The Japanese Government warned today that an “unrelenting military buildup” by the Soviet Union had increased the “latent threat” both to Japan and to the rest of Asia. Despite the perceived threat, however, Japanese officials seemed more optimistic than they have been in recent years about the West’s commitment to East Asia and its ability to resist aggression. The Japanese report, an annual evaluation of security problems prepared by the Defense Agency, cited the United States deployment of new bombers and Tomahawk nuclear cruise missiles in the Pacific as signs of an effort to “strengthen the credibility of deterrence.” The Japanese praise for the United States was consistent with moves on several fronts this year to align the country as closely as possible with the Reagan Administration. On trade and military issues — normally areas of steady friction — the two Governments have conspicuously avoided criticism this year and, in fact, have tried to bolster each other as much as possible. One compelling reason appeared to be a joint desire to keep things quiet while President Reagan seeks re-election and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone tries to retain his leadership of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. The party will choose a new leader on November 21, with Mr. Nakasone strongly favored to win.
If present Japanese relations with Washington are sound, those with the Soviet Union remain severely strained, resisting recurring attempts to improve them with low-level talks. The Defense Agency report today was the latest round in what has been a recent exchange of denunciations. The Soviet leader, Konstantin U. Chernenko, was quoted in May as warning of “militarism reviving in Japan” under Mr. Nakasone. In July, Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko used a farewell meeting with the Japanese Ambassador to Moscow to denounce “negative trends” in Japan’s military policies. According to the Soviet press agency Tass, Mr. Gromyko complained that the Government in Tokyo was “pliable to outside pressure” — meaning, presumably, from the United States. Soviet-Japanese trade plummeted last year to a total of $4.3 billion, which was a drop of more than 23 percent from 1982 and represented the largest one-year decline since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations in 1956.
The biggest obstacle between them remains Japan’s demand for the return of four islands off its northern coast that had been seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. For a long time, the issue seemed primarily to have symbolic significance, especially for the Japanese. But a Soviet military buildup in recent years has given the islands strategic importance and created, in Japan’s view, a threat. The military report today said that on one of the islands, known as Etorofu by the Japanese, the Russians have increased the number of MIG-23 fighter planes from 20 to 40. The study said that perhaps as much as one-third of Soviet nuclear and conventional forces are now based in the Far East, including 135 SS-20 missiles and 80 Backfire bombers.
Salvagers retrieved nine more barrels of uranium hexafluoride from a sunken French freighter today, bringing the total to 10 — a third of the ship’s radioactive cargo. A 30-member salvaging team, taking advantage of a second straight day of mild weather in the North Sea after a week of storms, worked virtually around the clock starting Thursday morning to recover the containers. Ten of the sunken freighter’s 30 steel containers of uranium hexafluoride have been placed on a pontoon anchored off the wreck, said Myra Giltay of the Dutch salvaging company Smit Tak International. The first container of the radioactive material was recovered from the 4,210-ton freighter, the Mont Louis, on Thursday. Miss Giltay said the three containers retrieved during the night were sealed tight and in good condition. “There is no danger of an explosion,” she said, referring to the violent reaction that can occur when uranium hexafluoride comes into contact with water.
Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal warned today that relations with the United States could be harmed by a House of Representatives resolution approved this week calling for a day of remembrance for Armenian massacre victims. In a written statement, the Prime Minister also criticized a call by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that United States foreign policy take account of what the committee called the genocide of the Armenian people. “We submit to the world public opinion that these resolutions lend support to international terrorism,” he said. Armenian terrorists, who say they seek to avenge mass killings of Armenians early in this century, have attacked Turks and Turkish sites in many countries.
Negotiations aimed at ending the six-month-old national coal strike collapsed today, increasing the prospects that the stoppage will drag on into the winter. The state-owned National Coal Board said the National Union of Mineworkers had reneged on a tentative agreement on the wording of a formula covering mine closings, the key issue in the dispute. There was no immediate comment from Arthur Scargill, the miners’ leader. Mr. Scargill has insisted from the start that only mines that were either unsafe or worked out should be closed. The coal board, which wants to concentrate its resources on the most modern mines, has fought for the right to close those pits that could not be “beneficially” developed. An agreement appeared to be in sight with the substitution of the word “satisfactorily” or “acceptably” for “beneficially,” industry sources said, but the union then withdrew its approval.
