Lobbying for the MX missile was stepped up by President Reagan. At an impromptu news conference, Mr. Reagan asserted that House disapproval of the missile “would only encourage the Soviet Union to ignore our arms control efforts.” The consensus is that a majority in the House now opposes production money for the missile. At an impromptu news conference at the White House, Mr. Reagan said that “there is no more compelling priority on my agenda” than persuading Moscow to rejoin arms control negotiations and that approval of the missile was essential to this task. “We must not cast doubt on U.S. or allied reserve nor reward the Soviets for their current belligerent behavior towards arms control,” the President said.
A new vote on the MX missile is expected in the House tomorrow. Democratic leaders in the House today reiterated their prediction that the Administration-supported measure, which calls for the production of 30 MX missiles this year, would be defeated. They said the only chance for the Administration was a compromise advocated by Representative Les Aspin, a Wisconsin Democrat and past supporter of the missile. At issue is a bill that would delete about $2.5 billion approved by the Armed Services Committee for production of 30 MX missiles. Aspin’s compromise would allow for 15 missiles.
Moscow’s decision not to take part in the Los Angeles Olympic Games this summer is final, according to Marat V. Gramov, the Soviet Union’s top sports official. The official, Marat V. Gramov, head of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, spoke at a news conference six days after Moscow announced its decision not to participate. He said the decision was made after it was concluded that the United States “cannot be expected to ensure any radical change toward making the Games a festival of peace and friendship, secure for athletes.” “This decision of ours is irrevocable,” said Mr. Gramov, who also heads the National Olympic Committee. He said the decision came after a meeting in Washington on April 27 at which the State Department had labeled avowed Soviet concern about the safety of athletes as “false accusations.” In Washington, the State Department called the Soviet description of the meeting a “complete distortion and twisting of facts.”
A British banker who fell to his death from his Moscow apartment window gave a neighbor a note two days earlier saying he knew of a traitor in the British secret service and feared for his life, an inquest in London was told. However, British diplomats testified that they thought at the time that the banker was paranoid and that his fears were exaggerated. The death last June of Dennis Skinner, 54, has prompted British press speculation that he was killed by the KGB to keep him from naming the alleged spy. The inquest will resume today.
Fifty-three people were injured, 10 of them seriously, by a powerful explosion in the crowded city center of Athens today, the Athens News Agency quoted police officials as saying. Ioannis Skoularikis, Greece’s Minister of Public Order, said the explosion, in the kitchen of a fast-food outlet near Omonia Square apparently resulted from a leak in a gas bottle and was not a bomb. “We are almost certain the explosion resulted from a gas leak and not from a bomb,” Mr. Skoularikis said, “but we are still examining all possibilities.”
An artillery shell exploded in the playground of a school in the city’s Christian sector today, killing a 12- year-old boy and wounding 20 other children, hospital and radio reports said. The shelling of East Beirut by Moslem gunners wounded 12 other people, prompting Prime Minister Rashid Karami to pledge to try to end the fighting. But a Christian Cabinet member said the Government was powerless, and the Christian militia threatened “instant and painful” retaliation against the Moslem sector in West Beirut. Schools on both sides sent children home for fear the fighting would spread, but by nightfall there was no reply from Christian gunners.
A prominent leader of the Jewish settlement movement on the occupied West Bank was arrested Sunday night by the Israeli police, reportedly on suspicion that he had knowledge of terrorist attacks on Arabs being planned by some of 25 Jews now in custody. The army radio, however, quoted an anonymous police source as saying that the settlement leader, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, would probably be released within the next day or so. Leaders of Gush Emunim, the right-wing nationalist movement at the vanguard of the drive for Jewish settlement, expressed shock at Rabbi Levinger’s detention. Eliakim Haetzny, a lawyer and resident of the settlement of Qiryat Arba, near Hebron, said it was apparent that the episodes under investigation involved people more highly integrated into the mainstream than previous incidents. Rabbi Levinger said several days ago that he could understand, though not approve, Jews’ using violence against Arabs because of inadequate security.
