President Reagan, in a message read to a nuclear non-proliferation conference that opened in Geneva, said he wants to build a more cooperative relationship with the Soviet Union and to “rid the world of the nuclear threat.” He made the statement to delegates attending a review session on the 1970 non-proliferation treaty intended. to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Sweden and Australia urged both the United States and the Soviet Union to halt atomic tests and warned of a possible era of “nuclear terrorism.”
The United States has told the Soviet Union it is ready to start talks on a civil aviation agreement aimed at resuming direct flights between the two countries, the State Department confirmed. Spokesman Charles Redman said. no date has been set for discussions and that he could not firmly predict they will start before the November summit meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Washington canceled the Soviets’ U.S. landing rights in retaliation for the imposition of martial law in Poland in 1981.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl has decided to dismiss a top West German intelligence official and to replace him with Bonn’s representative at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The move, expected to be officially announced Thursday, comes in the midst of a major espionage scandal involving the reported defection of a high-ranking West German internal security official to East Germany. The West German intelligence chief facing dismissal is Heribert Hellenbroich, 48 years old. He is the former head of the Cologne-based internal security agency, known as the Federal Office for the Defense of the Constitution, in which the defector, Hans Joachim Tiedge, was employed.
Britain plans to offer Ireland’s government a consultative role over security in Northern Ireland, Nicholas Scott, a British Cabinet junior minister, said. The plan is expected to be presented to the Dublin government at a meeting of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald later this year, Scott said. After their last talks in November, 1984, Thatcher ruled out the prospect of Irish unification. But since then, the two governments have quietly worked on a framework for increasing Ireland’s role in the troubled British-administered province.
British railroad conductors voted narrowly to reject a call for strike action. In what was regarded as a victory for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a blow to organized labor, the conductors, in an 84% turnout, voted 4,815 to 4,360 against a strike. The union had called for the ballot, as required by a law enacted last year, over plans by British Rail to phase out conductors on all freight trains and on some passenger trains. British Rail has fired 245 conductors in the last 12 days for refusing to work, and union leader Jimmy Knapp said the first priority will be to have them reinstated.
Israeli troops swept into three towns in southern Lebanon, where they were said to have detained dozens of people suspected of being guerrillas who had attacked Israel. The troops were backed by helicopters and armor. United Nations officials said it was the biggest Israeli raid in southern Lebanon since Israel formally withdrew its troops in June. There was no immediate report of casualties among the villagers or the Israelis. The Israeli Army command said Katyusha rockets, grenades and bombs had been seized in the raid, which involved Qabrikha, Majd al-Salim and Shaqra. They are situated near the Israeli town of Qiryat Shemona.
Israel released 113 detainees today, most of whom were Shiite Moslems, and sent them back to Lebanon on Red Cross buses. They are part of the same group whose freedom was the key demand of the Shiites who hijacked a Trans World Airlines jetliner June 14 and took 39 Americans hostage. The release left as many as 150 men in Israeli custody. All have been held in Atlit Prison.
The militant wing of the main Sikh political party, the Akali Dal, decided today to boycott Punjab state elections Sept. 25 and renew its struggle for Sikh autonomy. A Sikh militant leader, Jogendra Singh, asserted that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had ordered the elections to cover up “continuing atrocities against Sikhs by security forces,” and to lend credibility to an agreement with a moderate Sikh leader to end the three-year Punjab conflict. The Sikh leader who signed the pact with Mr. Gandhi on July 24, Harchand Singh Longowal, was slain August 20 by suspected Sikh extremists opposed to his conciliatory policy. Militants have described the accord as a sellout. Despite the assassination, Mr. Gandhi decided to go ahead with the elections for a new 117-member state legislature and 13 seats in the national Parliament.
Vietnam offered a two-year plan today to resolve the issue of nearly 1,400 Americans missing in action in the Vietnam War. Deputy Foreign Minister Hoàng Bích Sơn told reporters Vietnam would welcome United States aid in financing the search for remains, but had not requested it. He said the American side brought up the possibility of financing searches for missing soldiers. He did not give details of the Vietnam plan and said the American delegation had submitted its own proposals. Mr. Sơn and five other Vietnamese officials met in Hanoi with a four-member United States delegation headed by Richard Childress, a member of the National Security Council. Also in the team is Ann Mills Griffiths, executive director of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia. Of the 2,464 American servicemen and civilians still listed as missing in Indochina, 1,375 disappeared in Vietnam.
