The Soviet Union and the United States appeared to be inching closer to talks on limiting weapons in space as the Novosti news agency said that Moscow’s call for a moratorium on testing of anti-satellite and space weapons is not a precondition. But Novosti said a moratorium is “a key element in the Soviet stand,” echoing earlier Soviet statements. The State Department responded to the Soviet proposal for talks Sept. 17 in Vienna by urging that they be broadened. U.S. officials said the talks are closer to reality, but the two sides are still far apart on their scope.
The Soviet Union dismissed U.S. efforts to forge a new treaty banning chemical weapons and issued a counterproposal that verification and inspection of chemical weapons stocks be decided by consensus. The Soviet proposal to the Geneva conference on disarmament was immediately criticized by a Western diplomat, who said consensus decision-making would stymie enforcement, allowing the superpowers vetoes similar to those that often paralyze the U.N. Security Council.
Laurent Fabius, France’s new Prime Minister, pledged before the National Assembly to maintain the Socialist Government’s economic austerity program, saying the country had no other choice than “modernization or decline.” French Premier Laurent Fabius presented his new Socialist government’s program to the National Assembly and won a vote of confidence. The vote was 279 for and 157 against. There were 46 abstentions, including the Communists, who were junior partners in the previous Cabinet but who refused to join Fabius’ government because of their opposition to the Socialists’ austere economic policy. Fabius, former industry and research minister, was appointed by President Francois Mitterrand last week after the resignation of Premier Pierre Mauroy.
The European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, today elected a veteran French politician and a strong supporter of closer European unity as its new President. The new President, Pierre Pflimlin, 77 years old, served in many French Governments and was the last Prime Minister of France under the Fourth Republic before Charles de Gaulle came to power in 1958. Mr. Pflimlin was a close friend and ally of Robert Schuman, a founder of the Common Market, and was Mayor of Strasbourg from 1959 until last year. He was elected President of the European Parliament by 221 of the 403 votes cast, drawing support from Christian Democrats, right-wing liberals, Conservatives and a small extreme rightist group lead by Jean- Marie Le Pen, head of France’s National Front.
President Reagan said he is studying Poland’s release of some political prisoners, adding that he knows U.S. sanctions against Poland “have not only been penalizing the government… but the people themselves.” Reagan told his news conference that if the amnesty action “has met the conditions that we’ve laid down,” U.S. officials will meet “in regard to lifting the sanctions.” Reagan imposed the sanctions after Poland’s martial-law crackdown on the Solidarity independent trade union in December, 1981.
Israel’s parties began negotiating for coalition partners after an indecisive parliamentary election Monday that gave the two major political alignments nearly equal strength. With 98 percent of the votes counted, the Labor alignment had 44 or 45 seats and the ruling right-wing Likud bloc had 40 or 41. The results, however, also suggested that the Likud bloc had a slightly better chance to form a government coalition, which requires 61 seats, because Likud apparently has more potential partners than Labor among the 13 smaller parties that also gained seats in Parliament. Likud and other right-wing parties are also expected to benefit more than Labor when the votes of Israeli soldiers are counted on Thursday.
The Likud leader, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, met with his Cabinet during the day to discuss the political contacts that were made throughout the early morning hours, even as the returns were coming in over the Israeli television. The Prime Minister was reported to be trying to reconstitute the previous coalition and then possibly claim the leadership of a more broadly based national unity government, a political alternative that attracted growing editorial and public support after the election results proved indecisive. Mr. Shamir’s party, which trailed badly in pre-election polls, had proposed an ideologically wide coalition similar to the one that saw the nation through the 1967 war and its aftermath. But Shimon Peres, head of the Labor Party, rejected the proposal during the campaign.
