An agenda for arms control talks will be negotiated by Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko in Geneva January 7 and 8, Washington and Moscow announced. The White House said the agenda would be for future negotiations on “the whole range of questions concerning nuclear and outer space arms.” Robert C. McFarlane, President Reagan’s national security adviser, said at a news conference that the preliminary talks between Mr. Gromyko and Mr. Shultz had been agreed to without conditions. “We are open and ready to discuss all issues,” Mr. McFarlane said. “We’re at a moment where each side has decided to make a determined effort to reduce tensions.”
Washington is studying Moscow in an effort to determine whether the current Kremlin leadership is ready for decisive actions to help break the impasse in arms negotiations. This has put new pressure on analysts in the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department – and the outside consultants from universities and research institutes – to come up with answers for policy-makers trying to discern the intentions, health and abilities of Konstantin U. Chernenko and the rest of the Soviet political elite. At the moment Government analysts – and outside academics – agree that Mr. Chernenko is indisputably in charge. But there the agreement breaks down. Some officials, looking at the apparent shaky health of Mr. Chernenko, his brief tenure at the top, and his unfamiliarity with foreign affairs, believe that Moscow is not now able to engage in a constructive give-and-take that could produce mutually satisfactory accords. Therefore they argue that any American initiatives are destined to be disappointing.
The Kremlin has decided against holding the annual winter meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee scheduled for Monday, British officials said in Moscow. They said the decision was made known to visiting British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. Some Western sources said the move could indicate that President Konstantin U. Chernenko wants to avoid a potential conflict over policy or personnel changes. Other sources said that it could be an attempt to streamline operations, since the Central Committee overlaps the work of the Soviet Union’s parliament, the Supreme Soviet, which is due to meet Tuesday.
President Reagan learns of a Soviet tourist who defected across into the demilitarized zone in South Korea.
Irish leaders have sharply criticized Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for remarks she made about joint efforts to end the conflict in Northern Ireland, The dispute erupted soon after a two- day meeting in London on the Northern Ireland issue between Mrs. Thatcher and her Irish counterpart, Garret FitzGerald. On Wednesday night Mr. FitzGerald said Mrs. Thatcher’s public remarks about his proposals were “gratuitously offensive.” Mr. FitzGerald had hoped to win British support for his proposals, which included unification of Ireland, confederation or a joint British-Irish authority over Northern Ireland. “I have made it quite clear,” Mrs. Thatcher said, “that a unified Ireland was one solution that is out. A second solution was a confederation of two states. That is out. A third solution was joint authority. That is out – that is a derogation of sovereignty.”
Britain’s highest court upheld Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s ban on union membership for employees at an intelligence-gathering center, finding it justified on grounds of national security. The ruling by a five-member panel of the House of Lords was a setback for organized labor, which viewed the case as a test of Thatcher’s effort to curb union power. The ruling reversed a lower court decision that would have permitted union membership at the Government Communications Headquarters at Cheltenham in southwest England.
Britain will withdraw from UNESCO at the end of next year unless there is clear evidence of further progress toward changing the United Nations agency, London announced. The United States gave a similar notice last year, and it is widely expected that the Reagan Administration will go through with its plans to withdraw next month. Administration officials have said they were displeased with Unesco because of what they called uncontrolled budget increases, inefficient administration and a tendency by the organization to engage in extraneous political attacks on Western values. Pressure From the U.S.American diplomats had pressed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Government to strengthen Washington’s stance by making the announcement that it made this afternoon. Last week Western diplomats said Britain had begun telling its allies it was prepared to follow the Administration’s example.
Policemen and small groups of youths clashed throughout Spain’s Basque country today during a general strike over Tuesday’s killing of a separatist leader, which E.T.A. guerrillas avenged by wounding a general. Officials said several people were arrested in dozens of minor clashes between riot policemen and demonstrators who threw stones and gasoline bombs. No serious injuries were reported. They said banks and car showrooms were also attacked by demonstrators. E.T.A. took responsibility for bomb blasts at a bar in Bilbao and a supermarket near San Sebastián. They said industry, commerce and transport were paralyzed by the stoppage, which was backed by all political parties and unions. Thousands of people chanting pro- E.T.A. slogans joined a funeral procession in Bilbao for Santiago Brouard, leader of the separatist party Herri Batasuna. A funeral service was to be held later in his home town of Lequeitio, east of Bilbao. E.T.A. responded to Dr. Brouard’s killing by an anti-guerrilla death squad by gunning down a 66-year-old retired officer and his military driver Wednesday.
