Mine-sweeper helicopters were ready for shipment to the of Gulf of Suez as Government officials weighed a decision on whether to send the craft to clear what are believed to be mines in the Gulf. There have been reports of damage to commercial shipping in the area by a recent series of mysterious explosions.
Israel’s Labor Party leader said that he expects to be chosen to form a new government and that he hopes to put together a broad coalition. Shimon Peres also said he would seek a mandate for such a coalition from President Chaim Herzog.
Feuding Muslim militias traded hit-and-run grenade assaults and mortar barrages in a continuing battle for control of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city, killing at least three people and injuring nine. Most of the overnight fighting in the northern port city was concentrated in two residential neighborhoods and the seaside slums, police said. As in the previous two days, the fighting slackened at daybreak, allowing hundreds of students to go to their secondary school exams.
Saudi Arabia has released 30 Americans from prison over the last several weeks, a State Department spokesman said, adding that 16 other Americans remain in Saudi jails on a variety of charges, most of them related to drug and alcohol possession. “We’re appreciative of the Saudi move,” the spokesman said in Washington. No explanation was given for the release of the Americans, though it is traditional in Saudi Arabia for some prisoners to be granted amnesty after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Three “Muslims from Lebanon,” who surrendered after hijacking an Air France jet and holding its passengers and crew hostage for two days, have asked Iran for political asylum, the Iranian news agency reported. This reference to the hijackers was the first official identification of the men. Their names were not given, however. The agency also quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that the hijackers smuggled submachine guns, grenades and other weapons onto the Boeing 737 in their luggage.
French newspapers have accused the Iranian Government of complicity in the hijacking, which started on Tuesday when the Boeing 737 was commandeered on a flight from Frankfurt to Paris. The hijackers forced the airliner to fly to Geneva, to Beirut, Lebanon, and to Larnaca, Cyprus, before heading for Tehran. After threatening to kill everybody on board, they eventually freed their hostages before blowing up the cockpit and surrendering.
Trust the Japanese to find a way to launder whales. So it seemed last week, when an advisory panel to the Fisheries Agency proposed that Japan end commercial whaling in the Antarctic Ocean in return for permission to hunt whales there for ”research” purposes. The offer was viewed as an attempt to head off a five-year worldwide ban on whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission and scheduled to begin in 1986. But it was hard to see how whale hunting in the name of research would be substantially different from whale hunting in the name of commerce, since officials acknowledged that the whales would be hunted by the same fleet and sold on the same domestic market after the research was completed. Nor was it clear whether any fewer of the endangered mammals would be killed under the plan.
With a harvest last season of 4,246 whales, Japan was the world’s biggest whaler, but the industry has shrunk so much over the past two decades that it now directly employs only 1,300 people. Although expense and scarcity have reduced whale meat to a relatively insignificant part of the Japanese diet, whaling still occupies an important place in the nation’s culture, something the Japanese believe other nations do not understand.
The Polish primate, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, met with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa in Gdansk as the Warsaw government continued to release political prisoners, including a top Solidarity adviser, Adam Michnik, who charged that he was beaten by a prison official before being freed. The 30-minute Glemp-Walesa meeting followed a church service during which the cardinal praised Solidarity for awakening the country to its problems. Michnik, released under the government’s amnesty program, said he was beaten when he refused to hand over notes he had taken while in prison.
About 200 striking British coal miners damaged a National Coal Board truck depot in the latest outbreak of violence in the 21-week strike against the government’s plan to shut down unprofitable mines and eliminate 20,000 jobs. The attack on the depot in Derbyshire, in central England, caused an estimated $5,400 in damage.
A Czechoslovak engineering student seeking political asylum soared over the Austrian border on a motorized kite today, landing in front of a hangar at Schwechat Airport, a police official said. The 24-year-old student, who was identified only as Ivo Z., was taken to the Traiskirchen refugee camp south of Vienna. A border control spokesman said the student assembled the kite in a wooded area, then took off in the middle of the night from a spot close to the border and traveled about 30 miles in one and three-quarter hours, cruising across the border at an altitude of 660 feet.
