The Soviet newspaper Pravda said last November’s Geneva summit has given the world a “glimmer of hope” but that the U.S. “military-industrial elite” is trying to sabotage any hope of progress in arms talks. “A certain thaw in the international political climate is the most tangible result of the summit,” the Communist Party daily said. It charged that U.S. militarist circles are intent on undermining the “spirit of Geneva” by urging the Reagan Administration to adopt more advanced weaponry.
Irina McClellan, whose request to join her American husband in Virginia was recently approved by Soviet authorities, has appealed to Mikhail S. Gorbachev to let her daughter leave as well. Emigration authorities last week told Mrs. McClellan, who has not seen her husband for 11 years, that she was free to leave the Soviet Union but that her daughter by a previous marriage was not. In a letter sent January 2 to Mr. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, Mrs. McClellan said, “I entreat you to remove the obstacle preventing the reunification of my family.” Mrs. McClellan made a copy of the letter available today.
Britain is planning to reintroduce trial by jury for some offenses in Northern Ireland as a result of the Anglo-Irish accord that gives Dublin a consultative role in the British-ruled province, the Observer newspaper reported in London. Britain plans to allow jury trials for crimes involving firearms and kidnaping but not where guerrilla crime is involved, the newspaper said. Courts in which a judge sits without a jury were set up in 1972 as a measure to prevent intimidation of juries.
An open battle for a stake in Britain’s only manufacturer of helicopters has merged into a thinly veiled battle over the policies of the Conservative Party and even its leadership when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher eventually steps down. Politically the man who has the most to win or lose in the fight for control of the ailing Westland Helicopters, which is reported to have lost more than $137.5 million last year, is Mrs. Thatcher’s Defense Secretary, Michael Heseltine. In a rare display of independence for a member of the Cabinet, especially under a Prime Minister as dominant as Mrs. Thatcher, Mr. Heseltine has been pushing hard for a consortium of four European companies that has emerged as a late bidder in the Westland battle. The company’s board has clearly favored a joint bid from an American and an Italian multinational, United Technologies and Fiat, which the Defense Secretary has opposed on the ground that the research and development side of the helicopter business would inevitably be taken over by the American group’s Sikorsky division. This would leave Britain — and ultimately Europe, he has argued — without an independent base for technological development in a competitive industry.
Libya has no training camps for Palestinian terrorists, its leader said in asserting that Libya was not directly responsible for the Palestinian attacks in Rome and Vienna. But Colonel Qaddafi reiterated his support for the Palestinians and defended such attacks as part of their struggle to liberate their homeland from the Israelis. He also warned the United States that retaliation against Libya for the airport raids could set off “World War III.” Mr. Qaddafi said he had put his armed forces on full alert in response to what he said was the movement toward Libya of a carrier group from the United States Sixth Fleet, and was prepared to fight, if necessary, to protect Libya from American or Israeli aggression. In a 35-minute impromptu news conference in the middle of a newly plowed barley field, in which Colonel Qaddafi was seated atop a tractor, he declined to deny categorically that Libya had been directly or indirectly involved in any way in the airport attacks by providing money, weapons, or logistical support for the raids. But he went to seemingly unusual lengths to distance Libya from the Palestinian attacks.
The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said today that he found it “incredible” that Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi would deny that Palestinian guerrillas were operating training camps in Libya. “There are terrorist training camps in Libya,” the vice chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said in an interview, “The suggestion that there aren’t is about as incredible as Qaddafi’s statement that the terrorists’ actions were considered the holiest actions throughout the world,” he said. “Qaddafi knows they’re there,” the Senator continued. “I believe, in some instances, he encourages having them there. And certainly they exist only with his willingness and acquiescence.”
