Gunmen hijacked a T.W.A. plane with 104 Americans and 49 other people aboard and forced it to fly from Athens to Beirut to Algiers and then back to Beirut, where one passenger, a man, was shot to death early the next day. A hijacker said he was an “American marine.” [Actually, Navy diver Robert Stethem.] There were either two or three hijackers and they were reported to be members of the Islamic Holy War terrorist group. After the second stop in Beirut, the plane left again for Algiers, and the hijackers threatened to kill Greek passengers unless a companion, seized earlier in Athens, was freed.
President Reagan is awakened before 7 AM with the news of the hijacking of TWA flight 847 on route from Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy.
The Reagan Administration, involved in its most serious hijacking crisis since taking office, said today that it would not yield to demands made by the terrorists aboard the plane. Bernard Kalb, the State Department spokesman, said, “The United States strongly condemns the hijacking of T.W.A. Flight 847 as it does all other such acts of terrorism.”
Three political activists were sentenced today to terms ranging from two to three and a half years after being found guilty of fomenting civil disorder by planning a 15-minute strike. The strike never took place. In a hushed Gdansk courtroom, Judge Krzysztof Zieniuk declared that the 11-day proceedings did not constitute “a political trial but just a normal trial.” Then, in what relatives of the defendants described as a calm, low voice, he read off the sentences. They were the stiffest penalties handed out to any opposition figures since the three defendants were freed under an amnesty 11 months ago along with some 600 other Solidarity activists. Since that time, the number of prisoners held for political activities is reported by Roman Catholic Church sources to have risen beyond 120.
The State Department said today that it was considering taking retaliatory action against the Polish Government for its trend of “increasing repression,” including the convictions of three prominent Solidarity members. Bernard Kalb, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement, “We are deeply distressed that three prominent figures in the Solidarity movement, Adam Michnik, Bogdan Lis, and Władysław Frasyniuk, have been sentenced to terms ranging up to three and a half years in prison on charges of inciting public unrest.” He did not say what actions were being considered, but the United States recently eased some of the economic sanctions invoked against Poland in 1982 because of the martial-law crackdown on the Solidarity movement. Economic retaliation could include reimposing a ban on Polish airline flights to the United States, which were reinstated in April, or taking away new fishing allowances for Polish vessels in American coastal waters. A third, more serious, punishment would be to oppose rescheduling of the Polish debt.
An American diplomat who Moscow says was caught in the act of spying is being expelled from the Soviet Union, the Tass press agency said today. Tass said the action foiled “a major espionage action by the United States.” The official press agency said the diplomat, Paul M. Stombaugh, who is a political officer specializing in the Soviet Baltic republics, was detained in Moscow Thursday “in the act of committing an espionage action.” A spokesman for the United States Embassy declined to comment on the report. Mr. Stombaugh, reached by telephone, also declined to comment, but said he was not aware he was being expelled.
The stepchildren of Andrei D. Sakharov said today that they were alarmed by the apparent disappearance of the Soviet dissident and his wife, Yelena G. Bonner, from their apartment in the Volga River city of Gorky. At a news conference here, Aleksei I. Semyonov, Mrs. Bonner’s son by a previous marriage, said he could not exclude the possibility that Dr. Sakharov might be dead. “If Sakharov were to die, the behavior of the K.G.B. would be exactly what it is now,” said Mr. Semyonov, using the initials of the Soviet secret police.
Prime Minister Bettino Craxi of Italy said today that his country would seek to cooperate with a French-sponsored high technology program, but would not rule out participating in President Reagan’s program on research into space-based weapons. Speaking at a Renaissance palace here after two days of meetings with President Francois Mitterrand of France, Mr. Craxi continued his effort to achieve what Italians have called a “harmonizing” of the American space proposal with a French technology proposal known as “Eureka.” Mr. Craxi’s stand was significant as another indication that despite French resistance to Mr. Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as ‘Star Wars,’ the European allies — and European companies — will find it difficult to resist the lure of high technology contracts.
The Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army agreed today to release the 21 Finnish soldiers of a United Nations unit whom it has been holding hostage for a week, United Nations and Israeli military sources said. The release, scheduled to take place Saturday at 11 A.M. in the southern Lebanon village of Merj ‘Uyun, was decided upon by the commander of the South Lebanon Army, General Antoine Lahd, after he became convinced that 11 S.L.A. men whom the Finns turned over to the Shiite militia Amal on June 7 had indeed defected, Israeli military sources said. General Lahd told the Israeli Army, which arms, trains and advises his militia, of his decision this evening, an Israeli Army spokesman said. A representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross met alone Thursday with the 11 South Lebanon Army militiamen in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, where Amal was holding them. According to United Nations sources, the 11 men said they did not want to return to General Lahd’s militia or their homes in the area along the Israel-Lebanon border that Israel refers to as its security zone. The 11 South Lebanon Army men are Shiites. General Lahd is a Maronite Christian, and the ranks of the South Lebanon Army are predominantly Christian.
Two suicide bombers crashed a car loaded with explosives into a Lebanese Army position in West Beirut today, killing 23 people and wounding 36, the state radio said. The explosion rocked Beirut shortly after nightfall and left shattered bodies along the seaside boulevard. The army’s predominantly Shiite Muslim Sixth brigade, which controls West Beirut, appealed through radio stations for “urgent blood donations and for all doctors to report immediately to duty at hospitals to save the lives of victims.”
Iran said it hit Baghdad with a long-range missile early today, hours before a 15-day Iraqi moratorium on bombardments was due to take effect. The official Iranian press agency, monitored in London, said the ground-to-ground missile struck the Iraqi capital in retaliation for air and missile raids against Iranian cities on Friday. President Saddam Hussein of Iraq said Friday that his country would stop bombardments of cities this morning, but warned they would resume if Iran continued its attacks.
The Reagan Administration said today that as of Tuesday it would not allow any more Cuban immigrants into the United States. The move virtually ends a once-promising refugee agreement with the Cuban Government. About 1,000 Cubans, issued visas since the agreement was concluded in December, were immediately affected. About 300 others have already been admitted. The agreement had appeared to clear the way for the entry of up to 20,000 Cuban refugees a year, as well as 3,000 former political prisoners. About 2,500 Cubans jailed in the United States were to be taken back by Havana. They were among 125,000 Cubans who left the island nation in the Mariel boatlift of 1980. The agreement also provided for the resumption of processing of visas in Havana despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries. Cuba suspended its obligations under the agreement, however, after Radio Marti began broadcasting. Havana has denounced the broadcasts from the United States as propaganda.
Josef Mengele was the writer of letters found in Brazil, according to American handwriting experts, who say they positively identified his handwriting after four days of analysis. Their conclusion, announced in Sao Paulo, was the first scientific evidence to back up testimony that the Auschwitz camp doctor lived in and around Sao Paulo from 1961 to 1979, when friends say he drowned.
Argentina will get a new currency, wage and price controls and a halt to the Government’s deficit spending in an “economy of war” begun by President Raul Alfonsin in an attempt to bring the country’s inflation rate to a standstill. He outlined the measures in a speech to the nation. “I come to you now to present the battle plan so that together we will be able to definitely cancel the chapter of national decay,” Mr. Alfonsin said in a speech he delivered to the nation tonight. “We do not have any option, we have to reconstruct Argentina.” In a televised address, Mr. Alfonsin pleaded with the country’s 30 million people to support the drastic steps to control the country’s inflation rate, which was 1,010 percent in the latest 12 months.
Recall of the envoy to South Africa, Ambassador Herman W. Nickel, was ordered by the United States to protest South Africa’s military raids into neighboring Botswana Friday and into Angola last month. South African commandos attacked Gaborone, capital of neighboring Botswana. Their target was said to be the “nerve center” of the insurgent African National Congress. Sixteen people were reported killed. The South African military moves have raised “the most serious question about that Government’s recent conduct and policy,” Bernard Kalb, the State Department spokesman, said. He said the United States “rejects categorically such a policy which is antithetical to the goal of working for negotiated solutions and an end to southern Africa’s cycle of violence.” “In light of this and other recent events,” Mr. Kalb said, “we have decided to call our Ambassador to South Africa, Herman Nickel, home on consultations to review the situation.”