Israeli occupation forces reopened the only road link between Beirut and southern Lebanon today. But they introduced restrictions on private cars traveling in either direction. The mountain road near the Druze village of Bater was closed on Sunday for security reasons connected with Israel’s general elections on Monday, Israeli officials said. At his headquarters in the nearby village of Kfar Falous, the Israeli civilian governor of the Sidon region said that except for very few special cases, his office had stopped issuing transit permits for private cars. Asked why, the official said: “You know the decision Karami has taken. I don’t need to go into that.” He was referring to Prime Minister Rashid Karami’s decision to close Israel’s liaison bureau in Christian-held territory north of Beirut.
New attacks on Afghan rebels in three sectors have been opened by the Soviet Army and Air Force, according to reports from official sources in Pakistan and India. The Soviet attacks, Western analysts said, began last week and are continuing. They said the attacks had been accompanied by heavy bombardment of villages supporting the Afghan guerrillas. The most recent Soviet attacks have been in three areas; the Logar Valley south of Kabul, the Shomali Valley running north from the capital, and Herat Province, which lies in the extreme west bordering Iran. One of the Soviet Air Force’s major bases is near Herat.
While the Logar Valley operation was under way, Western analysts said, Soviet artillery was reported to have shelled targets in the southern Shomali Valley, north of Kabul. The main highway runs north through this valley to the frontier. Here, too, analysts believe that the Soviet objective was to clear the valley of insurgents and their supporters. The shelling, according to reports reaching Pakistan, was extremely heavy and accurate. Insurgent bases and ammunition stores were the targets of a strong force of Soviet ground troops who swept into the west of Herat Province last week. Soviet operations appear to be following a now familiar pattern, the Western analysts said. As in the Panjshir Valley campaign in April, May and June, the Russians are reportedly seeking to clear insurgents from regions that could be used as bases for attack against the major highway that connects their main bases.
Two pilots from Laos flew a passenger plane from the Laotian capital, Vientiane, to Udorn Air Force Base in northeastern Thailand today and requested asylum in a third country, the army spokesman’s office said. A senior Thai Foreign Ministry official said the plane would be returned to Laos, but Thailand would allow the two men to seek asylum in an unspecified third country. The men reportedly said they left Laos because of difficult living conditions there.
Jose Napoleon Duarte, although embroiled in a civil war at home, has spent much of his first seven weeks as President of El Salvador working to improve his country’s standing abroad. Mr. Duarte has met with some success in two visits to the United States and one to Western Europe.
The White House has given up its efforts to gain Congressional approval for $21 million in additional aid for Nicaraguan rebels in the current fiscal year, according to senior Administration officials. They said the Reagan Administration would try to obtain the money for the guerrillas in the 1985 budget instead.
Arturo Cruz, prospective presidential candidate of the Nicaraguan political opposition, said that Nicaraguan rebel leaders have authorized him to negotiate a cease-fire and are ready to quit fighting if the Sandinista government guarantees a free election. Cruz, who returned this week from Washington to Managua, said he talked recently with guerrilla leaders. Cruz is to be the candidate of the opposition coalition if it decides to participate in the November 4 election.
The big airport in Grenada is supposed to become operative in about three months, enabling airliners to arrive there from anywhere in the world. However, the Caribbean island does not appear ready for the modern facility. The number of available rooms for tourists totals 461 – not many more than the number of seats on one 747 jumbo jet.
Colombian President Belisario Betancur installed a commission today to begin negotiating a truce between the government and two rebel groups. He said the commission, made up of government officials, politicians and religious delegates, would begin immediate talks with the April 19 Movement, or M-19, and the Popular Liberation Army. Ernesto Rojas, the leader of the Popular Liberation Army, did not attend the ceremony today but issued a statement saying both groups were optimistic an accord could be worked out. Mr. Betancur said August 12 was set as a target date for the completion of the talks. On May 28 Mr. Betancur’s Government signed a one-year pact with the largest rebel group in the country, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, a group of more than 5,000 rebels. Another commission is negotiating with those leaders for a permanent agreement that would commit the government to social and economic changes and allow the rebels “amnesty and a return to civil life.”
