Containers of uranium were carried by a French cargo ship that sank off Belgium Saturday night after colliding with a Dutch ferry, the ship’s owner and French Government officials said. The uranium is used to make fuel for nuclear reactors and is mildly radioactive. But a French environmental official said there was no indication that any of the 30 separate uranium containers had broken when the cargo ship and the ferry struck each other.
British dockworkers at two ports rejected union calls to join a nationwide strike that has shut down 19 ports. The votes at Immingham and Grimsby, both on the east coast, marked the first rebellions against the two-day-old strike. The workers at Immingham, where an 11-day strike was held last month, backed their union’s orders on Friday to strike. But they returned to work Saturday and voted at a mass meeting today to continue working. Striking stevedores kept 19 British ports shut today, including Liverpool and Hull. The dockers are backing miners who have been on strike nationwide since March 12 to protest mine shutdowns that would throw thousands out of work. Despite the dock strike, traffic continued at Dover, the nation’s largest passenger port, where workers have not yet voted on the issue.
Eight explosions damaged government buildings and private apartments in the French-ruled island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea, police said. There were no injuries. No one claimed responsibility for the bombings, although police said they suspect Corsican separatists. The explosions followed the election Friday of conservative Jean-Paul de RoccaSerra as president of the new Corsican Regional Assembly. He has called for a greater effort to control terrorist activities.
Hundreds of Basque youths burned cars and battled police for the second day in a row in Bilbao, Spain. At least 12 were arrested. They were protesting a French court ruling that would allow four suspected Basque guerrillas to be extradited to Spain on murder charges. Guerrillas have been blamed for hundreds of political assassinations since they began fighting for the independence of the Basque region in 1968.
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said he assumes that East German leader Erich Honecker will travel to West Germany as scheduled September 26-29, but he called official confirmation of the visit overdue. Kohl said in a television interview that Honecker will have to confirm the visit by the first week in September if it is to take place. There has been speculation that Honecker might call off the visit because of Soviet media attacks on improved relations between the two German states.
Fifteen men with hunting rifles leaped from a 50-seat private bus outside a church in a Naples suburb today and killed eight people and wounded five in what the police said was an organized crime vendetta. “It was an ambush, most likely by the Camorra,” the Naples Police Chief, Gianfranco Corrias, said in a statement. The Camorra is the name used for organized crime in Naples, much as the Mafia denotes organized crime in Sicily. The police said they were treating the slayings in the center of suburban Torre Annunziata, 13 miles outside Naples, as the work of the New Organized Camorra crime gang against members of the rival New Family. Naples police officials said some victims had just left mass and witnesses said hundreds of people who were taking walks and chatting in groups fled.
Shimon Peres was given 21 more days to form an Israeli government coalition. The additional time was granted to Mr. Peres, the head of the Labor Alignment, by President Chaim Herzog. Mr. Peres said a “great deal of progress” had been made in the first 21 days of his mandate and agreement had been reached on several issues with the rival Likud bloc.
Saudi Arabia said Saturday that its territorial waters, used by commercial ships and Moslem pilgrims, were free of mines. The Saudi press agency quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying that French, American and Saudi minehunters found “metal residues of ships” but no mines and that a 10-day sweep of Saudi waters had “neared its end.” American, French, British and Egyptian ships continued to search other parts of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal for the cause of explosions that have damaged 18 vessels in the last seven weeks. The unidentified Saudi official was quoted by the press agency as saying “the minesweeping of the Saudi territorial waters showed” that “our waters are free of mines.”
Muslim militiamen battled Lebanese Army troops along Beirut’s Green Line for the first time since a security plan took effect July 4. Three of the five crossing points between East and West Beirut were closed, Lebanese officials said. The fighting, which lasted for several hours, began late in the afternoon at a checkpoint on the main overpass, known as the Ring, which is manned by army soldiers of both the Christian Fifth Brigade and the Muslim Sixth Brigade. Accounts by the radio stations of various factions were contradictory. A statement by the Defense Ministry said an “incident” had led to “the appearance of gunmen.” It said the Lebanese Army intervened “and dealt with the matter,” returning the situation to normal at 8 PM.
The Syrian army will help enforce a plan to end fighting between rival Lebanese Muslim militiamen in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanese Premier Rashid Karami announced. He said the two groups that have fought for control of the city for two years have agreed to the plan. Four days of fighting in Tripoli last week left 120 people dead and 325 wounded, most of them civilians. Karami announced tonight that a “durable and permanent cease-fire” had been reached. Mr. Karami, often known for his optimism, said the plan would involve the deployment of the Lebanese Army and cooperation with the Syrian troops in the area, known as the Arab Deterrent Force. He gave no indication on when the army troops might be deployed. Earlier today the Druze leader, Walid Jumblat, said in an interview that his followers were ready to resume fighting to keep the Lebanese Army out of the Shuf Mountains. “Here we say no,” Mr. Jumblat said in an interview at his home in Mukhtara, in the Shuf Mountains southeast of Beirut.