Israelis fatally shot a Palestinian demonstrator in the occupied West Bank in the second such incident in as many days. Israeli authorities insisted that the troops opened fire after the youth and other demonstrators had ignored warnings to stop throwing stones at Israeli vehicles in the town of Ramallah. On Wednesday, one student was killed and six others were wounded when Israeli troops opened fire to disperse a large crowd of Bir Zeit University students who were pelting Israeli soldiers with rocks and shouting slogans in support of the Palestine Liberation Organization chairman, Yasir Arafat. Agitation Increases With the Palestine National Council meeting beginning in Amman today, the West Bank has started to boil over with political agitation – partly from Palestinians who want to demonstrate solidarity with their compatriots in Amman and partly because of infighting between pro- and anti-Arafat factions.
An Israeli general who is negotiating conditions for a withdrawal from Lebanon said today that Israel wanted a territorial force of 3,000 or 4,000 south Lebanese, and not the Lebanese Army, to look after security in the border area. Brigadier General Amos Gilboa, head of the Israeli delegation to the talks, said at a briefing here that Israel had strong doubts about the ability of Lebanese Government forces to keep the peace. Unless there are acceptable security arrangements, he said, Israeli forces will remain in Lebanon.
The Legislative Assembly in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh was dissolved today, after completing less than two years of a scheduled five-year term, paving the way for a major popularity test for its ruler. A date for the balloting was not immediately set but the chief minister, N. T. Rama Rao, declared that he was seeking a fresh mandate. Andhra Pradesh will choose 42 members of the national Parliament in elections scheduled there December 27 and there is speculation that local balloting to the 294-member state legislature will also be held that day.
A marijuana raid in northern Mexico, the largest recorded drug seizure ever, is forcing American officials to question whether they have been seriously underestimating drug production around the world and drug abuse in the United States. In a series of raids this month, the Mexican authorities seized more than 10,000 tons of marijuana — nearly as much as officials had believed was consumed in this country in a year.
Nicaraguan rebel raids have been stepped up in the fertile northern hills where most coffee is grown as thousands of workers prepare to begin harvesting the coffee beans on which the nation’s economy depends. The latest victims included peasant women and children.
A Lutheran minister was shot to death in eastern El Salvador in a killing that police described as “very strange.” The body of David Ernesto Fernandez Espino, 37, was found with a single bullet wound to the head in the village of El Progreso. Two men described as “military personnel” reportedly were the last seen with Fernandez Espino, who told his mother he and the men “had to go on a mission.” A church spokesman said he had had “problems over politics” with both military authorities and leftist rebels.
Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld met with Paraguayan officials to seek the whereabouts and capture of Dr. Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death” at the Auschwitz concentration camp in World War II. Klarsfeld said she will press for extradition of Mengele, now 73, although Paraguayan officials have consistently maintained that the man accused of experimenting on humans left the country years ago.
International banks have granted Chile a six-month moratorium on repayment of $2.5 billion in debts due at the end of the year, Chilean Finance Minister Luis Escobar announced. After three days of talks with bankers and International Monetary Fund officials in Washington, he said, the country’s creditors have allowed it to delay payment of $500 million in amortization due between January 1 and March 31, 1985, and to postpone until June 30 repayment of $2 billion in commercial credits due December 31.
The Somali army executed 49 civilians suspected of backing rebels fighting the Mogadishu government, travelers returning from northern Somalia said. They said the summary executions, carried out between November 14 and 19, were a reprisal for an upsurge in activity this month and last by rebels of the Somali National Movement, an Ethiopian-backed group fighting to overthrow President Mohammed Siad Barre’s 18-year-old government.
Two Zimbabwean rebels were sentenced to death for the 1982 kidnapping of six tourists, including two Americans, who are still missing. Gilbert Ngwenya, 42, and Austin Mpofu, 25, admitted belonging to a 17-member gang that kidnaped the six men on the main road between Victoria Falls and Bulawayo. Since then, there has been no word of the six, and the Zimbabwe government said there is no evidence they are still alive.
Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
The President and First Lady enjoy their annual Thanksgiving Dinner with family.
President Reagan, who opposes raising federal taxes, has himself been hit with a slight tax increase by Santa Barbara County. Mr. Reagan has received a $2,841 bill for property taxes on his ranch near here, up $76.68 from last year, according to The Santa Barbara News-Press.
A cut in Federal statistical programs was criticized by Representative Jack Brooks, chairman of the House Government Operations Committee. A study shows that the eight major agencies that chart the health, economy, demography and educational status of the country underwent an overall staff reduction of 12 percent in the last three years.