Pope John Paul II tonight delivered a strong call for human rights in Poland and an indirect but firm endorsement of the Solidarity labor movement there. The Pope did not specifically refer to the movement, but made clear his support of it by repeatedly invoking the word “solidarity.” He spoke to a singing, chanting, cheering crowd of about 50,000 Canadians and Americans of Polish descent. His prepared address was on the theme of family, but he departed from it to talk of the political situation in Poland.
A Palestinian mayor was slain by gunmen in a passing car, an Israeli Army spokesman reported. He said the victim was Abdul Karim el-Mansur Mahmoud Kishta, the Mayor of Rafa in the Gaza Strip. The spokesman, Major Shraga Kurtz, said Kishta was taken to the Khan Yunis Hospital in Gaza, where he was prounounced dead. “He was walking in the city when shots were fired from a passing car, wounding him in the head,” Major Kurtz said in a telephone interview. He said that the assailants had not been identified and that a police investigation was under way, but he had no other details. Reuters reported that although Mayor Kishta had cooperated with the Israeli military authorities in the occupied territory, he had never been identified with any particular Arab nationalist movement, nor been the subject of criticism by Palestinian organizations.
Reagan Administration officials said today that the United States was ready to help Israel out of its precarious economic situation, but only if the Israelis first produced a drastic austerity program. In commenting on the newly announced Israeli coalition Government, the officials said they expected early visits here from many Israeli leaders, who can be counted on to seek an increase in American aid even above the record $2.6 billion in grants for the 1985 fiscal year. These visitors will include, they said, Shimon Peres, the Labor Party leader who will serve as Prime Minister for the first 25 months of the new Government’s term; Yitzhak Shamir, the Likud bloc leader who will be Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and then switch jobs with Mr. Peres after 25 months, and Yitzhak Modai of the Likud bloc, who will be the Finance Minister for the first 25 months.
Hojatolislam Ali Khamenei, the President of Iran, said today that his country had formed a committee to safeguard the rights of black Americans and called for formation of an international group to give it support. Speaking at a prayer meeting in Tehran, he said the Iranian committee was an official group that aimed to “bring the U.S. Government to trial,” the national Iranian press agency said. The agency, monitored in London, quoted President Khamenei as saying “a great majority of the blacks in the United States live in miserable conditions and do not have the least facilities for their daily living.”
The former Chief Minister of a southern Indian state, who was ousted by an appointee of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, called today for a statewide strike and transportion blockade after a vote on his political future was put off until next week. A statement issued here in the state capital by N. T. Rama Rao, the ousted leader of Andhra Pradesh, and a group of opposition politicians called for a strike Saturday and a blockade of road and rail transport on Monday. Delegates from 11 opposition parties met in New Delhi, meanwhile, and announced a “Save India Day” Wednesday with rallies throughout the country in support of Mr. Rama Rao’s comeback fight, the Press Trust of India, a news agency, reported.
The Reagan Administration has become concerned that a recent deterioration in relations between India and Pakistan could ultimately lead to renewed hostilities between the two countries, Administration officials said today. While the officials said the threat of a military confrontation did not appear imminent, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India has received recommendations from some senior advisers that India conduct an air raid against a Pakistani atomic installation to prevent the development of nuclear weapons by Pakistan. The officials said that Mrs. Gandhi had resisted the recommendation and that intelligence information reaching Washington indicated that such an air strike remained unlikely.
At least 20 people were killed in Jakarta in clashes between Indonesian troops and Muslim extremists Wednesday night, more than twice the official death toll, Western diplomats said today. The armed forces commander, General Benny Murdani, said Thursday that nine people were killed and 53 wounded when troops opened fire after 1,500 armed Muslims refused to disperse. One diplomat said, “You can treble the number given by the armed forces commander.” Another diplomat, who talked with victims’ families, said at least 20 people had died.
Salvadoran troops encircled and opened fire on hundreds of unarmed peasants and a small number of armed leftist rebels here during a recent antiguerrilla drive, according to people who said they were witnesses to the incident. The incident, which was said to have occurred on the banks of the Gualsinga River here, underscores what has been a major issue for the Government – the deaths of unarmed civilians during army operations. Army officials and American diplomats here have said that in the past most such casualties in the countryside have occurred when civilians have been caught in crossfires by guerrilla and goverment forces. All those who offered accounts of the incident said they were active supporters of the main rebel umbrella organization, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. They acknowledged that at least four armed guerrillas were with them, leading them on the scramble away from the army.