African nations were warned that a combination of rising birth rates and declining food production is proving disastrous. A three-day meeting of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Harare, Zimbabwe, heard Director General Edouard Saouma say that “drought has shattered the hopes of the farmer and brought distress to the population” in many areas. Saouma said that African population growth rates as high as 4% to 5% are speeding nations “headlong to disaster.”
Nigeria will lodge corruption charges against a fugitive former Cabinet member who was the target of an attempted kidnapping in Britain this month, the Government said Monday. Foreign Minister Ibrahim Gambari told reporters that the authorities considered former Transport Minister Umahuru Dikko their No. 1 enemy among fugitives who fled the country after the military coup December 31. “We are placing more emphasis on Dikko because he was the one among the fugitives who had been making a lot of noise about a jihad and talking of overthrowing the Government in Nigeria,” Mr. Gambari said. Mr. Dikko, a reputed multimillionaire suspected of embezzling public funds while in office, was seized outside his London home July 5 and later found drugged and bound in a crate awaiting shipment to Lagos from Standsted Airport.
The International Press Institute accused Nigeria’s military regime of violating the human rights of a prominent journalist jailed on unspecified charges. The group, which represents 2,000 editors and publishers worldwide, said that Lateef Jakande, a former chairman of the institute, was imprisoned by the nation’s new military authorities when they toppled the civilian government last December 31.
No plans for a tax increase next year are contemplated by the Administration, President Reagan said in his 26th televised news conference of his 42 months in office. Mr. Reagan also said he would ask Congress to permit a cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits if inflation falls below 3 percent. Under present law, there would be no increase if prices rose less than 3 percent a year.
The choice of Geraldine A. Ferraro for the Democratic nomination for Vice President was termed by President Reagan “a logical step and one that possibly is overdue.” But Mr. Reagan, at his news conference, said the Representative’s criticism of his social spending program as “totally unfair” was without merit.
President Reagan addresses members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA).
Anne McGill Burford was rebuffed by the Senate, which approved a resolution calling on President Reagan to withdraw her appointment as chairman of an advisory environmental panel. The resolution was approved, 74 to 19, with 33 Republicans joining Democrats in requesting the removal of Mrs. Burford, who was forced to resign last year as head of the Environmental Protection Agency amid charges of mismanagement and political favoritism.
Opposition to an immigration bill is believed to have strengthened slightly in the House as a result of lobbying against it by Hispanic groups at last week’s Democratic National Convention. As a result, Senate leaders said they were seriously considering urging the Senate to accept the House-passed version of the measure so the House would not have to vote on it again.
Fourteen persons were confirmed killed and two others were missing and presumed dead in two thundering explosions at a sprawling Union Oil Co. refinery at Lemont, Illinois, authorities said. Twenty-three persons were injured. The spectacular nighttime blast, which was felt up to 35 miles away, flattened buildings at the 1,030-acre plant and toppled a 55-foot-high utility tower two miles away. There was no immediate estimate of damages and Union officials said it could take weeks before the cause of the blasts is known.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials told a House subcommittee they are ready to recommend a full license for a Mississippi nuclear power plant next week despite evidence that operator training records were falsified. The $3.4 billion plant, located on the east bank of the Mississippi River at Port Gibson, Mississippi, has been a major embarrassment for both its principal owner, Mississippi Power & Light Co., and the commission as commercial operation has been delayed two years.
The top of the crippled reactor vessel in the nuclear plant at Three Mile Island was lifted by technicians to gain access to the radioactive debris inside, beginning the major part of a cleanup after five and a half years of preparation. The lifting of the 156-ton reactor top by an overhead crane was delayed more than 12 hours by a variety of technical problems. One worker was slightly contaminated by radiation. Once the head is fully removed, a six-foot-tall cylinder filled with water will be installed to act as a radiation shield. With the 25-foot-tall head off, workers next year will be able to pull the mangled radioactive uranium fuel from inside the reactor’s core, which overheated in the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear history.