“Boll weevil” Rep. Charles W. Stenholm (D-Texas) said that conservative Democrats will challenge Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Massachusetts) for the post of Speaker of the House next month when House Democrats hold a leadership caucus — and “there’s a 99% certainty” the challenger will be him. “There are those of us who feel it is time for a change,” said Stenholm, leader of a faction of more than two dozen “boll weevils” — conservative Southern Democrats.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted unanimously to allow the Long Island Lighting Co. to load radioactive fuel at its Shoreham reactor. The vote also allows the utility to test the controversial reactor at power levels only fractionally above zero percent of capacity. A low-power license, which the power company is seeking and which New York state and Suffolk County are trying to block, would allow testing at up to 5% of the $4.16-billion reactor’s 809-megawatt capacity. Opponents claim that evacuation in the event of an accident is impossible because of high population density on Long Island.
The American public takes a hard line toward illegal aliens, the Gallup Poll says, with 75% favoring a law that would make it illegal to employ a person who has entered the United States without proper papers. The public also strongly supports — 63% to 34% — a proposal requiring all U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens to carry an identification card. That proposal is intended to enable prospective employers to distinguish illegal aliens from legal job seekers. Among Latinos in the survey, support for a law against hiring illegal aliens outweighed opposition 56% to 33%.
Five inmates escaped from the medium-security prison in Burkeville, Virginia, by cutting through two fences near the base of a guard tower, authorities said. A guard in the tower spotted four of the inmates running across the parking lot outside the Nottoway Correctional Center shortly after 6 PM, said Corrections Department spokesman Wayne Farrar. The guard called for the men to halt, but she was unable to get off a shot before they ran across a highway and disappeared into the woods, Farrar said.
The reputed leader of the Cuban anti-Castro group known as Omega 7 was held without bail in Miami on charges stemming from the bombings of the Mexican and Venezuelan consulates more than two years ago. Eduardo Arocena, 41, convicted in October of killing a Cuban diplomat and masterminding a decade of terrorist bombings, was secretly whisked into U.S. District Court from New York, where he already has been sentenced to life plus 35 years in prison.
Governor Martha Layne Collins of Kentucky spent Thanksgiving Day in “a great deal of pain” after surgery in London to remove an inflamed section of her small intestine, which contained a jagged piece of glass, her husband said. William Collins, who flew to London to see his wife, said hospital officials “expect her to make a full recovery.” The governor, 47, who was in Britain with other governors for the start of a European tour to study acid rain, awoke in pain early Wednesday and underwent 32 hours of exploratory surgery.
A deteriorated railroad bridge that has caused chaos for Philadelphia commuters since it closed last week will be rebuilt and reopened within three weeks, city officials announced today. Crews were scheduled to work around the clock beginning at 7 AM Friday to demolish and rebuild the bridge at Ninth Street and Columbia Avenue in north Philadelphia. The bridge was closed last Friday because it was unsafe.
A Florida state judge ordered Wednesday that more than 10,000 citrus trees suspected of being infected with citrus canker be burned. Judge Hale Stancil gave the order to burn the trees, owned by the Crittenden Fruit Company, in Marion County Circuit Court after an attorney for the State Department of Agriculture, Robert Chastain, argued that any delay could cause the disease to contaminate Florida’s $1.2 billion citrus industry. Crittenden has 20 days to file for an appeal. Mr. Chastain said the burnings could begin in the next few weeks.
Ellen Ash Peters, a former Yale law professor who fled Nazi Germany as a child in 1939, has become chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, the first woman to hold the office and the only woman on the court. “I wonder whether there is any other country in the world in which an immigrant child could aspire to the position of honor and trust that it is my good fortune to assume today,” Peters, 54, said after taking the oath of office from Governor William A. O’Neill.
John F. Kennedy’s assassination was not formally observed in Dallas on the anniversary date for the first time in 20 years. Local Democratic officials said they had decided it would be more appropriate to shift the November 22 services to the President’s birth date, May 29.
Michael Reagan cited “jealousy” for the coolness toward him and his family that he said had been exhibited by Nancy Reagan, and he urged his stepmother to apologize for saying he had been estranged from his father. Mr. Reagan, the adopted son of Ronald Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman, noted he was the only child of the President who had given him grandchildren.
A judge has dismissed charges against two employees of the Minneapolis Children’s Theater and School who were accused of failing to report suspected sexual abuse of children. Saying the state law under which they were charged was so vague as to be unconstitutional, District Judge Charles A. Porter of Hennepin County said he was acting “with the greatest of reluctance” in throwing out misdemeanor charges against Wayne B. Jennings, 53 years old, and Scott Creeger, 37. The two men were indicted September 18 by a grand jury investigating child sexual abuse at the school.