Last month the Catholic Church reported that the army had killed 68 peasants in an antiguerilla operation in July in the neighboring province of Cabanas. President Jose Napoleon Duarte, who has staked his presidency on ending abuses of human rights, ordered an army inquiry into the Cabanas incident. This week at a news conference, Mr. Duarte accused the guerrillas of using their unarmed collaborators as “shields” from army attacks. He called the tactic “horrible and inhuman.”
U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz certified today that the Salvadoran Government was eligible for continued United States military aid because it had made progress in curbing human rights abuses and in other areas. A State Department report accompanying Mr. Shultz’s memo of certification said the Government of El Salvador “has demonstrated continued progress on land reform, free elections, freedom of association, the rule of law and the development of an effective judicial system, the termination of death-squad activities and action against those responsible for such activities.” Last Nov. 30, President Reagan vetoed legislation making United States aid to El Salvador contingent on Administraton certification of progress on human rights by the Salvadoran Government. But the certification procedure became law this year and the report to Congress today was the Administration’s first such notice. The report covers the period between July 2 and August 31. On the death-squad question, the report said President Jose Napoleon Duarte “has moved against these criminal groups.”
P. W. Botha took office as South Africa’s first President under a new Constitution that gives the former Prime Minister potentially authoritarian powers. As he was inaugurated in Cape Town, the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters outside the city and in Soweto, the black township outside Johannesburg.
House and Senate conferees made substantial progress in negotiations on a comprehensive immigration bill today, but they could not agree on how to prevent job discrimination against United States citizens and aliens legally in the country. The conferees did agree to eliminate an important provision of the Senate- passed bill that would have established an overall limit on legal immigration and revised the system for distributing visas to aliens. Representative Peter W. Rodino Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, chairman of the conference committee, insisted that nothing should be done to restrict the present flow of legal immigrants or to reduce the availability of visas for aliens whose brothers and sisters were citizens of the United States. The Senate conferees acceded to his wishes on this issue.
The House Appropriations Committee, after narrowly defeating tougher restrictions on the MX missile, today approved the delay of any vote on the production of the new intercontinental weapons until spring. The delay, although originally opposed by the Republican-controlled Senate and the Reagan Administration, is now expected to be a key element in a final compromise on the 1985 military budget between House Democrats on one side and the White House and Senate Republicans on the other. Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., the House Speaker, and Howard H. Baker Jr., the Senate majority leader, worked on such a compromise this week and hoped to reach an agreement next week.
Industrial production rose only two tenths of 1 percent in August, the Federal Reserve Board announced. Economists said the report was the clearest evidence to date that the economy’s strongest performance in more than 40 years has abated and settled into a slowdown long sought by the Administration.
President Reagan participates in a ceremony to recognize Hispanic youth and educators for their outstanding achievements.
President Reagan learns that Mondale’s numbers are slipping in the polls.
A tentative accord on TV debates has been reached, according to Republican and Democratic Presidential campaign officials. They said preliminary plans called for two October debates between President Reagan and Walter F. Mondale and one debate between Vice President Bush and Geraldine A. Ferraro.
A shift in Mondale campaign tactics has been set, according to aides to the Democratic Presidential nominee. They said Mr. Mondale would discard handshaking and other visual events and concentrate instead on substantive forums.
Social Security’s disability program, which has been in turmoil for more than a year, would be overhauled under a bill approved by House and Senate conferees. The measure would liberalize the eligibility standards and make it more difficult for the Government to remove people from the rolls.
Leaders of the United Auto Workers Union decided late Friday to continue working without a contract with General Motors Corporation, after all- day negotiations failed to produce an agremeent on a new labor pact. But the national union authorized 13 local unions, with about 60,000 members, to strike over local issues, if they choose, and a picket line was formed outside a G.M. assembly plant in Linden, New Jersey.
A Federal jury returned a verdict today in favor of the physicist William Shockley in a libel suit against The Atlanta Constitution and a former employee, but it awarded the scientist only $1 in actual damages and no punitive damages. Mr. Shockley was seeking $1.25 million in damages against Cox Enterprises Inc., which owns the newspaper, and a reporter, Roger Witherspoon, alleging that a 1980 column libeled him by comparing his controversial proposal for voluntary sterilization of the “genetically disadvantaged” with Nazi genetic experiments in World War II. The scientist, who shared a Nobel Prize in physics in 1956 for his role in the invention of the transistor, said he would talk to his attorneys about whether to appeal the decision. “The verdict is inadequate,” Mr. Shockley said. “The Constitution has not in any way been punished for libel, and this will encourage the press to take equal freedom in libeling others.”
