Moscow offered to begin talks with the United States this fall on banning weapons in outer space. The Soviet leaders also offered a reciprocal moratorium on the testing and deployment of space weapons, to take effect with the opening of such talks, which they said could be held in September in Vienna. The statement, which urged a comprehensive ban on space weapons “of any kind,” was similar to a treaty proposed by Yuri V. Andropov last August. It also echoed language used by the new Soviet leader, Konstantin U. Chernenko, who said two weeks ago that means could be found to make such a ban verifiable.
Today’s Soviet statement referred to both antisatellite weapons and to other weapons systems, including space-based antiballistic weapons. It said the question of mutual renunciation of antisatellite weapons systems “should be resolved within the framework” of the talks it proposed. Given the Reagan Administration’s stated opposition to antisatellite negotiations, a Western diplomat in Moscow said, “They are clearly making a proposal that they know the Americans will have great difficulty accepting.”
The U.S. told Moscow it was willing to discuss a proposal for banning the militarization of outer space, but in the context of curbs on all missile systems. In its response to the Soviet leaders, the Administration sought to avoid an outright rejection of their proposal, while promoting its own desire to resume negotiations on medium-range missiles and strategic arms. The Soviet Union walked out of the medium-range missile talks last November in protest over the start of deployment of new American missiles in Europe, and has not agreed to the resumption of the strategic arms talks either. The Russians have been pressing for some time for negotiations on banning weapons that could destroy satellites in space.
Congress approved a resolution today asking the Soviet Union to provide specific information about the health and legal status of the scientist and leading dissident, Andrei D. Sakharov, and his wife, Yelena G. Bonner. The resolution was introduced in the House on Thursday by Representative Timothy E. Wirth, Democrat of Colorado. The House approved it by a 399-to-0 vote, and the Senate then approved it on a voice vote.
The Polish Communist Party announced Thursday that it was expelling Adam Schaff, the Marxist philosopher, because his recent writings were incompatible with party membership. Mr. Schaff, 71 years old, is the author of a number of books on the theory of Marxism and has been a party member for 53 years. Reached by telephone, he said he would have no comment on his expulsion.
The head of the International Metalworkers Federation said today that a new 38½-hour week for West German workers, achieved after a strike, would lead to a 30-hour week for most workers within 10 years. “The achievement of the German metalworkers in winning the 38½-hour week in Europe’s most important industrial economy means that the 40-hour week is now in the dustbin of industrial history,” the federation’s general secretary, Herman Rebhan, said.
Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre, the French traditionalist archbishop suspended from all priestly activities by Pope Paul VI in 1976, ordained 25 new priests of his movement today, urging them to help “rebuild” the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor Lefebvre, 76 years old, spoke against “fables deceiving the human mind,” which he said included “ecumenism and the propagation of human rights.”
Israel’s Navy stopped a ferryboat operating between Cyprus and Lebanon and forced it to berth at the Israeli Mediterranean port of Haifa. Israel, which has asserted that Palestinians have been making their way back to West Beirut, reportedly suspected that Palestinians were among the ferry’s passengers. The incident came after Israeli assertions that Palestinian guerrillas have been making their way back to West Beirut. The assertions have been denied by the Lebanese authorities and Muslim militia leaders who control that section of the Lebanese capital. Earlier this week the Israeli Army, which occupies southern Lebanon, ordered the ports of Sidon and Tyre closed until further notice. They cited security reasons.
On Wednesday the Israeli Air Force and Navy attacked a small Lebanese island off the northern coast of Tripoli. An Israeli military spokesman said a naval base operated by Al Fatah, the mainstream guerrilla organization, had been destroyed. But the Lebanese police said the 15 people who were killed and the 20 who were wounded in the raid were Lebanese. They were identified as either fishermen or boy scouts belonging to a militant Muslim fundamentalist faction, Al Tawhid, or unification movement.
Israel’s state-run radio and television networks resumed regular broadcasting today after journalists ended a two-week strike. Israel Radio reported that the network’s journalists signed a memorandum with the Israel Broadcast Authority on a new wage agreement, but the report gave no details of the pact. Broadcast journalists had been demanding parity with print journalists.
A key part of Salvadoran land reform would be killed by a vote by the conservative majority of the Legislative Assembly. The vote Thursday, which had been anticipated, halted further extensions of the period in which small peasant farmers can apply to buy plots of land less than 17.5 acres that they had formerly rented from landowners. The Land to the Tiller program was begun in late 1980 by military officers and represented the third phase of El Salvador’s land redistribution effort, which is often referred to as proof that political change can be achieved in the midst of civil war. Salvadoran peasant unions and the Christian Democratic Party of President Jose Napoleon Duarte asked the Assembly Thursday to vote to extend the program indefinitely. But the four- party conservative coalition, which holds a majority in the legislature, defeated the proposal.
Salvadoran rebel spokesmen said here today that their forces suffered 15 casualties in an assault on the Cerron Grande dam on Thursday. The rebels’ Radio Farabundo Marti said between 300 and 400 soldiers were killed or wounded, and 125 more soldiers died or were injured in ambushes around the dam. President Duarte said Thursday that 60 soldiers died, while military sources said the death toll reached 80.
