A senior Northern Ireland prison official was shot and killed as he, two of his children, and their grandmother left St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, 40 miles southwest of Belfast, after attending Mass. Police said that Patrick Kerr, 38, in charge of general security at the Maze prison in Dublin, was shot at point-blank range by two masked gunmen who escaped. The outlawed Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for the killing, saying Kerr had harassed IRA prison inmates.
A British Defense Ministry official in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Government who was acquitted last week of charges of violating Britain’s Official Secrets Act has quit the civil service. Clive Ponting resigned to protest what he called the Government’s “inability to accept the implications” of the verdict at his much-publicized trial. He was accused of leaking a document concerning the sinking of the Argentine cruiser Belgrano during the Falkland war to a Labor Member of Parliament. He lost his security clearance even though the leaked document had no security classification.
Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi said in a speech in Milan that he was the target of an assassination plot by unspecified West German terrorists. At a meeting of his Socialist Party, he indicated that files indicating there was a plot to kill him were found in a hideout used by the West German terrorists. Neither Craxi nor his office provided any details.
UNESCO will keep close U.S. ties. This was decided in Paris at the first high-level meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization since the Reagan Administration withdrew from it in December. After an all-night negotiating session, delegates to the agency’s 50-nation executive board agreed to let the United States set up an observer mission that will keep in touch with the organization’s future activities. The United States, in announcing its decision to withdraw, charged that the agency had become politicized and anti-Western.
After a 22-hour meeting, the Executive Board of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization failed to reach agreement on a formula for tackling a financial crisis brought about by the U.S. withdrawal from the group. UNESCO Director General Amadou Mahtar M’Bow said the board is trying to duck its responsibility, declaring: “It is up to you to decide on recommendations.”
Kibbutz residents and villagers on Israel’s northern border are happy to see the Israeli Army getting out of southern Lebanon and many are ready to pay the price in terms of their security, they said. Eric Jacobs lives in what people like to call the last house in Israel: his backyard is nestled up against the rusty barbed wire border fence with Lebanon. In the days before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Palestinian gunners occasionally bounced 130-millimeter shells down the street leading to his home. Sitting in his living room this afternoon, a day after the Israeli Army completed the first phase of its three-part withdrawal from Lebanon, Mr. Jacobs described how peaceful the last two and a half years had been for him. After he had painted a picture of quiet nights and calm afternoon siestas, he was asked if he would have approved the pullout if he had been in the Cabinet and was required to vote. Mr. Jacobs fell silent for several moments, twisted the coffee mug in his lap and finally pronounced, “I think so.”
By all appearances Mr. Jacobs is not at all alone among his northern neighbors, for whom Operation Peace for Galilee — the Israeli invasion of Lebanon — was originally undertaken. Random interviews with kibbutzniks and villagers on Israel’s northern border indicate that the overwhelming majority of them are happy to see the Israeli Army getting out of Lebanon and many are ready to pay the price in terms of their own security.
Israeli “collaborators” in Sidon are increasingly vulnerable to attack with the withdrawal of Israeli troops in that region of southern Lebanon on Saturday. A day after the pullout, a local militia leader said to have been an “enforcer” for the Israelis was seized by an armed gang.
The White House said today that President Reagan telephoned President Hafez al-Assad of Syria Saturday to thank him for Syria’s aid in the return of an American reporter. “He thanked him for his role in assisting Jeremy Levin,” a White House spokesman, Mark Weinberg, said.
Kuwaiti women have renewed a call for voting rights in the only Persian Gulf Arab nation with an elected Parliament, but the few men allowed to vote are resisting the idea. Kuwait is to hold elections for the National Assembly Wednesday, and local newspapers reported today that several prominent women, including a member of the royal family, have renewed demands for political rights. But a poll of 1,856 men eligible to vote showed 58 percent opposed electoral rights for women and only 27 percent were in favor. The poll was conducted by the Arabic daily Al Anbaa and Kuwait University. Fewer than 57,000 men, or 3.5 per cent of the population of 1.7 million, are eligible to choose deputies for the next National Assembly.
