Some economic sanctions against Poland were eased by President Reagan because of a “significant move” toward “national reconciliation” by the Polish Government. The White House said “complete and reasonable implementation” of the amnesty for political prisoners that was approved by the Polish Parliament on July 21 would probably result in the withdrawal of United States opposition to Polish membership in the International Monetary Fund. The Administration also announced that the President had authorized the restoration of scientific exchanges and the lifting of the ban on American landing rights for the Polish airline LOT. The sanctions were ordered by President Reagan after the military Government in Warsaw imposed martial law in December 1981, banned the Solidarity trade union and cracked down on the union’s campaign to increase political and civil rights.
Mr. Reagan announced from his vacation ranch near Santa Barbara that he was prepared to ease other sanctions once Poland makes “further significant movement” toward ending national unrest. Administration officials later stressed that the easing of the sanctions would go forward only if the military Government fulfills its pledge to release political prisoners, particularly 11 key protest leaders, and does not rearrest them later or increase “negative” pressures on the populace. The Polish parliamentary bill authorized the release within 30 days of 652 political prisoners and about 35,000 common criminals. According to the Polish Government, more than 500 political prisoners have already been released, but they do not include key Solidarity leaders and four advisers to the outlawed union.
The official Polish Government spokesman reacted today to President Reagan’s decision to ease some of the United States sanctions on Poland by saying he expected a fuller retreat on the curbs imposed after the declaration of martial law. Jerzy Urban, the spokesman, stressed that he was offering a preliminary and not fully official response when he told foreign journalists that “the Government of Poland wants to emphasize that it never asked for a lifting of sanctions.” Instead, he said, “we demand the lifting of all restrictions without any conditions.”
The United States decision to drop some sanctions against Poland was cheered today by Lech Walesa, the founder of the banned Solidarity trade union. “As a Pole, I am happy,” Mr. Walesa said in brief remarks to Western reporters who were waiting as he left work at the Lenin Shipyard in the Baltic port of Gdansk. Contacted later by telephone at his apartment in Gdansk, Mr. Walesa said the United States should lift another sanction, the ban on American commodity credits to Poland, provided the Communist Government gives assurances the money will not be wasted as he said it had been in the past. “As a unionist I still think, and others like me think so, too, that the whole problem is that there is no social control in our country,” Mr. Walesa said. “If the money is not wasted again, we will call it a great step.”
The beating of an American Marine, a guard at the United States consulate in Leningrad, by uniformed and plainsclothes police has been “vigorously protested” by the United States, a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Moscow said. The guard at the United States Consulate in Leningrad was beaten by uniformed and plainclothes policemen and held in jail for two hours Thursday, a United States Embassy spokesman said today. The spokesman described the beating as “inexcusable” and said it had been “vigorously protested” by United States officials in Washington and Moscow. He said the marine, Sgt. Ronald J. Campbell, 22 years old, of North Island, California, had sustained no “lasting injuries.”
Greece and the United States signed an agreement today covering Greek workers at the American military bases here, formally ending a month-long strike. The 1,600 Greek employees at the bases had already returned to work on Tuesday, as a gesture of good will pending acceptance by Washington of the compromise agreement put forth by the Greek Government. The strike began on July 3, and it resulted in several violent incidents and tension that complicated the unsettled relations between Greece and the United States.
A Government announcement said the agreement was signed by Ioannis Kapsis, the Greek Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and the United States Ambassador, Monteagle Stearns. The main provision was that the number of salary raises allowed over the entire span of employment will be increased from 13 to 17, beginning retroactively from January this year. But working hours will remain at 39 a week instead of the 37.5 sought by the workers. Today’s announcement said the two Governments would soon begin negotiating a new comprehensive labor agreement governing the status of Greek personnel at American bases here.