Argentina’s debt crisis won a respite on the eve of an interest payment deadline. Relief was provided by an agreement with international banks in which Argentina will pay $225 million of the $350 million in interest that would be more than 90 days past due by this weekend. The Economics Minister, Bernardo Grinspun, said the money will come from Argentina’s financial reserves and the balance from a $125 million loan from a consortium of American, European and Japanese banks.
A South African white woman who opposed the country’s racial policies was killed Thursday by a parcel bomb that exploded after being delivered to her home in Angola, the woman’s father said today. Her 6-year-old daughter was also killed. Jack Curtis, father of the woman, Janette Schoon, said in a telephone interview from his home near here that Mrs. Schoon, 35, and her daughter, Katryn, died in the blast in Lubango in southwestern Angola.
Efforts by the Rev. Jesse Jackson to rally support in the State Department and Congress for intensified negotiations on Central America and Cuba were privately criticized by Reagan Administration officials. They suggested that Mr. Jackson’s attempts might be disruptive to United States foreign policy. Mr. Jackson held a briefing for about 50 members of Congress on his trip to Cuba and Central America.
Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Jewish stand may have seriously damaged efforts by Democratic Party leaders to halt eroding Jewish support for the party, leaders said. But Mr. Jackson’s disavowal of Mr. Farrakhan statements was a major step toward redeeming his standing in the Democratic Party, they said.
President Reagan meets with Senator Helms (R-North Carolina) to receive the 400th Anniversary Standard.
President Reagan heads to Camp David.
A new house now costs $101,000 in the United States. This historic point was reached in May, the Commerce Department said, when the average price for a new single-family home increased by $5,100 only since April, bringing the average price over $100,000 for the first time. Despite a three-month decline in sales, housing prices have been increasing steadily because of increasing interest rates and radical changes in mortgages, economists said.
A new engine for Discovery was decided on by technicians in Cape Canaveral, Florida, after they were unable to find the cause of the space shuttle’s abrupt engine shutdown that aborted its maiden flight Tuesday. The engine change might delay the initial flight until mid-July. In a statement this afternoon, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said, “Based on the inconclusive troubleshooting efforts and after a comparison of the workload involved, shuttle managers have decided it would be more efficient to remove and replace the entire engine No. 3 than it would be to replace an unknown number of engine components.” The $1.2 billion Discovery failed to get away on its planned seven-day mission Tuesday when a fuel valve to one of its engines apparently did not open properly on the first command. Computers detected trouble and commanded the engines to shut down, halting the countdown four seconds before liftoff.
A woman Vice President must run with Walter F. Mondale if he is to get the full support of the women’s movement, Judy Goldsmith, president of the National Organization for Women, said at the opening of the 16th annual convention of NOW at Miami Beach. “Obviously, if the alternative is Ronald Reagan, we will do what we can to defeat him,” she said. But if Mr. Mondale selects a man, she added, “I don’t know how we can go out to women and say, ‘Here’s something to work for.’ ” Mr. Mondale is scheduled to address the convention Saturday and is also likely, Mrs. Goldsmith said, to meet privately with leaders of NOW to discuss the subject of a woman as a Vice-Presidential candidate. Mr. Mondale has said he is considering the possibility of a woman as a running mate and has met or will meet privately with Mayor Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro of Queens and Gov. Martha Layne Collins of Kentucky.
The Federal ban on sleeping in tents in national parks near the White House does not violate the free speech rights of the people who want to sleep there, the Supreme Court ruled. The 7-to-2 vote overturned a federal appeals court ruling on behalf of advocates for the homeless who wanted to set up a collection of tents they called “Reaganville.”
A federal jury in Tampa convicted a West German automobile mechanic, Ernst Ludwig Wolfgang Forbrich, of two counts of espionage today. Mr. Forbrich, 43 years old, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison after being found guilty of buying a classified military document and planning to transmit it to the East German intelligence service. Judge Ben Krentzman scheduled sentencing for July 27. The jury of five women and seven men deliberated two and a half hours at the end of a five-day trial. Mr. Forbrich was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at a motel in Clearwater Beach on March 19 moments after he handed $550 to an undercover agent and accepted a classified military document in return.
A 24-year-old insurance agent, arraigned today on charges of murdering a 17-year-old girl, is a suspect in the slayings of five other young women in eastern Connecticut, the state police said. The suspect, Michael B. Ross of Jewett City, was charged with capital felony murder in the slaying of Wendy Baribeault. Her body was found under a pile of rocks June 15, two days after she disappeared while walking to a convenience store near her home in Lisbon. At an arraignment in State Superior Court in Norwich today, Judge Francis McDonald ordered Mr. Ross held without bond in the Montville Correctional Center, until another court appearance July 16. If convicted, Mr. Ross could face the death penalty under the capital charge, which indicates the murder was committed during the course of a felony.
