Sixteen people were killed and more than 250 wounded when two explosions ripped through an Italian train as it passed through an 11.6-mile tunnel, 31 miles north of Florence, heading for ski areas in the Alps. The blasts set off a flurry of claims and denials by anonymous telephone callers who said they were speaking for right-wing and left-wing terrorist groups.
The Train 904 bombing (Italian: Strage del Rapido 904 or Strage di Natale (Christmas massacre)) was a terror attack which occurred on 23 December 1984, in the Apennine Base Tunnel. A bomb on the 904 express train (Rapido 904) from Naples to Milan was detonated, killing 16 and wounding 266. The bombing location was near the location of the Italicus Express bombing ten years previously. It was only several years later, when police stumbled on explosives of the same type as used in Train 904 while searching the hideout of Giuseppe Calò, that it became apparent that the Mafia had been behind the attack.
The motive behind the bomb attack was to distract Italian security forces from investigating the Sicilian Mafia after the testimony of the Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta to Antimafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone had led to a series of arrest warrants in September 1984 that subsequently would lead to the Maxi Trial against 475 Mafia defendants. Mafia boss Giuseppe Calò, also known as “Pippo”, was convicted for ordering and organizing the attack in February 1989. In April 2011 Mafia “boss of bosses” Salvatore Riina was indicted for ordering the bombing.
Thousands of mourners stood in line in bitter cold today to view the body of Defense Minister Dmitri F. Ustinov as preparations were made for a Red Square funeral Monday. The mourners were bused from offices and factories around Moscow to marshaling points near the city center. From these points, they moved in slow lines between rows of policemen and security troops to walk past the bier of the 76-year old Defense Minister. On Monday morning, Mr. Ustinov’s fellow Politburo members and marshals, with the Soviet leader, Konstantin U. Chernenko, at their head, are to escort his coffin to the Kremlin Wall. Marshal Ustinov’s successor, Marshal Sergei L. Sokolov, 73, is expected to read one of the eulogies. Marshal Sokolov, whose recent Defense Ministry duties have largely concerned arms sales and administration, was named Saturday to succeed Marshal Ustinov, who died Thursday.
General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish leader, said Saturday that the four officers charged with killing a pro-Solidarity priest were aberrations in the Interior Ministry. The Polish press agency, reporting the general’s remarks today, said he had told the Communist Party Central Committee, “One should stress once again that the Interior Ministry deserves full confidence.” “Employees of the security service were discharging and continue to discharge well their duty to defend and protect the socialist state. They stand guard over public peace and order and defend the socialist rule of law.” He said the killing of the priest, the Rev. Jerzy Popiełuszko, in October, had shocked political officials in the ministry. He said: “The slandering of workers within the ministry should be resisted. The crime committed on Father Popiełuszko is an isolated incident totally at variance with the law-abiding nature of the ministry’s duties.”
Nine Solidarity supporters began a Christmas hunger strike in a Gdansk church to protest the jailing of a Polish union activist. Lech Walesa, leader of the now-banned union, urged Poles nationwide to stage similar actions. The nine strikers launched the four-day fast to protest the imprisonment of Andrzej Gwiazda, 49, on a three-month sentence for participating in a pro-Solidarity demonstration December 16. Gwiazda’s wife, Joanna, is one of the nine.
The police in Londonderry, Northern Ireland clashed today with Roman Catholic mourners at the funeral of an Irish Republican Army guerrilla. Seventeen people were reported hurt and four were arrested. The rioting erupted before the coffin of Kieran Fleming, killed during a gunfight between British soldiers and guerrillas, left his family’s home, and the violence continued for more than two hours as the procession wound through the city, the police said. Youths hurled railings as if they were spears and threw stones at policemen, a representative of the Royal Ulster Constabulary said. Policemen charged with riot sticks and fired several rounds of plastic bullets midway through the procession, when some 100 youths turned on a police patrol with a barrage of gasoline bombs, the spokesman added.
French Socialism has not worked out as planned in President Francois Mitterrand’s three and a half years in office. The Socialist Government’s embrace of ideas and procedures that were anathema to it until a year or two ago has brought disappointment to leftist militants, praise for pragmatism from non-Socialists outside France, and bewilderment among many French.
