Greece’s request for surplus aircraft will probably be turned down by the Reagan Administration, according to State Department and Pentagon officials. They said the Administration was near a decision to reject the request, largely in reaction to Athens’s recent handling of incidents involving terrorist activity. Greece has been seeking to obtain 16 F-5 interceptors from Norway, which received them free of charge from the United States a decade ago. Norway has declared the aircraft to be surplus, but the United States retains control over further transfers.
The planned delivery of a squadron of used, American-made F-5 jet fighters from Norway to Greece has been canceled, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Athens said, responding to a London report that American aircraft sales to Greece have been frozen. The Sunday Times of London reported that the freeze was imposed because of Reagan Administration’s anger at what it considers anti-American statements by Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou on East-West arms issues. The U.S. spokesman said he has no information on the London paper’s report that a planned sale of 15 F-14 jets to Greece has also been canceled.
Austrian authorities have arrested nine suspected terrorists who apparently planned an attack on the Pakistan Embassy and other Pakistani offices in Vienna, the Interior Ministry disclosed. A ministry spokesman said the nationality of the suspects was not immediately determined, but it appeared that they came from Pakistan. The suspects were arrested in police raids after a hotel employee spotted a gun in one of their rooms.
The Austrian authorities tightened security at the Pakistani Embassy today, two days after seizing a nine-man gang who they said they believed had planned to kidnap a diplomat. A police spokesman said the gang, which was rounded up in raids on three hotels, had 10 guns, five hand grenades, two pounds of explosives and lengths of rope apparently meant for tying up a captive. He said the nine carried false British passports, spoke either Urdu or Pashto, and were probably Pakistanis.
Yelena Bonner, wife of Soviet dissident Andrei D. Sakharov, is to be put on trial for “anti-Soviet behavior,” the Sunday Express reported in London. The newspaper, citing unidentified “informed sources in Moscow,” said the main charge “appears to be that Mrs. Bonner is accused of being in touch with Western journalists during her husband’s exile, keeping his cause alive.” Sakharov was exiled to the closed city of Gorky in January, 1980, for his human rights activities. He reportedly went on a hunger strike in early May in an effort to permit his wife to go to the West for medical treatment.
Pope John Paul II offered words of encouragement today to Roman Catholics in Czechoslovakia after talks last week on improving strained church-state relations in that Communist nation. “I entrust the bishops, priests, men and women of religious orders and all the faithful of that noble nation to the Blessed Virgin,” the Pope said, adding that he hoped the Virgin Mary “secures for them the strength to always bear a clear witness to the Christian faith.” He spoke during his weekly Angelus blessing, which was delivered from his apartment window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, where 8,000 tourists and pilgrims had gathered. The Pope also praised St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who in the ninth century brought Christianity to parts of what is now Czechoslovakia. Their feast day was celebrated on Saturday.
Illegal immigration in West Europe has reached the point where the governments are trying to turn the immigrants back, but they have not been particularly successful, with the possible exception of Britain. Tamil tea pickers from Sri Lanka, Kurds from Beirut, Ashantis from Ghana, teenagers from Iran seeking to avoid the draft and Pakistani drug pushers are seeking refuge.
A fire in York, England, “gutted” one of the world’s greatest cathedrals early this morning. York Minster, the huge, 500-year-old treasure house of stained glass, is “now in danger of collapse,” according to a North Yorkshire police spokesman.
Kuwait announced that its defense minister will travel to Moscow today in an attempt to purchase Soviet arms to protect its Persian Gulf shipping from attacks in the Iran-Iraq war. The announcement follows Washington’s refusal to supply the Kuwaitis with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. A number of Kuwait’s oil tankers were among the 40 or so neutral vessels attacked so far in the gulf. Kuwait, which has supported Iraq financially in the nearly four-year-old war, is believed to have bought only one Soviet-made weapon so far: the Frog 7 missile.
Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiri, in an apparent effort to defuse opposition by Christians and other non-Muslims, has decreed that special courts set up to enforce Islamic law must grant defendants the right to be represented by counsel and to appeal sentences such as flogging, amputation or death by stoning, the Sudanese news agency reported. Numeiri’s imposition of Islamic law last September triggered rebellion among Christians in southern Sudan.