Afghanistan announced that it will soon arm workers, farmers and civil servants in an effort to protect state-run factories, farms, and government buildings from attacks by anti-Soviet Muslim guerrillas. The emphasis will apparently be on urban areas. Kabul radio said the defense groups will be set up on a voluntary basis across the country.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi met Vice President Bush today and was reported to have complained that United States arms sales to Pakistan could lead to a regional arms race. “The concerns of both countries were discussed in an open and free manner,” said Salman Haidar, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs. The United News of India said Mrs. Gandhi expressed “deep concern” about United States sales of “very sophisticated” weapons to Pakistan and said it would tilt the military balance and lead to an arms race in the region. The United States has sold 40 F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan and has proposed to arm them with Harpoon missiles. Six planes have already been delivered, and the rest will arrive by February 1986.
Troops in Sri Lanka searched for an American couple reportedly freed by Tamil secessionist guerrillas but found no trace of them in a thick jungle inhabited by leopards and elephants. The Americans — Stanley B. Allen, 38, of Columbus, Ohio, and his wife, Elizabeth, 36 — were kidnapped and threatened with death by rebels seeking the release of 20 colleagues and $2 million in gold. Sri Lankan officials quoted reports from an unspecified source that the Allens have been freed in response to an appeal by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Less evidence of “yellow rain” is reported in a status sheet circulating in Washington. The report found that in 1983 and 1984 not a single environmental sample taken from sites reportedly attacked by chemical weapons used by the Soviet Union and its allies in Southeast Asia had been found to contain toxins. The question is whether these countries stopped using these chemicals.
The United States is planning to continue military exercises in Honduras through 1988 and to build facilities there for combat aircraft, a Pentagon report said. The report, submitted to Congress, proposes construction next year at Palmerola air base in Honduras of a $1.5 million air munitions storage facility. It would store arms needed “in the event the United States must deploy tactical aircraft to Honduras” to meet treaty obligations, the report said. It added that maneuvers involving U.S. troops are being scheduled through 1988.
Sandinista government troops have routed most of the 4,000-member, CIA-backed rebel force in Nicaragua’s northern Jinotega province, but fighting continues in the area, a regional military commander said. Commander Javier Carrion told a news conference in Managua that 250 rebels and 70 government soldiers were killed in the three-week operation. He said the insurgents from the Nicaraguan Democratic Force arrived in early March from bases in Honduras. The casualty report could not be verified because access to battle areas is restricted.
Jury selection in the long-delayed trial of five former Salvadoran national guardsmen, accused of killing four U.S. churchwomen is scheduled for this week, court officials said. Under Salvadoran law, the trial must be held within 15 days after jury selection. The three U.S. nuns and a church layworker were abducted and slain December 2, 1980, as they drove from the airport to San Salvador.
Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid arrived in Washington for four days of talks on Central American violence, Latin economic problems and other issues. He is to meet with President Reagan, Secretary of State George P. Shultz and other officials and address Congress on Wednesday.
Walter Herman Julius Rauff died of a heart attack, the Chilean Government radio reported. The 77-year-old former Nazi SS Colonel was accused of directing the mass killing of Jews in mobile gassing vans in World War II. He was one of the last Nazi fugitives never brought to justice for major war crimes.
A Mobil oil refinery in Durban, South Africa was attacked by guerrillas using rockets. The attack led to a series of gunfights between the rebels and the Durban police. Seven people were killed, four of them suspected guerrillas. The outlawed African National Congress, the main black guerrilla group fighting South Africa’s system of racial separation, claimed responsibility. Police said a fire resulting from the rocket attack caused little damage.
Appointment of a special prosecutor was ordered to investigate the transfer of White House data prepared for President Carter to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign. In making the ruling, Federal District Judge Harold H. Greene rejected an argument by Attorney General William French Smith that no judge had legal authority to review the Justice Department’s conclusion that there was “no credible evidence that the transfer violated any criminal law.”
