Iran reported that thousands of its volunteers are converging on the battlefront near the Iraqi port city of Basra, apparently readying for an offensive to cut the key city off from the rest of Iraq, Iranian state radio reported that “thousands of zealots” were pouring into front-line locations near Basra. The Gulf News Agency reported from Bahrain that Iraqi enlisted men and college students were also heading for the southern front to counter the Tehran government’s long-awaited offensive.
Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam met with Lebanese government officials in Beirut and said agreement was reached on ways to restore calm to the country. “We have reached, what we can call, an agreement on many issues,” Khaddam told reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Amin Gemayel and Premier Rashid Karami. Karami said the agreement will be discussed at the next Lebanese Cabinet meeting. scheduled for Wednesday. Neither the Syrian official nor Karami would give details of the agreement.
An Israeli judge lifted a ban on publication of the names of 22 West Bank Jewish defendants accused of a series of terrorist attacks on Palestinians, including murder. In agreeing to allow publication of the names, Judge Israel Weiner rejected defense arguments that Arabs might attempt vengeance on relatives of the accused. The man named in the indictments as the ringleader of the terrorist band is Menachem Livni, 34, who lives in Hebron.
The leader of the Britain’s National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill, suffered a head injury today in a melee in Yorkshire that was described by the police as the most violent confrontation of this country’s 15-week-old coal strike. More than 5,000 pickets fought a battle with 2,000 policemen, throwing bricks and bottles and setting fire to automobiles outside the Orgreave Coking Plant. The pickets have been trying to keep coke from the factory from reaching a nearby steel mill. Trucks eventually managed to get through with the help of the police. Assistant Chief Constable Tony Clement said at least 75 people were injured, including 28 policemen, in addition to Mr. Scargill, who was detained for observation at a hospital. More than 100 of the picketing miners were reportedly arrested.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl said today that he was ”not satisfied” with the poor showing of his Christian Democratic Party in the elections to the European Parliament. But he said the setback of the Free Democratic Party, his coalition partner, and the possible departure from the Cabinet of Otto Lambsdorff, the Minister for Economic Affairs, would not lead to a government shake-up. In the elections to the European Parliament on Sunday, all parties, except the Green Party, lost votes compared with the last poll five years ago. The Greens’ share rose from 3.2 percent of the vote in 1979 to 8.2 percent.
Despite predictions that it would suffer a humiliating defeat, the Socialist Government of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou gained a vote of confidence in the elections for the European Parliament.
The New Democracy Party, the conservative opposition, increased its share of the vote only modestly compared with its standing in the 1981 general elections. The opposition leader, former Defense Minister Evangelos Averoff, suggested the results had been falsified, but the Government dismissed the assertion as an attempt to keep his position — now threatened — as leader of the Conservatives. Final results today showed that the Socialist Party won 41.6 percent of the votes, giving it 10 of the 24 seats allocated to Greece in the European Parliament, compared with 38.1 percent and 9 seats for the New Democracy Party.
Four left-wing inmates awaiting trial in Istanbul, Turkey, on terrorism charges have died in the ninth week of their hunger strike to protest alleged torture in prison, relatives said. One of the dead reportedly committed suicide by slashing his wrists, and the three others died from the effects of starvation, their lawyers said.
A report by the Italian prosecutor investigating the 1981 attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II rejects the contention that Mehmet Ali Ağca, who is serving a life term for the crime, was pressured into implicating Bulgaria, the Italian magazine L’Espresso reported. The prosecutor, Antonio Albano, has asked that three Bulgarians and six Turks, including Ağca, be brought to trial for conspiracy in the attack. Quoting the same report, the New York Times said last week that Albano concluded that the Bulgarian secret service recruited Ağca to kill the pontiff. Bulgaria has denied involvement in the shooting. Lawyers for the only Bulgarian in custody, Sergei Ivanov Antonov, have said Mr. Ağca was pressured into involving Bulgarians as accomplices. Under Italian law, Mr. Albano’s recommendation is not binding. It is intended for consideration by Judge Ilario Martella, the magistrate who is in charge of investigating the shooting of the Pope.
Japanese ineptness with chopsticks is reported to be increasing. In a new Government report, only 48.4 percent of elementary school pupils surveyed said they could correctly wield chopsticks.
A plan to curtail the military role of the United States in Central America was rejected by the Republican-controlled Senate. By a vote of 63 to 31, the Senate defeated a proposed measure that would have prohibited use of military forces in or over Nicaragua and El Salvador for combat purposes without the prior approval of Congress.
The Cuban colonel in command on Grenada during last October’s U.S.-led invasion has been court-martialed with 42 other officers, demoted to private and sent to Angola with the officers because of cowardice, Cuban sources said in Havana. Colonel Pedro Tortolo was initially given a hero’s welcome in Cuba after the fighting, in which 24 Cuban civilians died. But questions later arose over how he and other military men managed to escape unscathed to the Soviet Embassy while many of their civilian countrymen were fighting to the death. An estimated 20,000 Cuban troops are serving alongside the Angolan armed forces.