Lebanese seeking missing relatives thwarted Government plans to open new crossing points between the predominantly Muslim and Christian halves of the Beirut. Only one crossing point between Muslim West Beirut and Christian East Beirut had been open since February. The Government’s plan was to open three additional crossings today to help restore normal travel and activity as this capital city recovers from civil war. The three routes were opened this morning to traffic but within two hours all had been obstructed. The protesters also closed the one route that had been open — known as the museum crossing. Later in the day, the city was back to one crossing point. But it was a different one, the road leading to the harbor. The port crossing was opened after Muslim militiamen in civilian clothes persuaded the demonstrators to leave.
The militiamen had moved off the streets on Wednesday and turned their strongpoints over to the rebuilt Lebanese Army in accordance with the peace plan of the Cabinet of National Unity under Prime Minister Rashid Karami. The reopening of the routes between West Beirut and East Beirut was a key stage in the Government’s plan to revive normal life and activity in Lebanon after nine years of civil war, invasions and international intervention. The protesters, led by screaming women, used barbed wire and burning rubber tires to block the crossings at Tayouneh and Galerie Samaan, in the southern suburbs. They also threatened to stop the scheduled reopening Monday of the port and international airport if the authorities did not take action to solve the thousands of cases of missing people. Most of the missing are believed to have been abducted by militiamen during the civil strife.
Israel’s politicians are courting the nation’s 250,000 Arab, Druze and Bedouin voters for the elections later this month. Arab voters have the strength to elect about 12 of the 120 Parliament members, and in a close election, as this one is expected to be, their votes could be decisive.
Israel is holding 120 Palestinian guerrillas it wants to exchange for three Israeli soldiers held captive by the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command. The proposed exchange was disclosed by Herbert Amry, the Austrian ambassador to Greece, who flew to Syria at Israel’s request and visited the three soldiers. An Israeli official said the 120 Palestinians include senior guerrilla commanders who would be used as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges.
It appears unlikely that India will hold a general election before late September, but events of the last month suggest the campaign has already begun. While Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appears to be trying to rebuild her former image as a strong, decisive leader, her opponents are charging her with having fashioned a high-handed coup to topple the state government in Kashmir, and of being ultimately responsible for two years of separatist violence in the neighboring northern state of Punjab. So harsh has the verbal battle become, even before Mrs. Gandhi has named an election date, that opponents have been freely and openly accusing the Government of displaying a “fascist mentality.”
Hong Kong’s future was discussed by Secretary of State George P. Shultz who met in Hong Kong with Sir Edward Youde, Governor of the British colony. Although Washington is not a party to negotiations between Britain and China over Hong Kong’s future after Britain’s lease ends, Mr. Shultz said the United States had a “deep interest” in insuring that the final agreement preserved Hong Kong’s “stability and prosperity.”
Bolivia’s powerful Workers’ Confederation ended a general strike after winning concessions from the country’s leftist government, a union spokesman said. The union launched the walkout last Thursday to protest what it said was the failure of President Hernan Siles Zuazo’s government to fulfill the terms of a May 30 accord reached with the Workers’ Confederation to revamp economic policy. The government had pledged stable prices for basic products.
A Nigerian abducted in London might have arranged his own kidnapping to gain international attention, a spokesman for the Nigerian Government suggested. He said Nigeria had had nothing to do with the kidnapping of Umaru Dikko, a former Nigerian Cabinet official. British authorities found Mr. Dikko unconscious in a crate just before it was to be loaded on a plane bound for Nigeria.
Many Black Republicans leaders who support President Reagan disagree sharply with his Administration’s civil rights policies and some demand the dismissal of the Justice Department’s official in charge of civil rights. Their views reflect the concern of some black Republicans that the Administration might try to gain support from whites by antagonizing blacks. Reagan campaign officials said there was no basis for such fears. But as Mr. Reagan traveled to Florida, Alabama and Texas last week, White House strategists said he was counting on a strong showing by Southern whites to help offset Democratic gains achieved through the registration of black voters, often in response to appeals by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The black leaders praised Mr. Reagan’s economic policies, and many of them said they tended to oppose quotas. But they expressed dismay at recent actions and statements by William Bradford Reynolds, the Assistant Attorney General for civil rights, who has led the Administration’s attack on busing for the purpose of school desegregation and on the use of quotas in education and employment.
President Reagan spends a couple of hours filming for a documentary that will be shown at the Republican National Convention.
The President and First Lady return to the White House.
