Americans were on the plane that flew Egyptian commandos to Malta for the raid on the hijacked Egyptian airliner, according to sources in Washington and an official in Malta. Spokesmen in Washington have repeatedly stressed that no Americans were involved. At least two American military officers provided technical assistance in Malta to the Egyptian commandos who stormed a hijacked Egyptian airliner last Sunday, according to sources in Washington and an official here who said he spoke with the Americans before the raid. The exact type of assistance was not specified. United States Embassy spokesmen in Valletta declined to confirm or deny the report. Spokesmen in Washington have repeatedly stressed that no American military personnel were involved in the actual assault on the plane. On Friday they said only that the United States had offered its help.
Hundreds of leftists protesting a two-day meeting of a rightist political group clashed with club-wielding police in Hamburg, West Germany. Police said they arrested 10 demonstrators who tried to prevent people from entering the convention of the Conservative Action group, which seeks the release of imprisoned Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess and the expulsion of foreigners. Police said an elderly man collapsed and died after reaching safety behind a police cordon at the meeting.
A bomb destroyed an electric pylon in a suburb of Luxembourg, cutting off power to most of the capital, police said. The blast occurred as 10 European Community foreign ministers gathered for talks ahead of a full Common Market summit scheduled for Monday. The blast was the 13th such incident in the last six months in Luxembourg, but police have no idea who is behind the attacks. The foreign ministers discussed proposals for reform of the present unanimous decision-making process. Electricity was cut off at the summit conference center but was restored after a few minutes. The police said they had no word of casualties in the explosion and said no one had taken responsibility. The 10 Common Market heads of government and the leaders of future members Spain and Portugal are scheduled to join the conference on Monday. The Luxembourg authorities have taken sweeping security measures for the meeting.
About 300 Protestants clashed with supporters of the outlawed Irish Republican Army in Glasgow, Scotland, before the start of a rally led by the Rev. Ian Paisley. Police reported 17 arrests. Paisley was in Glasgow to rally support against a recent Anglo-Irish agreement giving Ireland a consultative role in Ulster. Meanwhile, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the IRA claimed responsibility for the shooting death of an 18-year-old Catholic youth for what it termed “anti-social behavior,” a euphemism there for drug trafficking.
Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos, a Spanish financier, was deported from West Germany today to face charges in Spain arising from the near collapse of the Rumasa business empire, the police said. Mr. Mateos, 54 years old, was arrested when the police raided a hotel restaurant as he was about to lunch with friends.
Joseph Cardinal Malula of Zaire, one of the presidents of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops called to examine the results of the Second Vatican Council, said today that another meeting might be required to adequately examine the problems facing the church. “The limited amount of time available to discuss all the problems in the church doesn’t enable us to deliberate in much depth,” he said. “I see no real problem having another synod in five years.” Cardinal Malula’s comments reflected a general view among the church leaders assembled here that they have been overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of the problems they have had to discuss.
Israeli officials appeared divided on how far to go in cooperating with the United States investigation of an American accused of spying for Israel, Government sources said. Some senior Government officials are pushing for a full public explanation of Israel’s actions. Other officials, however, want to continue to try to handle the affair quietly and without an independent, formal investigation that might threaten the existence of the national unity government. At the Cabinet meeting Sunday, a debate is expected among the ministers on what course Israel should take. Pressure on the Cabinet to reach a quick decision was increased by a State Department demand that two Israeli diplomats reportedly involved be made available for questioning by American law-enforcement officials. These officials are investigating a United State Navy analyst, Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was arrested November 21 and charged with selling secret American documents to Israel.
Lebanon doubled fuel prices, a move that observers in Beirut feared could start a chain reaction of price increases in an economy already ravaged by a decade of intermittent civil strife. Finance Minister Camille Chamoun said the price rise is crucial to reduce government subsidies. “This deficit threatens to bankrupt the state and collapse the economy,” said Chamoun, a Christian former president, noting that the fuel subsidies create an annual deficit of $555 million.