President Reagan holds a ceremony honoring young Michael Jackson for his help in the fight against drunk driving. As hundreds of fans squealed outside the White House gates, a shy Michael Jackson was hailed by President Reagan for allowing his hit song “Beat It” to be used in a commercial against drunk driving. Jackson, who neither drinks nor smokes, wore his trademark sunglasses and single white glove along with an electric-blue sequined jacket with gold braid, gold sash and gold epaulets and white-sequined socks for the brief ceremony on the White House South Lawn. Hundreds of White House workers left their desks and, armed with cameras, stood on the lawn to get a glimpse of Jackson. Outside the gates, hundreds of young people craned to see and shouted, “We want Michael!” As Reagan, his wife, Nancy, and Jackson stepped on stage, the President said, “Well, isn’t this a thriller. We haven’t seen so many people since we left China.” Jackson’s album “Thriller,” which contains the song “Beat It,” has sold more than 33 million copies and won eight Grammy awards.
President Reagan participates in a meeting with Mexican American business and civic leaders from the border area of Texas to talk about trade and investment.
President Reagan attends a ceremony of starting the Olympic Torch off on its way to Los Angeles.
Funds for the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago will be assured by 16 of the nation’s leading banks, with the tacit support of the Federal Reserve System. Troubled Continental, the nation’s eighth-largest bank, announced that the 16 banks had agreed to make a $4.5 billion line of credit available to it for 30 days.
A key ruling on ineffective counsel was issued by the Supreme Court. In an 8-to-1 decision, the Justices held that “the benchmark for judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel’s conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result.”
State judges may be sued for civil rights violations and may be ordered to pay the lawyers’ fees of those who sue them successfully, under a Supreme Court ruling. The 5-to-4 decision permits only suits for injunctions, not damages.
Voters in Oregon seem ready to continue their maverick tradition, which included support in 1964 for Nelson A. Rockefeller and in 1968 for Eugene J. McCarthy. Senator Gary Hart appears to be headed for a victory in the state’s Democratic Presidential primary today.
Chemotherapy is the major weapon for increasing the number of patients who can be cured of cancer. At the same time, researchers are reducing the debilitating side effects that chemotherapy patients have typically had to endure.
The House approved legislation that would allow the Health and Human Services Department to provide $30 million a year in grants for the after-school operation of child-care facilities in public schools and community centers. The legislation, sent to the Senate by unanimous voice vote, would authorize a three-year program to help pay for after-school care of children aged 4 through 13 who often are left to fend for themselves when school lets out while their parents are still at work.
A church worker was convicted in Brownsville, Texas, of conspiring to smuggle two illegal aliens from El Salvador into the United States as part of a growing sanctuary movement that is causing friction between the Roman Catholic Church and the federal government. Stacey Lynn Merkt, 29, also was convicted of transporting the aliens and aiding and abetting them. She could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and fined $6,000. Sentencing was set for June 27. Federal officials contend the Salvadorans are illegal aliens in the United States for economic reasons and are not necessarily entitled to political asylum. Merkt showed no emotion when the verdict was read.
The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board told Congress that recent “unsettling incidents” cause concern that the 1978 airline deregulation may lead to a compromise of aviation safety. James E. Burnett Jr., in Senate committee testimony, pointed to “some very unsettling incidents in the past year which have caused the board concern over the adequacy of (Federal Aviation Administration) surveillance over the industry.” Increasing competition which results in cost-cutting measures is the culprit, he said.
A hospital maid who admitted, “I screamed,” and a manicurist who said, “I’m numb,” came forward to claim their shares of New York state’s record $22.1-million Lotto jackpot. Also due to receive $5.5 million each, minus taxes, for picking all six numbers correctly for Saturday’s drawing were a father of four and a fourth person who did not immediately claim the winnings. Shares in the richest lottery prize ever offered in North America were claimed by a 64-year-old cleaning woman who had just begun playing Lotto, a manicurist, 44, who has played it consistently and a machinist, 46, who has played each week with the same numbers for six years. “I was broke and now I’m rich,” said former maid Weonta Fitzgerald, 64, of Kingston. Also a winner is manicurist Augusta DiBenedetto of Valley Stream. Jesse Maneti, 46, of the Rochester suburb of Greece, New York, was the third winner. The unknown winner has a year to claim the fourth share of the money. The $22.1 million New York State Lotto contest made $11 million for the state’s education fund.