Israel plans no attack on Libya on its own in retaliation for the Rome and Vienna airport killings. Prime Minister Shimon Peres said. He called for “collective measures” against nations that harbor terrorists. “I don’t want to declare war against anybody, against any country,” Mr. Peres said. “I don’t think it is necessary. We are not talking about war or war declarations. “On the other hand, I say clearly that we are not going to guarantee the security of any terrorist, no matter where he is,” he added.
The Arab League, after a special council session, issued a communique today that “vigorously condemned” what it said were threats of American military action against Libya in response to terrorist attacks at two airports in Europe. But the message took a markedly softer line on the Libyan-American dispute than expected after a meeting of the 21-member group in Tunis Saturday night.
A 36,000-ton Maltese tanker was set ablaze by an Iraqi missile attack south of Iran’s oil export terminal at Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. Shipping sources said the crew of the fully loaded vessel Koncar abandoned ship and that salvage tugs were on their way. It was the second attack in seven weeks on the Koncar, which was hit by an Iraqi Exocet missile November 16 in the Persian Gulf. Iraq reported making 124 raids on Iran’s tanker traffic during 1985, nearly half of them confirmed by independent sources.
In the week since President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq ended martial law, leaders of Pakistan’s nine-month-old civilian Government have begun asserting a measure of independence and disassociating themselves from a few of General Zia’s policies. In interviews, politicians and Government officials expressed doubt that Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo and his civilian Government would make a major break with General Zia, who retains the position of army Chief of Staff as well as President in Pakistan’s new Government. But they said Mr. Junejo appeared to be trying to demonstrate to skeptics that he, not General Zia, is the head of the Government and in charge of maintaining order and controlling political activity. Such a show of independence, even if limited, could alter the political dynamics in this country, which has been ruled by the military for eight and a half years, the analysts agreed. General Zia, who governed Pakistan as chief martial law administrator after seizing power in a coup in 1977, formally restored civil government and several basic rights last Monday, although there is still much uncertainty over how much political freedom will be permitted.
Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene today ruled out negotiations with Tamils fighting for a separate state in the north and east of Sri Lanka as long as they “came with guns.” The 79-year-old President asked the public to fully support the armed forces in what he called their fight to destroy terrorism and protect the people and their freedom. United News of India, in a report from Colombo, said three Tamils were killed and 40 wounded today by gunfire from security forces in Jaffna, the capital of Northern Province. Five people were reported killed Saturday in Jaffna in clashes between troops and guerrillas. Eighteen percent of Sri Lanka’s 15 million people are Tamils.
A high-level American delegation arrived in Thailand today on its way to Hanoi for talks on Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War. The team, led by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard L. Armitage and including Paul D. Wolfowitz, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is the highest-level group to visit Vietnam since the war ended in 1975.
An Athens-to-New York flight by Olympic Airways was diverted to Goose Bay, Canada, after a bomb threat, police said. The 412 passengers and crew were stranded for seven hours in the remote Labrador town while the Boeing 747 was emptied and Royal Canadian Mounted Police inspected it. No bomb was found, and the flight took off for New York. The airline diverted the flight after the threat was telephoned to its offices in Athens, police said. A passenger quoted the pilot as saying the threat was from Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group.
Nicaragua said it had no part in the guerrilla attack on Colombia’s Palace of Justice in November despite reports that weapons used in the attack had come from Nicaragua. On Thursday, the Colombian Foreign Minister sent Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister a message containing serial numbers of 10 automatic weapons found in the wreckage of the palace. He said eight had been the property of Nicaragua’s defeated National Guard and that the two others had been acquired by the Sandinistas.
Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano continued to rumble and spew ash, prompting the government to maintain a “maximum alert” to guard against an eruption similar to the one November 13 that killed 25,000 people. Thousands of people, mostly farmers ordered evacuated Saturday, spent the night huddled in mountain caves as torrential rains poured down the slopes of the devastated Armero Valley. The government ordered settlers to evacuate Saturday after the snow-capped volcano rained ash for the first time since an eruption caused a mudslide that buried the town of Armero, 105 miles northwest of Bogota, and destroyed 13 other towns. About 23,000 of Armero’s 28,000 residents were killed and 2,000 people died in Chinchina, 22 miles west of the volcano. On Saturday, policemen using sirens ordered about 15,000 peasants out of six river valleys and gave them blankets and food for their trek to higher ground. Victor Ricardo, president of the National Emergency Committee, said today that the evacuation order “must be maintained until further instruction.” The evacuation zone lies in a 30-mile radius around Nevado del Ruiz. About 150,000 people live there, but government officials said only about 15,000 were ordered to evacuate Saturday.
Interior Minister Sabino Montanaro of Paraguay charged the American Ambassador today with interfering in the country’s domestic affairs by having talks with opponents of the government. In an interview published in the Diario Noticias newspaper, Mr. Montanaro said Ambassador Clyde Taylor was trying to make himself the protector of opposition politicians linked in a group called the National Accord.
South African officials said that black guerrillas used Botswana as a base to plant a land mine that killed two whites, and they hinted that the military will mount a cross-border raid to take retribution. A regional military commander blamed African National Congress guerrillas based in Botswana, and Defense Minister Magnus Malan said, “After deliberation, the government will act in order to fight this evil.” Botswana denies that guerrillas are present, but South Africa has raided that country and others in pursuit of insurgents.
Black South Africa’s ties to tribes and their customs remain strong, surviving the pressures imported by colonial rulers, zealous missionaries and ideologists. In South Africa there is a more complex overlay of apartheid dogma that seeks to maintain tribal distinctions despite clear evidence of their explosive potential elsewhere in Africa and thereby help shelter a white minority from black majority rule.
Space shuttle Columbia’s liftoff was scheduled for tomorrow as the countdown at Cape Canaveral, Florida, went smoothly for the spacecraft’s first mission in more than two years. The shuttle was grounded for extensive refurbishing. The weather cleared and the refitted shuttle Columbia was given a “go” for a pre-dawn blastoff Monday from the Kennedy Space Center on its second attempt in 19 days to carry a congressman and a revolutionary television satellite into orbit. Project officials said that the countdown was trouble-free and everything was set for takeoff at 4:05 AM PST on a five-day flight, the first of a record 15 shuttle launchings now planned for 1986 and the first of two scheduled for January. The mission is to end Saturday with a landing back at the Florida space center. Its five-day mission will be devoted mainly to science. Among the crew members is Representative Bill Nelson, who heads the House subcommittee that oversees the budget of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Budget officials predict some pain, confusion and resentment as government departments and agencies, big and small, learn next week about the spending cuts required by the new balanced budget law. “I think people are in for a big surprise,” said Rudolph G. Penner, the director of the Congressional Budget Office. The agency is working with the Reagan Administration’s Office of Management and Budget to prepare the specifications for the expected $11.7 billion cut in this fiscal year’s budget. “The thing is purposely designed to have an unappealing result, and it will,” he added. The measure, which sets deficit ceilings that decline to zero by 1991, was signed into law in December. It was sponsored in the Senate by two Republicans, Phil Gramm of Texas and Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire, and a Democrat, Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina.
President Reagan will propose combining federal aid for highways and for mass transit in a single grant, a move that would reduce mass transit funding by 40% or more, it was reported. Under the proposal for the fiscal 1987 budget, city and state officials could use money from the single grant for highways, subways or buses, based to local needs, according to the New York Times. The federal government provided $4.1 billion in mass transit aid in the last fiscal year. Congress has appropriated $3.7 billion in fiscal 1986.
President Reagan enjoys watching a few football games at the White House.
President Reagan calls Tim Brown of Notre Dame, winner of the Heisman trophy.
