Conservative Republican senators called on President Reagan to take action to counter what they said were Soviet violations of arms control agreements. The senators also urged Mr. Reagan to make full Soviet compliance “a precondition to serious negotiation.” Their appeals were made on the eve of Secretary of State George P. Shultz’s departure for arms talks in Geneva with Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko. The senators made public three letters, all dated today, to Mr. Reagan, urging a tough stand on the verification question. Bipartisan Praise At the same time a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders praised the Administration’s plans for the resumption of arms control talks. The Administration, anticipating criticism from conservatives about negotiating with Moscow, has publicly stated it would not negotiate away its plans for research on a long-term plan.
The Soviet missile that passed over Scandinavia this week was an old, unarmed cruise missile that went off course when it was being used as a target drone, the Soviet Union was quoted as saying in its first statement on the incident. The Norwegian Government said Moscow acknowledged that the missile may have flown over Finland and Norway and had apologized and that Norway considered the matter closed.
A Polish security policeman on trial for the murder of a pro-Solidarity priest testified today that he had been told not to worry about the early investigation of the crime because the police officials handling it were “good guys.” In his second day of testimony, Waldemar Chmielewski, a cashiered lieutenant, for the first time in the trial named two high-ranking officers in the security apparatus as being among those whom his superior and co-defendent, former Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, listed as “good guys.” The 30-year-old Mr. Chmielewski, whose father and father-in-law are policemen, said in his sometimes tearful account that after he helped throw the body of the Rev. Jerzy Popiełuszko into a reservoir, he went to Captain Piotrowski fearful that he was being followed. Testifying in a stammer that he has developed since the murder, Mr. Chmielewski said Captain Piotrowski, the central figure in the plot according to the testimony so far, had told him, “Do not worry” — that the people assigned to investigate “are good guys.”
Fourteen East Germans abandoned a four-month sit- in at West Germany’s Embassy in Prague and returned home today, West German Government officials said. The move left 14 people who are seeking passage to the West holed up inside the embassy in the Czechoslovak capital, Bonn officials said.
A major dispute has erupted in Israel’s quasi-Governmental relief organization over who was responsible for the disclosures in the press about the airlifting of Jews from Ethiopia that finally compelled the Government to confirm the secret airlifts Thursday. Yehuda Dominitz, a key figure in the rescue effort and head of the immigration department of the organization, the Jewish Agency, was ordered to take a leave by the head of the agency, Haim Aharon. It was reported that Mr. Dominitz had disclosed information about the operation. Mr. Dominitz refused to take the leave, saying he would not be made “a scapegoat” for what is now seen by senior agency officials as one of Israel’s worst-handled operations in terms of publicity.
Israel’s airlift of Ethiopian Jews was condemned by Ethiopia. It said the airlift was “a gross interference” in Ethiopia’s affairs. Israel confirmed this week that it had flown 10,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in recent years.
Rival Christian and Druze militias failed today to resolve snags holding up the reopening of the coastal highway linking Beirut with Israel’s occupation zone in southern Lebanon, local radio stations said. Government and militia leaders now hope to agree on a security plan for the highway on Monday, the state radio reported. About 200 internal security policemen were originally scheduled to begin defusing mines and removing militia barricades on the road on Thursday. They were to prepare the road for Lebanese Army troops, who are scheduled to move into the southern third of Lebanon as Israel begins withdrawing its occupation forces.
Pope Shenuda III, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, returned to Cairo today after 40 months of banishment and said he did not think his release would stir any domestic trouble in Egypt. He was welcomed by hundreds of his followers. Pope Shenuda, who looked fatigued but happy, told reporters at the papal residence at St. Mark’s Cathedral in central Cairo: “I do not expect troubles. We expect the grace of God to control the whole matter.” Pope Shenuda, 62 years old, was banished in September 1981 to a monastery in the western desert after President Anwar el-Sadat, a month before his assassination, accused him of instigating sectarian strife in Egypt. Pope Shenuda will lead a Christmas mass for about 4,000 people at midnight Sunday in St. Mark’s. Under the Coptic Christian calendar, Christmas falls Monday. Pope Shenuda was freed Wednesday by President Hosni Mubarak.
Iran said Iraqi warplanes killed 9 people and wounded 25 in attacks today on towns and villages in the southern sector of the war front. The official Iranian press agency said the planes struck in Khuzistan Province at the border town of Bostan and four nearby villages. Two raids in the region on Monday and Tuesday killed 19 and wounded more than 100, the agency said. Seven others were wounded in a raid on Wednesday in Ilam Province to the north, it said.