A military judge in Uruguay has formally charged presidential candidate Wilson Ferreira Aldunate with aiding subversion and three other counts, the Uruguayan regime announced. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison, Uruguayan lawyers said in Montevideo. Ferreira, 65, was arrested Saturday when he returned from 11 years of voluntary exile. Before the military seized power in 1973, he was accused of collaborating with left-wing subversives. Ferreira has been chosen as the National Party’s candidate in elections, scheduled for November, that are part of a plan to restore civilian rule.
U.S. Banks with loans to Argentina will be required to report substantially lower earnings because of a hotly disputed interpretation of accounting rules by Federal bank regulators. Some analysts praised the decision, saying it would help clear the air of doubts about the international banking system.
More than 30 people were injured today in Zimbabwe when hundreds of supporters of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe stormed and burned the offices of the party of the opposition leader, Joshua Nkomo. Supporters of Mr. Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union also ransacked the offices of other parties, including the United African National Council led by former Prime Minister Bishop Abel Muzorewa. Other demonstrations against Mr. Nkomo’s party, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union, took place today in the central towns of Shurugwi and Zvishavane, according to the state television. Mr. Nkomo criticized the attacks, charging that Mr. Mugabe’s party was encouraging ”mob rule” to suppress political opposition in general elections early next year.
The President and First Lady participate in the arrival ceremony for the President of Sri Lanka and Mrs. J.R. Jayewardene.
Plans for a smooth G.O.P. convention in August are being ruffled by talk of potential platform disputes between conservatives and moderates, according to Reagan Administration and campaign officials. They said a preliminary draft of the Republican platform included a call for a “flat tax,” under which all taxpayers would pay Federal income taxes at the same rate.
President Reagan greets Colonel Robert G. Krause, Commander of the Troops and Commanding Office of the 3rd U.S. Infantry.
Gary Hart’s representative on the Democratic platform committee warned that backers of the Colorado Senator might become cool to the party’s national ticket if some of his views are not reflected in the platform. But the Mondale majority rejected two proposals drafted by the Hart staff.
Tom Bradley will be interviewed by Walter F. Mondale on Thursday as a prospective running mate, the Democratic Presidential aspirant announced. Mr. Bradley, the Mayor of Los Angeles, is the third person, and the first black, on Mr. Mondale’s list for the Vice Presidency.
The Supreme Court accepted a plea by the Government to decide whether the Food and Drug Administration must investigate the use of Federally approved drugs for executions by lethal injection.
The House voted to authorize a 4.3% cost-of-living increase in benefits for veterans with service-connected disabilities and to their survivors. The bill was passed by voice vote and sent to the Senate. The legislation also would set up an advisory committee to review medical and scientific data on the effects of radiation to which an estimated 220,000 military personnel were exposed during about 235 nuclear weapons tests in the Southwest and the Pacific Ocean.
Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler said she will propose a 5.6% increase in Medicare hospital payments next year-a figure she said indicates that Medicare health payments are being brought under control. Heckler aides said key members of Congress, who had been briefed on the hike proposed for fiscal 1985, appeared to approve. Congressional budget conferees are considering possible revisions to Medicare’s payment formula, however. Medicare will spend more than $40 billion in hospital fees this year.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a wide range of resolutions, including those calling for a balanced federal budget and equal treatment for homosexuals. The 53 resolutions, which covered topics ranging from urban economic policy to international affairs, were voted without debate by more than 100 mayors. A resolution approved by the mayors recognized “the rights of all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation” and urged their colleagues across the country to consider legislative “remedies” to guarantee equal opportunity and protection.
Seven months after “The Day After” was viewed by 100 million Americans, opinions remain divided over the effects of the ABC television drama about nuclear war. Some experts say the film had no measurable impact, but others say it had lasting political and psychological effects on its audience.
The senior operator of Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 nuclear reactor near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the time of the nation’s worst commercial reactor accident in 1979 surrendered to federal officials on charges of cheating on a re-licensing exam five months after the accident. James Floyd, 47, of Pennsville, New Jersey, was released without bail after a hearing before a U.S. magistrate. Floyd was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts last week, but the indictment was kept sealed until Monday. He is charged with having another reactor operator take parts of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing exam.
The Air Force said it has agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a 12-year-old racial discrimination suit filed on behalf of 2,600 black employees. All of the employees worked at Robins Air Force Base near Macon, Georgia, since March 24, 1972, and the case stemmed from separate charges of racial discrimination at the installation. The case is before a U.S. District Court. As part of the out-of-court settlement, the Air Force said, seven members will receive retroactive promotions with back pay and 240 others will be moved up as promotions become available. Robins employs more than 15,000 civilians and has an annual payroll of more than $462 million.
Two Florida prisoners scheduled for execution Tuesday, the convicted killer of a convenience store clerk and a man convicted of killing two women, won reprieves today from Federal courts. The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit stayed the execution of Carl Shriner, and Carl Jackson won a stay from Federal District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola. Mr. Jackson was convicted of killing two women in Panama City. Both prisoners were to have been electrocuted at 7 AM Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Federal District Judge William Stafford of Tallahassee had rejected Mr. Shriner’s appeal earlier today, but at 5 PM, the appeals court in Atlanta stayed his execution ”pending further order of this court.” Oral arguments on the Shriner appeal were set for 8 AM Tuesday. Vernon Bradford, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said if the stay was lifted, Mr. Shriner probably would be executed Wednesday morning.