The pilot and several passengers from a hijacked Indian airliner said today that their captors were given a pistol during a stopover in the Pakistani city of Lahore. In Islamabad, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry denied the accusation. The statements followed Indian complaints that Pakistan should not have let the plane fly on to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The Boeing 737 was hijacked Friday on a domestic flight from Chandigarh, the state capital of Punjab, to Srinagar. It landed at Lahore and Karachi before going to Dubai, where the passengers were released and the seven Sikh hijackers surrendered. Opposition figures have accused the Government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of negligence in airport security. She said today that opposition leaders wanted to grab power by any means. More than a million people demonstrated Saturday against the ouster of the opposition Chief Minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh. Tens of thousands were arrested and about 100 injured.
The panel investigating the assassination of Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. will accuse the nation’s top military officer of ordering the killing, a California newspaper said. But a lawyer for the panel said the story is based on “guessing.” The commission’s report, to be released in the next two weeks, will charge that General Fabian Ver, chief of staff, was behind the conspiracy, according to a panel member quoted by the San Jose Mercury-News in a copyrighted story.
Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte announced the formation of a commission to investigate atrocities, including the murder of the country’s Roman Catholic archbishop four years ago. Duarte said the five-man panel, on which he will sit, will look into the slaying of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero by unknown gunmen in March, 1980, and the killings of two U.S. land reform advisers and an agrarian-reform leader, among other crimes.
An end to Nicaragua’s first strike since the 1979 revolution came as workers at the state-owned Victoria Brewery agreed to return to work after an appeal by the Labor Minister. But the employees, who are seeking wage increases of 50 to 100 percent, said they would work only until a mediation panel issues a recommendation for a settlement.
Church leaders called on the Liberian leader, General Samuel K. Doe, today to stop what they called arbitrary arrests and mysterious disappearances in an effort to end unrest in this West African nation. The appeal, issued by the Liberian Council of Churches and read today from pulpits throughout Liberia, came amid a political crisis arising from the arrest of four leading Liberians for unspecified security reasons. The statement asked General Doe, 34 years old, to lift a recent decree providing 10-year prison terms for people convicted of spreading rumors against authorities.
Uganda’s policies were defended by President Milton Obote without referring specifically to accusations that thousands of people have been killed in Uganda. “A lot is being said about Uganda abroad,” Mr. Obote said in a speech in a town 180 miles west of Kampala, the capital. “I am not worried at all.” He added, “Our policies are correct.” Mr. Obote at no time referred to the substance of the allegations except to note that his critics had charged that “people are being killed, that is their language.”
The President and First Lady host a reception and barbecue for women appointees in the administration in honor of Women’s Equality Day, 1984. The birthday of women’s suffrage in the United States was observed at the White House in the Republican and Democratic campaigns, and at many private as well as political gatherings. It was billed as Women’s Equality Day — the 64th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which gave women the vote — and it was a banner day for women in an election year in which they are expected to make up a majority of the voters. Juice Newton entertained the White House guests.
“Very, very dangerous” policies on nuclear weapons have been adopted by President Reagan, Walter F. Mondale said in a radio speech from Minneapolis. He accused the President of escalating the arms race because he did not understand the value of negotiation. Speaking to reporters at a radio station here, the Democratic Presidential candidate said Mr. Reagan had escalated the arms race because he did not understand the value of negotiation. For 25 years, Mr. Mondale continued, Mr. Reagan has opposed every arms control effort proposed by both political parties, including his own. “This guy has got a thing about arms control, a hang-up,” Mr. Mondale said of the President. “He thinks it’s weakness. He can’t understand that this is strength, and every one of these arms control agreements has been supported by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because they think we’re stronger with it, plus you’ve got a better chance of surviving as a civilization.”
Underground water is getting scarce in the Southeast. Despite the appearance of plenty, the region is facing depletion of the cheap, clean underground water that was once regarded as limitless. Southeastern states are studying ways to supplement supplies of water from the ground by making greater use of the surface water that now passes untouched through the region’s rivers and streams on the way to the sea.
Studies of such mass-murderers as James Huberty, who recently shot 21 people to death in California, are only beginning, according to criminologists, psychiatrists and law-enforcement officials. They say the mass killer cannot be predicted and it appears that American society is not very good at recognizing potential multiple murderers.
