A Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman told a press briefing that President Konstantin U. Chernenko is carrying out his official duties, but he avoided saying whether the Soviet leader — who has not been seen for seven weeks — has returned to the Kremlin. Vladimir Lomeiko was asked if the interview with Chernenko, 73, published in the newspaper Pravda last weekend, means he is back at work. He replied only: “The fact that you read Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko’s answers (means he is) carrying out his duties.” Western diplomats said Lomeiko’s reply is likely to increase doubts about Chernenko’s health.
Gales battered the partly submerged wreck of the freighter Mont Louis off the Belgian coast today, hampering the salvage of its radioactive cargo, Belgian officials said. Divers had hoped to start lifting the first of 30 barrels of highly toxic uranium hexafluoride from the ship, which sank after collision with a car ferry eight days ago. Winds of 50 miles an hour and a sea swell of up to 16 feet this morning prevented work, the officials said.
Chancellor Fred Sinowatz said today that he had replaced four Cabinet members after a day of talks with leaders of the Austrian Socialist Party. Affected are Foreign Minister Erwin Lanc, who will be replaced by Vienna’s Mayor, Leopold Gratz; Finance Minister Herbert Salcher, who will be replaced by Franz Vranitzky, director general of Länderbank, the country’s second largest commercial bank; Transport Minister Karl Lausecker, who will be replaced by State Secretary Ferdinand Lacina, and Family Minister Elfriede Karl, who will be replaced by Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Deputy Mayor of Vienna. Mr. Sinowatz praised the departing Cabinet members and denied reports that the shuffle was brought about by political infighting.
Shimon Peres, leader of Israel’s Labor alignment, said new elections may be needed to solve Israel’s six-week political deadlock over efforts to form a unity government with the right-wing Likud bloc. Peres, whose group won the most votes in the July elections but still lacks a parliamentary majority, told Army radio that he will approach the leaders of small religious parties to see if they will consider joining a narrow Labor-led coalition. Peres said he will tell the party leaders, “If you think the country can stand new elections, fair enough.”
Lebanese President Amin Gemayel conferred with Syrian leaders in Damascus in an apparent effort to overcome serious hitches that threaten to unravel Lebanon’s fragile peace agreement. Mr. Gemayel was accompanied by Simon Kassis, Director of Army Intelligence, and his national security adviser, Michel Samaha, they said. Gemayel’s visit was not officially announced but was confirmed in Beirut and Damascus. The haste of the visit, during which Gemayel met for hours with Syria’s President Hafez Assad, and the secrecy surrounding it underlined the deterioration of security in Beirut.
The talks came after a meeting in Damascus late last night between Walid Jumblat, the leader of the Druze in Lebanon, and the Syrian Vice President, Abdel-Halim Khaddam. The Druse radio station said the two had discussed security and political issues but did not elaborate. Mr. Jumblat returned to Beirut early today. The Gemayel-Assad meeting came amid frustration among Muslim Cabinet ministers in Beirut over what they have called the Government’s failure to press on with national reconciliation by starting work on changes to give Muslims a greater share of power.
A possible constitutional crisis was put off today when the Thai legislature voted to postpone a decision on whether active military officers should be allowed to hold Government posts. The proposal to change the Constitution, which at present requires military officers to retire or resign commissions before joining governing cabinets, had been introduced by army officers loyal to their Supreme Commander, General Arthit Kamlang-ek. General Arthit is widely assumed to be in line for the Prime Minister’s job. What has caused concern among civilian politicians here is that the Supreme Commander might be persuaded by army officers to make an earlier-than-expected bid for the country’s highest political office during a period in which the present Prime Minister, Prem Tinsulanonda, is ill. General Prem, a retired officer, is scheduled to go to the United States for a medical checkup on September 14. He has been out of public life for two weeks, reportedly suffering from early symptoms of heart disease.
A Chinese oil engineer who was mysteriously returned to China after seeking asylum in New York City has been reunited with his family and reassigned to his job, Peking said. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Zhang Zhenggao returned of his own accord and that the report that he was kidnaped and executed was false. Zhang asked for asylum in April after fleeing the Chinese Consulate.