The passengers from an Air France plane that was hijacked to Tehran three days ago arrived here tonight amid increasing speculation in the French press and elsewhere over the possibility that the Iranian Government may have assisted the hijackers. Earlier in the day, the Iranian President issued a warning to France that it should expect further acts of terrorism if it did not change its policies toward Iran. France has been supporting Iraq in its war with Iran and has given political asylum to leading Iranian figures opposed to the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. French newspapers across the political spectrum blamed Iran for the incident, and some of the papers charged that the Iranian Government had given logistical assistance to the hijackers. Serge July, the editor of Liberation, a left-of-center paper, charged that “there was complicity that appears to go as high as the Iranian state apparatus itself.”
Israeli troops shut down 50 shops in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh today after a guerrilla attack on an Israeli patrol, security sources said. An Israeli Army spokesman said the grenade attack Thursday killed one soldier and wounded another. The attack in the town, 36 miles south of Beirut, raised to 587 the Israeli death toll in Lebanon since the Israeli invasion in June 1982.
Five or six ships struck mines in the Red Sea Thursday, Lloyd’s Shipping Intelligence Department reported today. A spokesman for Lloyd’s, Roger Lowes, said one unidentified vessel that hit a mine was believed to have been badly damaged. Mr. Lowes said he had no information on casualties. He identified three vessels damaged by mines Thursday — one Greek, one Turkish and one East German — and said Lloyd’s had received reports that two or three other ships were hit the same day. Mr. Lowes said the other ships had not been identified and the extent of damage was not known. He said there was no indication who was planting the mines close to the narrow southern entrance of the Red Sea, on the only route for ships using the Suez Canal. An organization calling itself Islamic Holy War claimed responsibility for mining the Red Sea “to punish imperialism,” according to a report by the state radio in Qatar.
Saudi Arabia freed some Americans it had imprisoned on a variety of offenses, according to Saudi and American officials and a recently freed prisoner. A State Department official said 17 Americans, about half of the estimated 33 in Saudi prisons, had been released under a general amnesty and that additional releases were imminent.
There is a bomb attack on the Madras, India airport; 32 are killed. estimated that the bomb, which had been concealed in a piece of luggage and exploded in a passenger lounge, had caused $300,000 in damage to the airport building. Airport officials closed the airport to international traffic for at least three days, although domestic flights will continue to operate from another part of the airport. Incoming international flights have been diverted to other cities.
No group claimed responsibility for the explosion, although an anonymous telephone caller was reported to have tipped off the authorities last night about the bomb. It exploded as two unclaimed bags were moved from the customs hall through the passenger arrival section. The blast occurred soon after an aircraft of Air Lanka, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, flew into Madras. The Sri Lanka authorities have been fighting separatist terrorists of the Tamil ethnic group in the northern part of the island republic for more than two years. Some extremist groups are believed to be based at Madras, the capital of Tamilnadu state in southern India, but it was not known if Tamil groups were suspected in the incident.
The United States Ambassador to the Philippines, Stephen Bosworth, told the National Press Club of the Philippines today that it should continue fighting for free and open expression. The Philippine press has been under indirect controls since 1972. The Ambassador was the first speaker in a revival of the club’s Gridiron press conferences. He said that the United States shared a tradition of press freedom with the Philippines and that his Government attached great importance to free and open debate. He said that the trend in the Philippines was toward greater openness and that “the pace of this progress is to be determined by the Philippine media.” Earlier, the Philippines’ Minister of Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile, encouraged the press to continue reporting on real trends in the country’s society. He urged reporters to “expose venality and corruption in government, especially in the military.”
A cutoff of discount-priced oil to Central American and Caribbean countries “that initiate warlike actions” against their neighbors is a new policy instrument adopted by Mexico and Venezuela. A spokesman for Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations said the new condition would apply only to future actions.
Four armed men who said they were leftist rebels surrendered to Salvadoran officials today after bungling a robbery attempt and holding 63 hostages for nearly 23 hours. The hostages were then released unharmed. The men abandoned their demands for safe passage out of the country after several nations, including Mexico, declined to give them asylum, according to Salvadoran officials. The men were denied asylum because a guard was killed in the attempted bank robbery and because there were doubts whether the men belonged to any leftist political group, according to Julio Rey Prendes, an aide to President Jose Napoleon Duarte.