Prospects of a productive dialogue between North and South Korea dimmed when the two sides abruptly ended Red Cross talks in Pyongyang. Exchange visits by families separated since the Korean War are expected to go ahead, however. The Red Cross delegations accused each other of using the talks for political purposes, and the South Korean team walked out of a gymnastics display in Pyongyang after 50,000 North Korean students, brandishing rifles and shouting bellicose slogans, staged a mock battle. However, the two sides agreed to resume Red Cross talks Nov. 26 in Seoul.
A survey of press freedom in Latin America cited overall improvement in the last year but said “journalism remains an extremely hazardous activity,” particularly in Chile and Paraguay, which it labeled the region’s “nightmare countries.” Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Guyana also were cited as hazardous to journalists. The survey, compiled jointly by the Newspaper Guild and the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, praised Argentina, which recently ended seven years of military rule, Barbados, Belize, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago as having the best records for respecting press freedom.
Mexico announced today that it would send an ambassador to El Salvador, restoring full diplomatic relations for the first time in five years. The move is the latest in a series of steps that have indicated a gradual warming of relations. The change has been credited by Mexican officials to the election of Jose Napoleon Duarte as President of El Salvador last year, and by Mexican commentators — particularly those to the left — to the more conservative foreign policy being followed by the administration of President Miguel de la Madrid, who took office in December 1982.
Talks between Roman Catholic bishops and the governing Sandinista Front resumed here this week, according to church and Government spokesmen. A meeting on Monday, held without announcement, was the first between leaders of the Government and the church, the country’s two most powerful institutions, since Archbishop Miguel Obando y Bravo of Managua was elevated to the rank of Cardinal at a ceremony at the Vatican in June. Officials close to the talks said no progress was made at the session held Monday. But they said the two sides had agreed to meet monthly and to prepare lists of concerns to be exchanged at the next session.
Roman Catholic Church officials here say that in the last few months, there has been an “alarming” wave of kidnapping and torture cases, many involving young people from church-based social action groups. The church officials say the abductions have been carried out by armed men in civilian clothes in a hit-and-run style reminiscent of death squads in Central America. As in El Salvador, human rights officials here suspect the operations are carried out with the participation of the security forces, and they have asked the Government to name a special investigator. “We find ourselves facing repeated crimes that have produced alarm in the public,” the church’s formal request for a special investigator said. The request added that the acts were “terrorizing the faithful, impeding the normal activities of the church.”
Nigeria’s new military rulers announced an overhaul of the leadership of the armed forces today. It also announced on the Lagos radio, which was monitored here, that the nation’s airports, closed since the takeover, would reopen at midnight local time, but that seaports and border crossings would remain closed. One day after an apparently bloodless coup, information available here indicated the country was calm, although a dusk-to-dawn curfew was in force in major cities and telecommunications were shut down.
Cape Town police battled thousands of protesters drawn from all of South Africa’s racial groups. The officers used shotguns, whips, rubber bullets and tear gas in the most violent day in Cape Town since a state of emergency was declared in several other parts of South Africa on July 21. Five people were reported killed and at least 50 were wounded. The immediate cause of the violence here was an official prohibition on a planned march from Cape Town suburbs to Pollsmoor Prison to demand the release of Nelson Mandela, the jailed black nationalist. Meanwhile, officials in Pretoria announced they would outlaw the country’s largest organization of black high-school students.
South Africa’s most powerful black trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers, called a strike tonight for 62,000 of its 150,000 members in gold and coal mines and threatened a wider stoppage if the authorities tried to break it. The stoppage is to begin Sunday after months of negotiation over annual pay increases. The talks, which have demonstrated the muscle the union has acquired in the three years since it was created, have also divided South Africa’s gold companies into rival camps. “Should the mines to be affected by strike action decide to take action against our members,” the union said in a statement tonight, “the entire membership of the union in all mines will take solidarity action.”
Washington denounced South Africa for using force to block a protest march and for officially banning the largest group of black high-school students. And in an interview, Chester A. Crocker, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said the changes announced by Pretoria -which were praised by President Reagan a few days ago — “are not adequate” and did not cover the most divisive issues in South Africa. White House comments today avoided direct criticism of South Africa. This evidenced a seeming difference in tone between the White House and State Department in recent days, but officials insisted there was no policy rift.