The South Korean Government, after suffering the worst setback to its international reputation in several years, has spent the last few days trying to hold down its losses. Although insisting that the Government was blameless, some officials acknowledge having been badly embarrassed by the airport roughing-up that security agents gave Kim Dae Jung, the opposition figure, and American supporters who accompanied him home on February 8 from exile in the United States. The South Koreans’ worry was that in a few brief moments at the Seoul airport, they had frittered away some of the overseas good will they had worked hard to build. Now they had members of the United States Congress and other prominent Americans offering such remarks as, “I saw repression here today.” Some South Korean officials said they feared it could only reinforce any impression foreigners have of this country as a harsh place where the police beat people routinely.
The State Department said it is continuing an overall review of U.S.-New Zealand cooperation within the framework of the ANZUS (Australia-New Zealand-United States) treaty but will not comment on a New York Times report that a joint anti-submarine exercise scheduled February 28 near Hawaii has been canceled.
Eleven people were injured in New Caledonia when police clashed with pro-independence militants in the first serious outbreak of violence in more than a month, officials said. Police used tear gas, grenades and clubs to disperse about 50 militant Kanaks near the town of Thio, a stronghold of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front. In three months, about 20 people have died in ethnic violence in the French territory in the South Pacific.
The first free-flight test of an unarmed U.S. cruise missile in Canada will take place Tuesday, the National Defense Ministry in Ottawa announced. The missile will be launched by a B-52 over the Beaufort Sea and follow a 1,600mile flight south and west across northeast British Columbia and northern Alberta to the Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range at Cold Lake, Alberta. The route is similar to the first U.S. cruise test, conducted Jan. 15, in which the missiles were attached to an aircraft.
Salvadoran army commanders in a rebel-dominated area north of the capital have prevented food shipments from the Catholic relief agency Caritas from reaching desperately needy villagers, Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas of San Salvador charged. He said that parishioners in northern Chalatenango province reported the army’s action to the archdiocese. Army spokesmen were not available for comment on the charge.
Thousands of homeless squatters have contributed to the large population increase in Managua, Nicaragua’s capital. Managua’s population has grown from 600,000 to nearly 900,000 since the Sandinista Government came to power in 1979. Thousands of the new residents are living in “spontaneous settlements” indistinguishable from similar slums in Brazil and Peru.
Colombian narcotics traffickers are believed to have offered up to $350,000 for the kidnapping of Francis M. Mellon, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, a spokesman for the agency reported. “This threat is being taken very seriously,” said spokesman Robert Feldkamp. Information on the kidnaping threat was based on intelligence reports from Colombia, the DEA spokesman said. Mellon, 50, recently announced his resignation and is scheduled to leave the agency March 1.
Relations between the Ethiopian Government and the Western nations and organizations involved in the famine relief effort here appear to have reached their lowest point since huge amounts of aid began to pour into this country last autumn. In recent days the two groups have leveled serious charges at one another, both in public and in private. “There’s a lot of bile flowing,” an international civil servant said. “This government has been very obstructive and very difficult to help.”
Aid to the Sudan is being reduced by countries in an effort to persuade President Gaafar al-Nimeiry to change his country’s ailing economy. American officials said the United States had frozen its economic assistance, and that other countries, including Saudi Arabia, were curtailing their aid. One State Department official said the United States had acted even though the freeze might set off events that could lead to President Nimeiry’s downfall. “We have no choice,” the official said. “Even if we wanted to bail him out, we don’t have enough money available to do it.”
The famine in Ethiopia will most likely spread to much of the rest of Africa in the coming years, according to a report issued by a research group that monitors the earth’s natural systems. In its second annual “State of the World” report, the Worldwatch Institute warned that population growth and soil erosion over much of Africa was causing a gradual but inexorable decline in per capita production of food grain for the continent. “The situation will get worse,” Lester R. Brown, president of the institute and director of the study, said in a recent interview. “There is nothing happening either on the population side or the food side to arrest the slide.”
An artificial heart implantation was “perfect,” Dr. William C. DeVries, the chief surgeon said. In a three- and-a-half-hour operation at Humana Hospital Audubon in Louisville, Kentucky, Murray Haydon, a 58-year-old man who was dying of a heart disease became the third person to receive a permanent artificial heart. Tonight, doctors described Mr. Haydon’s condition as “stable,” and said at 6 P.M. that he squeezed his wife’s hand as he awakened from the anesthesia. Mr. Haydon’s was the fastest of the three implant operations. But Dr. Alan M. Lansing, the chief spokesman for the heart team, said the speed of the operation would not have a direct bearing on his recovery.