Wall Street’s heaviest trading ever sent stock prices soaring again as investors gained confidence that the economy has entered a sounder phase. It was the best week in Wall Street’s history in terms of both volume and price gains.
The stock market this week has given the economic recovery a rousing endorsement, apparently casting off months of apprehension over Federal deficits. In the process, it has handed President Reagan more good news. The market surge caps a series of dramatic improvements in the economy. In recent months, as economic growth, employment and inflation successively brightened, a lackluster stock market was the most conspicuous exception to the pattern of improvement. The lagging market reflected Wall Street fears that the Federal Government’s borrowing to cover its deficits would bring about a damaging new outburst of soaring interest rates, according to analysts. But the market’s fear of the deficits, which the Democrats contend seriously mar the Reagan economic record, seems to have been swept aside in this week’s stunning rally. If the boom persists, delighting investors throughout the land, it will be all the more difficult to focus voters’ attention on economic problems.
The jobless rate rose unexpectedly in July by four-tenths of a percentage point to 7.4 percent, the first increase in 20 months, the Labor Department said. It was the latest of several signs that the strong economic expansion was moderating in the late spring and early summer.
President Reagan builds a patio during his stay at Rancho del Cielo.
President Reagan places a phone call to Rosie Greer, former defensive tackle for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams.
The final 1985 military budget will have only a 5 percent percent growth after inflation, substantially below the 7.5 percent President Reagan has insisted on, according to the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. The comments of the chairman, Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, are the first public admission of what what has been common talk in Congress but were immediately disputed by Howard H. Baker Jr., the Senate majority leader.
Even before the Democrats put together their national ticket last month, antiabortion activists had vowed to work for President Reagan’s re-election. But with the nomination of Geraldine A. Ferraro, this movement has moved into higher political gear, and Governor Cuomo’s remarks on the subject this week appear certain to intensify interest in the abortion issue. Within 24 hours of Walter F. Mondale’s announcement that he had chosen Mrs. Ferraro to be his running mate, the National Right to Life Committee sent letters to news organizations characterizing the Queens Congresswoman as a proponent of “unrestricted legal abortion and Federal funding of abortion.”
Ten of 13 Haitians arrested in a plot to overthrow their homeland’s Government pleaded guilty today and received one-year prison sentences. All 13 were scheduled to appear before United States District Judge Lansing Mitchell in New Orleans as part of a plea bargaining agreement with Federal prosecutors. Defense attorneys, however, told Judge Mitchell that three of the defendants maintained their innocence. Judge Mitchell sentenced each of the 10 to one year in jail and three years probation for pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge of conspiring to carry a firearm aboard an airplane.
A 75-mile-long oil slick advanced down the Gulf coast off Galveston, Texas, threatening prime fisheries and the coast’s tourist industry. The spill came from a British tanker that went aground off Louisiana. Driven by capricious winds and churned by a choppy sea, a 85-mile-long oil slick advanced down the Gulf Coast today, sending feelers ashore and threatening prime fisheries and the coast’s lucrative tourist industry. The spill, which oozed from a British tanker that went aground Monday off the Louisiana coast, split into two tentacles. One was just a mile off Galveston Island this afternoon. Cleanup crews were poised along the coast to begin dredging and soaking up the thick sludge, ranging in consistency from molasses to peanut butter.
Charles Z. Wick, the director of the United States Information Agency, has become embroiled in a public dispute with officers of the agency’s union who contend that his leadership has led to lowered standards and sagging morale. Mr. Wick, responding to an open letter published by the officers in the August issue of the Foreign Service Journal, said many agency professionals disputed the officers’ assertions. He added that he is “particularly proud” of his efforts on behalf of the career staff. The letter was signed by the agency’s Standing Committee of the American Foreign Service Association, which publishes the journal and acts as the union for the career officers of U.S.I.A., the State Department and the Agency for International Development.