The Israeli government confirmed that security forces foiled a bomb attack by Arab extremists against the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on December 2. Police Minister Chaim Bar-Lev said in a radio interview that four Arabs from the occupied Gaza Strip were arrested and a large quantity of explosives was seized. During interrogation, the four admitted planning an attack on the embassy, Bar-Lev said.
Druze militiamen stormed Beirut’s international airport, paralyzing air traffic for two hours as they threatened to blow up a plane if it attempted to leave for Paris with the 13-year-old daughter of Cabinet minister Joseph Hashem aboard. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, also a Cabinet minister, intervened, and the militiamen withdrew. Hashem, a Christian, is minister of communications, health and social affairs. He made antiDruze statements to reporters the last time he flew into Beirut, and the Druze, members of an offshoot sect of Islam, consider him their No. 1 enemy in the government.
Voters in all but six of India’s 22 states began casting ballots today in the first stage of a general election in which Rajiv Gandhi hopes to achieve a parliamentary majority that will solidify his hold as Prime Minister. Balloting in some states is to take place on Thursday and Friday in the three-stage election, whose first results will not be known until some time on Friday. Mr. Gandhi’s Congress-I party is generally favored to win a comfortable majority in the lower house of Parliament. The party now holds a two-thirds majority in the house, and although at least one pre-election poll indicated that it might better that record most politicians and commentators believe it will achieve somewhat less.
Vietnam may not agree to release “re-education” camp inmates for resettlement in the United States unless Washington promises to curtail what Hanoi describes as anti-Vietnamese activities among exiles in the United States, two Congressmen who visited Hanoi were told. The Foreign Ministry statements have raised an unexpected obstacle to a Reagan Administration plan, announced in September by Secretary of State George P. Shultz, to admit 8,000 to 10,000 inmates of the camps. Many of the inmates were imprisoned because of their ties to the United States or the American-backed former Government of South Vietnam. On Saturday Phan Doãn Nam, an assistant to Foreign Minister Nguyễn Cơ Thạch, met with the two visiting Congressmen, Stephen J. Solarz, the Brooklyn Democrat who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Robert G. Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey and a member of the committee. Mr. Nam told them that “over the last few months” Hanoi had concluded that Vietnamese living in the United States and Western Europe were supporting and organizing attacks on Vietnamese abroad and plotting subversion at home.
China will not prosecute any of Mao Tse-tung’s fanatical Red Guards, who were blamed for many deaths and the beating and humiliation of thousands more in a campaign to destroy the remnants of “bourgeois society,” a top official said in Peking. Bo Yibo, who heads a Communist Party committee to eradicate ultra-leftism, told a meeting of the party Central Committee that the radical Red Guards “were too young to understand” what they were doing, the New China News Agency reported.
Chinese-Soviet cooperation pacts have been agreed on by Peking and Moscow, China announced. The four agreements include the first long-term trade pact that the two Communist powers have negotiated since their break a quarter of a century ago. The agreements will also establish a joint commission to monitor cooperation in two other fields — economic matters and science and technology — that will be the subject of separate accords. Like the trade pact, the commission will resemble arrangements that existed three decades ago. A Foreign Ministry spokesman announced the agreements after three days of talks involving Ivan V. Arkhipov, a First Deputy Prime Minister, who is the highest-ranking Soviet official to visit China since 1969. Mr. Arkhipov headed the huge Soviet aid program here before the rift caused Moscow to withdraw its aid and bring thousands of experts home in 1960.
Knives and forks for China, instead of the chopsticks that have been used for 3,500 years, have been urged by one of China’s leaders. A report Saturday on the Peking radio said that Hu Yaobang, general secretary of the Communist Party, had made the suggestion during a recent inspection tour of Inner Mongolia. “We should prepare more knives and forks, buy more plates and sit around the table to eat Chinese food in the Western style, that is, each from his own plate,” Mr. Hu was quoted as saying. “By doing so we can avoid contagious diseases.”
The Mexican attorney general’s office has blamed the state-owned oil company Pemex for the explosion that killed at least 490 people last month and has ordered the company to pay damages. Pemex said in a statement Saturday night that it would comply and would begin studying compensation procedures this week. Officials say 431 people filed damage claims amounting to $2.3 million for their homes and belongings. This does not include compensation claims for injuries and deaths.
