A desire to move promptly into talks with Moscow on ways of resuming arm control negotiations was repeated by the Reagan Administration. It said it was eager to “flesh out” its plan for so-called umbrella talks with the Soviet Union. At the same time, officials said that negotiations on a new agreement for cultural exchanges were snagged over the issue of possible defections by Soviet participants.
Marshal Dmitri F. Ustinov, the Soviet Defense Minister, may have suffered a stroke last month, according to a report here. The report could not be officially confirmed. But there was said to be reliable information that the marshal had been temporarily incapacitated, and was now recovering.
NATO’s Secretary General, Lord Carrington, urged lawmakers in the Atlantic Alliance to strengthen their nations’ conventional defenses to reduce the risk of nuclear war. “If those who are most worried about the nuclear threshold are logical in their fears, then they should be the people who should support further expenditures on conventional weapons,” he told a meeting of the assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels.
Leaders of Britain’s National Union of Mineworkers decided to continue their eight-month coal strike despite the return to work by an increasing number of union members. The union’s 24-man leadership rejected calls for a vote of the union’s 180,000 members on whether to return to work. The National Coal Board, which operates the mines, said that 6,700 miners have gone back to work in the last 10 days and that coal is being produced at 58 of the country’s 174 mines. The union disputes the figures.
Human rights campaigners in the cities of Kraków and Wrocław were warned today to halt their activities as the authorities continued their campaign against dissidents. Zygmunt Łenyk, a member of the Kraków rights committee established last week, said four activists had answered summonses from the local prosecutor’s office and had been told they could face charges carrying sentences of six months to five years. Three others appeared before a municipal misdemeanor court and received warnings that their work was illegal, Mr. Łenyk said by telephone from Kraków. A founder of the Wrocław human rights group, Andrzej Wiszniewski, and others members appeared before a misdemeanor court in connection with their activities, Mr. Wiszniewski’s wife said by telephone. The monitoring groups were set up in response to the slaying, officially attributed to three security policemen, of a pro-Solidarity priest, the Rev. Jerzy Popiełuszko.
The sponsor of a West German prize for liver research says he has decided to cancel the award after complaints that it honored a Vienna physician who had conducted experiments on prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. Dr. Herbert Falk, chairman of the Falk-Foundation and a Freiburg pharmaceuticals company that has given the $5,000 Hans Eppinger Prize, said Wednesday that he was dropping the award “to avoid making a scientific event controversial.” Dr. Falk said he had known generally that Dr. Eppinger, a prominent liver specialist, had been linked to human experiments and had committed suicide upon being summoned to the Nuremberg trials in 1946. But he said, “I didn’t know details until now.” A news account this week reported that a Yale University gastroenterologist, Dr. Howard M. Spiro, had complained of the award in an editorial written for a medical journal.
Italy and the Vatican signed the final articles of a new concordat that will end the status of Roman Catholicism as the nation’s “sole religion” and will phase out state financial support for the Catholic clergy by 1990. Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Agostino Casaroli signed the document, which must be ratified by the Italian Parliament by the end of the year to go into effect January 1, 1985.
Two members of an unofficial Soviet peace group said in Vienna they have no idea why the Moscow government suddenly allowed them to leave the country for the West. Vladimir Fleishgakker and his wife, Maria, said the Soviet government apparently decided to rescind its 1982 decision to reject their 1979 application to emigrate. The couple were founding members of a group called the Committee for Establishing Trust between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., which Soviet officials attempted to disband. They were given one-way tickets to Vienna and departed on short notice.
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela is captured in Spain while meeting to expand Cali Cartel business in Europe, but is later acquitted and returned to Colombia
Lebanon, resuming talks with Israel, proposed that the Lebanese Army take control of all of southern Lebanon after Israeli troops leave and demanded that Israel pay $8 billion to $10 billion in war reparations. Israeli officers involved in the negotiations called the Lebanese proposal a “nonstarter,” according to the Israeli radio. They said the Lebanese Army was incapable of mounting simple security operations, much less taking over all of southern Lebanon. As for the war reparations, Israel rejected the demand out of hand, saying that the “question of reparations was outside the mandate of these talks,” conference sources reported. The Israelis viewed the Lebanese demand as a maximum position intended for domestic consumption and as a negotiating strategy. They expected the real give-and-take to begin in coming sessions. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday.
