by teachers. In late 1984, the janitor was acquitted and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services concluded that most allegations were unfounded. Clearly, a wealth of evidence intimated that many claims were fictions fed by adult hysteria.]
A California charter bus carrying a scouting group crashed early today on Interstate 15, killing two people and injuring dozens, the authorities said. A hospital official said the bus was carrying the high school students to Orange County, California, from a skiing vacation in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
The slow decline in the number of Roman Catholic schools has abated and the enrollment of non-Catholic students in those schools is soaring, a national educational group said today. The report made public by the National Catholic Educational Association, opening its 81st convention here, cited the smallest decline in the number of Catholic schools in the United States since the 1960’s. There are now 7,937 Catholic elementary schools and 1,464 secondary schools in the nation, only 31 fewer than in the 1982-83 period, said the Rev. Frank Bredeweg, a consultant to the association. He attributed the shift to better administrative and budget procedures and slower migration from cities, where most Catholic schools are, to the suburbs. Father Bredeweg said non-Catholic students make up 10.4 percent of the elementary enrollment and 11.2 percent of the enrollment in the secondary schools. ”The percentage of minority students also continues to increase,” he said.
ABC’s “Nightline” reverts from 1-hour to ½-hour format.
After 37 weeks Michael Jackson’s album “Thriller” is knocked off as top album by movie soundtrack for “Footloose.”
Franz Weber of Austria skis downhill at a record 209.8 kph.
Montreal’s David Palmer, who missed all of the 1983 season following elbow surgery, pitches a rain-shortened 5-inning perfect game 4–0 against the Cardinals to give the Expos a doubleheader sweep. It is the 4th perfect game of less than 9 innings in Major League history.
At home before 34,395 fans, the Tigers beat the White Sox 4–1, ending LaMarr Hoyt’s personal 15-game winning streak. Dave Rozema pitches six shutout innings for the win, while Lou Whitaker has a homer and three runs scored.
Born:
Michael Tinsley, American hurdler (Olympics, 400m hurdles, silver medal, 2012), in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Derek Meech, Canadian NHL defenseman (Detroit Red Wings, Winnipeg Jets), in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Zach Kroenke, MLB pitcher (Arizona Diamondbacks), in Omaha, Nebraska.
Ashley Peldon, actress (Marsha-“Guiding Light”, “Deceived”), in Staten Island, New York.
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