President Reagan travels to the Fort McHenry Monument, Baltimore, Maryland to participate in a “Pause for the Pledge of Allegiance” ceremony in honor of Flag Day. President Reagan rejected an opportunity to stump for his tax plan against the historic backdrop of Baltimore’s Ft. McHenry, and instead focused on strong patriotic themes in his Flag Day speech at the site of a crucial War of 1812 victory that inspired the national anthem. However, the President, fresh from a political victory on Capitol Hill in which U.S. aid to Nicaraguan rebels was approved by the House of Representatives, took advantage of the setting to equate the goals of rebels — whom he called “freedom fighters” — in Nicaragua and some other countries to those of the colonists who led the American Revolution. President Reagan said that Communist “bullying tactics” in Central America had only bolstered the determination for freedom. Mr. Reagan linked the struggle for freedom nearly two centuries ago with current conflicts. The President said Americans had a responsibility to lead in such efforts to achieve freedom.
United Airlines pilots approved a tentative agreement Friday night ending their 29-day strike against the nation’s largest carrier, shortly after flight attendants returned to their jobs without a back-to-work agreement. With the help of Federal mediators, the pilots’ union and United reached the agreement Wednesday, and the airline had set a Saturday deadline for approval of the pact. The final assent came from a 27-member master executive council of the Air Line Pilots Association just before midnight; a vote by the union membership was not required.
The output of the nation’s industrial sector fell in May for the second consecutive month, the Federal Reserve Board reported today. The news provided new evidence that economic activity has not picked up since the slow first quarter and added to fears that it would remain sluggish throughout the year. The Federal Reserve reported that output of the nation’s factories, mines and utilities dropped one-tenth of 1 percent in May, after a decline of two-tenths of 1 percent in April. Economists said that, in light of May decline, the economy was likely to achieve very little growth in the second quarter.
In Randolph, Massachusetts, Susan Shapiro, the high school student who caused a controversy last year when she refused to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, received a public apology today from her school’s teacher association. Miss Shapiro’s family agreed to drop a lawsuit they had filed in April against the town and Randolph High School in exchange for the apology. The Massachusetts Teachers Association, representing Miss Shapiro’s homeroom teacher, Jean Noblin, issued a statement apologizing for the way “Susan and the Shapiro family had been treated.” The dispute began when Mrs. Noblin questioned Miss Shapiro’s refusal to stand for the salute. Miss Shapiro missed more than a month of school because of threats to her safety. Her family received numerous anti-Semitic phone calls and mail.
Investigators in California formed a human chain today to search a self-styled survivalist’s property where the remains of five people have been found along with human bones and the teeth of small children. The Calaveras County Coroner, Terry Parker, said the effort was prompted by the discovery late Thursday of “large numbers of bones.” Today the searchers found three plastic containers holding 1,800 turn-of-the-century silver dollars. Investigators have been examining the three-acre site used by Leonard Lake, who died after taking cyanide while in police custody, for more than a week. The authorities believe that Mr. Lake, 39 years old, may be connected to the deaths of as many as 25 people. Meanwhile, a search for his 24-year-old companion, Charles Ng, was extended into Canada, after reports that he may have been sighted in Ontario. Mr. Lake left behind a diary that details “Operation Miranda,” his fantasy of surviving a nuclear holocaust in a concrete bunker stocked with food, weapons, and female slaves.
