The Supreme Soviet called on Congress to use its influence to achieve disarmament and to involve the United States in the so-far unilateral Soviet freeze on nuclear tests. In a 10-page statement issued through the Tass news agency, the nominal Soviet legislature maintained the publicity campaign that has followed the proposal last week by Mikhail S. Gorbachev for a nuclear-free world by the year 2000. Alluding to the American “Star Wars” program, it also said that development of space weapons would be an “irreparable error.” The appeal, through the official press agency Tass, kept up Moscow’s campaign for the proposal, offered Thursday by Gorbachev.
An effort to cut U.S. interest rates and those of Japan, Britain, France and West Germany grew more likely after a meeting of Treasury Secretary James A. Baker and top economic officials of the other countries. Mr. Baker, other Treasury officials and Paul A. Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, met in London over the weekend with their counterparts. A high Treasury official said that the meeting welcomed the decline of the dollar “to date,” — a term he repeatedly emphasized -and that the Reagan Administration would like to see the dollar decline by more than the roughly 25 percent it fell from its peak last March. “There is a desire for lower interest rates,” said a high Treasury official on a commercial flight en route home from the meeting. The official spoke on the condition that he not be further identified.
United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar has announced the first austerity measures to deal with anticipated U.N. budget shortages, expected to be forced in part by a reduction of U.S. contributions. A U.S. spokesman cited the expected impact of the balanced-budget law on U.S. payments, which amount to about 25% of the Secretariat budget. Perez de Cuellar ordered a 20% reduction in travel, overtime pay and costs incurred by the hiring of consultants and temporary office workers. In addition, alteration of facilities is being put off.
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres visits the Netherlands.
Spain recognizes Israel. The Prime Ministers of Spain and Israel today hailed the establishment of diplomatic relations between their countries as a historic step that could contribute to peace in the Middle East. The Prime Ministers, Felipe Gonzalez of Spain and Shimon Peres of Israel, made their statements after four hours of talks at The Hague. The two countries announced on Friday that they would set up diplomatic relations and open embassies.
Lebanon’s Christian leaders, faced with the prospect of another armed confrontation with the Muslims, have been engaged in intensive consultations to close their ranks. Camille Chamoun, a former President, announced that efforts were under way to convene an all-embracing Christian conference to set a common strategy. He spoke after meeting with Samir Geagea, the new commander of the Christian militia known as the Lebanese Forces. The day before, the 33-year-old Mr. Geagea joined an “emergency committee” with officials from President Amin Gemayel’s Phalangist Party to consider unifying the party and the militia force.
On Wednesday a combined force from the two groups routed Syrian-backed Christian militiamen led by Elie Hobeika and gained the upper hand militarily in Christian areas east and northeast of Beirut.
Mr. Hobeika, until then the leader of the Lebanese Forces, signed a Syrian-negotiated pact with Muslim factions last month that was designed to end Lebanon’s 11-year-old civil war. The agreement faced overwhelming opposition from the Christians, who felt it sharply downgraded the Christian share of political power in Lebanon in favor of the Muslims. Last March Mr. Geagea and Mr. Hobeika led a revolt against the leadership of the Phalangist Party and Mr. Gemayel that removed the Lebanese Forces from Phalangist control. Now Phalangists and Mr. Geagea have been brought together in their opposition to the Syrian-sponsored peace plan.
A group calling itself “the Black Flags” threatened to kill two Spanish Embassy officials and an anti-terrorist officer kidnaped in Beirut unless two Lebanese Shia Muslims jailed in Spain are freed. The group, which diplomats in Beirut believe is composed of relatives of the Shias held in Spain, also warned of terrorist attacks on Spanish targets. The two men held in Spain are serving 23-year sentences for the attempted assassination of a Libyan diplomat in 1984. Spanish officials in Beirut called on Nabih Berri, leader of the Shia militia Amal, to intervene.
Jordan’s King Hussein is serious about bridging Arab-Israeli differences, Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel said in The Hague at the start of a three-nation, 12-day West European visit. Peres told a news conference that Israel is willing to have the Soviet Union take part in an international Mideast peace forum proposed by Hussein as a prelude to direct talks between a Palestinian-Jordanian delegation and Israel.