Doubts about Pretoria’s prospects politically and economically have prompted many major international banks to stop renewing loans to large South African borrowers, according to bankers. Experts said the actions could result in Pretoria’s curbing capital flight and imposing some sort of moratorium on repayments of debt owed to foreign lenders. To ease the country’s predicament, the governor of South Africa’s central bank, Dr. Gerhard de Kock, flew to Europe yesterday and was expected to try to persuade international banks to roll over some loans, bankers said. One banker said that Dr. de Kock might have some luck with Japanese, West German and Dutch bankers, but would be less likely to persuade American and British bankers to maintain credit to South Africa.
President Reagan continues to receive a strong vote of confidence from the American people for his handling of presidential duties. In the latest (mid-August) Gallup Poll, 65% approved of Reagan’s job performance, 26% disapproved and 9% were undecided. Not since the honeymoon period following his 1981 inauguration has a significantly larger proportion approved of the President’s performance in office.
President Reagan travels to Santa Barbara, California for the day from the Ranch for a Press Party.
Union Carbide, reeling from the effects of last December’s toxic gas leak at Bhopal, India, as well as other problems, announced a drastic consolidation. The plan involves closing many unprofitable plants, cutting the domestic white-collar work force by 15 percent and taking nearly $1 billion in write-offs and other losses this year. This is believed to be the largest such charge in chemical industry history. Experts said the move marks an ambitious, if belated, attempt by management to regain control of a sagging company. The move compresses restructuring plans that the giant producer of chemicals and plastics had intended to put into effect over a period of years. The cutbacks are necessary now, analysts said, because of mounting competitive pressures and persistent takeover rumors. In recent weeks these rumors have been strengthened by the GAF Corporation’s purchase of 7.1 percent of Carbide’s stock.
Flight controllers said tonight that the damaged electronics in part of the space shuttle Discovery’s mechanical arm almost certainly will prolong the planned satellite repair operations, requiring spacewalks on two separate days. The current plan, therefore, is to have the astronauts conduct the first part of the operation in a spacewalk Saturday morning, and on Sunday morning complete the job of hauling in a crippled satellite, rewiring it and then tossing it back out the cargo bay. Because of a malfunctioning control device in the elbow joint of the mechanical arm, which was detected soon after the launching Tuesday, the astronauts switched to a backup control system. This leaves them without the ability to operate the arm through computer-assisted commands. Instead, they must send separate commands manually to each of the six joints, which might take more than the seven hours of a single spacewalk.
Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. censured three officers responsible for hiring a surgeon charged with manslaughter in the deaths of four patients at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, a Navy spokesman said. Letters of censure were issued August 12 to Commodore James Quinn, Captain Leon Georges and retired Captain John Fletcher, the spokesman said. A letter of censure is regarded as a severe reprimand but does not require a reduction in retirement pay or other punitive measures. The three officers were responsible for hiring and appointing Commander Donal Billig. Billig faces general court martial on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four open heart surgery patients at Bethesda and 24 counts of dereliction of duty.
A liberal lobby contended that businessman J. Peter Grace and his commission on government waste have deceived the public and have as their real intention the limiting of federal social programs and regulations. Public Citizen, a Washington-based group founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, released a study charging “a pattern of deceit” in Grace’s campaign to influence public and congressional opinion in favor of the cost-cutting recommendations made by the commission he headed.
Eating an apple a day treated with the chemical daminozide could cause cancer over a lifetime, the Environmental Protection Agency said in recommending a ban of the pesticide. The EPA said it is urging its science advisory panel to prohibit the fruit and vegetable pesticide primarily used on apples because of its finding that lifetime consumption can cause up to one cancer death per 10,000 individuals. When the fruits and pesticide are cooked, the chemical degrades into UDMH, a potent carcinogen that is chemically related to hydrazine rocket fuel.
The Federal Aviation Administration today ordered inspections of Pratt & Whitney jet engines on a fourth of the airliners operating in the United States. More than 1,000 planes are covered by the order, although a substantial number could be exempt from the special inspection if they are covered by an existing F.A.A. engine monitoring program. The American action came as British aviation authorities ordered inspections of engines on about 60 airliners, 10 percent of the British fleet. The action by Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority, announced Tuesday, led to the grounding of planes using the engine pending checks. The order disrupted British airports, delayed flights and provoked a rash of cancellations by passengers.
Three Eli Lilly executives should be prosecuted for failing to disclose overseas deaths or ailments linked to the arthritis drug Oraflex, in the view of Justice Department lawyers, according to Administration sources. But, they said, the lawyers were overruled by senior department officials. The sources said that conviction of the charges could have resulted in short jail terms and fines.