At least 300 and possibly as many as 1,000 people were killed when Typhoon Ike whipped through the southern Philippines over the weekend, officials reported. The typhoon, with peak winds of 175 m.p.h., hit Surigao del Norte province on Mindanao Island on Saturday and in two hours had reduced the town of Surigao to ruins, according to officials of the town of 125,000. Officials in the provincial capital, 450 miles southeast of Manila, said they feared the death toll from the storm, which came ashore Sunday, might go as high as 1,000. Fifty-nine deaths were reported on Negros Island, near Cebu. After two days of devastation, the storm, the strongest to hit the Philippines in 14 years, headed out to the South China Sea.
With more than 80% of Canada’s eligible voters expected to vote today, every poll and nearly all the country’s experts forecast that the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Brian Mulroney, will win a majority of the 282 seats in Parliament. The leader of the party that wins the most seats becomes prime minister. The Liberals have held power for 20 of the last 21 years.
A bomb exploded in a locker in Montreal’s main railroad station, killing three people and wounding at least 29, police reported. The blast came a week before Pope John Paul II’s scheduled arrival in Montreal. Officials said a note warning of a bomb and threatening the Vatican had been received by railway officials and was turned over to police. Montreal police said. The pontiff is due to arrive in Quebec City on Sunday to start an 11-day Canadian visit.
Radical versions of the theology of liberation were assailed in a major 36-page document released by the Vatican. The doctrine of liberation theology, which involves the use of Marxist analysis, has been used to justify the activism of Roman Catholic priests and nuns in Latin America for 15 years.
Two Americans killed when Nicaraguan forces shot down a rebel helicopter on Saturday were mercenaries apparently recruited by rebel sympathizers in the United States to help compensate for diminished American aid, according to Reagan Administration officials. The two men have not been identified.
The Nigerian High Commission here said today that the British press had ‘fabricated’ a news item about a crate to embarrass Nigeria. In a statement, the High Commission referred to a report in The Times of London on Saturday that Bernard Banfa, managing director of Nigeria Airways, was thought to have left London in a crate marked as diplomatic baggage. The Times said Mr. Banfa was wanted for questioning about the attempted kidnapping of a former Nigerian Transport Minister, Umaru Dikko, who was found July 5 drugged in a crate about to be loaded on a Nigerian plane. Mr. Banfa’s wife said Saturday in Lagos that her husband was in Nigeria, but she would not comment further.
At least 14 people died today in riots and police counterattacks in five black townships around Johannesburg. Officials said the violence was the most serious reported since unrest around Cape Town in 1980. The police used tear gas, rifles and shotguns against rioters armed with rocks and gasoline bombs. In Johannesburg, a bomb rocked a Government building in the central section of the city, wounding four people. A police spokesman said 10 of the dead had been killed in “police countermeasures” while the four others had been burned to death in fires started by rioters. All of the victims were black. Witnesses said the hospital at a township called Sebokeng had been forced to divert wounded to other places after 200 people had been admitted. The violence coincided with the formal inauguration of South Africa’s new Constitution, a document depicted by the authorities as a major liberalization of racial relations.
The general election campaign was opened by Walter F. Mondale and Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro with an early morning Labor Day parade past few spectators on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan followed by an ebullient midday rally in the north central Wisconsin town of Merrill and an enthusiastic welcome in Long Beach, Calif. Mr. Mondale said that President Reagan was “the first President since Hoover not to see his Soviet counterpart,” that Mr. Reagan was accelerating the arms race and that he was failing “to level” about the need to raise taxes to reduce Federal budget deficits.
President Reagan addresses 10,000 supporters from throughout Santa Clara County at a Reagan-Bush ’84 rally. President Reagan, on a crest of personal confidence and organizational strength, urged his re-election “to make America great again and let the eagle soar.” Speaking in Cupertino, California, Mr. Reagan scornfully mocked his Democratic opponents as pessimists who see life “darkly through the prism of the past.”
The platforms of the Democrats and the Republicans embody two fundamentally different visions of the Federal Government’s proper role in guiding the economy, fighting poverty, protecting civil rights, controlling nuclear weapons and maintaining peace around the world.
Space agency officials, vexed by a large chunk of ice that clung tenaciously to a water vent on the side of the shuttle Discovery, were weighing several options on how to remove it, including using the ship’s robot arm to knock it free.