The FBI is investigating an ex-government investigator who secretly taped conversations of Senate Labor Committee staff members during the 1982 investigations of Secretary of Labor Raymond J. Donovan, The Washington Post reported. Ralph C. Sharer, 38, reportedly was paid by a lawyer for Donovan’s New Jersey construction firm at a time when Donovan was known to be upset by leaks from the committee about the investigation. Donovan was being investigated for alleged ties to organized crime.
Alfred Bloomingdale’s ambition to be named ambassador to France was scuttled by his affair with Vicki Morgan, whose sexual exploits tarnished his reputation, Time magazine reported. Time said the multimillionaire, a member of President Reagan’s “Kitchen Cabinet” who died of cancer in 1982, had hoped for the ambassadorship and planned to give Morgan a minor government job in Paris. FBI officials, however, told him his affair with Morgan, who was beaten to death with a baseball bat last July, would make that impossible, the magazine said.
Brothers aged 7 and 9 were sentenced today to an child care institution for the torture death of an 8-month-old girl left in their mother’s care. Circuit Judge Jack Page of Pinellas County decided the boys would go to Camelot Care Center near Chicago, a residential treatment program for emotionally troubled youngsters. The children will remain under the supervision of Florida’s Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services indefinitely, but not beyond their 19th birthdays, Judge Page said. “These kids are not psychotic or severely emotionally disturbed,” he said. “They are environmentally and culturally deprived, so it shouldn’t take long to straighten them out.” The names of the brothers have not been published because of their ages. Last month, in a nonjury trial, the older boy was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death last September of Barbara Parks.
Murder and sexual abuse charges were dropped against the younger boy in return for his testimony. He was found guilty of aggravated child abuse. There was testimony in the trial that the boys imitated acts they saw in pornographic magazines around the house. Their mother acknowledged she did not hide the hard-core sex materials.
Cyanide found in a bottle of Coca-Cola that killed a 34-year-old man was placed in the container after it left the bottling plant, the authorities said today. Denis Vogel, the District Attorney of Manitowoc County, and Police Chief LeRoy Strauss of Manitowoc said that 86 16-ounce soft drink bottles with twist-off tops had been confiscated since the death Thursday of Thomas Dresser of Manitowoc. He was found by his wife, Shelley, at a rest area along Lake Michigan near the city of Two Rivers. The couple had planned to meet at the wayside for lunch. Two open bottles of Coca-Cola were found at the scene, one containing a lethal dose of cyanide. There have been no other reports of tampering with soft drink bottles, Mr. Vogel said.
A metal implant that “grows” as children do could end the need for amputation for many youngsters stricken with cancer of the thigh bone, doctors said. Dr. Michael M. Lewis, developer of the new prosthetic device, said doctors are “hopeful we will save a lot of children from amputation.” The device was unveiled at a New York news conference at the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute, where Lewis is chief of the hospital’s tumor service.
Sun Myung Moon’s conviction for Federal income tax fraud will not be reviewed by the Supreme Court. The Court announced the decision without comment or dissent. The action makes it probable that the founder of the Unification Church will soon have to begin serving an 18-month prison sentence.
19th Academy of Country Music Awards: Alabama, Lee Greenwood, and Janie Fricke win.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1151.07 (-6.07).
Born:
Mark Zuckerberg, American internet entrepreneur, censorious asshole, and co-founder of Facebook, in White Plains, New York.
Luke Gregerson, MLB pitcher (World Series Champions-Houston, 2017; San Diego Padres, Oakland A’s, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals), in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Died:
Elmer Riddle, 69, American baseball pitcher (NL wins leader 1943; Cincinnati Reds).
Walter Rauff, 77, Nazi German military officer, mobile gas chamber developer, and spy, of a heart attack while suffering from lung cancer.
History Diaries 