Syrian officials said today that despite the apparent collapse of the Syrian-brokered peace plan for Lebanon, it remained the only viable solution for ending 11 years of civil war in that country. “In our view, the agreement remains the basis for peace in Lebanon,” a close adviser to Syria’s President, Hafez al-Assad, said in an interview. “If the Lebanese know another way, let them come up with it.” Hardly concealing their bitterness, officials spoke in one voice when assigning blame. The Lebanese Christians, they said, ruined a rare opportunity for all parties to find a peace formula that will not come again soon.
Rebecca is leaving Libya, probably for good. Nadine is also leaving, but only for a week of shopping in London. Mary, the mother of two young daughters, is staying because she does not want to leave her children, even for a short time. All the women are Americans. Like most of the estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Americans here, they are deciding whether to comply with President Reagan’s executive order warning Americans to leave Libya by February 1 or face huge fines and possible prison sentences.
An Australian was killed and two others were badly hurt in an Iraqi rocket attack today on a Dutch oil maintenance ship in the Persian Gulf, the ship’s owners said. Four other Australians, part of a diving and maintenance team, and two members of the Dutch crew were also wounded in the attack on the Smit Maassluis. The ship was about 80 miles south of Iran’s main oil terminal at Kharg Island on its way to the United Arab Emirates when it was hit early this morning and set ablaze.
Control of Southern Yemen was claimed by forces loyal to its former President, a hardline Marxist, in a six-day battle for control of the country, the Soviet Union’s strategic toehold in the Middle East. In Aden, the capital, a radio announcement said an attempt by President Ali Nasser Mohammed al-Hassani to impose a dictatorship had failed, and that “hired elements of power” under him have been eliminated. A lull in the fighting today, which could indicate the beginning of a cease-fire, allowed further evacuation of foreigners from Aden by several nations. The evacuees were brought by ship to this African port, about 200 miles from Aden. President Hassani was reported have flown from Aden to Addis Ababa on Saturday night. There were conflicting reports today about his plans, but several indicated that he was on his way back to the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Ethiopian Government television reported that Mr. Hassani had left the country and was believed to be on his way to Yemen, Southern Yemen’s neighbor. His reported intention was to land at the small airport in the market city of Taiz, about 50 miles from the mountainous border.
Dozens of people from outside the Afghan Communist Party, including at least one religious leader, have been allowed to join the Afghan Government in an attempt to broaden its popular support, the official Soviet press agency Tass said today. Tass said President Babrak Karmal, head of the governing People’s Democratic Party, “emphasized the great significance of participation in government bodies, both local and central, of representatives of all classes and social groups.”
More than 20 people died in a gun battle between separatist guerrillas and security forces in Sri Lanka’s major eastern coastal city of Batticaloa. Heavy fighting broke out when a special task force including helicopters was called in after a dawn ambush in which guerrillas killed two policemen and wounded two others. A Defense Ministry spokesman said 13 guerrillas were killed by gunfire and that seven others committed suicide by swallowing cyanide pills. Other sources put the guerrilla toll as high as 30.
Basic work on a Yangtze River dam has begun, but the Chinese Government is still debating whether to build it. The dam, which has been discussed for decades, would be the world’s largest hydroelectric producer. It would also be China’s costliest construction project, with estimates running from $12 billion to $18 billion. But the dam could cause enormous environmental damage and human suffering, its critics in China and abroad say.
The Soviet Union and Japan agreed today to resume long-suspended negotiations on a peace treaty that because of a lingering territorial dispute has eluded them since the end of World War II. The agreement was largely one of diplomatic nuance, signaling no change in fundamental positions on Japan’s claim to four northern islands that the Russians occupy and insist belong to them. Nevertheless, the action today was the most significant step taken by the two countries to improve relations, which have rarely been sound and have been especially icy in recent years. “This is an important achievement,” Japan’s Foreign Minister, Shintaro Abe, said at the end of a five-day visit by his Soviet counterpart, Eduard A. Shevardnadze.
A hand grenade and what was believed to be a large firecracker disrupted a rally today by the Philippine opposition presidential candidate, Corazon C. Aquino. The police reported there were no serious injuries. Reports from the rally in Zamboanga City in Davao Province, said the grenade exploded first, some 150 yards from the rally area, as the crowd was chanting Mrs. Aquino’s nickname, Cory. The apparent firecracker exploded several minutes later, and some people in the frightened crowd were said to have shouted, “Bomb! Bomb!” The rally was soon ended, as organizers appealed to the crowd of about 50,000 to remain calm.