A defense lawyer has asked that all charges be dropped against 10 of the 20 people accused of killing former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and seven other people just before the United States-led invasion last fall. The lawyer, Howard Hamilton, made the request Friday at the end of an inquiry to determine if the 20 should stand trial. Most of the accused were captured shortly after the invasion and later charged with murder and conspiracy. Among those the defense wants to free are Bernard Coard, the former Deputy Prime Minister, and Gen. Hudson Austin, who headed the junta that seized power last October 19 when Mr. Bishop was slain. Chief Justice Lyle St. Paul said he would rule on the move Wednesday.
The military Government and leaders of three political groups have signed an agreement calling for elections November 25 and a return to democracy March 1. One of Uruguay’s two major parties, the National Party, refused to take part in the talks leading to the pact announced Friday because its leader, Wilson Ferreira Aldunate, is being held in a military prison. He was arrested June 16 returning from 11 years of self-imposed exile and charged with aiding subversives and inviting foreign intervention by criticizing the military Government while abroad. The Colorado Party, Uruguay’s other major party, approved the agreement, as did the Civic Union, the Broad Front coalition of centrists and leftists, and the military commanders.
The European Space Agency’s Ariane 3 rocket blasted off from its base in French Guiana and placed two telecommunications satellites in orbit 21 minutes after liftoff, the 11-nation West European consortium reported. Agency officials said their ability to place two satellites in orbit with one rocket cut costs and made the rocket more competitive with the reusable U. S. space shuttle. The two satellites, with an estimated life span of seven years, were placed in an orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth. The launch was the 10th in the Ariane program, with all but three of them successful.
The Republic of Upper Volta becomes Burkina Faso (National Day).
The Ugandan army has killed or intentionally starved to death thousands of civilians in recent months as part of what appears to be a get-tough policy by the army in its fight against rebels, the Washington Post reported. The newspaper quoted Elliott Abrams, an assistant secretary of state, as describing the situation in Uganda as horrendous, with U. S. efforts to stop the killing unavailing. Most of the victims were women and children, the paper reported.
Angolan Government troops killed 143 insurgents in five southern provinces between July 17 and 24, the official press agency said today. It said the Angolan forces had seized weapons from the guerrilla group, known by the acronym Unita, which has been fighting to overthrow the Government since independence from Portugal in 1975. Last week the press agency reported that nearly 3,000 guerrillas had been killed in the first half of the year.
President Reagan makes a national radio address regarding the budget deficit reduction and taxation. President Reagan vowed to veto any income tax increase and accused Walter F. Mondale of planning increases that would average $1,500 per household. ”I will propose no increase in personal income taxes,” the President declared in a paid political radio address from his ranch here, ”and I will veto any tax bill that would raise personal income tax rates for working Americans or that would fail to make our tax system simpler or more fair.” In vowing to use the veto, Mr. Reagan went further than he did previously in rejecting Mr. Mondale’s charge that he had a ”secret” plan to raise taxes if he was re-elected.
Walter F. Mondale accused President Reagan today of making ”hocus-pocus” charges against him and challenged the President to a debate on their economic programs. ”If we were to debate on national television today I’d cream him — he’s dead wrong,” Mr. Mondale said at a news conference outside his home here. The Democratic Presidential nominee hastily called the news conference in response to Mr. Reagan’s paid political radio address from his ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif. In the address, the President promised to veto any legislation raising personal income taxes and called on Mr. Mondale to fully explain his own program.
The President and First Lady host an annual picnic for members of the press.
Oil covered beaches in a tourist area of Galveston, Texas, but the first wave of a slick from a grounded British tanker in the Gulf of Mexico failed to reach environmentally sensitive marshes inside Galveston Bay. Cleanup crews worked round the clock Friday night and today to swab up an estimated 5,000 tons of tar-like crude oil that smeared miles of the Texas coast from the Louisiana line to below Galveston Bay. With heavy equipment, vacuum trucks and acres of plastic batting, they fought the wind-driven wash of oil from an 85-mile-long slick from a British tanker that ran aground off Louisiana Monday, inundating broad areas of shoreline all along the upper Texas coast. But gentle low tides helped guide the oil away from critical marine and wildlife breeding areas in Galveston Bay.