An unemployed waiter who was rejected by a dance partner at a plush Dallas nightclub “blew her a kiss” before fatally shooting her and five other patrons early today, the police said. The suspect, who stopped firing only to reload his 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson, also seriously wounded a seventh person in what the police called the worst mass murder in Dallas history. Abdelkrim Belachheb, 39 years old, a resident alien from Morocco, was charged this afternoon in the murder of Marcell M. Ford, 34, of Grand Prairie, whom the police identified as the dance partner. He was ordered held on bond of $500,000. Miss Ford had pushed Mr. Belachheb away after the brief argument at Ianni’s restaurant and club, said a police spokesman, Bob Shaw. “He blew her a kiss and turned and walked away,” Mr. Shaw said. “He returned to the bar, shot her at point-blank range and walked down the row of bar stools shooting.”
The drug trial of John Z. DeLorean returned to something approaching normal today, with a drug agent testifying rather poetically that “drug deals are a rocky road” and with the witness and a defense lawyer sparring over whether Mr. DeLorean had actually invested in a deal. Testimony by John M. Valestra, a drug enforcement agent, quietly ended a week that brought an inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into possible jury tampering, followed quickly by the arrest on cocaine charges of Mr. DeLorean’s personal secretary at his New Jersey residence. Mr. DeLorean, a former General Motors executive who founded a company bearing his name to make cars in Northern Ireland, is being tried on charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute 55 pounds of cocaine. The defense contends that Mr. DeLorean was lured into the investigation by promises from Government undercover agents of a legitimate investment in his car company and that he tried to get out when he found narcotics were involved. The trial ended its 11th week of testimony this week.
A minister must stand trial for “clergy malpractice” because a young man shot himself to death despite being given spiritual and personal counseling, an appeals court ruled Thursday. The Rev. John MacArthur Jr. and the Grace Community Church were named in a 1980 lawsuit brought by Maria and Walter Nally, the parents of Kenneth Nally, who shot himself to death. Mr. Nally, 24 years old, had been in counseling with Mr. MacArthur after an earlier suicide attempt. Judge Thomas Murphy of Los Angeles County Superior Court dismissed the suit in 1981, holding there were no legal issues to be decided. But in a 2-to- 1 decision Thursday, the California Court of Appeal reinstated the case and ordered a trial. “With full knowledge of his past attempts at suicide,” Justice Vincent Dalsimer wrote, the church apparently used counseling techniques that referred to suicide as “one of the ways that the Lord takes home a disobedient believer.”
Wildlife officers arrested 37 people in 14 states and Canada today and accused them of taking part in a $750,000 international black market trafficking in federally protected birds of prey. About 300 state and Federal agents began making the arrests in a coordinated move at 7 AM in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Utah. More than 80 criminal charges were filed. The suspects are accused of illegally capturing, transporting and selling more than 570 peregrine falcons, Arctic gyrfalcons and other birds of prey.
Twins rookie Andre David hits a 2-run home run off Jack Morris in his first Major League at bat to spark Minnesota to a 5–3 win over Detroit before 44,619. It is the only home run David will hit in the big leagues and stops Morris’ 11-game win streak over the Twins. Detroit wins the nightcap, 7–5, as Kirk Gibson starts the scoring with a 2-run homer in the 1st and ends it with a two-run homer in the 9th. The Tigers also score in the second on back-to-back homers by Chet Lemon and Ruppert Jones.
Pete Rose plays in his 3,309th Major League game, surpassing Carl Yastrzemski as the all-time leader. Rose goes 0-for-5, but Montreal beats Cincinnati 7–3.
In a shootout, the Texas Rangers get back-to-back homers from Bell and O’Brien in the 5th, and the Indians answer with back-to-back-to-back homers from Thornton, Hall and Willard to tie a Major League mark for most homers in an inning by two teams. Brook Jacoby’s single in the 13th gives the Tribe a 13–12 victory.
In Los Angeles, Steve Sax hits a 1st inning triple, then swipes home, and Orel Hershiser scatters 9 hits to lead the Dodgers past the Cubs and Rick Sutcliffe 7–1. Hershiser will not miss another start until he injures his shoulder in 1990, and Sutcliffe will not lose again in the regular season.
Ricky Horton (4–1), making only his fourth major league start, had a no-hitter for 7⅔ innings before finishing with a two-hitter, as the St. Louis Cardinals downed the San Diego Padres, 5–0. Kevin McReynolds got the first hit and Alan Wiggins had the other hit in the ninth.
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Houston Astros, 7–2. Glenn Wilson hit a three-run homer and Ozzie Virgil hit one for two runs in a six-run fourth inning. Steve Carlton (6-4) left the game after Kevin Bass led off the ninth with a line-drive single off the pitcher’s right shin. Carlton struck out 10 to increase his major league-leading total to 3,798. The victory was the 305th of Carlton’s career, moving him past Eddie Plank into second place among left-handers, behind Warren Spahn with 363.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1132.40 (+5.85).
Born:
Christopher Egan, Australian actor (“Home and Away”), in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Oniel Cousins, Jamaican NFL tackle (Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), in Jamaica.
Hernán Iribarren, Venezuelan MLB pinch hitter, outfielder, and second baseman (Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds), in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
Han Ji-hye, South Korean actress and model, in Gwangju, South Korea.
History Diaries 