The FBI publicly disclosed Operation Safe Bet for the first time, announcing in Chicago the arrest of four Colombian nationals on drug conspiracy charges in connection with the “sting.” A fifth person was being sought and more arrests are expected. An FBI agent said the undercover investigation, using a credit card firm as a front, “was designed to probe organized crime’s involvement in illegal activities surrounding the prostitution industry in the suburban Chicago area.” Operation Safe Bet also extended to crimes involving extortion, corruption of public officials and drug distribution.
A body found in a ditch six days ago was identified Saturday as that of a 22-year-old man kidnapped for ransom by two men and a woman who said they were members of a terrorist group. The victim was Mario Portela, who was kidnapped on August 7 in front of the trailer in Miami where he and his father sold condominiums, according to Joseph Corless of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Arrest warrants were issued for Julia Nina and Julio Edward DePariasa, a brother and sister who were identified only as Colombian nationals. Mr. Portela was forced at gunpoint into a car that drove away at high speed. A ransom was negotiated with his father, Mr. Corless said, but the money was not picked up. On August 20 children playing in a ditch in Dania, 40 miles north of the kidnapping scene, found the body. Tape was wrapped around the victim’s head, Mr. Corless said, and asphyxiation appeared to be the cause of death.
Motorists are illegally pumping leaded gas into cars and disconnecting emissions controls at “disturbingly high rates,” putting as much as 8,000 extra tons of lead into the air each year, the Environmental Protection Agency reported. Surveying 1,800 cars in six states, the EPA found more than one-fourth of 1975 to 1983 model automobiles “had at least one emission control device tampered with.” The agency’s 1983 Motor Vehicle Tampering Survey also found that 14% of the vehicles “were subject to fuel-switching” — use of leaded gas in cars requiring more costly unleaded fuel. The government estimates that 60,000 tons of lead get into U.S. air each year — most of it from leaded gasoline in motor vehicles.
A mother and her three small children were among seven persons killed in Washington, D.C., when a car careened onto a sidewalk near a crowded bus stop, hurtling some victims into the air and pinning others against a brick wall. Three others, including the driver of the car, were hospitalized after the Saturday night crash. The driver of the car, Robert Williams, 41, was charged with vehicular homicide, driving while intoxicated, and reckless driving. He was listed in fair condition at a hospital. Witnesses said the car was traveling 75 to 85 miles an hour on the wrong side of the street when it struck the median strip and was thrown onto the sidewalk.
Crews worked today to repair a downtown street that was damaged when a gasoline tank truck exploded, igniting utility poles, melting metal canoes at a store and forcing the evacuation of 1,500 people, the authorities said. Residents of nearby homes and apartments and guests at a hotel were forced to leave the area for three hours Saturday because officials feared that gasoline pouring into sewers might explode, said Battalion Chief K. L. Flowe of the Fire Department. The explosion was touched off when a suspect chased by police drove his car into the tanker at about 4:30 AM, said a police spokesman, Bob Moss. The driver of the car, Robin Eugene Land of Charlotte, was in good condition, the officials said. The truck driver was not injured.
A 73-year-old woman who angered her neighbors for a year and a half by continuously watering her lawns has stopped the round-the-clock sprinkling. Neighbors said today that Alice Richie, a retired schoolteacher who was found in contempt of court August 10 for refusing to stop the watering, had turned off the sprinkler. The sprinkling, which began early last year, had damaged nearby property because of the mud, algae formation and mildew that resulted. Judge David Dolgin of Contra Costa County Superior Court has ordered a psychological examination of the woman, who has refused to explain why she kept the water on.
New evidence strongly indicates that some of the mysterious, starlike objects called quasars are located near the very edge of time and space, serving as distant beacons marking the beginnings of the universe, astronomers announced. Scientists have been divided about the nature of quasars since they were discovered in 1963. Some quasars — the name is short for quasi-stellar objects — appear to have velocities approaching 90% of the speed of light and to generate more energy than hundreds of galaxies combined. The latest findings were published in the Astronomical Journal.
New York hospital and nursing home administrators, confident that 52,000 workers will ratify a tentative contract agreement after a bitter 44-day walkout, prepared to return patient care to normal after the longest health-care strike in city history. A ratification vote on a contract, calling for 5% wage hikes in each year of a two-year contract, was set for this evening at Madison Square Garden.
Hundreds of thousands of Illinois lottery players waited to learn if a lucky ticket will produce an instant millionaire in a drawing for the $19-million Lotto jackpot. The numbers 02-23-28-31-38-41 were drawn and now computers will scan ticket sales records today to determine how many — if any — winning tickets were sold. There were no winners in the past two drawings and as “Lotto fever” spread across the state, gamblers swamped ticket vendors.