Claus von Bülow today was granted his request to have his bail reduced to $100,000 from $1 million while appealing his conviction of twice trying to murder his wife. “Obviously, I’m relieved,” said Mr. von Bülow, who is 57 years old. “It’s been a long road. This certainly helps.” Judge Corinne P. Grande of Superior Court said that so long as Mr. von Bülow did not divest himself of assets of more than $1 million he could have the reduced bail. She ordered that his passport remain in the court’s custody. Mr. von Bülow was born in Denmark.
He was convicted in 1982 of trying to kill his wife, Martha, the heiress to a Pittsburgh utilities fortune. The court ruled that he gave her insulin overdoses in 1979 and in 1980 at their Newport mansion. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. On April 27 the Rhode Island Supreme Court reversed the convictions and ordered a new trial, holding that crucial drug evidence was tested without proper search warrants. The United States Supreme Court is expected to decide if it will hear the state’s appeal of that ruling. Mrs. von Bülow remains comatose in a New York hospital.
Ernst Ludwig Forbrich, a West German automobile mechanic, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for buying United States military secrets to pass to East Germany. He could have received a life term. Federal District Judge Ben Krentzman sentenced Mr. Forbrich on two counts of espionage. Mr. Forbrich received 15 years for trying to pass the document to foreign intelligence. That charge carried a possible life term. He was sentenced to the maximum 10 years for buying the document. The judge said the terms would run concurrently. A jury convicted the 44-year-old Mr. Forbrich on June 29. The key evidence in the government’s case was a secretly made videotape showing Mr. Forbrich swapping $550 for a classified military secret. Mr. Forbrich, a native of East Germany whose family escaped to the West, owns a garage in West Germany near a United States Army base.
A white couple battling a state policy that discourages interracial adoptions won the right today to adopt a mildly retarded 3-year-old black child when county social service agents agreed they would make better parents than other applicants. “Now we just want to go ahead and start planning a life as a family,” said Jackie Haas of Aberdeen, who was ecstatic when she learned of the decision from her attorney, Barbara Mello of the American Civil Liberties Union. Mrs. Haas and her husband, who are special education teachers, are seeking to adopt Robby, a boy they met through their jobs. He also suffers from cerebral palsy.
The childless couple were told in March that the Baltimore County Department of Social Services would consider their adoption request only if nationwide efforts to find a suitable black family were futile. State policy requires that social service departments make all possible efforts to place children with families of the same race. Last week, attorneys for the Haases argued in court that the policy was unconstitutional.
Chimpanzees injected with a virus and blood taken from an AIDS patient at the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health was a major advance and a necessary step toward more effective research and the development of a vaccine to prevent the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome, medical officials said.
Milwaukee Brewers reliever Rollie Fingers (23 saves, 1.96 earned runs) undergoes back surgery to alleviate a herniated disk and will miss the remainder of the season.
In a season in which good fortune has been scarce and fleeting for them, the New York Yankees climbed above the .500 mark for the first time last night with a 9–0, 3–2 sweep of the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium. Backed by the three-hit pitching of the rookie Joe Cowley in the first game, and paced by Don Mattingly’s tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning of Game 2, the Yankees lifted their record this season to 54–52. After trailing for most of the second game, the Yankees came back to tie at 2–2 in the seventh on Ken Griffey’s run-scoring pinch single. Mattingly, facing the reliever Ernie Camacho (4–8) in the eighth, hit his 15th homer of the season over the wall in right- center to give the Yankees’ their sixth consecutive victory.
Gary Ward scored from first base on an error by Wade Boggs at third base in the 10th inning to lift the Texas Rangers to a 4–3 win over the Boston Red Sox. Ward led off with a single off Bob Stanley (7–7) and Buddy Bell attempted to sacrifice Ward to second. Boggs fielded the bunt cleanly but threw the ball past an uncovered first base. The ball rolled into right field as Ward scored easily. Boston tied the score at 3–3 off Danny Darwin in the eighth. Boggs led off with a single and, two outs later, Tony Armas smashed his league-leading 29th home run.