Walter F. Mondale continued his preparations for the Democratic National Convention by meeting today with Representative Dan Rostenkowski, Democrat of Illinois, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Aides said the two men planned to discuss economic policy and politics. Neither man scheduled meetings with reporters before or after the session. Mr. Mondale scheduled no public events for today. He has given no indication of when he will announce his choice of a running mate.
Crews cleared the mangled wreckage of an Amtrak passenger train from where it derailed near Williston, Vermont, while crossing a washed-out culvert, killing five persons and injuring 137 others, authorities said. It was the worst Amtrak accident in 13 years. Nine cars of the 13-car Amtrak Montrealer, carrying 278 passengers and crew members, derailed at 7 am Saturday. Three cars were smashed into a heap at the bottom of a 30-foot ravine. The tracks have been restored, but there was no word on when Amtrak would resume passenger service on the line.
Coordination of a disaster-aid plan saved lives when an Amtrak train derailed Saturday morning in Williston, Vermont, according to a federal official, who called the response to the accident “extraordinary.” Vermont was divided in 1969 into 13 emergency rescue districts, and in District 3, where the wreck occurred, rescue squads that have been holding disaster drills since the early 1970’s went to the aid of the Amtrak passengers.
The Amtrak train wreck in Vermont, in which five people were killed and 153 injured, was apparently caused by the undermining of an earth embankment by heavy rains that also washed out a stone culvert over which the train ran, Patricia A. Goldman, of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in a preliminary investigation report.
Life expectancy of Americans is at an all-time high, and the age-adjusted death rate at a record low, new government statistics show. Life expectancy reached 74.2 years in 1981, according to the latest detailed statistics available from the National Center for Health Statistics. At the same time, “the age-adjusted death rate reached an all-time low in 1981, surpassing the previous record low set in 1979,” the center said. The basic rate of 862.4 deaths per 100,000 Americans was down from 1980, but not as low as in 1979. That rate does not take into account the overall aging of the population, however. The age-adjusted rate, which is a calculation of how many deaths would have occurred if the 1981 population had the same age mix as that of 1940, set the record low. It was 568.2 deaths per 100,000 Americans in 1981, down 3% from a year earlier.
The father of a teenager who hanged himself while in custody in Northport, New York, after being charged in a satanic ritual murder says his son’s jailers should not have left the troubled boy alone. “We’re very concerned that a boy who was… high on mescaline, how he could be left alone like that,” said Richard Kasso Sr. His son, Richard, 17, hanged himself in his Suffolk County jail cell with a bed sheet early Saturday. But authorities said young Kasso had given jail officials no clue he might be suicidal. Kasso was arrested with James Troiano, 18, of East Northport, and both were charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Gary Lauwers, 17, of East Northport. Police said Lauwers was repeatedly stabbed and his eyes gouged out while a group of teenagers known as “Knights of the Black Circle” chanted. Officers later found Lauwers’ body in a shallow grave.
Alton Coleman and the woman accompanying him are the object of a four-state hunt after two weekend slayings in Toledo, Ohio. Officials said today that the two probably fled Toledo in a car stolen from a couple who called Mr. Coleman “an extremely pleasant type of guy,” officials said today. Mr. Coleman and Debra Brown are considered suspects in the murders of Virginia Temple, 30 years old, and her daughter, Rachelle, 10. Their bodies were found under their home in Toledo Saturday. The police did not give details of the killings. The victims’ home is less than a mile from that of an elderly Toledo couple who were bound and robbed at gunpoint of money and their car Saturday morning, apparently by Mr. Coleman and Miss Brown. Mr. Coleman, 28 years old, who is from Waukegan, Illinois, and Miss Brown, 19, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, have been the subject of a five-week search in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. Mr. Coleman is wanted for the murder of a 9-year-old Kenosha girl and other crimes.
The enormous attention recently given to drunk driving may have caused many Americans to become concerned about the hazards of driving and more attentive to safety measures, the Gallup Poll reported. It said more people today are buckling up, with 25% today compared to 17% two years ago saying they used a seat belt the last time they got into a car. A growing number of Americans favor a law that would fine non-seat belt users.
Poverty, unemployment, disease and ignorance are the New South’s obstacles to equal opportunity, not racial prejudice, host Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb told seven fellow Southern governors meeting in Williamsburg. “We have by no means put prejudice and discrimination totally behind us. But race is no longer the South’s preoccupation,” said Robb, addressing the opening of the annual Southern Governors’ Association meeting.