One year after a poison gas leak at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India, a major relief effort is reaching thousands of people while thousands more continue to have trouble breathing and working. Misery and rehabilitation can be seen side by side in the crowded and dusty slum abutting the plant, where death was almost instantaneous for hundreds of people when poison gas leaked from a storage tank late in the night of December 2, 1984, and spread through the city in the early hours of December 3. A relief program in Bhopal is reaching thousands of people who were injured by the gas leak at the Union Carbide plant there a year ago, while thousands of others still have trouble breathing and working. Treatment is being provided to 3,000 people daily at 20 new dispensaries in the central Indian city, where the leak killed at least 2,000 people and injured 200,000 others.
Medical studies conducted in the year since the chemical leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, indicate that the chemical responsible for the accident causes serious long-term health problems that were unknown before the disaster. In addition, many American and Indian medical experts say that increasing clinical evidence compiled since the accident shows that the more than 2,000 deaths and 200,000 injuries were not caused solely by the leak of the chemical, methyl isocyanate, a pesticide ingredient. Instead, they asserted, some methyl isocyanate broke down into hydrogen cyanide, a poison used in the Nazi gas chambers during World War II, before toxic material escaped from a storage tank the night of December 2-3. The Union Carbide Corporation has repeatedly asserted that, based on its own evidence and information, cyanide was not involved in the accident. Partly as a result, Indian officials have said, a cyanide antidote was not used to help victims until several months later. The issue has become the major medical controversy, Indian and American medical experts say.
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India said today that he had invited President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan to attend the inauguration of a nuclear power plant when he visits India next month. He told a meeting of the Japanese National Press Club that relations between India and Pakistan were steadily improving. Speaking on the third day of a visit to Japan, Prime Minister Gandhi said India could not sign the treaty banning the spread of nuclear weapons, as requested by Pakistan. But, he said, “We have no intention of building a nuclear weapon.” The Prime Minister noted that President Zia was due to visit India on December 16 and said the Pakistani leader would be welcome to attend the inauguration of a new nuclear reactor. “We have invited him to be present,” Prime Minister Gandhi said, adding that this would enable President Zia to see that the Indian nuclear power program posed no threat.
Several thousand riot policemen and rail workers guarded train stations and other installations of the Japan National Railways today to prevent a recurrence of the sabotage that shut down 23 commuter lines on Friday. Stopgap repairs restored communications and signal systems that had been knocked out in well-timed raids, and trains ran on schedule throughout the day in Tokyo and Osaka. Both cities were badly snarled in the Friday morning rush hour as millions of stranded commuters jammed roads and private rail lines in search of alternative ways to get to work. Meanwhile, Japanese police forces pressed their investigation into the sabotage, focusing on a band of left-wing extremists known as the Chukakuha, or Middle Core Faction. Nearly all of the 48 people arrested thus far in connection with the rail disruptions belong to the group, which has often led violent protests over the last two decades at Tokyo’s main international airport in Narita.
About 6,000 protesters in Manila marched on the presidential palace, and several hundred others demonstrated at the United States Embassy. Both groups denounced the planned Feb. 7 special election called by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Meanwhile, Corazon Aquino, widow of slain Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., was named by a new political coalition as its candidate to challenge President Ferdinand E. Marcos in elections early next year. She is expected to agree to run, when a bill setting the election date comes before the National Assembly on Monday. Six parties formed the coalition, called Laban ng Bayan.
Latin American countries were so far behind in their payments to the Organization of American States last summer that the United States was carrying 94% of the organization’s budget, according to U.S. officials. Now, however, some of the least economically depressed Latin countries, including Mexico and Venezuela, have made payments, reducing the U.S. share and helping overcome an OAS financial crisis. Under a formula based on ability to pay, Washington for many years has been contributing 66% of the budget, now running at $60 million.
A prominent Roman Catholic bishop from Latin America harshly denounced the theology of liberation today, saying, “When I see a church with a machine gun, I cannot see the crucified Christ in that church.” The attack came from Bishop Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the executive secretary of the Latin American Episcopal Conference. Bishop Castrillon Hoyos, of Pereira, Colombia, is taking part in the two-week Synod called by Pope John Paul II to assess the state of the church since the end of the Second Vatican Council 20 years ago.