Flames driven by high winds swept across 12,000 acres of range and timberland near Roundup, Montana, threatening several ranch houses and other buildings, a state official said. The fire, started by lightning, was two miles wide and advancing at the rate of a mile in 45 minutes as it was driven by steady winds gusting up to 40 m.p.h., the official said.
Mary McCarthy, the writer, received the Edward MacDowell Medal at the MacDowell artists’ colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Other recipients of the MacDowell award, established in 1960 in memory of the American composer, have been Aaron Copland, Georgia O’Keeffe and Thornton Wilder.
An autopsy on Truman Capote did not determine the cause of his death in Los Angeles Saturday, the local coroner’s office said. It may take as long as two weeks to find the cause of the novelist’s death.
Tatyana Kazankina of USSR sets 3k woman record (8:22.62) in Leningrad.
Zdena Silvaha (Cz) throws discus 74.55 m (women’s world record).
In Anaheim, the Detroit Tigers use the long ball to beat the California Angels, 12–6. Kirk Gibson has two homers and 4 runs scored, Marty Castillo, hits a homer and scores three times, and Chet Lemon belts his first grand slam ever. Tommy John goes just 2⅔ innings in losing to Milt Wilcox (15–7). Lemon, who hit the first grand slam of his career, later had to be carried from the field by teammates when he misjudged Fred Lynn’s fly ball in the sixth inning. The Tiger center fielder lost the ball in the sun and was struck on his right temple. He was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange for precautionary X-rays. The Angels were unable to take advantage of first-place Minnesota’s 2-1 loss to Toronto and remained five games behind the American League West leaders. Detroit’s 86th victory enabled the Tigers to remain 12 games ahead of the Blue Jays in the East.
The Baltimore Orioles pounded the reeling Oakland A’s, 13–6. Eddie Murray drove in four runs and Rich Dauer had four hits for the Orioles as they handed the A’s their eighth straight loss. The Orioles pounded out 19 hits off three Oakland pitchers in winning for the eighth time in nine games. Murray, Cal Ripken and John Shelby each added three hits. Tom Underwood (1–0) got the victory in relief of Dennis Martinez, and Sammy Stewart picked up his 10th save. Baltimore got five hits in the third, scoring four runs off the A’s starter, Curt Young (6–3).
The Milwaukee Brewers downed the Texas Rangers, 6–3. The Brewers’ Bill Schroeder hit his 12th homer of the season and his fifth in the last five games. Schroeder’s homer gave the Brewers a 3–1 lead in the fifth inning. Moose Haas (7–10) went seven and two- thirds innings for the victory. Mike Mason (8–11) worked six innings and took the loss.
Roger Clemens pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10 as the Red Sox completed a three- game sweep of Cleveland, winning 4–2. Jim Rice drove in the tie-breaking run on a fourth-inning single for his 100th RBI. Clemens (9–4), a rookie, earned his sixth victory in his last seven starts. The right-hander, who struck out 15 in an 11–1 victory over Kansas City last Tuesday, allowed two runs in the first inning on two errors, a stolen base, a walk, a wild pitch and George Vukovich’s single to right.
Kansas City’s Frank White leads off the bottom of the 16th inning with a single, but one out later gets picked off second base. Greg Pryor, playing for an injured George Brett, then smacks a game-ending home run as the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 6–5. Dan Quisenbeey had an uncharacteristic blown save in the top of the eighth to give Chicago a one-run lead, but a two-out wild pitch by Richard Dotson in the bottom of the inning tied it up and sent it deep into extra innings.
Dave Stieb pitched a four-hitter and Rance Mulliniks went 3 for 3 and scored both Toronto runs as the Blue Jays defeated the Minnesota Twins today, 2–1. Stieb walked one and struck out 11, his career high for a nine-inning game. It was also Stieb’s first victory against Ken Schrom, who defeated him all three times they met last season. With the score tied at 1–1 going to the seventh, Mulliniks led off with a double against Schrom (4–7) and scored on Ernie Whitt’s single. Mulliniks put the Blue Jays ahead by 1–0 in the second inning with his second home run of the season, but the Twins tied it in their half when Tom Brunansky hit his 27th homer. Stieb struck out the side in the eighth inning, part of a string of seven out of eight batters he fanned. He improved his record to 13–5 with his eighth complete game of the season.