Corazon C. Aquino, the opposition presidential candidate, has been mentioned by the main Philippine television channel exactly three times in the last 10 days, according to one of her lawyers. “They weren’t very flattering references, either,” said the lawyer, Joker Arroyo. When the nation’s major newspapers, all owned by friends or relatives of President Ferdinand E. Marcos, reported early in the campaign on the enthusiastic crowds Mrs. Aquino was attracting, sources at the newspapers say, the President himself called their editors to rebuke them. “He came down on them like a ton of bricks,” said a journalist at one of the papers. “Now just try to find the opposition coverage.”
More than 100 international pacifists who set out from Panama last month on a march to promote peace in Central America have entered Mexico, the last country on their route. The marchers, who left Panama on December 10, are expected to arrive in Mexico City no later than Wednesday. The group, which includes 80 Americans, was denied entry to El Salvador and Honduras.
Guatemalan authorities recovered the bodies of all 93 people who died in the country’s worst air crash. Eight Americans were among the victims. Officials said 33 identified and 42 unidentified bodies were flown to Guatemala City. The remaining 18 bodies were claimed by relatives at Santa Elena airport, near where the Aerovias twin-engine Caravelle crashed while carrying tourists to visit Mayan ruins at Tikal. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said a complete list of the American dead was being withheld pending notification of families. The airline earlier put the death toll at 90, including six Americans, but today it said two other Americans and a Guatemalan were among the victims. There was no immediate determination of what caused the crash. The first 12 bodies were brought back to the capital’s international airport late on Saturday. Sobbing relatives jammed the tiny waiting room of the Aerovias terminal, waiting to be summoned to identify the bodies.
Only a decade ago revivalist preachers were viewed with hostility in deeply Roman Catholic El Salvador, at times even treated as alien sorcerers — stoned, tied up in village squares and run out of town. But from its almost-clandestine beginnings, the Protestant evangelical movement has now won influence and respectability, with senior military officers, businessmen, teachers and students among its followers. Revivalist preachers now far outnumber the Catholic clergy and say they have converted one of every five adults from Catholicism. The movement has also become closely identified with the battle against the country’s Marxist-led guerrillas. While its leaders in the past invoked purely spiritual reasons for their mission, now some say openly that their “crusade” is part of the fight against Soviet encroachment in Latin America.
The military Government announced this week that the country would return to civilian rule by Oct. 1, 1990, after an extended national debate over what its political future should look like. Although the military’s decision to remain in power for at least four more years surprised many Nigerians, the Government, in a stark departure from past Nigerian governments’ practice, has declared that it will actively seek the approval of its decisions from the country’s citizens in what one newspaper called a “military democracy.” Nigeria’s President, Major General Ibrahim Babangida, said his Government “will not stay a day longer than is absolutely necessary,” and added: “It should by now be clear to all that this administration is firmly set on a course of government by consultation with the people.” In an address to the nation on Monday from Abuja, General Babangida called on Nigerians to help “search for a new political order” that would result in Nigeria’s being “prosperous, humanist and stable.” That political order, he emphasized, must be rooted in Nigeria’s political and economic history and not simply a “regurgitation of the political models of the so-called advanced countries of the world.” At the same time, General Babangida hastened to point out that the call to political debate did not mean that the ban on political parties had been lifted.
Fighting between guerrillas and government troops continued in the suburbs of Kampala, Uganda for the third day. Worshipers found refugees from several suburbs in the capital’s Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals when they arrived for morning services today. The fighting flared up on Friday despite a peace agreement signed by the two sides a month ago. A spokesman for the guerrilla group, the National Resistance Army, said its forces had reacted to the continued killing of civilians by Government soldiers and had driven them out of five areas west and southwest of Kampala.
Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan of Lesotho, facing a South African blockade, was reported today to have been overthrown by his army commander after a five-day political crisis. On Sunday, Chief Jonathan, accused by foes of ruling the small, mountainous kingdom undemocratically, told reporters in Maseru, the capital, that South Africa was trying to overthrow him. But he insisted that he was in control. Early today, however, state-run Radio Lesotho said Gen. Justin Lekanhya had toppled Chief Jonathan’s Government. A reporter driving through the streets of Maseru said the small capital was quiet.