The talks, in the Lebanese border town of Naqura, were suspended after the first meeting a week ago when Lebanon protested the arrest by Israel of four Shiite militia leaders in southern Lebanon. Israel freed three of them Wednesday, but continued to hold the fourth, Mahmoud Faqih. He is expected to be deported from southern Lebanon. Although Lebanon’s demands today, presented by Brigadier General Mohammed el-Haj, the chief Lebanese delegate, contradicted virtually every Israeli condition for withdrawal, there was nonetheless a feeling in Israel that the negotiating process had begun.
France and Libya agreed to keep their troops out of Chad and to normalize relations between the two countries, it was announced. Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who mediated an agreement last week leading to the withdrawal of the two powers’ troops from the African state, said French President Francois Mitterrand and Libya’s leader, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, reached the agreement after a five-hour meeting in Crete. Papandreou, who arranged the latest meeting, said afterward that the two leaders decided that “not one French soldier, not one Libyan soldier will remain in Chad; the people of Chad should settle their problems by themselves.”
The U.N. General Assembly reiterated a demand today that the Soviet Union withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. It was the fifth such measure passed by the Assembly since the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979. The resolution was approved 119 votes to 20, with 14 abstentions. Like the earlier ones, it called for withdrawal of “foreign troops” without mentioning the Soviet Union by name. Last year 116 nations voted in favor, while 114 backed the appeal two years ago. The increasing support, which included the votes of many nonaligned nations, was seen by Pakistan, a prime mover of the resolution, as an indication of continuing concern as well as endorsement of the efforts of Under Secretary General Diego Cordovez to negotiate an end to the Soviet presence.
Six years after the Islamic revolution that toppled Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Government appears firmly in control, despite some lingering problems. The 85-year-old Ayatollah’s Islamic Republic has reached this stage after weathering a power struggle and the purging of many of the revolution’s prominent figures, a campaign of bombings and assassinations by its internal enemies, more than four years of war with neighboring Iraq and economic difficulties. “The Government gets more and more solid,” a Western diplomat here said. “The constitutional process has taken hold.” The situation contrasts with the turbulent first few years of the revolution when the opposition to the Shah fell into a bitter power struggle over the direction of the new Government.
The surviving suspect in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was taken from his hospital bed to a secret location for questioning today, sources at the hospital and others said. The suspect, Satwant Singh, a constable in the Prime Minister’s bodyguard who was said to have been wounded by security men at the scene of the assassination, was remanded tonight by a local magistrate to 14 days in police custody, according to The Press Trust of India news agency. A senior doctor at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital said Mr. Singh was taken away “under heavy escort.” The second purported assassin, a Sikh police inspector named Beant Singh, was apparently killed by loyal commandos in the same incident.
North and South Korean officials met today in the demilitarized zone between their two countries for their first talks on possible joint economic development and trade. After outlining basic goals for two and a half hours, the negotiators suspended discussions for three weeks. But the desire for more talks was in itself significant.
Lieutenant General Fidel V. Ramos, acting armed forces chief of the Philippines, offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the gunman who killed Cesar Climaco, 68, mayor of Zamboanga City and a leading critic of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. A nationwide 10-day mourning period was declared for Climaco.
Thousands of Chilean men were herded into a soccer stadium in Santiago and questioned by army and air force troops and plainclothesmen. At dawn, the Government forces raided a poor Santiago neighborhood that has witnessed many clashes and demonstrations against the military Government. The Government forces occupied the slum for seven hours, searching house to house, and then bused or trucked virtually all males over 16 years old to the stadium.
South African police, intensifying a crackdown on dissent, briefly detained seven whites and said they were investigating rumors that militant blacks had called for revenge attacks against whites. The whites, all students, were detained after a protest demonstration against the detention without trial of Kate Philip, a prominent white student leader. The rumors of plans for revenge attacks on whites were reported in the Johannesburg Star newspaper.
Baby Fae, the infant who received the heart of a baboon 20 days ago to replace her own defective heart, died today at 9 PM, officials of the Loma Linda University Medical Center said. Her death was due to complications caused when her body began last Friday to reject the transplanted heart. Her kidneys began deteriorating this afternoon and doctors tried to treat her with a form of kidney therapy called peritoneal dialysis. Her parents were with her as much as possible during her final hours and were receiving support from the hospital chaplain and physicians, hospital authorities said. Just before Baby Fae died, a final attempt was made to revive her with a heart massage.