The winner of $40 million in the Illinois State Lottery is Michael E. Wittkowski, a 28-year-old printer. For starters, he plans to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend and tickets to Cubs’ games.
Nearly 5,000 public school teachers spent Labor Day on strike in seven states, with some of them scheduled to vote on proposed new contracts and more strikes predicted elsewhere as the school year gets under way in earnest. A total of 83,331 students are enrolled in the districts where 4,649 teachers are on strike. The state hardest hit was Illinois, where 3,274 teachers are on strike affecting about 57,000 students. In Chicago, the Chicago Teachers’ Union House of Delegates voted to continue working under their recently expired contract until November 1 while mediation continues.
The nation’s medium-sized farms, the heart of American agriculture, are continuing to disappear, but the smallest ones are showing skyrocketing growth, the Census Bureau reported. Farms of 50 acres or less grew 17% over four years through 1982, the bureau said. The big farms, which often absorb the medium-sized farms, stayed steady. The strong growth of small farms kept the attrition in the number of farms down to less than 1% in the four-year period, one of the smallest declines in recent decades. By 1982, there were 2.241 million farms compared to 2.257 million in 1978.
Bill Wilkinson, imperial wizard of the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, has resigned. Wilkinson, of Denham Springs, Louisiana, leader of the segregationist group since 1976, announced his resignation during a rally and cross-burning in the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn. He said he has no immediate future plans. Jim Blair, grand dragon — or state chairman — for Alabama, assumed the group’s top post and said he will attempt to move the organization “into the mainstream flow of politics.” Blair said one of his goals was to have up to 75% of membership made up of secret klansmen, not wearing robes or publicly affiliating themselves with the group.
Firefighters have contained most of a weeklong series of fires that charred 230,000 acres of range and timber land in Montana, but a number of spots were still burning in the 3,500-acre Napi fire east of Glacier National Park, said Bill Bishop, fire information officer. A crew of about 1,000 men was still on the fire lines, Bishop said, with full containment of the blaze expected by Wednesday.
The impact of day care on children’s development is of increasing concern to social scientists. They are also questioning the effects of the phenomenon in a society in which rising numbers of adults will have been raised in day-care settings.
New examinations of ancient bones and stones have forced many scientists to abandon a cornerstone theory about the social behavior of man’s ancient ancestors. The analyses suggest that the hunter-gatherer life style might have developed much later in human history than previously thought and that the social patterns associated with that way of life might be less central to “humanness” than is often asserted.
Anti-Semitism varies and each variation of it gives vent to a particular psychological need for the differing kinds of anti-Semites, according to new insights arising from detailed case studies of patients in psychotherapy. Anti-Semitism shares much with other sorts of prejudice, but there are special psychological, social, historical and religious factors that distinguish it.
A mile-wide cloud of radioactive tritium oxide gas released by an accident at the Energy Department’s top-secret Savannah River Plant dissipated harmlessly into the atmosphere, plant officials said in nearby Aiken, S.C. The tritium oxide gas-a key ingredient of hydrogen bombs-escaped Sunday night. Spokesman Cliff Webb said only trace amounts of radiation reached the ground. Plant officials said the radiation dose was estimated at the equivalent of about one-third the dose in a chest X-ray.
The endangered bald eagle population in the continental United States is making an encouraging comeback after years of decline, the National Wildlife Federation reported in its annual bald eagle survey. The federation counted 11,819 eagles in 42 of the lower 48 states, up from 10,903 in those states last year. The bird is officially endangered in 43 states and is listed as a threatened species in five others. It is plentiful only in Alaska.
A costly therapy is attracting hundreds of people with a broad range of ailments, including problems they say were caused by Agent Orange. A medical clinic in Gladstone, Missouri, offers chelation therapy, in which a mild acid sometimes used as a food preservative is injected into the patient’s bloodstream. Proponents view the therapy as a miracle cure while detractors contend it can be extremely dangerous and, in some cases, lethal.
Forecasters kept a close watch on tropical depression Arthur, stabilized in the Atlantic northeast of Puerto Rico, while a sister storm, Bertha, appeared to weaken farther east. At the same time, a tropical wave showed increasing shower and thunderstorm activity in the Atlantic about 500 miles east of the Windward Islands. A wave is a reversal of normal wind flow that can spawn a tropical depression.