Federal insuring of private pensions would be reduced by the Reagan Administration. The Administration began exploring ways to reduce the federal insurance role after two large industrial corporations asked the government to assume their unfunded pension liabilities. Their combined claims double the deficit of the government pension insurance agency, to $1.3 billion. At present, there is no private insurance of pensions. Under Federal law, most pension plans must carry Federal insurance. Administration officials said the switch to private insurance would not harm workers or retirees.
The President and First Lady watch the movie “The Color Purple” together.
NASA technicians raced to get the space shuttle Columbia ready to return to Florida in time for its next mission. They said the spacecraft was in good condition, with little damage to its heat shield tiles — only 16 tiles will have to be replaced. Columbia, scheduled for a March 6 liftoff to join an international Halley’s comet watch, is 3,000 miles away from its Kennedy Space Center launching pad in Florida. After a record seven takeoff postponements and three landing delays, Columbia landed Saturday at the Mojave Desert site of Edwards Air Force Base, California.
[Ed: The Columbia will not be launching anytime soon. Nine days to launch of Challenger STS-51-L.]
Abortion opponents held demonstrations in several cities over the weekend, gearing up for a protest in Washington this week to mark the 13th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion. Pro-choice activists also planned to mark the anniversary, including a “back alley” rally in Charleston, West Virginia, on Tuesday aimed at recalling the days before the January 22, 1973, Roe vs. Wade ruling.
The Reagan Administration is actively considering plans to provide guaranteed lifetime incomes to high-ranking defectors and may attempt to reduce the waiting time required for conferral of American citizenship, a senior White House official said today. The official said the proposals were the result of an interagency review of the handling by the United States of Vitaly S. Yurchenko, the Soviet intelligence official who defected to the West last summer but later decided to return to Moscow. The Administration, by offering permanent income and conferring citizenship more speedily, would hope to prompt additional defections while reducing the chance that a defector would want to leave the United States, said the White House official, who asked not to be identified.
The ranks of the nation’s political action committees thinned again in the last half of 1985, the Federal Election Commission said. The FEC counted 3,992 PACs on its books as of December 31, down from an even 4,000 last July. It was the second straight drop in the number of PACS, which peaked at 4,009 at the end of 1984, after a decade of rapid growth. The slight retrenchment does not mean that PACS are spending any less these days. In fact, they set a record in the last congressional elections by providing House and Senate candidates $105 million, or 26.5% of all the money raised. PAC contributions have tripled since the 1978 elections.
The latest incident of apparent sabotage at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station — situated 50 miles west of Phoenix — has plant executives baffled, and that is why they delayed notifying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for two days after it was discovered. Two electrical wires were found cut in the Unit 3 reactor, which is under construction, last Tuesday. Dan Canady, a plant spokesman, said the NRC was not notified until Thursday “because we didn’t know what we had.” It was the fifth case of apparent sabotage since July.
The C.I.A. is restoring campus ties 20 years after the agency was all but banished from the academic community. It is contracting with growing numbers of university professors for research and advice.. Robert Gates, the Deputy Director of Intelligence, said the agency had sought to accelerate a trend, begun under President Carter, of soliciting help from “the best minds in the country.” But the C.I.A.’s dealings with professors have been challenged by critics in Congress and within the universities as a threat to the independence of academic research. The new emphasis on seeking outside viewpoints was prompted, in part, by a review of past intelligence failures, Mr. Gates said. Some of these, such as mistaken predictions in the 1970’s about the future of the Shah of Iran, could be traced, he said, to the development of a “U.S. Government perspective.”
Investigators in Seattle say they think the “Green River Killer” is a white man of above average intelligence, a heavy smoker and drinker who likes to drive, loves publicity and is an outdoorsman. But all they know for sure is that they are looking for the killer of 34 women. Two years after he was named commander of a group formed to solve the killings, Captain Frank Adamson of the King County Sheriff’s Department says he is “fairly optimistic” an arrest will be made in 1986. He noted the extra manpower working with his group of 42 local law-enforcement officers — 10 additional Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were assigned to the case this month — and a $200,000 computer that recently began to sift through huge volumes of evidence. In addition, he said, his group has learned a lot in two years, a period in which local government agencies spent $7.5 million on the investigation.
