Secretary of State George P. Shultz announced today that he would confer with Soviet leaders in Moscow on Nov. 4 and 5. He said the sessions would be aimed at stepping up preparations for the meeting between President Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, later in the month in Geneva. Mr. Shultz met today for two hours with the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard A. Shevardnadze. Emerging from the meeting, Mr. Shultz said he would confer in Moscow not only with Mr. Shevardnadze but with Mr. Gorbachev as well.
President Reagan has agreed to meet with European leaders after his conference next month with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, according to Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany. In a long conversation with West German journalists in New York on Thursday night, Mr. Kohl said that he and several other European politicians had pressed the President at dinner that evening to agree to such a meeting, and that Mr. Reagan had agreed. Mr. Kohl said the meeting would probably be held in Brussels on Nov. 21, immediately after the Reagan-Gorbachev talks in Geneva. A ranking Administration official said the President was “working on the notion.”
The official Soviet press agency Tass said today that President Reagan’s speech to the United Nations ignored the “burning” problems of nuclear disarmament and served only to justify a United States policy of “international banditry.” At the same time, the Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, accused the United States of disrupting talks intended to restrict world arms sales and said the Soviet Union would be willing to resume such negotiations. President Reagan, addressing the General Assembly’s 40th anniversary session Thursday, called for joint United States-Soviet action to end wars in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Nicaragua.
While European leaders were stressing allied unity after their meeting with President Reagan in New York, a ripple of disappointment was reflected in editorial comments that noted the absence from the President’s speech to the United Nations of a clear response to the latest Soviet arms-control proposals. The Financial Times characterized the speech as “a profound letdown,” concluding that the President’s “silence” on the negotiating position he would take at the Geneva conference “strongly suggests that Washington has been too distracted and too divided to settle on a counteroffer of its own.” “The hard fact,” the editorial continued, “is that there can be no deal on offensive nuclear weapons unless there is also an agreement on the future of defensive systems. If there is to be a deal, President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative must, in some sense, be on the table.”
In a major departure from its traditional goals, the Soviet Communist Party today published a new draft program that abandons predictions of quickly overtaking the West or of soon achieving a true communist society. The central pledge of the last program, adopted under Nikita S. Khrushchev in 1961, that “the present generation of Soviet people shall live in communism” has been dropped. Instead, the new draft asserts that attempts to move too fast in introducing communism, “without due account taken of the level of material and spiritual maturity of society, are, as experience shows, doomed to failure.” And where Khrushchev’s program exuded certainty about the imminent demise of capitalism, pledging to leave the United States “far behind” in industrial output and labor productivity by 1980, the new draft states that capitalism, although still doomed, “is constantly maneuvering to adjust itself to the changing situation.”
President Reagan gave his personal pledge to the family of Leon Klinghoffer yesterday that the killers of the 69-year-old New Yorker would be brought to justice. In a solemn meeting with Mr. Klinghoffer’s widow, Marilyn, and other family members, at his tower suite at the Waldorf-Astoria, Mr. Reagan expressed his condolences and sorrow over their loss. The President, who was joined by his wife, Nancy, delayed his return to Washington to hold the 20-minute session. The meeting came as Mr. Reagan completed three days of diplomatic activity in New York, including an address Thursday to the United Nations General Assembly.
The Rome police have arrested another Palestinian who may have been involved in the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, Italian news agencies reported today. The news agency ANSA said the unidentified man was arrested several days ago and was being held for interrogation by magistrates in Genoa, where the Achille Lauro cruise began.
A body still in its seat was recovered today from the wreckage of the Air-India jetliner that crashed off the Irish coast four months ago, investigators said. The body was the first discovered in the jetliner’s wreckage since the initial search operation immediately after the crash June 23 of the Boeing 747, which killed all 329 people on board. An Irish police source said an identifying document was found with the body. The source refused to give any other details. All the 131 bodies found before today have been identified. “It was a total surprise to us all,” Capt. Donald McGarvey of the Canadian Coast Guard said after the body was found in a section of the fuselage hoisted more than a mile from the Atlantic seabed to the surface. Captain McGarvey, a member of the Canadian team heading the investigation for the Indian Government, said the body was being taken to Cork for examination.
Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel said today that France had offered to to help Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union by flying them directly to Israel if Moscow agreed to permit expanded emigration and such flights. Mr. Peres disclosed the French offer at a news conference after a luncheon meeting this afternoon with President Francois Mitterrand, under whose Government relations between Israel and France have significantly improved. Mr. Peres’s decision to discuss the offer publicly at this time tended to support reports circulating in diplomatic circles that the Soviet Union had signaled that it might be prepared to countenance such flights — and increases in Jewish emigration — after the summit meeting in November between President Reagan and the Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Diplomats here and in Washington said that Moscow might also be prepared to permit an exchange of interest sections between the Soviet Union and Israel.