Army troops and leftist guerrillas erected roadblocks across much of El Salvador, but there were no reported violations of a holiday truce, authorities said in San Salvador. Thousands of troops were reported on major highways, especially in battle-scarred northern and eastern provinces, and journalists were turned back at a guerrilla roadblock in rebel-dominated Morazan province. During peace talks Nov. 30, the U.S.-backed government and the Marxist-led rebels agreed to permit “free transit” of civilians on all roads during the December 24-26 and December 31-Jan. 2 holiday periods.
Daniel Ortega, leader of Nicaragua’s ruling junta, said his leftist Sandinista government is prepared to enter into talks with the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy to ease heightening church-state tension. Ortega’s comments followed a call last week by two of Nicaragua’s Catholic bishops for an immediate church-state dialogue. Tension has increased since the Jesuit order two weeks ago expelled Nicaragua’s education minister, Father Fernando Cardenal, after he refused to quit his government post.
A U.S. Air Force transport landed in a Sudanese border city, bringing medicine, blankets, tents and other emergency supplies to help relief workers cope with a massive exodus of refugees from drought-plagued Ethiopia. President Reagan ordered the emergency airlift after U.N. officials said 20 to 30 Ethiopian refugees, mostly children, were dying each day in Sudanese camps at Kassala from malnutrition, measles, tuberculosis and other ailments.
Governors facing a cut in Federal aid under President Reagan’s budget and tax proposals are criticizing his budget and tax plans. They say they would lose billions of dollars of Federal support at a time when they have been asked to take greater responsibility for domestic programs. The Administration defends its proposals as necessary and fair. One budget proposal tentatively approved by Mr. Reagan as part of his effort to reduce the Federal deficits in the next three years would eliminate the Federal revenue-sharing program, which has provided $74 billion in all-purpose fiscal assistance since it was established in 1972.
The President and First Lady return to the White House.
William J. Schroeder’s strokes were not caused by his artificial heart, the chief medical spokesman at his hospital in Louisville said. The conclusion was reached after a highly specialized test found no clots in Mr. Schroeder’s artificial heart or in the arteries of his chest, neck or brain. Blood clots were suspected as the cause of the strokes. A series of strokes suffered by William J. Schroeder did not result from the artificial heart he received last month, one of his doctors said in Louisville, Kentucky. “Basically, there isn’t any evidence that the heart has any… clots in it and we do not think there is any evidence for sure that it was the cause of the trouble,” Dr. Allan Lansing said. He said doctors were unsure what caused the strokes. Schroeder, meanwhile, spent a quiet day with his family as they exchanged a few Christmas gifts. “He looks much better today.” Dr. Robert Girardet said.
TIME magazine, in a letter to the editor in Sunday’s New York Times, accused Ariel Sharon of conducting “a propaganda campaign” in his $50-million libel suit in federal court in New York against TIME Inc. TIME Editor in Chief Henry Grunwald and Managing Editor Ray Cave, in a letter dated December 18, also charged that Sharon brought the suit against the wrong defendant — TIME — because he could not sue the Israeli public or the Kahan Commission, whose report concluded that it was Sharon who made the decision to send Falangist troops into Beirut refugee camps.
More than 100 people in St. Paul, Minnesota, got down on their knees to shout “Hallelujah!” and prayed for the salvation of the rock star Prince in a protest organized by two ministers who tried to cancel the Minnesota musician’s homecoming concert. But that did not stop the sexually suggestive star of the film “Purple Rain,” who began his first Minnesota concert appearance on schedule. “Hometown, hello! My name is Prince,” the spirited rock musician called out as purple flowers showered on the 17,500 screaming fans.
William D. Ruckelshaus said a congressional “gridlock” over how to rewrite the nation’s environmental laws was one reason he resigned as director of the Environmental Protection Agency. Speaking on the Independent Network News program “The Editor’s Desk,” he called for more flexible standards and cleanup deadlines to make it more practical for companies to clean up their toxic wastes.