Three men began fasting in Kent, Washington, in an effort to pressure President Reagan to schedule a meeting with a Vietnam veteran who fasted for 51 days to draw attention to servicemen missing in Southeast Asia. Gino Casanova, a former Marine who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, ended his fast when Reagan telephoned him on December 5. Casanova said the President promised to meet with him within 60 days to discuss the POW-MIA issue, but no meeting has been scheduled. The three who began fasting were veteran Mike Maloon, 43, Raymond Sandeaux, 48, a French veteran, and Daniel Edgar, 37, an anti-war protester.
Bishop Desmond Tutu, beginning a two-week visit to the United States, said at a church service in Hartford, Connecticut today that God had a special place in His heart for weak and voiceless people, such as those living under apartheid. Bishop Tutu, the winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, addressed a racially mixed group of about 500 people at the Horace Bushnell Congregational Church.
Workers used an untested method to expel radioactive gas from a tank when it ruptured Saturday at a nuclear plant in Oklahoma, according to a plant executive. The leak at the Kerr-McGee Corporation’s Sequoyah killed an employee and injured at least 32 people. A company official said the tank had been overfilled with uranium hydrochloride because the scales on which it was being weighed were not accurate.
Buildups of commando units by the Reagan Administration have been hampered by the indifference or opposition of regular Army and Air Force officers, according to a senior Pentagon official and members of Congress. The Pentagon’s senior civilian in charge of special operations, Noel C. Koch, said the resistance by the uniformed services had become so frustrating that he probably would support proposals in Congress for a single agency that would take over direction of special operations such as the Army Green Berets and the Navy Seals. Mr. Koch complained that commando units had frequently been found unready for combat, mainly because the services had not provided adequate aircraft to deliver them on their missions. A recent House Appropriations Committee report, based on Air Force data, asserted, “Half the forces are not combat-ready half the time.” “We’ve got bands that are in a higher state of readiness than some of our special operations assets,” Mr. Koch said. “And that’s no joke.” Mr. Koch charged that the lapses had “absolutely” hampered the execution of some recent missions, although he refused to elaborate because of the highly classified nature of special forces activities.
Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, hospitalized for the second time in 16 months for a urinary tract infection, was in fair condition in University Hospitals in Birmingham, a spokesman said. The spokesman said Wallace, 66, was receiving antibiotics and “came through the evening just as expected.”
The A. H. Robins Company is beginning a 91-nation advertising campaign to inform 4.5 million women that they have until April 30 to file claims for compensation for health problems caused by the Dalkon Shield, an intrauterine contraceptive device. The campaign is aimed at an estimated 2.8 million women in the United States and 1.7 million women abroad who received the device between 1971 and 1974, when the Food and Drug Administration asked the company to halt sales because of health risks.
A Navy heart surgeon’s trial on charges of criminal negligence in the deaths of five patients is expected to challenge the reputation of the Navy’s most prestigious hospital and perhaps all of military medicine, The defendant, Commander Donal M. Billig, the former chief heart surgeon at Bethesda Naval Hospital was dismissed by the hospital in April on the ground of incompetence.
Care for the homeless in Miami is “negligible,” according to a soon-to-be released report that says the city does less for its street people than any other major metropolitan area in the country. Miami has an estimated 8,000 homeless people but does not spend a dime for their care or shelter, according to a study by the National Coalition for the Homeless that will be published in two weeks. The report said that all 695 beds at homeless shelters are provided by private groups.
One of the guards held hostage by rioting prisoners at Moundsville, West Virginia, was forced to watch as jeering inmates “carved up” a prisoner accused of being an informer, and another guard saw an inmate “butchered,” other guards said. “They made him watch. They put on a show for him,” one guard said. Sixteen hostages were seized in the New Year’s Day uprising by inmates brandishing homemade knives and spears. Prisoners controlled the decrepit building for two days and killed three inmates before the last hostages were released and the state regained control.
The general manager of New York’s Kennedy International Airport has asked all airlines to tighten security in the wake of two terrorist attacks at European airports last month that killed 19 people, an official said. Kennedy General Manager Richard Rowe, in a bulletin to airlines, suggested that they ban anyone but ticketed travelers from their check-in areas and departure lounges, spokesman John Hughes of the Port Authority said. Two airlines-El Al and Air-India-already have such rules, he said.