Fred Rogers of PBS “Mr Rogers, Neighborhood” presents a sweater to Smithsonian Institution.
Seattle’s Alvin Davis easily wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award over Mark Langston and Kirby Puckett.
NFL Football:
New England Patriots 17, Dallas Cowboys 20
Green Bay Packers 28, Detroit Lions 31
With an exemplary defensive performance and a winning field goal with 4 seconds remaining, the Dallas Cowboys today moved into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division of the National Conference. Rafael Septien’s 23-yard field goal gave the Cowboys a 20–17 victory over the New England Patriots, an 8–5 record and a half-game lead over the Giants and Washington Redskins, who are 7–5. The Cowboys’ lead could last only until Sunday, when the Giants play the Kansas City Chiefs in Giants Stadium and the Redskins play at home against the Buffalo Bills. If the Giants and Redskins were to win, the Giants would retain a slight advantage over both teams, based on the tie-breaking procedures: The Giants have beaten the Cowboys twice and have a better record than the Redskins in the division. Six different Dallas players sacked the Tony Eason a total of 10 times today, the most ever against New England, for a loss of 57 yards. Randy White, the large and laudable tackle, dropped him three times. Eason also had a pass intercepted by Michael Downs, who returned it 27 yards for a touchdown, the first score of the game. Over all, the Cowboys limited the Patriots to 297 yards while gaining 342. For all his difficulties, Eason engineered two marvelous drives that enabled the Patriots to tie, 17–17, with 1 minute 58 seconds left. The first began late in the third quarter, just after the Cowboys had taken a 17–3 lead on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Danny White, starting for the first time in three games, to Tony Hill. Eason then moved the Patriots 72 yards on five plays, including a 22- yard run by Craig James and, on the next play, a 27-yard pass from Eason to James, who was tackled at the 1. After that, Eason threw to the tight end Derrick Ramsey, slicing the Dallas lead to 17–10 on the first play of the fourth quarter. The drive for the tying touchdown began with 2:42 remaining, and this time, Eason drove the team 65 yards on five plays in 44 seconds. The big play was a masterful call, a draw as the Cowboys were blitzing. James ran 43 yards — the longest run by a Patriot this season — to the 1. On the next play, Eason ran for the score. The Cowboys then got the ball back at their 39 with 1:53 remaining. Nine plays later, Septien kicked the winner.
A strong pregame speech by Coach Monte Clark fired up Detroit, and the Lions responded today with a 31–28 comeback victory over the Green Bay Packers in their nationally televised game. The defeat left Green Bay with a 5–8 record, and left the Chicago Bears (8–4) in position to clinch the Central Division title with a victory in one of their last four games. A Green Bay loss in its last three games would also give the Bears their first title in 21 years and only their third playoff berth in that time. The quarterback, Gary Danielson, led the Lions’ rally, passing for 305 yards and 3 touchdowns. “Monte gave us a pregame talk at breakfast,” Danielson said. “It was one of his best ever, and we were ready to play after that.” Gerry Ellis of Green Bay scored on a 40-yard run at 1:33 of the first quarter, and Lynn Dickey teamed up with the tight end Paul Coffman for a 44- yard touchdown pass at 8:04 of the quarter as the Packers went ahead, 14–0. In the second quarter, Danielson flipped a 10-yard touchdown pass to David Lewis, but Dickey answered with a 7-yard scoring pass to Eddie Lee Ivery that put the Packers on top 21–7. Danielson and Lewis connected on a 21-yard touchdown at 13:46 of the second quarter and Eddie Murray kicked a 32-yard field goal as time ran out to cut the Packers’ lead at the half to 21–17. An interception by Bobby Watkins set up the Lions at their own 19 with 8:49 remaining in the third quarter. Danielson, who completed 24 of 33 passes with one interception, drove the Lions 81 yards in 16 plays, and the fullback James Jones dove the final yard for the touchdown at 13:52. Danielson hit Jeff Chadwick with a 21-yard scoring pass at 8:45 of the fourth quarter for what proved to be the margin of victory.
Born:
Scarlett Johansson, American actress (“Lost in Translation”, “Avengers” movies, “Ghost in the Shell”), in New York, New York.
Yusmeiro Petit, Venezuelan MLB pitcher (World Series Champions-Giants, 2014; Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland A’s), in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
Josh Barrett, NFL defensive back (Denver Broncos, New England Patriots), in Reno, Nevada.
Davis Drewiske, NHL defenseman (Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens), in Hudson, Wisconsin.
History Diaries 