At Mayor Koch’s request, police patrols were sharply increased on the city’s subway system for the holiday crowds yesterday as detectives hunted a gunman who shot four teen-agers on a subway train in lower Manhattan Saturday. The strengthened patrols for stations and platforms, involving more than 3,000 city and transit police officers, began yesterday afternoon and were to continue until midnight tonight, according to Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward and Transit Police Chief James Meehan. The object, they said, was to ease public fear and provide added protection for an anticipated crush of more than 3.5 million subway riders making final holiday shopping trips, visiting friends and traveling to and from Christmas Eve church services. In announcing the strengthened patrols, Commissioner Ward and other police officials cited Saturday’s shooting as one cause of public fear. “We’re doing it because of the shooting and the fear that riders might have,” Mr. Ward said through a spokesman, Alice T. McGillion. “It does not mean that we think this guy is going to strike again, but this is a heavy traveling time and we’re dealing with a public perception of fear.”
The mine on fire in Utah in which at least 25 miners died, was being sealed up to try to extinguish the fire that trapped the miners and prevented the removal of their bodies. The bodies of 12 miners were found Saturday at the Wilberg Mine near Huntington, dashing hopes that any of the 26 men and one woman had survived after the fire broke out Wednesday. Thirteen bodies were found Friday. Two other workers are presumed dead.
Engineers began control rod tests today at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California, which has been cranked up to half its rated 1.1 million kilowatt capacity. “We are continuing the tests that began last Thursday,” said Ron Rutkowski, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Company. “Today, control rod tests are being conducted and we are continuing the heat-balance test by measuring the steam produced.” The $5.4 billion plant on the central California coast is currently producing 500,000 kilowatts of power, enough electricity for 500,000 homes, Mr. Rutkowski said. The plant has been the target of protests by environmentalists, who assert that engineering flaws and its location near an offshore earthquake fault make it unsafe. Timothy Polich, an inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the control system allows some of the radioactive reactor coolant to flow out of the main structure and pass through equipment in an adjacent building. The apparatus maintains the composition of the coolant through a purification system. Three workers were slightly contaminated Friday by a leak in the system, it was reported.
[Ed: Though it was built less than a mile from the Shoreline Fault line, which was not known to exist at the time of construction, and is located less than three miles (4.8 km) from the Hosgri fault, a 2016 NRC probabilistic risk assessment of the plant, taking into account seismic risk, estimated the frequency of core damage at one instance per 7.6 million reactor years.]
Four adults in every 10 attended church or synagogue in a typical week in 1984, matching the figure recorded for 1983, the Gallup Poll reported. Churchgoing has remained remarkably constant since 1969, after having declined from the high point of 49% recorded in 1955 and 1958. Attendance has not varied by more than two percentage points since 1969. Since 1958, a peak year for church attendance, the decline in churchgoing has been sharpest among Catholics. Attendance at Mass fell 23 points between 1958 and 1982.
A power failure at a Chicago public hospital did not cause the deaths Thursday of two cancer patients who were on life-support machines, the Cook County coronor said today. Dr. Robert Stein, the medical examiner, said, “I will conclusively say this was not the cause of death” for the two patients at Cook County Hospital. He said at a news conference that preliminary autopsies had indicated that both deaths were caused by cancer. Although the electrical failure lasted 90 minutes, an alternative source allowed power to be restored within 15 minutes, Terry Hansen, the acting director of Cook County Hospital, said at the news conference. Hospital officials said a 50-year-old woman who died had received oxygen pumped manually while the power was out. They said a 43-year-old man’s respirator did not shut down, but his vital- signs monitor was powerless for 15 minutes. He died three and a half hours after the hospital’s power was fully restored.
Coast Guard crews worked today to clean up a five-mile stretch of beach on a large island in Puget Sound, after gallons of marine fuel dumped at sea began to wash ashore. Volunteers also tried to save hundreds of birds that were coated with the tar-like fuel. About 30 birds, mostly seagulls and ducks, were found dead Saturday on beaches between Clinton and Possession Point. Chief Petty Officer Lou Parris of the Coast Guard said about 1,500 gallons of the oil washed ashore Saturday on the southeast end of the Whidbey Island, about 10 miles north of Seattle. Investigators were still trying today to identify a vessel that apparently dumped the fuel Friday as it headed north in the busy channel south of the island, Mr. Parris said.