President Reagan returns to the White House from the long weekend at the Ranch.
U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, fending off questions about sexism and strife at the White House, dismissed suggestions that she is leaving her job because of conflicts with Secretary of State George P. Shultz. Kirkpatrick, in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” appeared relaxed and smiled frequently as she answered a variety of questions about U.S. foreign policy and political machinations in the Reagan Administration. Kirkpatrick rejected the view she was too abrasive for the taste of other major foreign policy advisers to President Reagan and emphasized, “I don’t have any problem with George Shultz.”
Delta Air Lines considered barring AIDS victims from its flights, but decided against such a move after medical evidence showed it was not warranted, a company spokesman said in Atlanta. Delta had notified the U.S. Department of Transportation “several weeks ago” that if airline studies found AIDS victims presented a health hazard to other passengers, it was going to implement a rule to prohibit them from flying on Delta, spokesman William Berry said.
New York, New Jersey and Illinois are among the many states pursuing what economic development officials consider the catch of the 1980’s: General Motors’ $5 billion factory to build its Saturn cars and the 6,000 to 15,000 jobs it will create. Braving the snow and ice here, more than a dozen governors have been ushered into a small, sparsely furnished conference room in the suburb of Warren, Michigan. There, they have delivered sales pitches for their states and answered questions from officials who are deciding where to manufacture the company’s answer to the imported models that dominate the small- car market. Governor Kean of New Jersey had his turn on Friday, and the manufacturer has appointments with at least five more governors, including Governor Cuomo.
First class postage rises from 20 cents to 22 cents. The price of a first-class stamp went up 2 cents to 22 cents and a postcard went up a penny to 14 cents, the first postal increase in more than three years. Other rates increased an average of 10%. The increase is the first since November 1, 1981, and the 13th rate change since postal stamps were made compulsory in 1885. Postal officials indicated they aim to keep rates at the new levels for five years.
South Dakota Governor William J. Janklow has signed a bill allocating $95,000 to send the entire 105-member Legislature to Washington next week to lobby for farm measures. Janklow said it was a tragedy that the Legislature has to go to such desperate measures to demonstrate the plight of rural America. Janklow said a bipartisan effort will be made to draw up the message that will be delivered.
General William C. Westmoreland’s suit against CBS has been settled out of court. Lawyers for both sides had been holding talks to settle the $120 million libel suit. Under terms of the settlement, CBS will not disavow the 1982 television documentary on the Vietnam War that was the basis of the suit and will not pay any money to General Westmoreland. “The court of public opinion” was the appropriate forum for deciding who was right in the case, both sides in the case will say in a joint statement, legal sources said.
A driver embroiled in a family argument Saturday said, “I’m going to end it all,” and swerved his auto into oncoming traffic, killing his daughter and two people in another car, officials said today. The driver, Ralph Ambriz of Whittier, California, 41 years old, was booked at the jail ward of Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center for investigation of murder, Sheriff’s Deputy Lynda Edmonds of Los Angeles Country said. Grace Ambriz, 15 years old, died, according to Sgt. Irene McReynolds of the sheriff’s office. She described the family argument as “heated” but would not disclose its subject. Mr. Ambriz’s wife and son were also injured, the authorities said. The victims in the other car were identified as Mary Williams and her daughter, Pamela Williams.
Guards fired warning shots at an overcrowded prison in Indian Springs, Nevada to break up battles between white and black prisoners that left seven people injured, officials said today. Once they ended the fights, the authorities locked the prison’s 1,010 inmates into their cells. Officials said 600 prisoners were fighting Saturday night. “We had a white inmate stab a black and the thing just snowballed,” said Capt. Walt Sanders at the Southern Desert Correctional Center, 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas. “We’ve got a 60-40 ratio of blacks and they just went around getting revenge on anyone they could.” Sgt. Bernie Daniel, a guard, said: “There were groups of 30 to 40 inmates chasing individuals, throwing rocks.” Captain Sanders said in telephone interview today that the prison was “pretty quiet.” The prison, opened in April 1982, was designed to hold 612 inmates.