Jerry Lewis’ 19th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $32,074,566.
Joe Cowley, the other pitcher that the pitching-poor Atlanta Braves let get away, gave the New York Yankees another good reason yesterday to make sure that he doesn’t get away from them. Cowley, who labored in the Braves’ minor league system for eight seasons before the Yankees signed him as a free agent last winter, allowed just three hits in eight innings as the Yankees trimmed the Toronto Blue Jays, 2–0. Luis Leal shut out the Yankees for six innings, but Bobby Meacham drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Dave Winfield hit a home run in the eighth. The loss, their fifth straight to the Yankees dating to early June and only their third shutout all season, was troubling for the Blue Jays, because they still have hopes of catching the Detroit Tigers in the American League East. But every time the Blue Jays begin creeping up on the Tigers — they entered the game eight and a half games behind — they seem to plunge into a losing streak.
Mike Young gives the Orioles the lead with an 8th-inning grand slam as Baltimore upends the Detroit Tigers, 7–4. Young’s grand slam broke up a 3–3 tie. It was the first grand slam for the rookie, but the Orioles’ sixth of the season and second in three games. Ken Singleton started the eighth with a walk off Jack Morris (17–10), who gave the pinch-hitter Joe Nolan a one-out intentional walk and walked Al Bumbry to load the bases with two outs. Aurelio Lopez came on in relief, and Young jumped on a 1–0 pitch and hit it off the facing of the second deck for his 13th home run of the season. Sammy Stewart (7-2), who took over for Storm Davis to start the seventh, was the winner.
The Boston Red Sox downed the Milwaukee Brewers, 8–5. Oil Can Boyd went six innings, striking out seven, and got his 10th win. Jim Rice (24) and Tony Armas (36) hit home runs for the Red Sox. Rice’s shot started a four-run rally that gave Boyd the win. It was Rice’s 300th career homer.
The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 4–1. John Butcher allowed four hits over seven and two-thirds innings and Ron Washington drove in two unearned runs as the Twins stretched their lead over Kansas City to two games in the American League West. Butcher (11–8) helped the Twins snap a five-game losing streak.
Mike Heath drove in two runs and Chris Codiroli and Chuck Rainey combined on a five-hitter for Oakland as the A’s upended the Chicago White Sox, 8–2. With the score 2–2 in the fifth inning, Rickey Henderson drew a leadoff walk off Floyd Bannister (12–9). Carney Lansford followed with a double. After Dwayne Murphy struck out, Dave Kingman was intentionally walked to load the bases. Heath grounded out to third, scoring Henderson. Dan Meyer’s double scored Lansford and Kingman to make it 5–2. Bannister was removed from the game.
The Cleveland Indians edged the California Angels, 6–5. Mel Hall and Joe Carter hit home runs, and Mike Hargrove hit a two-run double to back Steve Comer (4–8), who yielded seven hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings. He left the game in the eighth after the pinch-hitter Daryl Sconiers walked and Juan Beniquez singled. Ernie Camacho walked the next three batters, allowing two runs.
The Seattle Mariners defeated the Texas Rangers, 7–3. Mark Langston picked up his 14th victory of the season, working seven-and-one-thirds and fanning seven.Frank Tanana took the loss for the Rangers, dropping his record to 14–13. The Mariners got four unearned runs on two walks and three errors in the fourth inning to break the game open.
In the Chicago Cubs’ 4–3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, Rick Sutcliffe strikes out 15 batters, tying a franchise record shared by Dick Drott (1957) and Burt Hooton (1971). The trio’s individual accomplishment will remain the club standard for a nine-inning game until Kerry Wood fans 20 Astros in 1998. Ryne Sandberg scored the winning run in the 12th inning today when the shortstop Kiko Garcia booted Gary Matthews’s two-out grounder to give the Chicago Cubs the victory. Richie Hebner, a pinch-hitter, opened the inning by reaching first base when his groundball was misplayed by the second baseman Juan Samuel. Bob Dernier sacrificed Hebner to second. When Sandberg hit a bouncer to Garcia, Hebner was thrown out at third. Then Sandberg stole second and scored on Garcia’s error. George Frazier (4–2), who pitched three innings, earned the victory and Lee Smith pitched the 12th to earn his 29th save.