Bones from a third person have been discovered at a site where the remains of two other people were found earlier in the week, officials said. All three were the victims of a serial killer officials say has killed at least 34 young women. Eleven more young women are missing and believed to be victims of the killer. The third set of remains were discovered Saturday by volunteers searching an area believed to be a place where bodies were left by the killer. It was not immediately known how long the bones had been at the site, said Mick Fletcher, an investigator for the King County medical examiner’s office. The bones did not include a skull or jawbone. They were determined to be separate from the partial skeletons found earlier in the week, said a spokesman for the King County police. The case has become known as the Green River killings because most of the bodies were discovered near the Green River. The victims were first discovered almost four years ago, and the bodies have been dumped in clusters, as many as six in one site.
More than 14 years after six people died in a bloody shootout at San Quentin Prison, a 43-year-old lawyer will go on trial for murder in San Rafael, California Monday in connection with the incident. The defendant is Stephen Mitchell Bingham, a Yale-educated member of a prominent Connecticut family, who is accused of smuggling a pistol into the prison near here on August 21, 1971, and giving it to a member of the Black Panther Party, George Jackson. Mr. Jackson used the gun in an unsuccessful attempt to break out of San Quentin. He was killed, along with three guards and two other inmates.
Almost 37 percent of the violent crimes in recent years were committed by people with weapons, and more than a third of those offenders were armed with guns, according to a Justice Department study released today. Of the 65,343,000 rapes, robberies and assaults that took place in the United States from 1973 through 1982, the report said, slightly more than 24 million were committed by people armed with guns, knives or other weapons. Weapons were used in just under half of all robberies, in more than a third of all assaults, and in a quarter of all rapes, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which conducted the study.
A helicopter ferrying offshore oil workers to a derrick barge off Grand Isle, Louisiana flipped over in high winds yesterday, killing two people and knocking a third into the Gulf of Mexico. Searchers looked for the missing man until nightfall and planned to continue the search Monday, officials said.
NFL Divisional Playoffs:
New England Patriots 27, Los Angeles Raiders 20
The New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 27–20, in their AFC playoff game in Los Angeles. The Raiders had defeated New England 35–20 during the regular season, but in this game, Patriots running back Craig James rushed for 104 yards, caught three passes for 48 yards, completed one pass for eight yards, and scored a touchdown while the Patriots defense forced six turnovers and shut out the Raiders in the second half. In the first quarter, Patriots safety Jim Bowman recovered a muffed punt by returner Fulton Walker to set up Tony Eason’s 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Lin Dawson. On LA’s next drive, Ronnie Lippett intercepted a pass from Marc Wilson, but the Patriots were unable to move the ball. Then Raiders defensive end Greg Townsend blocked Rich Camarillo’s punt, getting the ball back for his team at the Pats 16-yard line and leading to a 29-yard field goal by Chris Bahr.
In the second quarter, Bahr missed a 44-yard field goal, but their defense once again held the Patriots down and forced a punt, which Walker returned 16 yards to start off a 52-yard scoring drive culminating in Wilson’s 16-yard touchdown throw to receiver Jessie Hester. On New England’s first play from scrimmage after the turnover, Raiders lineman Howie Long recovered Mosi Tatupu’s fumble on the New England 19, and LA scored another touchdown on Marcus Allen’s 11-yard run, increasing their lead to 17–7. The Patriots stormed back with an 80-yard touchdown possession. Tatupu helped make up for his fumble with a 22-yard run, while James caught a 24-yard reception and rushed for 27 yards on the drive, including a 2-yard touchdown on third down out of shotgun formation that cut the score to 17–14. Then on LA’s ensuing possession, Lippett recorded his second interception of the day, giving the Patriots the ball at LA’s 28-yard line and setting up a Tony Franklin field goal to tie the game. There was just 1:40 left in the half at this point, but the Raiders still managed to retake the lead before halftime, with Allen rushing for a 17-yard gain and Wilson completing a 31-yard pass to tight end Todd Christensen on the way to a 32-yard field goal from Bahr.