Five children aged 2 months to 6 years old died early today in a fire started by a short circuit in an electric heater, officials said. The children were identified as Shakita Walker, 6 years old, and her brothers and sisters Lamont, 4, Shonda, 2, Cory, 14 months, and Yvette, 2 months. Three adults and two children escaped the fire in the two-story frame house in southwest Dade County, Stu Kaufman, a spokesman for the Metro- Dade Fire and Rescue Service, said. Delphine Walker, 24 years old, identified as the mother of the children, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment of burns of the lower legs and arms. Mr. Kaufman said the blaze resulted in “one of the worst fire deaths we’ve had,” the equal of the previous high toll for a residential fire in unincorporated Dade County. Fire investigators said that the blaze had been caused by a short in a wire from a heater to a wall outlet.
A car slammed into a fast-food restaurant Saturday, causing a natural gas explosion that injured 16 people, the authorities said. “It was like the world came to an end,” said Cpl. Danny Rees of the Jefferson Parish sheriff’s office, who evacuated the Popeye’s fried chicken store and nearby businesses just before the explosion. The car, whose driver fled the scene, plowed through a natural gas line as it careered into the restaurant, according to a state police trooper. Gas built up inside the restaurant, and it was apparently ignited by a flame or other heat source, Trooper Wallace Gettys said. Police officers said they smelled gas right after the accident, and told people to leave the area. Twelve Popeye’s employees, two firefighters and two sheriff’s deputies suffered minor injuries, including cuts, Trooper Gettys said.
Tens of thousands of Mardi Gras revelers jammed parade routes in New Orleans to cheer and scramble for souvenirs as carnival spirit mounted. The most glittering procession of the day, put on by the Krewe of Bacchus, was headed by actor Lorne Greene. The 22 floats illustrating the theme In Vino Veritas — In Wine There Is Truth — caused massive traffic jams, but police said there were no major problems during the day’s festivities, which included three other parades. Crowds of a million or more were expected for the parades on Tuesday.
People for the American Way, a liberal lobbying group, charged that many high school biology textbooks have evolved into watered-down tomes as publishers cave in to pressure from fundamentalists. The group, which has battled with advocates of the biblical theory of creation for several years, complained that three of the 18 textbooks it examined made no mention of evolution, the scientific theory that humans evolved from apes.
Colombian drug lord the ‘Godmother of Cocaine’ Griselda Blanco is arrested in Irvine, California. She is later convicted and serves 15 years for manufacturing and distributing cocaine.
Many women are cocaine addicts. The addiction appears to have caught women at all socioeconomic levels, ranging from those who use the drug regularly to those who use it only occasionally. The motivations for using cocaine and the repercussions of its use appear in some ways to be dramatically different for women than for men.
The number of smoking-related deaths — from many diseases and even fires — has doubled in the last 20 years and now accounts for 500,000 each year, an epidemiologist reported in Population and Development Review. “The way it is going, there’s not much basis for optimism in terms of any rapid decline in mortality until we get a substantial drop in smoking,” said R. T. Ravenholt, director of World Health Surveys Inc. in Bethesda, Md. Ravenholt said about 147,000 cancer deaths, 240,000 deaths related to heart disease, 61,000 deaths from respiratory diseases other than cancer, 4,000 deaths from injuries — such as from fires — and thousands of other deaths are related to smoking.
Whooping cough vaccine is not being conserved by up to half of the nation’s private physicians, despite Federal recommendations that they do so, Federal officials said. The vaccine is scarce, and the officials say the shortage has worsened and may continue into most of this year.
Dutch speed skater Hein Vergeer becomes World All-round champion.
Panamanian jockey Laffit Pincay Jr is third to ride 6,000 winners; wins aboard Doria’s Delight in the 5th race at Santa Anita Park.
27th Daytona 500: After taking pole at then-record speed of 205.114 mph Bill Elliott dominates race leading 136 of 200 laps.
Born:
Štefan Ružička, Slovak NHL right wing (Philadelphia Flyers), in Nitra, Czechoslovakia.
Anne Curtis, Australian-born Filipino actress (“In Your Eyes”, “No Other Woman”) and commercial model, in Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia.
Ahna O’Reilly, American actress (“The Help”), in Palo Alto, California.
Died:
Wanda Perry, 67, actress (“Roberta”, “Death of a Salesman”).
History Diaries 