The Democrats’ foreign policy line that emerged from their San Francisco convention differs sharply from that of such Presidents as Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, according to foreign affairs specialists. Walter F. Mondale’s strong advocacy of a negotiated, verifiable freeze on nuclear arms is a significant departure from past election-year platforms.
General Motors Corp. has agreed to reimburse 500,000 original owners of 1978-80 cars and light trucks with diesel V-8 engines, which three class-action lawsuits alleged were defective. A proposed $22.5million fund would be used to reimburse the owners for engine repairs that occurred during the first five years or 50,000 miles, whichever came first, GM said in a statement issued in Detroit. Under the proposed settlement, which must be approved by a U.S. District Court, 90% of the fund would be distributed to original owners who file claims for diesel repairs. The remaining 10% would be distributed to original owners of the cars who do not have repair claims, with a limit of $150 for each vehicle.
The staff of a House Agriculture subcommittee has been asked to look into a $400,000 loan by the Farmers Home Administration to a business partner of Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block, a committee aide said. The aide said subcommittee Chairman Ed Jones (D-Tenn.) was shocked by the loan to John W. Curry of Galesburg, Ill., “when so many small family farmers are going broke and the FmHA won’t help them even save their homes. . . .” A spokesman for the FmHA confirmed that Curry received the loan to finance activities on 13 farms in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.
The nation’s 600,000 postal workers, whose four unions are at an impasse with the U.S. Postal Service in bitter contract negotiations, are overpaid, according to Postmaster General William F. Bolger, who says he’s not paid enough. “The compensation is not a proper level today for the responsibilities involved,” Bolger, who has an annual income of $82,900 and who will receive a $62,000 bonus when he retires at the end of the year, said of his job. Citing Postal Service surveys, he said postal workers make more than workers in similar jobs in the private sector.
Officials in New York are investigating whether a city agency covered up alleged child abuse at a city-funded day-care center, which was shut down after three workers were arrested on sex charges involving 10 children, Mayor Edward I. Koch said. The center, operated by the Puerto Rican Assn. for Community Affairs Inc. but funded by the city Human Resources Administration, was closed after an angry crowd gathered outside. Prosecutors said the children, aged 4 to 8, had told them of sexual attacks.
Tentative contract agreements were reached at three New York City hospitals, a day after the first accord in a 21-day-old strike against 30 health facilities was reached at another hospital. Workers at one hospital later ratified the contract and will return to work today, said Robert Carroll, a spokesman for District 1199 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
A federal court jury in Chicago completed about 22 hours of deliberations without reaching a verdict in the Operation Greylord trial of a Cook County judge accused of fixing cases in the nation’s largest court system. The jury will reconvene Monday in an attempt to reach a verdict in the bribery trial of Associate Judge John G. Laurie, who is accused of accepting $2,400 in bribes.
The Los Angeles Police have reported seizing a vanload of explosives, electronics equipment, blasting cord and dozens of weapons at the home of a self-employed fireworks technician. Police Chief Daryl Gates said Friday that the seizure, at the home of Richard Cole, was one of the biggest the department had ever made. He said there were enough explosives ”to blow up the house and much of the surrounding community.” The police were led to Mr. Cole’s home by John Blackwell, 38 years old, who was arrested Tuesday while following a bus carrying Olympic athletes in a car filled with explosives.
A 3-year-old boy has died and another was in critical condition today, both victims of a rare disease officials believe they contracted while swimming in Texas lakes. Derek Leach of the suburb of Irving died Friday of amoebic meningoencephalitis, said a spokesman for Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. The Army Corps of Engineers has posted warning signs at Lake Grapevine, where the 3-year-old swam before being stricken with the disease.
In south central Texas, Ben Wright, 12, of Uvalde, was stricken with the same disease. He was in critical condition in San Antonio’s Methodist Hospital. He had been swimming at Garner State Park before becoming ill. Health Department officials have warned that lakes, rivers, streams and ponds probably contain concentrated amounts of a dangerous amoebic organism, Naegleria fowleri, that causes the rare but lethal form of meningitis.