The New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners this afternoon, though compared with Saturday night’s rout, today’s 7–2 victory was merely a spanking. Phil Niekro (16–7) held the Mariners to just six hits in eight innings as the Yankees kept up their torrid second-half pace. The Yankees have won 33 of their 47 games since the All-Star Game break. Salome Barojas (9–5) took the loss for Seattle. The Yankees, 14–1 winners Saturday night when they belted Mariner pitching for 23 hits, collected only 8 this afternoon, but made each one count. But at the outset, it looked as if they might have exhausted their supply the night before as they managed only two hits against Barojas in the first four innings. One of them, however, was a line-drive homer to left by Dave Winfield.
Leon Durham broke out of a 1-for-21 slump by blasting two home runs and driving in four runs while Steve Trout scattered eight hits today, giving the Chicago Cubs a 5–0 triumph over the Atlanta Braves. Durham, whose wife is two weeks overdue with the couple’s first child, had been hitless in 12 times at bat when he hit a homer to center field in the fourth to make it 1–0. In the sixth, Ryne Sandberg and Gary Matthews both singled with one out and Durham followed by belting his 19th home run of the season. One out after Durham’s homer, Ron Cey cracked his 22nd homer, knocking out Pascual Perez (11–6). Trout (12–5) reached his career high in victories. He struck out six. In the game, Atlanta’s Ken Oberkfell, broke his left thumb and the team said that he will be out for the rest of the season.
At Shea, the New York Mets are outhit, 11 to 9, but they beat the San Francisco Giants, 11–6. Kelvin Chapman has a grand slam for New York and Keith Hernandez has a homer and 4 RBI. Hernandez hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning in a situation in which the Mets never expected him to get a pitch to hit anywhere, let alone over the fence. No one was on first base and a struggling Darryl Strawberry was the next batter, yet the Giants surprised the Mets by letting Hernandez hit. The homer, against Mike Krukow, catapulted the Mets into a 6–5 lead. Chapman, who wasn’t even supposed to be in the starting lineup, provided the other surprise in the sixth inning by hitting the first grand slam of his career and giving the Mets an 11–5 lead that Brent Gaff made insurmountable with his five fine innings of relief pitching.
The Pittsburgh Pirates hammered the Cincinnati Reds, 7–1. Brian Harper drove in three runs with a home run and a single to back Rick Rhoden’s eight-hit pitching for Pittsburgh. Rhoden (11–9) struck out three and walked one. He also singled as part of an 11-hit Pirate effort to run his personal hitting streak to eight games. With the score tied at 1–1, Jim Morrison singled with one out in the Pirates’ third off Joe Price (6–10), and scored on Tony Pena’s single. Pena continued to third when the right fielder Dave Parker threw wildly.
The St. Louis Cardinals edged the Houston Astros, 3–2. Ozzie Smith drove in two runs, David Green had three hits and Bruce Sutter picked up his major league-leading 35th save as the Cardinals won. Sutter finished up for the rookie Kurt Kepshire (4–3). Smith knocked in one run in the fourth and the third run in the sixth, when he knocked in Green, who had an infield single, stole second and went to third when the catcher Mark Bailey’s throw went into center field.
The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10–8. Mike Schmidt and Von Hayes cracked two- run singles and Luis Aguayo delivered a two-run double during a six- run rally in the eighth inning for Philadelphia in an error-filled game. Trailing by 8–4 going into the bottom of the eighth, Len Matuszek and Ozzie Virgil drew walks from the reliever Pat Zachry. Burt Hooton (1–4) relieved Zachry and gave up a single to Ivan De Jesus, loading the bases. Schmidt singled home two runs, with De Jesus stopping at second. Juan Samuel then grounded to short, but the second baseman Steve Sax dropped the ball on an attempted force play, reloading the bases. It was the Dodgers’ fifth error of the game. Jerry Reuss replaced Hooton, and when Aguayo squared to bunt, the Dodgers shifted their infield and Aguayo slapped the ball through the left side for his double, tying the score at 8–8. Hayes then singled to center, driving in Samuel and Aguayo.
Bruce Bochy’s one-run home run in the eighth gave San Diego a 2–1 victory today over the Montreal Expos. Bochy, substituting at catcher for Terry Kennedy, who was being rested, hit his second homer of the season on a 1-and-1 pitch from the Montreal starter, Dan Schatzeder (6–5). Schatzeder went seven and one-third innings, giving up two runs, five hits and one walk and striking out two. Eric Show (14–7) of San Diego went the distance, giving up six hits, one run and four walks.
Born:
Kyle Kendrick, MLB pitcher (Philadelphia Philllies, Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox), in Houston, Texas.
Alex Foster, NHL centre (Toronto Maple Leafs), in Canton, Michigan.
Died:
Julie Stevens, 67, American actress (Lorelei-“Big Town”), of cancer.
History Diaries 