Midway through the third quarter, Allen lost a fumble that led to Franklin’s field goal, tying the game back up at 20. Then in what turned out to be the key play of the game, Raiders cornerback Sam Seale fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Bowman recovered in the end zone for a touchdown to give his team a 27–20 lead. There was still a full quarter left to play, but the Raiders would get no further in the game than the New England 41-yard line. Los Angeles’ three fourth quarter drives would result in a punt, an interception by Fred Marion and a turnover on downs at their own 13. Allen finished the game with 121 rushing yards and a touchdown, along with three receptions for eight yards. This was the last victory by a road team in an AFC divisional playoff game until 1992, when the Buffalo Bills defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers. This was the second postseason meeting between the Patriots and Raiders. The Raiders won the only previous meeting when they were based in Oakland.
New York Giants 0, Chicago Bears 21
The Chicago Bears routed the New York Giants, 21–0, in their NFC playoff match-up. The Bears defense dominated the game by allowing only 32 rushing yards, 181 total yards, and sacking the Giants quarterbacks for 60 yards. Giants quarterback Phil Simms was sacked six times during the game, 3.5 of them coming from Chicago defensive end Richard Dent. New York’s offense passed for just 104 yards in the first half, and had 89 total yards in the third quarter. Chicago’s first touchdown resulted on a New York punt attempt from their own 12, forcing Sean Landeta to attempt the kick three yards behind his goal line. As Landeta dropped the ball to kick it, the wind altered the ball’s descent and caused it to go off the side of his foot. As a result, the ball went right into the ground and bounced a short distance before reserve safety Shaun Gayle picked it up and returned the -7 yard punt five yards for a touchdown. Gayle’s run was the shortest punt return touchdown in NFL history. New York had their best chance to score late in the second quarter when Simms completed passes to George Adams and Bobby Johnson for gains of 31 and 17 yards, giving the team a first down on the Chicago 2-yard line. But Simms’ next three passes were incomplete, and with just 11 seconds left in the half, kicker Eric Schubert hit the left upright on his 19-yard field goal attempt.
In the third quarter, Bears quarterback Jim McMahon increased the Bears lead to 14–0 with a 23-yard touchdown pass to receiver Dennis McKinnon. Later in the quarter, with Chicago facing second and 12 on their own 34, the Giants made another key error. The Giants defense came out of the huddle planning for a massive blitz, but decided to switch to a zone defense after reading the Bears formation. However, half the defenders were unable to hear the new play call over the roaring crowd at Soldier Field and ended up blitzing, leaving receiver Tim Wrightman completely uncovered. McMahon threw the ball to Wrightman for a 46-yard gain, and then finished the drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to McKinnon on the next play, making the final score of the game 21–0. The Bears could have had a much larger lead, but the normally reliable rookie kicker Kevin Butler had an uncharacteristically bad day, missing three field goal attempts from distances of 26, 49 and 38 yards. McMahon finished the game with 216 passing yards, while running back Walter Payton rushed for 94 yards and caught a 4-yard pass. This was the seventh postseason meeting between the Giants and Bears. Chicago won four of the previous six meetings.
Born:
J.P. Arencibia, MLB catcher and first baseman (Toronto Blue Jays, Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays), in Miami, Florida.
Deepika Padukone, Indian model, actress (“Om Shanti Om”, “Cocktail”, “Piki”), and activist, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Teppei Koike, Japanese singer (WaT) and actor (“The Homeless Student”), in Osakasayama, Japan.
Died:
Ilmari Salminen, 83, Finnish athlete (Olympic gold medal, 10,000m, 1936).
History Diaries 