A jury today convicted Rudolph Stanko and the Cattle King Packing Company, once a major supplier of beef for the nation’s school lunch program, of violating Federal meat laws. Jurors returned a verdict of guilty on all seven counts against Mr. Stanko, his now-defunct company, and Gary Waderich, who was the concern’s top salesman. Defense attorneys indicated they would appeal. Federal District Judge Sherman Finesilver, who presided over the eight-day trial, could impose sentences totaling 23 years in prison and fines of up to $70,000 on the two men, prosecutors said. He did not indicate when he would sentence them. Testimony showed some employees sneaked rejected meat back into the plant without having it checked by Federal inspectors, reworked the adulterated beef in with other meat and sold it to unsuspecting customers.
A Federal district judge has awarded $37.9 million in back pay to flight attendants dismissed by United Airlines in the 1960s because they were married. Judge James B. Moran ordered the award Thursday in a suit that charged the airline with discrimination because of its “no-marriage rule.” He had ordered earlier that those who wanted their jobs back should be rehired when there were openings. United Airlines said the opinion was being studied and that no decision had been made on whether to appeal. Lynn Frackman, an attorney for the attendants, said Judge Moran had not determined the distribution of the money. United dismissed about 1,500 flight attendants from 1965 to 1968 only because they were married.
An explosion and fire today tore through an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killing four workers and critically burning three others, the owner of the rig said. The explosion occured aboard the Zapata Lexington 26, said Barney White, a spokesman for Zapata Offshore Inc. in Houston, owners of the rig. The cause of the explosion was unknown. The 80-foot-tall natural gas exploration rig had been in seas 1,465 feet deep about 120 miles southwest of New Orleans, he said. The three burned workers were airlifted to a hospital in Marrero. Most of the 61 others aboard the rig were taken by boats to a nearby rig, Mr. White said. The identities of the dead and injured were not released. The fire was extinguished soon after the explosion and conditions were good enough to put nine men back aboard the rig, Mr. White said.
Florida officials are considering drastic steps to eradicate a virulent plant disease that threatens the state’s $2.5 billion citrus industry. Today the United States Department of Agriculture embargoed all Florida citrus shipments, preventing fruit from leaving the state until state officials can demonstrate that the problem is under control. Scientists have advised the state to use emergency powers to burn large sections of orange and grapefruit groves in 12 counties in an effort to help save the $2.5 billion industry.
Janet Gaynor died after a traffic accident at the age of 77 in a Palm Strings, California, hospital. Miss Gaynor, who was noted for naive and sweetly wholesome characterizations, won the first Academy Award for best actress in 1928 for her performances in three silent films and also became a leading performer in sound pictures.
Stage and screen actor Gene Wilder (51) weds “Saturday Night Live” actress-comedian Gilda Radner (38) in France.
Film director John Carpenter (36) and actress Adrienne Barbeau (39) divorce after 5 years of marriage.
First MTV Video Music Awards: The Cars win with “You Might Think”, and David Bowie wins with “China Girl”.
Rookie pitcher Mark Langston (15–9) becomes the first Seattle Mariner to win 15 games in a season by beating the Kansas City Royals 2–1 on a 5-hitter. The winners were led by the rookie Alvin Davis, who belted his 26th home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Davis lofted a 1–1 pitch from Danny Jackson (1–6), who allowed only four hits, over the left-field fence for the victory. Langston went all the way for the victory. He struck out nine to increase his league-leading total to 186.
Joe Cowley made his ninth start tonight since he joined the Yankees two months ago, and he gained his seventh victory against no defeats as the Yankees whipped Boston, 7–1. When pitchers post such impressive figures, cautious observers say wait until the second time around. But last night was the second time the Red Sox saw Cowley in the space of only seven days, and they experienced more trouble with him the second time than they did the first. Last Saturday in Boston they got to the 26-year-old right-hander for 4 runs and 10 hits in five and two-thirds innings. But tonight they collected only six hits to go with their lone run as Cowley struck out eight and pitched his third complete game.
In Arlington, Texas, the Rangers’ Charlie Hough continued his career mastery over Minnesota with a seven-hitter, and Gary Ward and Larry Parrish hit home runs to lead Texas to a 9–2 victory. Hough (16–12) struck out seven and walked two in beating the Twins for the ninth time without a loss. Al Williams (3–5), lasted only a third of an inning. The Rangers scored in the first inning on Ward’s two-run home run, his 19th of the season, and added four in the second.