A top Indian Government scientist was quoted today as saying that negligence by Union Carbide led to the gas leak at a Bhopal pesticide plant on December 2-3 that killed more than 2,000 people and injured 60,000. The scientist. Dr. S. Varadarajan, director general of the Government’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, said the United States-based corporation had been making lethal methyl isocyanate gas in its plant without adequate safety measures or contingency plans for a leak, the Indian press reported. Lawsuits totaling tens of billions of dollars have already been filed in various American courts against Union Carbide, although jurisdictional questions remain unresolved. It addition, it is expected that thousands of compensation claims will be filed in Indian courts.
Two of five men condemned to death in a highly publicized subversion trial in Vietnam have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, Vietnam’s official press agency reported. The death sentences were handed down December 18 at the end of the trial in Hồ Chí Minh City, formerly Saigon. A total of 21 men were tried on charges of seeking to overthrow the Vietnamese Government with Chinese backing. Apart from the 5 men sentenced to death, 3 were sentenced to life imprisonment and the rest got terms ranging from 8 to 20 years. The trial was reported to be the biggest espionage and treason trial since the capture of South Vietnam in 1975.
In Hanoi, Vietnamese officials have said that evidence emerging from this trial played a part in the decision to pull back from their plan to release to the United States the inmates of the “re-education” camps. They say they fear the exiles would join subversive groups abroad working against Hanoi. Vietnam has also said that at least one of the plotters who received a death sentence, Trần Văn Bá, a former student leader, had made contact with American diplomats in Bangkok. The United States has denied the accusation. According to Hanoi’s investigations, the plot had reached surprisingly serious proportions. Vietnam has said the plotters intended to begin a campaign of terrorism in several cities early this year, while at the same time “encircling the towns” through subversion in the countryside.
Vietnam will observe a 41-day cease-fire along its border with China to mark 35 years of diplomatic relations between them and to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the Vietnam News Agency said today.
The tombs of 13 Ming emperors will be rebuilt in one of the largest archeological restorations taken by China. The mausoleums, which are north of Peking, and the surrounding valley will be developed into tourist attractions, connected to Peking by a 26- mile overhead railway.
A major new lobbying campaign is planned by the Administration to persuade Congress to renew aid to Nicaraguan rebels, senior officials say. Despite repeated votes in recent years by the House against aiding the rebels, the Administration believes it has a chance of gaining approval for such aid in March or April because of growing opposition in Congress to the Nicaraguan Government and its ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union. Although detailed plans for the lobbying effort are not final, the officials said, it will include publication later this month of a report on a military buildup in Nicaragua and efforts by Government officials to focus public and Congressional attention on Soviet arms shipments to Nicaragua. United States aid to the rebels, which was funneled through the Central Intelligence Agency starting in 1981, ran out in September. Since then the rebels have financed their operations with private donations and with money and arms provided by governments, including Israel’s, according to rebel leaders and Administration officials.
A Nicaraguan Indian rebel leader was seriously wounded by rocket fire Tuesday in a battle with Government troops in Nicaragua but is expected to recover, a rebel spokesman said today. The rebel leader, Brooklyn Rivera, who heads the Indian insurgent alliance Misurasata, was taken on foot through a mountainous region on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast to Costa Rica, where he is expected to arrive Sunday, the rebel spokesman said.
Colombian guerrillas reportedly signed an agreement today to withdraw from one of their bases, ending a three-week confrontation with the army. The rebels of the April 19 Movement, known as M-19, agreed to leave their camp 180 miles southwest of Bogota within four weeks, the Bogota radio station Caracol said. The military began an offensive to drive the rebels out of the camp after learning that the guerrillas had planted land mines around the site. Five soldiers and 14 rebels have died in the fighting, which has interrupted a nationwide truce arranged last summer. The radio report said the rebels had agreed to leave the mountainside camp and move to an area on the opposite side of the mountain. It was not immediately known if the rebels would be allowed to keep their weapons. The radio said the accord had been signed by an M-19 leader, Alvaro Fayad, and a former Communications Minister, Bernardo Ramirez, a member of a truce commission.
Senate Republicans started working on their own deficit-reduction package after a meeting with several of President Reagan’s top advisers. The unusual meeting was organized by the majority leader, Bob Dole, a day after Administration officials said Mr. Reagan’s 1986 budget will not propose enough spending reductions to cut the more than $200 billion deficit to $100 billion in 1988. President Reagan adopted the same goal last month, but because of economic conditions and the President’s decision not to make dramatic cuts in the military buildup, the Administration package now projects a $140 billion deficit that year. Another $1.1 billion was added to the President’s proposed budget when Agriculture Secretary John R. Block won delays and modifications in the plan to cut farm price supports.
President Reagan meets with Congressional Leadership to discuss arms control.
President Reagan attends a meeting with the Department of Transportation to discuss the end of Amtrak.