A man died on returning to find his house destroyed by the latest suspicious fire in the Boston suburb of Rockland, the authorities said today. The victim, Timothy Sweeney, 51-year-old, arrived at 6 PM Saturday from a vacation in Maine and to find his house and barn had burned, Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Henderson said. Later, Mr. Sweeney suffered a fatal heart attack at his daughter’s house nearby, Deputy Chief Henderson said. The three fires in this small town since Friday have caused thousands of dollars in damage and sent four firefighters to the hospital suffering smoke inhalation, the deputy chief said.
The Army conducted open-air biological warfare simulations in Hawaii during the 1960s, using bacteria that could harm hospital patients, the elderly and persons susceptible to disease, the Honolulu Advertiser reported. The public never was told of the tests and state officials were told only that the Army wanted to conduct experiments on meteorological conditions on Hawaii Island, the newspaper said. An Army spokesman, Maj. Donald Maple, said open-air biological testing in the United States was stopped in 1969.
Of the 4,000 convicts executed in the United States since 1930 two-fifths were put to death in five states, according to a Justice Department study. The states with the highest number of executions since 1930, when record-keeping began, are New York, Georgia, Texas, California, and North Carolina. Each carried out more than 250 executions. Since capital punishment was resumed by many states in 1977, after the Supreme Court’s 1972 ruling on its constitutionality, the pace of state executions has increased.
Senator Barry Goldwater, who is 75, said he expects to live to see a “woman either running for vice president or for President.” The Arizona Republican said in an interview taped for “CBS Morning News” that “the women I’ve served with in politics usually are better than the men.” Why? “Because they work harder, they know a little more and the average woman knows a little more about the toughness of making a living.”
A rapidly spreading California brush fire burned across 3,000 acres of rugged terrain that included parts of Sequoia National Park today. Meanwhile, firefighters controlled a 700-acre fire and contained a 750-acre blaze in the same area, where temperatures soared above 100 degrees. The largest blaze, called the Bodfish fire, started at 4:10 PM Saturday and involved 3,000 acres by this morning. It destroyed two mobile homes and injured three firefighters, a United States Forest Service spokesman, Art Cowley, said. The fire, 100 miles north of Los Angeles and a few miles south of Lake Isabella, was 10 percent contained by Sunday afternoon with the help of 340 firefighters, he said.
Mike Easler’s bases-loaded single with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning today lifted the Boston Red Sox to their fifth straight triumph, a 3–2 victory over the California Angels in the first game of a doubleheader. But the Angels came back to take the nightcap, 4–0, on Reggie Jackson’s hitting and Tommy John’s pitching. Jackson, headed for his 12th All-Star Game, in San Francisco on Tuesday night, belted a three-run homer and John scattered eight hits for his first shutout since 1982 as California snapped a five-game losing streak. Jackson’s fifth-inning homer was his 14th of the season and the 492nd of his career. It moved him within one of Lou Gehrig.
Mike Heath drove in three runs with a single and homer and Dwayne Murphy also hit a homer to lead Oakland to a 4–1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. After losing the opener of the five- game series, the A’s took the last four games.
Jerry Koosman, backed by Von Hayes’s three-run homer, pitched a four-hit shutout as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 7–0, today. Koosman (9–7) struck out six, walked none and batted in a run. It was his 32nd career shutout. Koosman retired the first nine batters before Rafael Ramirez singled to left.
Home runs by Tim Wallach and Gary Carter and Pete Rose’s two-run single highlighted a seven-run second inning for Montreal, as the Expos beat the Houston Astros, 8–5. The Expos enter the All-Star Game break with a 41–43 record — the first time since 1978 they have been below .500 at that stage of the schedule. They battered Houston starter Nolan Ryan (7–4) today.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8–6. Tom Herr singled home the tying run in the ninth inning and scored the winning run in the 12th. The victory went to Bruce Sutter (3–3).
Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: John McEnroe defends his crown, thrashing fellow American Jimmy Connors 6–1, 6–1, 6–2. John McEnroe’s victory over Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon was the most one-sided men’s final there since Don Budge, the last American to win two consecutive Wimbledon titles, allowed Bunny Austin four games in 1938.
Born:
Jake Nordin, NFL tight end (Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions), in Lake Lillian, Minnesota.
Kevin Russo, MLB third baseman, leftfielder, and second baseman (New York Yankees), in West Babylon, New York.
Died:
Christine McIntyre, 73, American actress and singer (“The Three Stooges”, “The Rangers’ Round-Up”), from cancer.
History Diaries 