The United States said today that Hanoi had agreed to the first joint American-Vietnamese search of a B-52 crash site in a move toward settling the issue of 2,446 Americans missing in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War. A Navy spokesman, Commander James Cossey, also released the identities of the remains of 10 Americans turned over by Hanoi on August 14, one of them a civilian who died in captivity in a “re-education” camp in 1976. Commander Cossey said Hanoi’s first such agreement to allow joint American-Vietnamese excavation of a crash site near Hanoi was “a positive step” and a sign that Vietnam wanted to fulfill its promise to settle the missing in action issue within two years.
A former Prime Minister and 39 others accused of roles in a failed coup were charged in criminal court today with inciting rebellion against the Thai Government. The charge carries maximum penalties of life imprisonment or death. The suspects, including former Prime Minister Kriangsak Chomanan, were named as co-conspirators in an attempt on Sept. 9 to topple Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda.
The top military officer in the Philippines said today that the Communist insurgency had grown to a fighting strength of as many as 12,500 men, considerably higher than a recent estimate by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The officer, Lieutenant General Fidel V. Ramos, Acting Chief of Staff, also said at a news conference that stepped-up military operations had caused a 50 percent rise this year in the rate of deaths in the fighting, to an average of 15 a day. He said it would be correct to extrapolate from this a figure that would total about 4,500 Filipinos killed so far this year. General Ramos said he foresaw stepped-up activity by the rebel New People’s Army that would lead to increased casualties in the period leading up to local elections next spring and presidential elections in 1987.
Two people were killed and at least seven were wounded today in shooting that broke out in front of the presidential palace here as President Jose Napoleon Duarte was preparing to leave for a speech in the National Assembly. The shooting broke out with tensions high, amid expectations of renewed fighting after the release Thursday of Mr. Duarte’s kidnapped daughter in the largest exchange of prisoners in this country’s civil war. There were conflicting reports on the shooting. A presidential spokesman said the two main entrances of the palace had come under attack. But witnesses said the shooting began as police detectives opened fire on a car they were chasing close to the palace.
Argentina’s civilian President, Raul Alfonsin, today imposed a 60-day state of siege on the country. The action was seen as a move to free the Government’s hand to combat a sharp increase in violence widely attributed to right-wing terrorists. The decision to impose the state of siege came after a judge rejected as unconstitutional a presidential decree Tuesday ordering the arrest of 12 people suspected of being involved in a wave of bombings around the country. Human rights groups have linked the bombings to a rightist campaign to compel the Government to grant amnesty to former military leaders accused of murder and torture during military rule in the 1970’s, when at least 9,000 people disappeared.
President P. W. Botha declared a state of emergency today in and around this city, South Africa’s second largest, and seven other areas. In the last two months, more than 65 people have died in the Western Cape area in violent protests against apartheid. In Cape Town and its environs, at least 30 people have been killed in the last 12 days. The declaration extends to this area an emergency rule imposed on July 21 in 36 of the nation’s 265 magisterial districts. The extension was announced a day after Mr. Botha said that the emergency regulations would be lifted in 6 of the original 36 areas because they had effectively insured a “return to stability.”
Four journalists, including a correspondent for The New York Times and two members of a CBS News television crew, were held by the police today for three and a half hours. The Times correspondent, Sheila Rule, said the journalists were sitting in a parked car at a teachers’ college in Bellville, a mixed-race suburb, when they were taken into custody.
John A. Walker Jr. will plead guilty to espionage charges in exchange for a shorter prison sentence for his son, a seaman who has also been charged in the Navy spy case, law-enforcement and military officials said today. Under the plea bargain, the officials said, Mr. Walker has agreed to testify against Jerry A. Whitworth, a retired Navy radioman who has been accused of joining a Soviet spy ring purportedly formed by Mr. Walker nearly 20 years ago. Mr. Walker is expected to be sentenced to life in prison, the officials said. The agreement with prosecutors calls for leniency for Mr. Walker’s son, Michael, formerly a yeoman aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, who also will plead guilty to espionage charges, officials said. One law-enforcement source said Michael Walker, who was accused of giving secret documents from the Nimitz to his father, would receive a prison term substantially shorter than a life sentence, which he might have faced if convicted.
Criticism of the Attorney General came from Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court. In a speech Wednesday in Chicago, Justice Stevens said Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d gave a “somewhat uncomplete” account of history to support his view of the Constitution. His point-by-point rebuttal of Mr. Meese’s criticism was the first in memory that a member of the Court criticized a sitting Attorney General by name, legal experts said.
President Reagan travels to Camp David from New York, New York.
President Reagan speaks with Assistant for National Security Affairs Robert McFarlane regarding the attempted defection of a Soviet sailor in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Reagan Administration officials said today that they wanted Congress to forbid abortion counseling by family planning clinics that receive Federal money. The proposed restrictions would also forbid such clinics from referring women to abortion clinics. Under current Federal rules, family planning clinics that receive Federal aid must offer both abortion counseling and referral services to pregnant women who ask about their options.
The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said today that he expects the committee to make public its findings on the case of a former C.I.A. officer who is believed to have given damaging information to the Soviet Union. Senator Dave Durenberger, a Minnesota Republican, said some of the committee conclusions would be kept secret because of security considerations, but added in an interview, “Things will be made public.” The Intelligence Committee holds no public meetings and it rarely makes public statements on intelligence issues.