Reggie Jackson gave the Angels a lift with a three-run homer — the 498th homer of his career — in the fourth inning, as California turned back the Chicago White Sox, 5–0. Geoff Zahn (12–9) held Chicago to six hits. Jackson’s 20th homer of the season highlighted a two-out, four-run rally against Floyd Bannister (12–10).
Willie Aikens hit two home runs, and Ernie Whitt hit one tonight to lead Toronto to a 7–2 win over Detroit. The Blue Jays moved 10 games behind the Tigers in the American League East and left at six the combination of Detroit victories and Toronto losses that would insure Detroit the division title. The winner, Jim Clancy (12–14), scattered four hits before being ejected by Umpire Larry Young as he was pitching to Kirk Gibson leading off the sixth. Young warned both benches about brush-back pitches an inning earlier. There were no batters hit.
Brett Butler cracks his second homer of the year — a grand slam — to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 6–1 win over the Oakland A’s. Butler credits it to advice he got from Rod Carew on hitting last week. Carney Lansford had three hits for Oakalnd.
The Milwaukee Brewers downed the Baltimore Orioles, 4–2. Willie Lozado stroked a two-run double in the seventh to rally the Brewers. Doug Loman led off the Brewers’ seventh with a single and Jim Sundberg reached first on a fielding error by third baseman Todd Cruz. Both base runners advanced on Dion James’ sacrifice, and Lozado followed with his double for the deciding runs.
Rick Sutcliffe goes to 15–1 as the first-place Chicago Cubs beat the visiting New York Mets, 7–1. Jody Davis supplies a grand slam for his batterymate. On a cold, gray and brooding afternoon in Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs probably delivered the coup de grace to the Mets that left them eight-and-a-half games behind first-place Chicago with only 14 to play. Rick Sutcliffe outpitched Ron Darling for his 13th straight victory, and his 15th in 16 decisions since he was traded to the Cubs June 13. And Jody Davis hit a grand slam off Brent Gaff with two down in the sixth inning after the Mets had walked Ron Cey intentionally to load the bases.
Kurt Bevacqua doubled home the deciding runs with two out in the ninth as the San Diego Padres downed the Houston Astros, 4–2. The victory, coupled with Atlanta’s loss to San Francisco, reduced to six the combination of San Diego victories and Atlanta losses that would insure the Padres the National League West title. In the ninth, the pinch-hitter Luis Salazar singled, stole second and went to third on an infield out. After Carmelo Martinez walked, Bevacqua batted for Garry Templeton and lined a shot off the glove of Jose Cruz to drive in both runners.
The Los Angeles Dodgers edged the Cincinnati Reds, 6–5, to gain a game in their tight race in the National League West. Ken Landreaux hit a home run off John Franco (5–1) in the top of the ninth to break a 5–5 tie. It was Franco’s first career loss. Pete Rose had two hits for the Reds, including the 724th double of his career, which tied him with Ty Cobb for third place.
The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 3–0, as the Giants score three in the ninth to break a scoreless tie. The Giants gort a run after third baseman Randy Johnson made an error on Dusty Baker’s single, allowing Chili Davis to score. Bob Brenly then blasted his 20th homer of the year into the left field seats. Greg Minton (4–9) got the win in relief.
Mike Schmidt took over the National League home run lead with 33 as he stroked two blasts and drove in three runs to pace the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9–5 victory over the Expos. Von Hayes and Jeff Stone contributed to the Phillies’ assault against four Montreal pitchers. Hayes had two hits, an RBI and two stolen bases, while Stone had four hits for the home team. Steve Carlton, 12–7, was the winner, while Steve Rogers, 6-14, took the loss.
The Pittsburgh Pirates downed the St. Louis Cardinals, 8–7. Johnny Ray led off the top of the 12th with a home run against St. Louis relief ace Bruce Sutter as the Pirates won their eighth extra-inning game in 24 this season. They are three shy of the NL record for extra-inning games, set in 1943 by the Boston Braves.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1237.52 (+9.27).
Born:
Winston Justice, NFL tackle (Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos), in Long Beach, California.
Caleb Campbell, NFL defenswive back (Detroit Lions), in Perrytown, Texas.
Robert Mosebach, MLB pitcher (Los Angeles Angels), in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Adam Lamberg, American actor (“The Lizzie McGuire movie”), in New York, New York.
Ayushmann Khurrana, Indian actor and singer (Vicky Donor), in Chandigarh, India.
Melissa McGhee, American rock singer (“American Idol”, season 5), in Tampa, Florida.
Died:
Janet Gaynor, 77, American actress (“Sunrise”), from a traffic accident.
History Diaries 