A 2-year-old girl robbed a Brink’s guard of $8,500 at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday, the authorities said today. Her parents may be pickpockets trained in Colombia, the police said. “That baby knew exactly what she was doing” when she took a money pouch from the guard’s handcart while he signed receipts in an airport cafeteria, Sgt. Pat Turner said. He said the baby toddled to her father with the pouch. “The guard was writing and the baby, who’s about 2 feet 6 inches tall, just didn’t attract any attention,” Sergeant Turner said. A cashier saw the child take the money and alerted the guard, who caught George Arias, 38, walking off, the officer said. As the guard was about to arrest Mr. Arias, his wife, Joanna, 22, handed the cash to the guard and apologized. The three disappeared, but were spotted half an hour later mingling with incoming passengers, Sergeant Turner said the parents were arrested for grand theft and the toddler was put in protective custody.
A smoky fire swept through 16 abandoned railroad cars in the lower level of Grand Central Terminal in New York, shutting the entire terminal through the morning rush hour and early afternoon and disrupting travel for tens of thousands of commuters. Fire officials classified the four-hour, five-alarm blaze as arson. Fire Commissioner Joseph E. Spinnato said the fire had erupted at four different points in cars that contained bedding and kitchen utensils belonging to squatters who use the sidetracked trains as overnight shelters. “The result is that we have had to shut down one of the major transportation hubs in the country,” he said. More than 100 firefighters, many breathing through compressed-air equipment, battled the blaze at the western edge of the terminal. The fire was not declared under control until 9:02 A.M.
Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 reactor, which escaped the accident that crippled an adjacent plant, will be turned back on once final clearance is received from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, officials said in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. GPU Nuclear Corp. is awaiting a formal notification from the NRC, which could come as soon as today, said GPU President Philip R. Clark.
An anonymous telephone tip today led the police to a station wagon believed to have been used in the most recent attack by a killer suspected in the deaths of 14 people. Commander William Booth of the Los Angeles police said the car was found in a rundown area. The car, an orange Toyota, was stolen in Chinatown Saturday and was seen in suburban Orange County near the scene of the latest attack, on a Mission Viejo couple. The car was registered to a West Hollywood man, Bill Gregory, 56 years old. The latest victim, Bill Carns, 29 years old, was shot several times in the head as he slept Sunday, and his fiancee was tied, beaten and raped. Mr. Carns remained in critical condition. The authorities in Los Angeles said they had been deluged by reports of sightings of the serial killer, referred to as the Night Stalker because victims are generally attacked asleep in darkened homes behind unlocked doors.
The International Typographical Union, whose printers and mailroom workers are employed at about 500 newspapers in the United States and Canada, soundly defeated a proposal to merge with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the typographical union announced today. The rejection of the proposal by 34,234 to 17,547 was a blow to the prestige of Jackie Presser, the teamster president, who two years ago initiated a campaign to get the printers’ union to join his 1.9-million-member independent union. About 3,000 additional ballots were challenged, mostly by pro-teamster observers, officials of the printers’ union said.
Doctors have found they can accurately pinpoint the origin and type of cancerous blood cells, improving diagnosis and treatment, by using microscopic probes that delve into the genes of renegade cells. The work might lead to a treatment that could zero in on cancerous blood cells and not harm healthy ones. The technique is a practical outgrowth of significant advances over the last two years in understanding the basic biology of a key variety of disease-fighting white blood cells known as T lymphocytes. Three reports on the use of the new tool were published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Nearly 400 firefighters wearing flame-retardant shirts attacked a fire burning out of control over 1,000 acres of scenic wilderness in Washington state, but crews fighting a blaze in Idaho had to pull back. The Butte fire in the Salmon National Forest in east-central Idaho spread across an additional 1,000 acres. Fire bosses asked for more men and equipment to fight the fire, which was blown back to life over the weekend after being contained for nearly three weeks.
Ruth Gordon died at her summer home in Edgartown, Massachusetts, at the age of 88. Movie audiences knew the actress and writer from her roles in “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” “Harold and Maude” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” for which she won a best supporting actress Oscar.
Major League Baseball:
The Atlanta Braves downed the Pirates, 6–1. Len Barker, hampered by neck and elbow ailments all season, turned in his best effort of the season and kept Bobby Wine perfect (3–0) as the interim manager of the Braves. Barker gave up three hits in five innings at Atlanta as the Braves handed the Pirates their 17th loss in a row on the road. Craig McMurtry, another struggling pitcher, gave up one run in the last four innings. “I was real gratified,” said Barker, who made 95 pitches. “It’s been a long time since I’ve pitched like that. I was ready to come out. My arm was a little tight.”