A commission that is to decide whether a Minnesota prosecutor should be removed from office over her handling of child sex abuse cases in Jordan, Minn., reversed itself today and decided to delay the hearing. The prosecutor, R. Kathleen Morris, walked out of the hearing on the opening day Thursday when the panel refused her request for a month’s delay. She said she needed the delay because the charges against her had been changed the previous day. The inquiry at first questioned whether she should have brought the cases; now it focuses on whether she acted improperly in later dropping the charges. This morning the commission announced that “upon reflection” and “as a matter of fairness” it had decided to give Miss Morris more time to prepare to defend herself. The hearing is to resume August 1. Kelton F. Gage, special counsel to the commission, said he might use the additional time to file new misconduct charges against the 39-year-old prosecutor. He has said those now pending were “only a tiny fraction of the charges that could be generated.”
A job-related death was murder, a Chicago judge ruled in finding three Chicago-area executives guilty of killing an employee with cyanide poisoning. In a nonjury trial, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Ronald J.P. Banks found that the three executives of Film Recovery Systems Inc. were guilty after he concluded that conditions at the plant were so unsafe that they had led to the poisoning of the employee, Stefan Golab.
Final arguments were presented today in Maine’s consumer lawsuit against Sears, Roebuck & Company. The state contends the retailer sells extended maintenance warranties that illegally duplicate warranties already required by law. “The implied warranty is the most important consumer mechanism that exists,” Assistant Attorney General Rufus Brown argued before Justice Donald Alexander of Superior Court. “There is duplication. It is material. It’s undisclosed. It’s massive and that’s an illegal trade practice.” The case is being closely watched for its possible effect on national retailing practices.
Five gun-part makers were indicted on Federal firearms charges in what officials said is new approach to restricting the availability of illegal machine guns and silencers. Officials in Washington said three of those indicted were members of the same family and ran a gun-making company, SWD Inc., in Atlanta. Another one of the indicted worked for Jud’s Machine and Fabrication, of Carrollton, Georgia, and another was employed by REJM Enterprises of Tehachapi, California. Stephen E. Higgins, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said that the indictments, made public today in Federal District Court in Fresno, California, charged the defendants with conspiring to manufacture and market all the components of silencers for machine guns. Under Federal firearms laws, some of which were passed in the 1930’s, when gangsters favored submachine guns, it is legal to have some parts of a silencer or an automatic weapon but it is illegal to assemble, sell or possess the whole apparatus, unless it is registered with the federal government.
Mitch Snyder, who staged a hunger strike last year until President Reagan promised to assist his efforts to aid the homeless, was arrested today as he sat in a chair outside the White House waiting to meet with the President. Mr. Snyder and Carol Fennelly, leaders of the Community for Creative Non-Violence, were charged with illegally placing structures on the White House sidewalk.
Cheese held responsible for 29 deaths and stillbirths in California was being removed from store shelves in at least 13 states. Health officials in Los Angeles County, where most of the deaths occurred, said the cheese was contaminated by bacteria that often infects cattle. Bacteria in queso fresco and cotija cheeses, made by Jalisco Mexican Products near Los Angeles, caused the deaths and made 59 other people ill, Federal, state and county public health officials said Thursday. They said they had identified the cheeses after a month of intensive epidemiological detective work and that they were attempting to determine whether similar deaths or illnesses had occurred in other states. Most of the states involved are in the West, but the cheeses are sold as far east as New York.
A Federal district judge today ordered that an $87.7 million desegregation plan involving voluntary student transfers between the Kansas City and suburban school districts be carried out to bring racial balance to the city schools.
A woman being treated for a miscarriage at Madigan Army Medical Center was accidentally injected with a formaldehyde solution instead of a painkiller, The Seattle Times has reported. The reported incident was the latest in a series of medical problems at the hospital. A hospital spokesman would acknowledge only that its commander, Brigadier General Darryl H. Powell, was investigating an “incident” and that the patient involved was in good condition. The woman, who was not identified, was injected with a solution of formaldehyde, a medical preservative, instead of Lidocaine, a painkiller, The Times said in Thursday’s editions. More than 30 malpractice claims totaling $150 million are pending against Madigan Hospital.