Heart surgeons disagreed sharply over how to use artificial hearts in patients awaiting a human heart transplant because of the severe complications that have developed in such patients. One surgeon called for a slowdown in implanting the devices until construction improvements were made, two others suggested using the devices primarily as a temporary bridge to keep the patient alive until a human heart transplant could be arranged. Another said he saw a role for the artificial heart as a permanent mechanism.
A Jarvik-7 artificial heart implanted to save the life of a 47-year-old factory worker was “performing beautifully” today as doctors searched for a suitable human heart donor, hospital officials said. Meanwhile, across the state in Hershey, Anthony Mandia, 44, of Philadelphia continued to improve with the Penn State artificial heart, a different model also designed as a temporary blood pump. The Pittsburgh patient, Thomas J. Gaidosh, “will receive the next available heart,” said Tom Chakurda, a spokesman for Presbyterian-University Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh. Mr. Chakurda said that doctors “feel comfortable he could withstand the procedure.”
Closing of bathhouses was approved by the New York State Public Health Council to help prevent the spread of AIDS. The council’s decision gave local health officials the right to close the bathhouses for the next 60 days. New York City’s Health Commissioner, Dr. David J, Sencer, criticized the approach. Mayor Koch, said enforcement would be difficult, but the city would try.
A Congressional subcommittee is investigating allegations that Washington National Airport’s flight control tower was understaffed because of an employees’ golf outing on Sept. 24 when an Eastern Airlines jetliner was forced to abort its takeoff to avoid a helicopter crossing its path. The investigation was announced by Representative James L. Oberstar, Democrat of Minnesota, chairman of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee. An official with the Federal Aviation Administration denied the allegations. A long-planned annual golfing event was held that day, but staffing levels were at normal levels, said Stephen D. Hayes, the F.A.A.’s assistant administrator for public affairs. “It had nothing to do with the near-miss,” Mr. Hayes said of the outing.
A Federal District Court jury today acquitted a former state legislator of charges that he helped a drug smuggler hide his illegal assets. Mallory Horne, who was Speaker of the House in the early 1960’s and President of the Senate in 1973-74, had been charged with 13 criminal counts, including conspiracy to impede the collection of income taxes, mail and wire fraud and foreign travel in furtherance of drug smuggling. Mr. Horne, 60 years old, had been accused by the Government of helping Robert J. Dugan, a pilot and aircraft mechanic from Dunnellon, Florida, conceal cash, land and other assets from a drug smuggling operation. Mr. Dugan, previously convicted of drug smuggling in Louisiana, pleaded guilty to racketeering and tax evasion charges prior to the trial and testified as a Government witness. He is awaiting sentencing. Mr. Horne’s nephew and former law partner, Melvin Horne, 38, was convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and two counts of foreign travel in aid of drug smuggling.
Dr. Donal M. Billig, for more than a year the chief heart surgeon at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, has been ordered by Navy superiors to stand trial on five counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of patients. Late Thursday, the Navy announced that an investigating officer and the chief of the Naval Medical Command had rejected efforts by Dr. Billig’s attorneys to set aside the charges.
Despite his cries of “not me,” a Vietnamese stood trial for murder for two days in Gainesville, Georgia and two witnesses named him as the killer before officials realized the wrong man had been brought to court from jail, prosecutors said today. The man charged with the murder is also Vietnamese, and both men are missing front teeth.
Marine experts today coaxed an ailing humpback whale that has been stranded inland for two weeks past the pilings of a bridge, overcoming the first major obstacle for the mammal’s return to safety in the Pacific Ocean. The 40-foot-long, 45-ton whale was spurred on by marine scientists in boats using underwater chimes and electronic gear as it passed under the Liberty Island bridge and headed downstream toward the San Francisco Bay 70 miles away. Spectators on the banks cheered and clapped as the whale swam beneath the bridge on the Sacramento River. Officials immediately prepared barges and tug boats to block small inlets along the river. The scientists continued clanging on submerged pipes to herd the whale, a technique borrowed from the Japanese who use it to herd dolphins for slaughter. It required four hours to get the whale past the bridge. The whale had negotiated the pilings five days ago on its inland sojourn after making a wrong turn at San Francisco Bay in a migration south.
The Kosmos 1700 communications satellite is placed in geostationary orbit.
The California Angels announce that they will not offer seven-time batting champion Rod Carew a new contract for the 1986 season. Carew will retire and be inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1991. He was in every All-Star game from 1967 to 1984 (18 in a row).
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1356.52 (-5.82)
Born:
Colt Anderson, NFL special teams gunner and safety (Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills), in Butte, Montana.
Slade Norris, NFL linebacker (Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars), in Portland, Oregon.
Wilkin Ramírez, Dominican outfielder and pinch hitter (Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins), in Bani, Dominican Republic.
Ciara [Ciara Princess Wilson], American singer and songwriter (Ciara: The Evolution) and model, in Austin, Texas.
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