When Guatemalans vote for a civilian President December 8, they will be choosing between two candidates with very different views on the crisis in Central America. The front-runner, Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo of the Christian Democratic Party , has taken pains to distance himself from United States policy in the region. He has condemned outside intervention in local conflicts, and says Guatemala can live peacefully with the leftist Sandinistas who govern Nicaragua.
The chairmen of House and Senate subcommittees on Africa said this week that Congress should reduce or suspend United States aid to Liberia in response to reports of human rights violations after a coup attempt and a rigged presidential election. The chairmen, Representative Howard Wolpe, Democrat of Michigan, and Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Republican of Kansas, said Liberia’s head of state, General Samuel K. Doe, should hold new elections and carry out changes to restore confidence in the Government. “The key question is whether the Government is legitimate in the eyes of the people and whether it can be sustained over time,” Mr. Wolpe said. “I don’t see it happening. I think there will be continuing unrest and turmoil in that country unless steps are taken to permit fair and free elections. For the U.S. to be closely identified with the Doe regime would be foolish.”
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe leaves today on his first official visit to the Soviet Union, marking a turnabout in the African country’s once-frosty relations with Moscow. After independence in 1980, Mugabe kept the Soviet Union at arm’s length because of its support for his political rival, Joshua Nkomo. An African diplomat in Harare said Mugabe’s Moscow visit is important because he is scheduled to take over next year as leader of the movement of nonaligned nations and needs to balance earlier trips to the United States and China.
500,000 South African black workers have been enlisted in the biggest labor federation in the country’s history. Organizers of the newly formed Congress of South African Trade Unions hope that it will be a potential major challenger to white majority rule. But the newly formed organization, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which held its inaugural meeting on Friday night, is facing internal divisions over how it should seek to translate black economic muscle into a political challenge. Moreover, it excludes unions representing 200,000 black workers allied to the philosophy of black consciousness. The black-consciousness movement flourished under Steve Biko, the black activist who died in police custody in 1977, and excludes whites from the struggle against apartheid, the system of racial separation.
The leaders of the African National Congress say they believe they are finally within sight of their goal of abolishing apartheid in South Africa and setting up a black majority government there. The leadership of the organization, which was reconstituted here last summer for the first time to include nonblacks in its national executive, pins its optimism on several factors:
— The continuing and growing economic problems faced by the South African Government.
— The continuing unrest in many black townships and the increasing inability of South African authorities to govern these areas.
— The gradual but steady increase in the number of black youths coming to Zambia to join the African National Congress for military and political training.
— The holding of several meetings between State Department officials and senior officials in the organization.
A growing number of Americans view the current deficit as a serious threat to the nation, the Gallup Poll found. In a mid-November survey, 61% characterized the deficit as a “very serious” national problem and an additional 23% called it “fairly serious.” Merely 3% said it is “not serious,” while 13% were undecided. A year ago, 54% of those polled by Gallup thought the deficit was very serious. Almost three in 10 (29%) would approve of raising personal income taxes to reduce the federal deficit. Both the House and Senate have approved legislation that would gradually lead to a balanced federal budget beginning in the early 1990s.
President Reagan makes a Radio Address to the Nation on espionage against the United States. President Reagan said today that the United States would not hesitate to root out and prosecute the spies of any nation, letting the “chips fall where they may.” Mr. Reagan’s remarks came at a time when the Administration is trying to have Israel abide by a pledge to make two of its diplomats available for questioning about a United States Navy employee charged with selling secret documents to Israel. The diplomats left the United States the day after the arrest of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the Navy employee, and Israel has resisted returning them to the United States for questioning. The diplomats have been described by Israeli Government sources as Mr. Pollard’s contacts.
President Reagan receives a private letter from Assistant for National Security Affairs Robert McFarlane asking to resign from government service.