New information came to light today about the decision to give Baby Fae a baboon heart, but the new reports also added some new confusion to the story. Two fresh news reports about the Baby Fae case concerned themselves with the informed consent process by which parents or relatives give approval for an operation. One report was based on an interview with Dr. Bailey, and the other with the mother’s friends. Officials here have refused to release the informed consent form and scientific documents governing Baby Fae’s baboon heart transplant operation.
With two new satellites delivered to orbit and two old ones salvaged, the Discovery’s astronauts prepared to return to earth. The space shuttle was scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7 AM tomorrow, just after sunrise. Favorable weather was predicted. The five-person crew, which flight controllers reported was in “excellent spirits,” spent their last full day in orbit stowing gear, concluding a scientific experiment, checking out systems, holding a space-to-ground news conference and talking by telephone with President Reagan.
President Reagan calls the crew of the Space Shuttle. Mr. Reagan, speaking from the White House, praised the astronauts and said their retrieval of two wayward communications satellites was “another important milestone” in the nation’s space program.
“No tax increase and cut spending” were the orders issued by President Reagan to Cabinet members at a two-and-a-half-hour meeting, according to Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman.
President Reagan meets with an editor from Doubleday.
President Reagan hosts a reception for leaders of the American Security Council’s Coalition for Peace Through Strength.
Strong action on two major banks, the Bank of America and the First National Bank of Chicago, has been taken by the Federal Government. It required the directors of both banks to sign formal pledges to make specific changes in their operations to strengthen their credit policies and financial stability. If the banks do not comply with the agreements, the Government can take the signed pledges to court to obtain removal of the banks’ senior officers.
Special curbs on welfare grants could be imposed by state and local governments under new rules proposed by the Reagan Administration to ensure that poor people pay their rent. The main purpose of such restrictions, the Administration said, is to prevent the eviction of tenants receiving welfare payments. Officials of New York and other cities, who have been seeking this change for six years, applauded the proposal.
The leader of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops challenged Congress to safeguard programs for the poor since, he said, higher spending in these areas “does not seem to be part of the plan” of the Reagan Administration. Bishop James Malone, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said a major task for his group is “to raise the consciousness” of public officials and private citizens concerning the needs of the poor. He suggested the task should begin at once, with no need to wait until the group’s formal vote next November on its major economic policy statement, which was released in draft form this week.
The Reagan Administration is weighing a plan to broaden Medicare to cover so-called catastrophic illnesses, the Washington Post reported. Citing unidentified government and health industry sources, the Post said the plan also may require private employers to include catastrophic coverage in group insurance policies for their employees.
William C. Westmoreland testified at his libel trial against CBS that he informed his civilian and military superiors of higher enemy troop estimates in South Vietnam within days of learning of the figures in May 1967. Taking the stand as the 14th witness in the Manhattan trial, the 70-year-old retired general quickly contradicted the thesis of a 1982 CBS Reports documentary that said his command had engaged in a “conspiracy” to “suppress and alter critical intelligence” in the year before the Tet offensive of January 1968.
Ariel Sharon testified that “high moral values” had guided his long career as one of Israel’s most celebrated military leaders. Testifying at his libel trial against TIME magazine in Manhattan, the former Defense Minister said that for Israel’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties “we paid with blood, our blood.”
An infant’s body found in an alley behind her family’s apartment in Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, was tentatively identified as the 4-month-old daughter of a couple who had made televised appeals after reporting her kidnaped. The baby died from blows to the head, a medical examiner said. Police tentatively identified the body as that of Jerri Ann Richard, the daughter of Ralph and Donna Richard. The couple had reported the child kidnaped on Sunday. Authorities believe whoever kidnapped the baby climbed a fire escape to a window in the child’s room.
One-third of the nation’s smokers tried to quit for a day, according to the American Cancer Society, which sponsored the eighth annual “Great American Smokeout.” A spokesman for the society said the estimate of participants was based on a telephone survey of 2,096 households. About 20 million smokers in the nation’s Eighth Annual Great American Smokeout began a 24-hour nicotine fast despite heavy odds that they would not make it through the day without a cigarette. The American Cancer Society, sponsor of the Smokeout, estimated that only about 10% would succeed, although gimmicks, diversions and cigarette bonfires were staged nationwide. Some establishments served cold turkey for lunch, while the Tobacco Institute used the occasion to release a survey in which 72% of those polled said the money the Cancer Society uses to promote Smokeout would be better spent on cancer research.