[Ed: No arrest will be made in 1986, or anytime soon. By the time he is stopped in 2001, Gary Leon Ridgway will have killed perhaps 70 to 100 women. He will be convicted of 49 murders. As part of a plea bargain wherein he agreed to disclose the locations of still-missing women, he was spared the death penalty and received a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.]
Medical disciplinary proceedings against more than 1,100 doctors and hospitals nationwide charge them with providing unnecessary or inferior medical care. The proceedings have been begun by federally financed medical review agencies. The number of such cases has increased sharply over previous years. From 1973 to 1984, the state-based agencies formally disciplined only 70 doctors or hospitals, temporarily or permanently barring them from treating Medicare patients.
A construction worker from Staten Island who bought a lottery ticket shortly before the ticket sales deadline won the $30-million New York state Lotto jackpot, the second largest single prize in North American history. The winning combination of 12-14-22-32-34-43 means Patrick Consalvo, 59, will receive $1.42 million a year, before taxes, for 21 years, with the first check arriving two weeks after the prize is claimed.
School bus drivers and the Boston School Committee were scheduled to vote Monday on a tentative contract to end a two-week strike. The dispute has kept about half the district’s 27,000 bus-riding students from class. The tentative accord, reached Saturday night after 10 hours of negotiation, calls for 100 percent paid medical insurance for up to 60 days of sick leave, time off for union work and a $100 bonus for good attendance.
Eastern Airlines will continue its regular operations today, beyond a midnight Sunday contract deadline, even if it has no agreement on wages and benefits with its flight attendants, Eastern spokesman Jerry Cosley said in Miami. He said no lockout was planned, but declined to say whether wage cuts or layoffs were imminent. The Transit Workers Union, which represents Eastern’s 7,200 flight attendants, has said that a strike will not occur after the deadline.
Immigration officers in El Paso turned 55 illegal aliens from happy winners into startled losers Saturday after they showed up to collect promised contest prizes and were promptly arrested. Twenty-five aliens appeared at the balloon-bedecked Texas National Guard armory after receiving letters from a nonexistent automobile dealer telling them they had won free gifts, officials said. They were arrested, along with 30 friends and relatives, also illegal aliens, who came with them.
A prison escapee already accused of three kidnappings since fleeing a New Orleans hospital beat an elderly couple today and tried to abduct a woman, the police said. The prisoner, Lawrence Bryan Klaker, 28 years old, broke into the home of Joe and Margaret Hardy this morning, said Detective Bob Mathews of the East Point Police Department. “They were tied up, beaten up, and he stole their van,” Mr. Mathews said. Mr. Klaker then drove the couple’s van to Union Baptist Church where he attempted to abduct a woman in the parking lot, Mr. Mathews said.
Bibles in the Navajo language were presented to members of the Navajo community in Tuba City, Arizona, in a ceremony marking the completion of the full translation begun 40 years ago by Protestant missionaries. The Navajo Bible is the first in an Indian language spoken in the United States. A few of the original translators attended the ceremony.
A sister city tie to Leningrad proposed by Mayor Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco has run into strong resistance from a state legislator and from organizations concerned about the plight of Jews seeking to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Mayor Feinstein said the sisterhood would establish a “nonthreatening atmosphere” in which the human rights issue could be considered.
The infantry battalion of the 101st Airborne Division that lost nearly a third of its soldiers in an airplane crash in Newfoundland has begun to rebuild. The new commander, Lieut. Col. Harry E. Rothmann, called the 3d Battalion, 502d Infantry, together in early January to tell them about plans for the next six months. “We are all soldiers,” the colonel said, “and we know what we have to do.” In a brief ceremony to symbolize the step into the new year, the colonel read a letter from a Marine officer who had lost colleagues in the terrorist attack in Lebanon in 1983, formally inducted two new company commanders, then led the battalion on a four-mile run.
United Cerebral Palsy Inc.’s ninth annual “Weekend With the Stars” telethon, which had actors John Ritter and Henry Winkler as hosts and was broadcast for 22 hours from more than 100 cities, raised $18.5 million, a spokeswoman said, up from the more than $16 million in pledges made in advance and by viewers last year. In Los Angeles, the broadcast on KTTV generated $740,328 in pledges, down from $760,165 last year. United Cerebral Palsy expects to collect more than 90% of the pledges.
History Diaries 