Special interests poured a record $113 million into 1983-84 elections, with most of it going to incumbent members of Congress, the Federal Election Commission reported. Senate and House members seeking reelection received $80.6 million, or 70% of all the money contributed by political action committees. By comparison, challengers received only 16%, and candidates in open-seat elections got 11%. Legislation scheduled for a Senate vote this week would set a $100,000 limit on PAC contributions to House candidates and limits ranging from $175,000 to $750,000 to Senate candidates, based on the size of their state.
The use of tax credits is responsible for a gradual but radical change in efforts to rehabilitate buildings in old American cities and small towns are being used increasingly for lower-budget housing to fill the void left by steep budget cuts in federal housing rehabilitation programs.
Negotiators for 4,000 workers at nine hotels in Boston agreed an hour before a midnight strike deadline to delay the walkout another 24 hours, Mayor Raymond L. Flynn announced. Talks were expected to resume today. Earlier, hundreds of employees took classes on civil disobedience and painted protest signs to prepare for a strike. Among the union’s demands is one that asks for seminars to “sensitize” managers to the sexual harassment faced by hotel workers.
Police arrested 34 demonstrators to break up an anti-racism march at the edge of a mostly white Philadelphia neighborhood. They were accused of violating Mayor W. Wilson Goode’s declaration of a state of emergency after about 200 protesters gathered outside the home of an interracial couple on November 21. That demonstration followed one the previous night by about 400 whites who gathered outside the home of a black couple, chanting “We want them out,” and “Beat It.” The interracial couple reportedly have decided to move.
The Arizona man who received a heart and lungs in transplant surgery Friday was still weak but “recovering well” and breathing without the aid of a respirator, officials at University Medical Center in Tucson said. They reported that Terry May, 32, was awake and able to brush his teeth and visit with his wife, but his condition was still regarded as critical.
A new rule by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that would discipline prosecutors for subpoenaing defense lawyers to testify against their clients without prior judicial approval could lead to a confrontation between the state and the Federal Justice Department, legal experts say. The rule, which takes effect Jan. 1, marks the first time a state court has entered a growing national debate over the Reagan Administration’s efforts to force criminal attorneys to disclose information about defendants. The Massachusetts high court adopted the rule last month after protests by lawyers here that an increasing number of them were being subpoenaed in what they assert is a violation of the attorney-client privilege, an assertion the Administration disputes. One Boston attorney, Barry P. Wilson, was released from Federal prison in October after serving four and a half months for refusing to testify before a Federal grand jury in Rhode Island about a client suspected in a narcotics case. Mr. Wilson is believed to be the first lawyer jailed in recent years for taking such a stand.
A couple who offered to save a farmer from eviction by buying his property have backed out of the deal, but a new buyer has stepped forward, the farmer’s lawyer says. Linda and Melvin Dixon offered to buy Oscar Lorick’s farm in Bleckley County for $75,000 after protesters prevented the authorities from evicting the 66-year-old famer November 15. The Dixons had promised to let Mr. Lorick live on the 79-acre property for $1 a year. Mr. Dixon, 43, was arrested this week on Florida warrants charging him with grand theft and forgery. Alvin McDougald, Mr. Lorick’s lawyer, said Friday that a new buyer, who asked not to be identified, had offered to buy the farm and allow Mr. Lorick to live there for a nominal fee. The Cook Banking Company of Cochran foreclosed on Mr. Lorick’s land.
Games and slots at Caesars Casino-Hotel in Atlantic City were shut down in a 24-hour suspension for violation of New Jersey’s gambling laws, but its hotel, bars and nine restaurants remained open. Caesars was being penalized for breaking casino credit regulations so that Brian Molony, a banker convicted of embezzlement, could gamble away $9.9 million in stolen funds. Caesars officials would not give any estimate of losses for the day.
A coalition of peace groups picketed selected toy stores across the country to protest Christmas war toys, which they contend promote violence. John Steinbach, national coordinator of International Days Against War Toys, said the groups believe toys based on films such as “Rambo,” “Star Wars” and “Masters of the Universe” are another symptom of the “militarization” of Western society. In Santa Monica’s Palisades Park, a group staged a mock burial of war toys, while in West Hartford, Connecticut, protesters demanded that Coleco Industries Inc. scrap plans for a “Rambo” doll.