A U.S. Navy jet dropped several 500-pound bombs a mile from a practice range, scoring a direct hit on a ghost town that is eligible for listing as a national landmark, officials said Thursday. Nobody was near the deserted town of Fairview, once a gold mining center, when an FA-18 Hornet dropped several bombs in the area June 7, a spokesman for Fallon Naval Air Station said.
Funeral rites for Karen Ann Quinlan were attended by her family and friends at Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church in Mount Arlington, New Jersey. Miss Quinlan, the central figure in a landmark “right to die” case, died Tuesday of pneumonia at the age of 31, 10 years after lapsing into a coma after a party at which authorities said she had consumed alcohol and tranquilizer pills.
“Michael Nesmith In Television Parts” premieres on NBC-TV.
Major League Baseball:
Ken Oberkfell scored from first base on Nick Esasky’s throwing error in the eighth inning and Bob Horner followed with a two-run homer for Atlanta as the Braves downed the Reds, 6–4. Oberkfell had singled with one out in the eighth and Esasky was attempting to turn a double play on a grounder by Dale Murphy when the Reds’ third baseman threw over second into right field, allowing Oberkfell to score the tie-breaking run and Murphy to reach third. Horner then belted the first pitch from Mario Soto (8–5) over the center-field fence, for his seventh home run of the season and a 6–3 Atlanta lead.
Andy Van Slyke belted a three-run homer in a four-run seventh inning and Joaquin Andujar became the major leagues’ first 12-game winner in leading St. Louis over the error-prone Cubs, 11–10. Tom Lawless added a two-run double in a three-run sixth that put the Cardinals ahead to stay. The loss was the Cubs’ third straight, marking the first time this season they have reached that low point. The Cubs made five errors, which resulted in three unearned runs for the Cardinals. With the Cardinals leading, 6–4, Van Slyke belted the first pitch from the reliever Warren Brusstar into the right-field bleachers for Van Slyke’s sixth home run of the year. Vince Coleman led off the seventh with a single, stole his 42nd base of the year and went to third when the shortstop Chris Speier was charged with interference. One out later, Tommy Herr was intentionally walked and Jack Clark followed with a run-scoring single before Van Slyke’s home run. The Cardinals scored what proved to the winning run in the ninth on an errant pickoff attempt by George Frazier in relief.
Pedro Guerrero hit two homers and Jerry Reuss scattered eight hits and drove in three runs to lead Los Angeles to a 10–2 rout of the Astros. The Dodgers chased Joe Niekro (3–7) in the fifth on Guerrero’s 10th home run of the season and Greg Brock’s ninth homer. Guerrero homered again in the seventh off the reliever Julio Solano. Reuss (4–5), a one-time Houston pitcher, improved his career record to 16–5 against the Astros as he hurled his second complete game of the season. He singled home two runs during a three-run fourth and added a run-scoring single during a three-run ninth.
David Green’s one-out home run off Luis DeLeon in the 11th inning lifted the Giants to a 5–4 victory at San Francisco. Padre starter Andy Hawkins, looking for his 12th victory without a loss, had entered the bottom of the ninth with a 4–3 lead but left the game after yielding a leadoff single to Bob Brenly. Brenly later scored on a fielder’s choice to tie the game.
For eight innings tonight, it was the kind of reunion the Mets might cherish. Gary Carter came home to cheers from 35,422 fans in Olympic Stadium, and got on base five straight times. Dwight Gooden pitched eight innings of six-hit ball and struck out 11 batters. And the Mets went into the bottom of the ninth leading the Montreal Expos, 4–3. But the reunion turned into another disaster: Gooden left after having thrown 147 pitches on a chilly night, and the Expos pounced on three relief pitchers for two runs that sent the Mets reeling to a 5–4 defeat.
Bill Madlock hit a tie-breaking single and Johnny Ray and Sixto Lezcano belted solo home runs as Pittsburgh rallied to win for only the second in the last 10 games, edging the Phillies, 3–2. The victory went to Jose DeLeon (2–8), who won for only the third time in his last 20 decisions. DeLeon strikes out 11 in 7 innings. DeLeon, who won his first game of the year on June 2, will lose his next 11 to finish at 2–19.