Bruce Sutter breaks the National League record for saves in a season with his 38th in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 7–3 win over the New York Mets. The Mets fell tonight as far from first as they have been this season. They lost to the Cardinals, and with the Cubs having defeated the Phillies earlier in the day, the Mets slipped six games behind Chicago in this race between the improbable contenders of the National League East. “We can’t get lower than this,” said Keith Hernandez. “It doesn’t mean if we go seven, we’re out of it, because anything can happen, but right now, six is a big number.”
Larry McWilliams scattered three singles through eight innings and Jason Thompson hit a bases-empty homer, as the Pittsburgh Pirates shut out the Montreal Expos, 3–0. McWilliams (9–9), who lowered his league-leading earned-run average to 2.41, walked two without a strikeout and did not allow a runner past second base. Kent Tekulve pitched the ninth, allowing only a single to Gary Carter in earning his 11th save. The Pirates moved ahead, 1–0, in the third inning after a lead-off double by Ron Wotus. McWilliams moved him to third base with a sacrifice bunt and Marvell Wynne’s sacrifice fly off the starter Steve Rogers (5–13) scored Wotus.
The San Diego Padres nipped the Los Angeles Dodgers 4–3. Kevin McReynolds and Terry Kennedy hit home runs and three pitchers combined on a six-hitter for as San Diego. snapped a four-game losing streak. Mark Thurmond (12–7) gave up six hits in six and two-third innings.
The Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros, 6–4. Dale Murphy hit his 29th homer of the year in the fifth inning to break a 4–4 tie and provide Craig McMurtry with his ninth victory. McMurtry started because scheduled starter Pascual Perez showed up to the ballpark an hour late, and Manager Joe Torre benched him.
The San Francisco Giants edged the Cincinnati Reds, 4–3. The Giants scored with one out in the bottom of the ninth off John Franco, who faced just one batter, and walked in pinch-hitter Dusty Baker with the winning run. Greg Minton (3–0) got the win.
NFL Monday Night Football:
Cleveland Browns 0, Seattle Seahawks 33
Dallas Cowboys 20, Los Angeles Rams 13
Dave Krieg passed for three touchdowns and Norm Johnson made four field goals as Seattle won its first regular-season opener ever in nine tries, with the Seahawks blowing out the Cleveland Browns, 33–0. But the Seahawks lost their all-pro running back, Curt Warner, with a knee injury that will require arthroscopic surgery. In the second quarter, while on a sweep for no gain, Warner planted his right leg on the artificial turf and went down. The arthroscopic surgery will be performed Tuesday morning here by the club’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Pierce Scranton, the team spokesman Gary Wright said.
The Dallas Cowboys made a successful 1984 debut in Anaheim tonight. The revamped and revised Cowboys overcame a 13-7 halftime deficit and defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 20-13. For Tom Landry, the decision was his 235th career victory, leaving him alone as second winningest coach in National Football League history behind George Halas. Landry had been tied at 234 with Curly Lambeau. Perhaps more gratifying for Landry, who will turn 60 on September 11, was the performance of his offense, particularly of Gary Hogeboom, whom he tabbed to replace Danny White this season as the starting quarterback. After a shaky opening, Hogeboom caught fire and shredded the Rams’ secondary. The 24-year-old from Central Michigan scrambled, hit secondary receivers and kept his poise in the face of the Rams’ fierce pass rush. He completed 33 of 47 passes for 343 yards. His 33 completions broke a team record held by White. Tony Dorsett of Dallas rushed for 81 yards on 25 carries. He also caught a career-high 10 passes for 66 yards. The Dallas defense, particularly in the second half, was devastating, forcing five interceptions and holding the Rams to 204 yards in total offense.
Born:
Mason Crosby, NFL kicker (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 45-Packers, 2010; Green Bay Packers, New York Giants), in Lubbock, Texas.
Garrett Hedlund, American actor (“Tron: Legacy”), in Roseau, Minnesota.
Died:
Arthur Schwartz, 83, American composer (“Girl from Paris”; “Excuse My Dust”).
History Diaries 