House Democrats defied their leaders by replacing Representative Melvin Price of Illinois as chairman of the Armed Services Committee with Representative Les Aspin of Colorado, a relatively junior member of the panel and a sharp critic of Pentagon policies. The move means that House Democrats are likely to take a more combative attitude toward President Reagan’s military policies by demanding greater cuts in arms spending, and more serious efforts to reach arms control agreement with the Soviet Union. The vote also points up the growing impatience and frustration of younger Democrats, who are now moving into leadership posts and feel their party must modernize its message to the electorate.
A $50,000 bail offer was refused by Bernhard Hugo Goetz, who has been charged with shooting four youths in a subway train. The offer was made by Jose M. Gonzalez, a telephone technician, who appeared at the Correction Department offices on Centre Street with a check for $50,000, saying that it his was his savings. Mr. Goetz, saying he wanted to arrange his own bail, also turned down an offer from his family.
A woman armed with a pistol shot her way onto a Pan American World Airways jetliner today, wounding an airline employee. She then held four hostages for more than six hours until she was wounded by a team of police officers that stormed the Boeing 727, officials said. None of the hostages were harmed. The woman, who demanded to be flown to South America, first took seven hostages when she commandeered the plane at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport about 3 PM. She released three of them three hours later, but held an elderly couple and a woman with her 8-month-old baby at gunpoint until a Special Weapons and Tactics team rushed onto the aircraft about 9:25 PM, according to Joseph Griffin, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
As David Dene Martin died early today in the Louisiana electric chair for the murder of four people, the Harvey family marched outside the prison in freezing weather to show their support for the death penalty. Vernon and Elizabeth Harvey and their daughter, Lizabeth, 14 years old, said they would attend every execution they could in Louisiana until the public understood the suffering of crime victims. Mrs. Harvey’s daughter was raped and murdered by Robert Lee Willie, who died eight days ago in the state’s electric chair. The adult Harveys were witnesses at Mr. Willie’s execution.
The White House counsel, Fred F. Fielding, today said that he had asked the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether Michael K. Deaver, deputy White House chief of staff, had failed to comply with Federal reporting requirements in connection with a real estate investment. Mr. Fielding said he made the request weeks ago, adding, “I know that their inquiry is ongoing.”
Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., underwent surgery today for cancer of the prostate, the Supreme Court’s public information office announced today. The surgery was performed at the Rochester Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn., where the 77-year- old Justice is expected to remain for 10 to 14 days, a Court spokesman said.
The State Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that North Dakota has a new Governor. George Sinner, a Democrat, defeated Governor Allen I. Olson, a Republican, in November. Mr. Sinner contended he had the right to assume office January 1. But Mr. Olson said he would not vacate the executive office before Saturday, four years after he took the job on January 6, 1981.
Supporters of the imprisoned pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Clairton, Pennsylvania, were arrested in the church by sheriff’s deputies. Seven people had barricaded themselves in the church to protest the ouster by the local synod of the Rev. D. Douglas Roth, leader of a militant campaign to end unemployment in the Clairton area. Their surrender took place peacefully at 7:40 A.M. although baseball bats and gas masks had been seen inside Trinity Lutheran Church and supporters of the 33-year-old minister, the Rev. D. Douglas Roth, had promised they would engage in “defensive violence.” Among those arrested were the Rev. William M. Rex Jr., 36, a Lutheran minister, and Paul Brandt, 34, an unemployed shipbuilder. Both have been charged with using skunk oil and water-filled balloons to disrupt a children’s Christmas party in a Pittsburgh church.
The Nebraska Supreme Court today overturned an eight-month jail sentence for contempt imposed on a fundamentalist minister after he refused to close an uncertified church school. The high court ruled that the Cass County District Court erred by handing down criminal contempt sanctions against the minister, the Rev. Everett Sileven, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Louisville, Nebraska, after he was charged with civil contempt. The Supreme Court, however, rejected Mr. Sileven’s argument that the trial court erred in finding him guilty of willful disobedience because his religious beliefs forced him to disregard an injunction.
Union leaders from Chrysler Corporation plants reversed themselves today, voting not to seek early contract talks with the company. They decided instead to wait until closer to the October 15 expiration of the current agreement. Because of concessions made in the company’s financial crisis from 1978 to 1981, the 60,500 production workers at Chrysler plants are paid about $1.25 an hour less than those at the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation.
Two of four boys suspected of fatally beating a 6-year-old boy with hearing and speech impairments were charged in the case today, the authorities said. “The two oldest were charged and the charges stem from the homicide,” said Lieut. E. G. Savage of the West Palm Beach Police. “I can’t elaborate on anything else.” The four boys, 4, 9, 10 and 13 years old, were considered suspects in the case, although the authorities said they probably did not mean to kill the child. Assistant State Attorney Jeanne Howard said she doubted the younger boys would face any charges. According to a police report, the boys repeatedly punched and kicked 6-year-old Torrence Davis outside the Pleasant City Community Center on November 25 after an argument. One day later, the report said, Torrence died as a result of his injuries.