Dennis Boyd scattered 11 hits in his sixth straight complete game and Mike Easler drove in two runs with a double and a single tonight as the streaking Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4–1. Boston won for the 11th time in its last 12 games as Boyd (8–4) boosted his American League-leading total to nine complete games. Boyd fell behind when the Blue Jays scored in the second inning, but the Red Sox took the lead for good on Easler’s single in the third. Easler also doubled home a run in the fifth.
Walt Terrell came back to New York last night and pitched the Detroit Tigers to a 4–0 victory over the Yankees before 35,224 at Yankee Stadium. His performance was effortless. The Tigers’ right-hander gave up five hits in 8 ⅓ innings and allowed only two baserunners to advance as far as second base. Then he turned the game over to Willie Hernandez, who got the final two outs and earned his 12th save. Terrell, 11–12 for the Mets last season, was sent to the Tigers in exchange for the third baseman Howard Johnson last December.
Cleveland’s Bert Blyleven notches his 200th career win, a 5–1 complete game against Oakland. Blyleven became the 83rd pitcher in major-league history to reach the 200-victory mark. The right-hander, who began his career in 1970 with Minnesota, has lost 173 games. Blyleven (5–6) gave up one unearned run, struck out seven and walked three in his seventh complete game of the season. The fine effort by Blyleven came the same week that six teams reportedly have talked to the Indians about acquiring the 34-year-old hurler.
The Rangers beat the Twins, 4–2. Toby Harrah hit a two-run homer and Burt Hooton pitched 6 ⅔ innings for the victory. Harrah’s fourth home run of the season came in the first inning after Oddibe McDowell led off with a single against Pete Filson (3–3). Filson had McDowell picked off, but Kent Hrbek’s wild throw from first to second allowed McDowell to reach third.
The White Sox downed the Angels, 4–2. Tom Seaver pitched hitless ball after the first inning and won his 295th career game by allowing two hits over the seven innings he pitched and moved the White Sox atop the Angeles in the American League West. Seaver (7–4) retired 13 straight batters at one point. He walked four and struck out six. Seaver left after walking the pinch-hitter Juan Beniquez to start the eighth, and Bob James relieved and gave up one hit in getting his 15th save in the combined three-hitter.
Alvin Davis and Gorman Thomas hit three-run homers, and Bob Kearney drove in three runs with a home run and a triple to power the Mariners past the Royals, 13–5, at Seattle. The Mariners, ending a four-game losing streak, broke the game open with seven runs in the fifth inning for a 9–2 lead. Phil Bradley started the inning with a single, and Ivan Calderon walked. Thomas then connected for his 10th home run.
One day after his successor Joe Altobelli is fired as manager of the Orioles, Earl Weaver comes out of retirement to manage the club. Weaver led Baltimore to 6 American League titles from 1968–82. The Orioles recovered from a 3-0 deficit with two runs in their half of the first inning, two in the second and five in the third on the way to a 9–3 victory tonight over the Brewers, who, coincidentally, were the last club against whom Weaver had managed. Weaver made four appearances on the field, drawing enthusiastic responses from the crowd of 39,142.
Cincinnati Reds 4, Atlanta Braves 6
Milwaukee Brewers 3, Baltimore Orioles 9
Toronto Blue Jays 1, Boston Red Sox 4
Chicago White Sox 4, California Angels 2
St. Louis Cardinals 11, Chicago Cubs 10
Oakland Athletics 1, Cleveland Indians 6
Los Angeles Dodgers 10, Houston Astros 2
New York Mets 4, Montreal Expos 5
Detroit Tigers 4, New York Yankees 0
Philadelphia Phillies 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 3
Kansas City Royals 5, Seattle Mariners 13
San Diego Padres 4, San Francisco Giants 5
Minnesota Twins 2, Texas Rangers 4
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1300.96 (+10.86)
Born:
Trevor Laws, NFL defensive tackle (Philadelphia Eagles), in Dayton, Ohio.
History Diaries 