About 125 white-collar employees are being laid off at Bethlehem Steel in a new round of job cuts at one of the nation’s largest steel companies. ”Over the past week or so, about 125 positions have been eliminated,” a company spokesman said Friday. ”Bethlehem Steel is continuing the process of consolidating corporate functions, resulting in the elimination of positions in various departments.” Bethlehem had reported a 30-employee reduction in its applied technology department on July 2 and a cut of 70 administrative jobs at its Bethlehem plant on July 26.
Whether the sun would be blotted out by nuclear weapons is being assessed in a broad program undertaken by the Government. If the theory is found to be valid, the threat of a ”nuclear winter” could force a dramatic overhaul of the military’s plans for fighting a nuclear war.
Convicts stabbed two guards and took seven hostages at Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Boydton, Virginia while taking over a cellblock in a protest over ”barbaric” prison treatment.
Prince’s “Purple Rain” album goes #1 & stays #1 for 24 weeks.
The New York Yankees win their 8th straight, 4–0, over the Cleveland Indians on Lou Piniella Day at Yankee Stadium. Sweet Lou played his final game less than to months ago in an 8–3 win over the Orioles. Ray Fontenot allows one hit in 5⅔ innings for the win, and Brian Dayett has a double and 2 RBI. Victor Mata hits his lone career homer.
Pat Sheridan and Don Slaught each collected three hits and drove in two runs to pace the Kansas City Royals to a 9–5 victory over the Detroit Tigers today. The loss was the fourth in five games for Detroit. Joe Beckwith (4–2), who relieved the Royal starter Mark Gubicza in the fifth after Ruppert Jones’s two-run homer, pitched the final 4⅔ innings for the triumph.
The Boston Red Sox downed the Texas Rangers, 5–2. Dwight Evans, Wade Boggs and Jackie Gutierrez hit home runs to back the six-hit pitching of Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd (6–8), who went the distance for the sixth time, striking out eight and walking one. Frank Tanana (10–11) lasted five and two-thirds innings and took the loss.
In a 9–2 San Francisco Giants rout of the Astros, Jeffrey Leonard collects five hits. The cleanup slugger gets all singles and, therefore, is unable to demonstrate his one-flap-down home run trot in front of the Houston fans at the Astrodome. Bob Brenly drove in four runs with a homer, a double and two singles, while Mike Calvert pitched seven strong innings for his first victory of the season.
Jody Davis hit a two-run homer today to lead the Chicago Cubs past the Montreal Expos, 4–1. Dennis Eckersley (6–6) gave up seven hits in six and two-thirds innings. George Frazier went the final two and one-third innings for his first save. The Cubs chased Dan Schatzeder (4–3) with four runs on seven hits in three and two-thirds innings.
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5–3. Greg Brock hit a homer in the top of the 11th inning and Bob Bailor scored on Dave Anderson’s suicide squeeze to give Los Angeles the victory. Brock, who rejoined the Dodgers Tuesday after a month in the minor leagues, hit his 10th homer of the year with one out off Tom Hume (3-12). Bailor singled, stole second and took third on a passed ball before scoring on Anderson’s squeeze play. Pat Zachry (5-3) pitched three scoreless innings for the victory.
American athlete Carl Lewis wins the 100m in 9.9 seconds in Los Angeles, first of 9 Olympic gold medals over 3 Games.
Americans Al Joyner and Mike Conley take the gold and silver medals in the men’s triple jump at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Born:
Mardy Collins, NBA shooting guard, point guard, and small forward (New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Died:
Edmond Ryan, 79, actor (“Human Monster”), of a heart attack.
Howard Culver, 66, actor (Howie-“Gunsmoke”).
Mary Miles Minter, 82, actress (“Drums of Fate”), of heart failure.
Walter Burke, 75, American actor (“Jack the Giant Killer”), of emphysema.
[Schlichter was trying to restart his career after his suspension, but his gambling addiction issues soon ended that.]
History Diaries 