The medical profession may have done a splendid technical job with David, the 12- year-old “bubble boy” who died last year after living almost all his life in isolation, but it failed him miserably as a human being, a minister involved in the case contends. The Rev. Raymond J. Lawrence, a former staff member at Texas Children’s Hospital, where David was treated for a rare disorder that left him with no immunity to disease, said the creation of the plastic bubble in which the boy lived suggested the medical world had drifted into a “technocratic imperialism.”
Governor Richard D. Lamm has announced that he will not run for any office in 1986. The announcement, made extemporaneously at the end of his annual State of the State Message on Thursday, ended months of speculation over whether Mr. Lamm would run for a fourth term in 1986, or seek the Democratic nomination to the Senate that year if Senator Gary Hart, also a Democrat, retires to run again for President. The 49-year-old Mr. Lamm was first elected in 1974, campaigning as a liberal pro-environment candidate favoring the right to abortion. But as Colorado’s economy declined in the 1970’s and the Federal budget deficit grew, he began to sound more like a Republican. He attracted national attention last year when he said the terminally ill have a “duty to die” and let “our kids, build a reasonable life.”
Sydney Biddle Barrows pleaded not guilty yesterday to one count of promoting prostitution stemming from her alleged operation of a bordello that reputedly catered to corporate executives and Arab sheiks.
The business partner of Agriculture Secretary John R. Block has defaulted on a $400,000 emergency disaster loan from the Farmers Home Administration, the Government says. Mr. Block’s partner, John W. Curry, failed to make the first repayment on the loan New Year’s Day, said Victor Rhea, local supervisor for the agency. Representative Jim Leach, Republican of Iowa, has questioned whether Mr. Block could have benefited from the loan. Mr. Block said last summer that any loan Mr. Curry might have received from the agency was being used on Mr. Curry’s own land and not on land he may own jointly with Mr. Block. The loan was used to finance activities on 13 farms in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois, Mr. Rhea said.
Residents of Memphis dug out today from a 10-inch snowfall that paralyzed the city, forcing motorists to abandon their cars and closing schools and businesses. Firefighters battled snow and ice at an early morning fire that killed two children in a downtown residence. The unexpected storm began Thursday morning and continued through the day. The police said 162 accidents were reported in 12 hours. Interstate 240 and most city streets were passable late today, but were still covered with snow and ice. It was the most snow since 16 inches fell in March 1968.
Changes in farm and dairy support proposals have been won by Agriculture Secretary John R. Block. David A. Stockman, the Budget Director, had proposed to end the dairy price support program next year and to slash the amount of Federal crop subsidies each farm may receive. Mr. Block insisted on a more gradual reduction of spending levels for subsidies and price support loans.
The Atari Corporation, which is believed to be short of cash after disappointing Christmas sales, is expected to exhibit at least three new computers this weekend at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev. On a different stage at the trade show, which may draw almost 100,000 people, a number of large Japanese electronics manufacturers are expected to show off their first home computer/entertainment systems for the United States market, with prices below $500. Analysts are uncertain about the prospects both for Atari and the Japanese companies, which are believed to be Sony, Matsushita, Yamaha, Pioneer and perhaps eight others. For Atari, the big question is whether it has the resources to go against Apple Computer Inc., the International Businesss Machines Corporation and Commodore International Ltd. in a battle for consumers in the $700-to-$1,500 range of personal computers.
Prices of crude oil and heating oil plummeted again yesterday on markets around the world, and traders talked of light crude oil slipping below $25 a barrel sometime soon. Reaching that benchmark would have been almost unthinkable even several months ago, when the same oil sold for $29 or $30 a barrel. Since then, a glut of light oil and a mild winter have resulted in competitive price reductions by North Sea producers and some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1184.96.
Born:
Eric Weddle, NFL safety (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 56-Rams, 2021; Pro Bowl, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018; San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Rams), in Fontana, California.
Michael Griffin, NFL safety (Pro Bowl, 2008, 2010; Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers), in Austin, Texas.
Al Jefferson, NBA center and power forward (Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Charlotte Bobcats-Hornets, Indiana Pacers), in Monticello, Mississippi.
Scott Sizemore, MLB third baseman and second baseman (Detroit Tigers, Oakland A’s, New York Yankees), in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Fernando Rees, Brazilian race car driver, in São Paulo, Brazil.
Died:
Brian Gwynne Horrocks, 89, English Army Lieutenant General, author (“A Full Life”; “Corps Commander”), and film consultant (“A Bridge Too Far”).
History Diaries 