Two years after the Army opened an internal investigation involving some of its most covert operations, the inquiry’s secrecy has been shattered and the reputation of some of the Army’s most elite units has been tarnished. The investigation has focused on allegations of fraud and larceny by active intelligence-gathering and special operations personnel, and the disposition of money set aside for covert missions and secret travel. Officially, the Army has refused to discuss any aspect of its investigation or to identify the specific units for which men charged in the case worked. Some details have emerged, however, because of court proceedings and courts-martial and the involvement of Justice Department investigators. One officer involved in intelligence work has now been indicted, and two others are facing courts-martial. A fourth man, an Army master sergeant, was cleared of larceny charges earlier this month.
A storm that dropped up to two feet of snow across the southern Rocky Mountains swung eastward yesterday and spread ice, slush and snow across the Great Plains to the Great Lakes. Sixteen people including six in a single accident in Idaho, died in weather-related traffic accidents since the Thanksgiving weekend began, the authorities said. By Saturday afternoon, a broad belt of snow extended from Utah across the Rockies and Plains states to Upper Michigan. Sleet iced roads from northern Oklahoma to southern Wisconsin. But elsewhere, Savannah, Georgia, had record warmth for a third day in a row with a high of 82 degrees as the storm track across the Plains kept cold air out of the Southeast.
When the National Aeronautic Association holds its annual Wright Brothers dinner Friday in Washington, gracing the head table will be a chunky, snub-nosed, 50-year-old guest of honor: a Douglas DC-3. Somehow, inviting one of the legendary workhorses of the sky to a 50th birthday dinner in a hangar at Dulles International Airport is not too extravagant a gesture for admirers of the “Gooney Bird” that launched the era of commercial aviation and helped to carry Allied forces to victory in World War II. In its military configuration as the C-47, according to the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, the twin-engine propeller plane has flown more miles, hauled more freight and carried more passengers than any other aircraft in history. Admirers of the plane have also been known to boast that it thrived on neglect, never wore out and practically flew itself.
An animal protection group based in New York has sought a Federal District Court order to stop the hunting of wild bison that wander out of Yellowstone National Park into Montana. The suit, filed November 22 by the Fund for Animals in the court in Missoula, said the National Park Service had “neglected or refused to take steps for the purpose of protecting the buffalo.” and asked that the park service be required to keep its herd of 2,000 bison in the park. A hearing is set for Monday. Montana officials say the bison have brucellosis, which could spread to domestic livestock and cause them to abort their young. Last year Montana wildlife officials shot 88 of the bison.
Rosa Parks returned to Montgomery, Alabama today for the 30th anniversary observation of her quiet refusal to yield a bus seat to a white man, an event often viewed as the start of the civil rights movement. “It’s good to be back,” said Mrs. Parks, 72 years old, whose arrest on December 1, 1955, prompted a 381-day bus boycott and led to the fall of Montgomery’s segregation laws. “At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this,” she said. “I certainly wouldn’t change anything in my fight for freedom.” Mrs. Parks was on her way home from work as a seamstress when a bus driver ordered her to give up her seat to a white man and move to the area designated “Negro” in the back of the bus. Three other blacks moved but Mrs. Parks refused. She later said she was too tired to get up. She was arrested and fined $14 but never paid the fine. Her act became the symbol for a bus boycott led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy.
50th Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 25-23 in Birmingham.
Born:
Chrissy Teigen, American model (Sports Illustrated) and TV personality, in Delta, Utah.
Kaley Cuoco, American actress (“The Big Bang Theory”), in Camarillo, California.
Luis Valbuena, Venezuelan MLB third baseman, second baseman, and first baseman (Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels), in Caja Seca, Venezuela (d. 2018, killed alongside José Castillo in a 2018 car crash in Venezuela caused by bandits in an attempted robbery).
Paul Szczechura, Canadian NHL right wing (Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabres), in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
Died:
Phil Tucker, 58, American film director (Robot Monster).
History Diaries 