Frank White clubs a grand slam as the Kansas City Royals score 7 runs in the 4th enroute to a 9–6 victory over Detroit. Lou Whitaker has 4 hits and 3 runs for the Tigers. Dan Quisenberry earned his 28th save for Kansas City. Quisenberry shut the Tigers down on two hits after entering the game with one out in the seventh in relief of Bret Saberhagen (5–8), who allowed one run in one and two-thirds innings after replacing Bud Black. The Royals sent 11 batters to the plate and collected six hits in the fourth inning.
Max Venable, a pinch-hitter, drew a leadoff walk in the ninth inning and eventually scored the winning run when the Chicago Cubs failed to convert what would have been an inning-ending double play today as the Montreal Expos triumphed, 6–5. The triumph snapped a three-game losing streak. The Cubs, leading the National League East, suffered their second loss in the last eight games and had their lead cut to a half a game after the Mets won. After the reliever Tim Stoddard (7–4) walked Venable, Doug Flynn sacrificed. Stenhouse singled to right and Venable stopped at third while Mike Stenhouse took second on the throw home. Tim Raines was given an intentional walk to fill the bases. The pinch-hitter Dan Driessen then grounded to second, forcing Raines, but when the shortstop Larry Bowa’s throw to first was late, Venable scored the winning run.
Bob Welch hurled a two-hitter over seven innings and Mike Marshall slammed a two-run homer to pace the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5–2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. It was the second straight strong outing for Welch (8–11), who had a two-hit shutout against the Reds last Saturday.
ABC’s focus on Americans in the Olympics has been protested by Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee. He reportedly said in a letter to the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee that ABC threatened to diminish the “international flavor” of the Games. Peter Ueberroth, the committee’s president, said the letter represented “quite a consensus” among the nine-member committee.
17-year-old Australian swimmer Jon Sieben stages a withering finish to upset hot favourite Michael Gross of West Germany in 200m butterfly at Los Angeles Olympics, world record (1:57.04).
In an upset, the United States won the team gold medal today in the Olympic equestrian event, edging the favored British riding team, 186 points to 189.2. In individual competition, Karen Stives of Dover, Massachusetts, took a silver on Ben Arthur.
Mexicans Ernesto Canto and Raúl González take the gold and silver medals in the 20k walk at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Mary Lou Retton scores 10 for final vault to win the individual all-round competition in Los Angeles and become first American woman to win an Olympic gymnastics medal. The 16-year-old acrobat from Fairmont, West Virginia, overcame pressure of Olympian proportions: She was trailing Rumania’s Ecaterina Szabo by 5-hundredths of a point going into the vault, and knew she had to get a 10 to beat her. A 9.95 would have tied Miss Szabo and would have meant that they would share the gold medal. “I vault best under pressure,” Miss Retton said cheerily afterward. “It makes me fight harder. I knew if I stuck that vault I’d win it. I kept thinking ‘stick, stick, stick.’ I knew I had to get a 10.”
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1202.08 (+36.00).
Born:
Ryan Lochte, American swimmer (12-time Olympic medalist, 6 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze, from 2004-2016), in Rochester, New York.
Matt Joyce, MLB outfielder and pinch hitter (All-Star, 2011; Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland A’s, Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies), in Tampa, Florida.
Sergio Escalona, Venezuelan MLB pitcher (Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros), in El Tocuyo, Venezuela.
Germán Durán, Mexican MLB third baseman, second baseman, and outfielder (Texas Rangers), in Zacatecas, Mexico.
Jarvis Moss, NFL defensive end and linebacker (Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders), in Denton, Texas.
Amanda Kimmel, American actress (“Survivor”) and beauty queen (Miss Montana USA, 2005), in Los Angeles, California.
Jon Foster, American actor (“Stay Alive”), in Boston, Massachusetts.
[Ed: Christmas can’t come soon enough…]
History Diaries 