Federal investigators said human error probably caused the head-on collision of two Amtrak trains that killed one person and injured 137 others in the fourth fatal accident on the rail line this month. They said the engineer of one of the trains and an operator in a control tower-were the focus of an investigation into the crash. John Riley, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, said initial tests ruled out mechanical failure as a cause for the crash Monday of the northbound New England Zip and the southbound Shoreliner on a trestle 85 feet above a New York City street in Queens.
Chicago’s school superintendent, whose contract as the nation’s highest-paid local educator won’t be renewed, said she is the victim of a political double-cross and pointed the finger at Mayor Harold Washington. The mayor declined to comment. The Board of Education voted 6 to 5 Monday night not to renew the contract of Ruth B. Love, the $120,000-a-year chief of the nation’s third-largest school system. Love, whose four-year contract expires in March, 1985, is the first black to head the 435,000-pupil system.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that convicted rapist Joel Caulk, 36, cannot end his life by starvation because the state’s interest in keeping him alive is more important than his right to die. The prison inmate, suspected in up to 60 rapes, replied that it is “hypocritical” for the state with the motto “Live Free or Die” to forcibly prevent him from fasting to death. Caulk’s lawyer said a decision will be made later on whether to appeal the ruling.
Two gunmen fleeing police entered a motel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and opened fire, killing at least four persons and wounding three others, including a policeman, authorities said. One of the gunmen was killed and a second was wounded in a shoot-out, a state police spokesman said. An unidentified police officer wounded by the gunmen when apparently stopping the pair for a traffic violation was in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said. A police spokesman, saying that details were sketchy, said the incident began about 6 PM when Sgt. Wayne Warwick stopped a car carrying four men downtown. A shootout began and Sergeant Warwick, wounded in the exchange, emptied his .38-caliber revolver, hitting two of the men, the spokesman said. The dead at the motel included a man standing at a door to the motel lounge, a bartender inside the lounge and two women, he said.
A 14-year-old boy hurrying to meet relatives after arriving by jet in Minneapolis grabbed the wrong suitcase at an airport luggage carousel and wound up with $1 million worth of cocaine and a loaded pistol, the police said today. The authorities returned the suitcase to the airport, set up a stakeout and arrested two men after a car chase, the police said. The men, Randy Lange, 29 years old, of Faribault, and Terry Rabenberg, 29, of Rochester, Minnesota, were being held in the Ramsey County Jail on Federal charges of cocaine possession and conspiracy to distribute the narcotic. The identities of the Colorado boy who found the cocaine and the family with whom he is staying were withheld at the request of family members, who fear repercussions, said Police Chief Andy Revering of Anoka.
Marvin Pancoast was sane last year when he murdered Vicki Morgan, longtime mistress to the millionaire Alfred S. Bloomingdale, a jury ruled today. Mr. Pancoast, 34 years old, broke down and sobbed as the decision was announced in Superior Court before Judge David Horowitz, who set an August 31 sentencing date. The head of the jury, Theda Band, said the same jury that convicted Mr. Pancoast of first-degree murder earlier this month and deliberated four days in the sanity phase of the trial held hands and prayed after their decision today.
Two teen-age girls were attacked by sharks today in separate incidents while swimming in front of their hotels on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, officials said. Carmen Gaytan, 18 years old, of Mexico City, was attacked at about 12:30 PM while swimming in front of the Padre South Hotel. She was listed in guarded condition tonight in Valley Community Hospital in Brownsville, Texas, after receiving some 60 stitches in both legs. At about 2:30 PM, a 13-year-old girl whose identity was not known was attacked while swimming near the Tiki Motel, about 3½ miles from the Padre South Hotel. The girl received 60 to 70 stitches at a clinic in Port Isabel.
“Careless Whisper” single released by George Michael (credited in US to Wham!) (Billboard Song of the Year 1985).
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces that free-agent pitcher Vida Blue will be suspended for the remainder of the season as a result of his conviction on cocaine possession charges last November.