Pete Rose drew a bases-loaded walk with two out in the bottom of the 12th inning tonight to give the Cincinnati Reds a rousing 7–6 comeback victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. “This proves a walk is just as good as a hit,” said Rose. “I went up there wanting to get a hit, but I’ll sure take the walk.” Cardinals, behind strong pitching from Joaquin Andujar, had led by 6–0 before the Reds scored six runs in the sixth inning. The loss trimmed the Cardinals’ lead in the National League East to 2 ½ games over the Mets, who were idle. Andujar failed in his attempt to become the first 21-game winner in the major leagues. Rose went 2-for-6 in the game and now needs only nine hits to break Ty Cobb’s record of 4,191. Dave Concepcion opened the 12th with a single off Jeff Lahti (2–2), the fifth St. Louis pitcher. Concepcion moved to second on Dave Van Gorder’s single to right. Rick Horton then replaced Lahti and retired Ron Oester, who was attempting to sacrifice, on a pop bunt. Concepcion and Van Gorder advanced on Wayne Krenchicki’s grounder to shortstop. The pinch-hitter Tony Perez was intentionally walked to load the bases for Rose, who walked on a 3–1 pitch.
Nolan Ryan won his first game since June 17, snapping a personal eight-game losing streak, as the Astros shut out the Cubs, 3–0. Ryan (9–11) left the game after six and two-thirds innings with a strained right shoulder. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out eight to run his career-leading strikeout total to 4,060. Jeff Heathcock replaced Ryan in the seventh and retired all seven batters he faced to gain his first save. He had three strikeouts.
Tom Brunansky hit a single with the bases loaded, scoring Kent Hrbek from third with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning today to give Minnesota a 6–5 victory over the Blue Jays. The loss dropped first-place Toronto’s lead over the Yankees to four and one-half games in the American League East. Hrbek led off the inning with a single off Tom Henke (3–1). One out later, Randy Bush singled to put runners on first and third. Henke then intentionally walked Mark Salas, and Brunansky greeted Jim Acker with a single to center for his 10th game-winning run batted in. Pete Filson (4–5) pitched two innings and allowed just one hit to earn the victory.
In Cleveland’s 7–4 win over the visiting Red Sox, Julio Franco hits a 7th inning grand slam for the Tribe. Even a swarm of insects that hovered inside Cleveland Stadium in the sixth inning couldn’t slow down the hot Indians. An inning later, Julio Franco hit a grand slam to break open a close game and give the Indians their seventh win in the last eight games. Despite Tony Armas’ 18th home run, the Red Sox lost their fifth in a row and 11th in the last 12 games. The swarm of insects forced some of the Red Sox players to leave the field in the sixth while reliever Mark Clear was warming up. Franco’s home run in the seventh was the first yielded by Clear this season.
Darryl Motley hit a three-run home run, and Steve Balboni added a two-run shot to lead the Kansas City Royals past the Milwaukee Brewers, 8–2. Mark Gubicza gave up six hits in eight innings to improve his record to 10–7. The home run for Balboni was his 27th. George Brett had a single in three official at-bats to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and move him into a tie with Wade Boggs for the batting lead with a .356 average.
The White Sox topped the Rangers, 5–1. Bryan Little, who hit his first home run of the season Saturday, hit his second in this game at Chicago, a three-run smash in the fifth inning. Chicago starter Gene Nelson raised his record to 8–8 with the victory. The loser was Texas starter Dave Stewart, 0–5, who gave up Little’s homer and a solo home run by Luis Salazar.
Pittsburgh Pirates 1, Atlanta Braves 6
Texas Rangers 1, Chicago White Sox 5
St. Louis Cardinals 6, Cincinnati Reds 7
Boston Red Sox 4, Cleveland Indians 7
Chicago Cubs 0, Houston Astros 3
Kansas City Royals 8, Milwaukee Brewers 2
Toronto Blue Jays 5, Minnesota Twins 6
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1331.09 (+8.62)
Born:
James Jagger, American actor (“Vinyl”) and son of Mick Jagger & Jerry Hall, in New York, New York.
Moise Fokou, Cameroonian NFL linebacker (Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints), in Douala, Cameroon.
Danny Lansanah, NFL linebacker (Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Deunte Heath, MLB pitcher (Chicago White Sox), in Atlanta, Georgia.
Died:
Ruth Gordon, 88, American actress (Rosemary’s Baby, The Big Bus), dies of a stroke in her sleep.
History Diaries 