A judge in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, dismissed Governor William J. Janklow’s $24-million libel suit against the book “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,” saying that it reported allegations against the governor but did not contend that they were true. The lawsuit against the book’s author, publisher and booksellers was the second in which Janklow said he was libeled by reports of a false rape accusation.
Six New England governors today voted unanimously to create a committee to study the possibility of suing utilities responsible for acid rain. Governor Richard H. Snelling of Vermont, who sponsored the resolution, said the only solution seemed to be to hit the utilities in their bank accounts. ”We have watched as one Congressional measure after the other to reduce emissions has died,” said Governor Snelling. ”I think it’s fair to say we have been more than patient.”
Los Angeles Municipal Judge Aviva K. Bobb reset bail at $400,000 for Babette Spitler, 36, one of seven people accused of molesting children at the Virginia McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach. Spitler has been in and out of Sybil Brand Institute, the county’s jail for women, since she and other former teachers at the school were arrested in March. Spitler’s most recent release from jail ended Saturday, after the California Supreme Court stayed a state Court of Appeal order that directed authorities to release Spitler on her own recognizance. She had previously been ordered held without bail.
[Ed: And, two years later, after smearing her name and wrecking her life, the state dropped charges against her, as the whole hysterical McMartin Fantasy began to unravel, to be revealed as a perfect storm of parental hysteria, media sensationalism, prosecutorial misconduct / overreach, and charlatan psychiatry complete with “recovered memories.” Her own son spent two years in the foster system; she was unable to see him. A few of the aforementioned folks deserved to be guillotined in front of the Los Angeles City Hall IMHO.]
Los Angeles has completed a $700 million expansion of its international airport that is expected to accommodate the city’s growth in air travel at least through the year 2000. About 350,000 out-of-towners are expected to land there for the Olympic Games, which start on July 28.
Babies’ feelings are being tracked by scientists with greater precision than ever before. Babies’ early emotions are few, limited to the most primitive such as pleasure and distress. The capacity for joy has been found to precede sadness by many months, and years later come the capacities for envy and confidence.
Knowledge of the immune system in humans has advanced significantly. Scientists have determined the chemical and physical structure and the genes of the receptor that enables a key cell to recognize invading enemies such as viruses.
A radio talk-show host was slain in Denver. Alan Berg, a popular and controversial personality who in recent years has delighted and angered nearly a quarter million listeners, was found fatally shot in front of his Denver home. The police found 10 .45- caliber shell casings on the ground near the 50-year-old Mr. Berg, a former Chicago lawyer. Born to a Jewish family, he had outspoken atheistic and liberal views and a confrontational interview style. Berg was assassinated by members of the white supremacist group The Order, which believed in killing all Jews and sending all black people to Africa. Those involved in the killing were part of a group planning to kill prominent Jews such as Berg. Two of Berg’s killers, David Lane and Bruce Pierce, were ultimately convicted on charges of federal civil rights violations for killing him. They were sentenced to 190 years and 252 years in prison, respectively.
With 40,315 on hand in Detroit, Yankee pitcher Phil Niekro (10–3) stops the Tigers on 3 hits, 2–1. Kirk Gibson’s homer in the first is the only Tiger score, while Don Mattingly’s double in the 5th drives in the game-winner for New York.
Harold Baines drove in four runs with a home run and a triple to spark the Chicago White Sox to an 8–4 win over the Seattle Mariners.
Frank Tanana, backed by a four-run first inning, combined with Dave Schmidt on a seven-hitter for Texas, as the Rangers downed the Angels, 6–2. Tanana (8–6) was in command in the eight innings he pitched, giving up five hits and the first California run on a single by Doug DiCinces in the eighth.
US Open Men’s Golf, Winged Foot Golf Club: Frank “Fuzzy” Zoeller won the 84th United States Open at Mamaroneck, New York. On the second hole, the Indiana golfer sank a 68-foot birdie putt for a 3-shot lead and easily beat Australia’s Greg Norman by a record 8 shots in an 18-hole playoff.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1109.65 (+22.75).
Born:
Janne Happonen, Finnish ski jumper (Olympics, silver medal, team large hill competition, 2006), in Kuopio, Finland.
Josh Harding, Canadian NHL goalie (Minnesota Wild), in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Fernando Rodriguez Jr., MLB pitcher (Los Angeles Angels, Houston Astros, Oakland A’s), in El Paso, Texas.
Ndudi Ebi, English-born Nigerian-American NBA shooting guard and small forward (Minnesota Timberwolves), in London, England, United Kingdom.
Gilbert Harris, NFL running back (Kansas City Chiefs), in Brooklyn, New York, New York.
Died:
Alan Berg, 50, American radio talk show host, dies after being shot by White Nationalists.
History Diaries 