Abdel-Krim Belachheb was found guilty today of murdering six restaurant patrons in a shooting spree last summer touched off when two women at the club insulted him. The jury rejected a contention that the 39-year-old Moroccan national was insane when he committed the crime June 29. Mr. Belachheb was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences for killing four women and two men at Ianni’s Restaurant and Club in northern Dallas. Prosecutors said he would be eligible for parole in 20 years. “He’s crazy now and he’s been crazy for years,” Frank Jackson, an attorney for Mr. Belachheb, told the jurors. But a prosecutor, Norman Kinne, said of the defendant: “He knows right from wrong; he just doesn’t give a damn.”
The Environmental Protection. Agency said it will exempt small chemical companies from the record-keeping requirements of the federal toxic substances law. Chemical companies are required to keep records of significant harm to health or the environment caused by a chemical covered by the law and are required to report such instances to the EPA.
The president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and five other men pleaded innocent to conspiring to extort money during the decades-long struggle over cable television rights in the city. The defendants were indicted November 8 on charges of conspiracy and attempted extortion, after a two-year FBI investigation of the Board of Aldermen’s handling of the cable television franchise debate. The defendants are Thomas E. Zych, the board president; former Alderman Sorkis Webbe Jr. and his father, Sorkis Webbe Sr.; businessmen Eugene Slay and Leroy Tyus, and James Cullen, an attorney.
Yale University rejected the latest union proposal to end the 7-week-old strike by white-collar workers. Negotiators for the striking clerical and technical workers in New Haven, Connecticut, said they submitted “an absolutely new” economic proposal seeking a 24% salary increase over three years instead of 26%. Yale negotiators rejected it shortly after it was submitted, saying it would cost more than $30 million, which is at least $12 million more than Yale’s current offer.
The Labor Department has begun talks to settle a suit it filed against leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, but a Federal district judge says he may bar one Government lawyer from participating. The suit charges that trustees of the teamsters’ Central States Health and Welfare Fund spent $1.8 million more than neccessary between 1976 and 1978 to have insurance claims processed by a company owned by Allen Dorfman, the organized crime financier. David Feldman, the Labor Department’s associate solicitor, offered to negotiate a settlement. Judge Hubert Will agreed to delay a ruling so that talks could begin, but he indicated he was suspicious of Mr. Feldman’s tactics and would consider barring him from later stages of the proceedings because he had developed “a psychosis about the case.”
An 11-year-old girl who sang for President Reagan but said she preferred Walter F. Mondale was told by a Republican campaign worker she would not be welcome, at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. But First Lady Nancy Reagan “picked up the phone and called the little girl” the instant she heard of the cool reception to Jennifer Ledbetter’s political views, said the First Lady’s press secretary, Sheila Tate. “She reached her at home and said she was sorry this had happened and said that she wanted her to come to the Easter Egg Roll as her special guest,” Tate said. “It’s one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened to me,” Jennifer said.
The jewel thief Jack Murphy, known as “Murph the Surf,” may soon leave prison for a work-release program. Mr. Murphy, who is serving a life sentence for killing two women in 1969, was accused in 1964 of pistol-whipping and stealing $35,000 in jewelry from the actress Eva Gabor in Miami. The same year he stole the Star of India sapphire, the DeLong ruby and 22 other precious gems from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Ray Henderson, superintendent of the Zephyrhills Correctional Institution, recommended the new program. “He’s been a very positive influence since he’s been here,” the official said of Mr. Murphy, an accomplished painter of seascapes. “You’re talking about a changed person when you talk about Jack Murphy today.”
Miss Venezuela, 21-year-old Astrid Herrera Irazabal, won the 1984 Miss World title in the 34th annual beauty pageant at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Second place was Miss Canada, Connie Fitzpatrick, 20, and third was Miss Australia, Lou-Anne Caroline Ronchi, 22.
“Emergency,” 16th studio album by American band Kool & the Gang is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1985)
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1206.16 (-0.77)
Born:
Kitty Brucknell [Kimberley Dayle Edwards], English pop singer (“The X Factor”), in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom.
Jermareo Davidson, NBA small forward (Charlotte Bobcats, Golden State Warriors), in Atlanta, Georgia.
Died:
Baby Fae [Stephanie Fae Beauclair], 32 days, First infant subject of a xenotransplant procedure (baboon’s heart), due to rejection of the transplant.
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