Bobby Meacham, the New York Yankees shortstop, booted an infield hit by Jim Sundberg in the 11th inning tonight, putting the Brewer catcher on second base and starting a rally that produced a 2–1 Milwaukee Brewers victory. The loss dropped the fifth-place Yankees 22½ games out of first place in the American League East, the farthest out they’ve been since 1967. Meacham, shielded by the third baseman Toby Harrah, struggled to field the sharp shot, never got his hands on it firmly and kicked it into foul territory as Sundberg raced into second, where he was replaced by Robin Yount as a pinch-runner. Joe Cowley, the fourth Yankee pitcher, and the loser, then walked Mark Brouhard intentionally and retired Charlie Moore, who bunted foul for a third strike. Jim Gantner followed with the game-winning hit, ending a contest that had begun as a pitching duel between Moose Haas and Marty Bystrom and making a winner of Pete Ladd.
Lou Whitaker started the game with a home run and scored three times, and Dave Bergman and Kirk Gibson added home runs as the Detroit Tigers won their sixth straight game, downing the Cleveland Indians, 9–5. Milt Wilcox (10–6) gave up four unearned runs, struck out four and walked one in six and two-thirds innings to push the Tigers 39 games over .500 and improve their record since the All-Star break to 11–2. Willie Hernandez pitched the final two and a third innings. Whitaker led off the first inning against Steve Farr (1–7) with his seventh home run, the 10th time in Whitaker’s career and the second time this year he has started a game with a home run.
The Boston Red Sox edged the Chicago White Sox, 3–2. Mike Easler drove in the tie-breaking run with a third-inning single, and Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd settled down after a shaky start to give the Red Sox their fourth victory in a row. Boyd (5–7) gave up two runs, one unearned, in the first inning, but then was in command until leaving with one out in the ninth. The reliever, Bob Stanley, earned his 16th save. Boyd allowed six hits, struck out seven and walked none.
At Montreal, the Pittsburgh Pirates score a record-tying 8 runs in the 11th (The National League record will be upped to 9 on June 28, 1994 by the Padres) as they beat the Expos, 12–5. Bob James and Jeff Reardon each give up 4. Benny Difestano’s second hit in the frame is a grand slam off James. Distefano started a eight-run 11th inning with a single and finished it with a grand slam to power Pittsburgh to victory. Rod Scurry (3–5) pitched one and two-thirds innings to get the victory.
The Houston Astros’ Enos Cabell, Phil Garner and Jose Cruz slug back-to-back-to-back homers off Mark Davis to highlight a nine-run inning that dooms the San Francisco Giants, 10–3, at Candlestick Park. Cruz homers again to ice the cake. Shortstop Bert Pena gets his first two big league RBIs on two separate singles in the fateful fifth inning.
Len Matuszek led off the seventh inning with a tiebreaking home run tonight to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3–2 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Matuszek, batting for the winning pitcher, Jerry Koosman, hit the first pitch off the reliever Tim Stoddard (7–2) into the right-field bullpen for his eighth homer of the season. It was only Matuszek’s second time at bat since coming off the disabled list. He suffered a dislocated finger June 8. Koosman (12–7) scattered nine hits over seven innings and constantly pitched out of trouble. Al Holland worked two innings for his 22nd save.
The Montreal Expos trade pitcher Andy McGaffigan and minor leaguer Jim Jefferson to the Cincinnati Reds for first baseman Dan Driessen. Driessen will take over for Pete Rose at first base.
Terry Bradshaw, the quarterback who led the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl championships before a persistent elbow injury brought his career to an end with a frustrating final season last year, turned in his football jersey for a broadcast blazer yesterday, formally announcing his new career as a television analyst for CBS. “This is a proud moment for me and a sad one,” said Bradshaw, who called his decision to quit “emotionally, extremely difficult.”
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1086.57 (-10.05).
Born:
Desmond Bishop, NFL linebacker (Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings), in San Francisco, California.
Jordan Kent, NFL wide receiver (Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams), in Dhaharan, Saudi Arabia.
Sarah Greene, Irish stage and screen actress (“The Cripple of Inishmaan”; “Penny Dreadful”; “Ransom”), in Cork, Ireland
History Diaries 