The first artificial comet should be seen throughout much of Western North America if early morning skies are clear tomorrow. The comet will be artificially produced in the southern sky by the release of barium vapor from a West German spacecraft 70,000 miles above the Pacific off Peru.
The Republican Party’s influence is stronger than it has been in many years, with about as many people now identifying themselves as Republicans as Democrats, according to recent New York Times/CBS News Polls.
A woman using her six children’s birthdays came up with the winning numbers for a $13-million payoff in Massachusetts’ Megabucks lottery, lottery officials said. Rosemarie Bowser, 37, of Braintree, Mass., was “speechless” when she found out from her newspaper that she had won the jackpot, a lottery spokesman said. The jackpot in the twice-weekly lottery grew to $13,045,160 after the two previous drawings produced no winners. The prize, the second-largest individual Megabucks payoff, is worth $489.193.50 annually for the next 20 years, taking into account a 25% deduction for taxes.
Hurricane Lili was downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved across the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center in Miami discontinued a hurricane watch for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico when the storm’s winds dropped from 75 m.p.h. to 55 m.p.h. Forecaster Gil Clark predicted that the storm would be downgraded to a depression by today “and lose its identity.”
NFC Wildcard Game:
New York Giants 16, Los Angeles Rams 13
The New York Giants scored ten early points and held on to beat the Los Angeles Rams, 16–13, and advance in the NFC playoffs. In a defensive struggle, the Giants managed to pull out a win with key defensive stands on the last two LA drives. After forcing the Rams to punt on the opening drive, New York scored first with kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh’s 37-yard field goal. On the Rams ensuing drive, Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor forced a fumble from Eric Dickerson, and defensive back Bill Currier recovered it at Los Angeles 23-yard line. This set up running back Rob Carpenter’s 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Giants a 10–0 lead. Mike Lansford’s 38-yard field goal in the second quarter cut the score to 10–3 going into halftime.
Haji-Sheikh kicked a 39-yard field goal in the third quarter, but this was countered by Dickerson’s 14-yard touchdown run, making the score 13–10. New York responded with Haji-Sheikh’s 36-yard field goal five minutes later to go up by 6 points. LA then took the ball back and drove to a first down on the Giants 7-yard line, with Dickerson rushing four times for 44 yards along the way. Dickerson picked up 3 more yards on the next play, but then Giants defensive end Leonard Marshall dropped fullback Dwayne Crutchfield for a 3-yard loss and Jeff Kemp’s 3rd down completion to Henry Ellard picked up just 2 yards. Faced with 4th and goal from the 5, the Rams decided to settle for Lansford’s 22-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 16–13 with 7:02 left in the game. Los Angeles caught a break on the Giants next possession when Joe Morris’ 61-yard run was eliminated by a holding penalty against center Kevin Belcher and the team ended up punting. This gave the Rams one last chance to drive for the tying field goal or winning touchdown at the 2:48 mark. However, they were unable to gain even a single first down. Faced with 4th and 6 after three plays, Kemp was sacked by George Martin and fumbled the ball. Linebacker Andy Headen recovered for New York on the Rams 33, enabling them to run out the rest of the clock. This game marked an impressive turnaround for the Giants, who had finished the previous year with a 3–12–1 record. Both teams combined for just 406 yards (214 for LA, 192 for New York). The only offensive star of the game was Dickerson, who rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown, though he rushed for only 37 yards on 12 carries in the first half, including his costly fumble. This was the first postseason meeting between the Giants and Rams.
Born:
Cary Williams, NFL cornerback (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 47-Ravens, 2012; Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Seattle Seahawks), in Miami, Florida.
Bernard Pollard, NFL safety (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 47-Ravens, 2012; Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans), in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Ernie Sims, NFL linebacker (Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys), in Tallahassee, Florida.
Rudy Sylvan, NFL tight end (Detroit Lions), in San Francisco, California.
Josh Satin, MLB pinch hitter, first baseman, and third baseman (New York Mets), in Hidden Hills, California.
Died:
Joan Lindsay, 88, Australian author (“Picnic at Hanging Rock”).
History Diaries 