Britain said today that it planned to expel 21 Libyan students for suspected involvement in “student revolutionary activities.” The 21, all of whom were arrested today, included a pilot trainee who authorities say telephoned Tripoli radio last month with an offer to form suicide squads to bomb United States military targets. The expulsions of the Libyan students were ordered by the Home Secretary “in the national interest.” British authorities said the 21 students, all men, had been under surveillance for some time, and today Douglas Hurd, the Home Secretary, said all had been actively involved in organizing Libyan student activities in Britain to support the government of Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi. “What we have done is not in any way vindictive or persecuting anyone,” Mr. Hurd told the House of Commons. “It is a clear sign that we are determined to get rid of troublemakers.” In 1984, when an unarmed police constable was killed by shots fired from the Libyan diplomatic mission in London, there were 5,000 Libyans in Britain. Since then, the number of Libyans allowed to enter the counry has been sharply reduced, from 28,500 in 1983 to 1,300 in the first six months of 1985. At the moment, according to British officials, there are 1,800 Libyan students in Britain, including 250 Libyan pilots undergoing training here. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told the House of Commons today she was considering further actions against the pilot trainees.
Also today, West Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg said they would proceed with plans to expel resident Libyans. Their announcements followed a decision Monday by foreign ministers from all 12 European Community nations, meeting in Luxembourg, to restrict the activities of Libyan missions. In Bonn, a Foreign Ministry spokesman affirmed that the Government would reduce the size of its embassy in Tripoli and tell Libya to cut the staff of its diplomatic mission, known as a People’s Bureau, accordingly. In Denmark, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, the Foreign Minister, said he will send expulsion letters “as soon as possible” for several of the seven Libyan diplomats resident there. Britain has no Libyan diplomats to expel, as it broke diplomatic relations with Tripoli two years ago. On Monday, Sir Geoffrey Howe, the British Foreign Minister, warned other European nations that Libyan journalists, airline workers, and others also posed a potential hazard and merited surveillance. In Athens, the Greek Government indicated that it would not apply diplomatic sanctions against Libya, although it had reluctantly agreed to them at the European Community meeting. A Government spokesman, Miltiades Papaioannou, cited “national factors” and said there was no firm evidence that Colonel Qaddafi’s Government sponsored international terrorism.
French officials, confirming a statement Monday by President Reagan, said today that the Government had favored a more ambitious and hard-hitting action against Libya than the one carried out last week by the United States. The officials spoke against a background of concern here over what they see as a strong anti-French reaction in the United States to the refusal of the French Government to allow American planes to fly over French territory on the way to their targets in Libya. The officials, who spoke on condition that they not be identified, said the French Government was ready to support an American action aimed at a “major change” in Libya, meaning the removal of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, from power. But they said they opposed the limited action carried out by the United States on April 15 on the ground that anything short of an overthrow of Colonel Qaddafi would have negative consequences, including incitement of Arab extremism and the weakening of moderate Arab countries.
Within a few hours of the terrorist bombing of a West Berlin discotheque, the United States intercepted two messages that clearly pointed to Libyan involvement, according to Reagan Administration officials. On the evening of April 4, the day before the bombing, the officials said the Libyan Peoples Bureau in East Berlin sent a coded message to Tripoli stating that an operation would be undertaken shortly and that Libyan officials would be pleased with it. This message was decoded by American intelligence analysts almost instantly, the officials said.
The U.S. is tightening surveillance of Libyans living in this country, according to Federal officials. They said the step was taken after the Reagan Administration had rejected a proposal to deport the Libyans, who are thought to number 3,500. “We have considered whether to send them home and have decided not to,” Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead said at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He said the Administration had decided not to force the Libyans out because “there will be a Libya after Qaddafi,” a reference to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader. In a post-Qaddafi Libya, he said, the United States might be aided by Libyans who have been exposed to American ways.
Rome airport workers empty ashtrays and trash cans every half hour or so in searches for bombs. Vigilance is the watchword at Fiumicino Airport and at other key gateways to the Middle East. The heightened security measures date largely to a series of terrorist attacks last year, but they have been further stepped up since the American air raids on Libya this month. At Fiumicino, as elsewhere, American officials and airline managers responsible for security say there have been vast improvements, as confirmed by periodic inspections by the Federal Aviation Administration and international aviation groups. But they stress that security is not an absolute but rather a series of shifting responses to threats that are believed to exist.
The West Berlin police questioned a Jordanian today who has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the terrorist explosion in a discotheque on April 5, but they reported no major breakthroughs in the case. Officials confirmed that the suspect, identified as Ahmed Nawaf Mansour Hazi, was the brother of Nezar Nawaf Mansour Hindawi, who was charged in a London Magistrates’ Court today with trying to destroy an El Al Israel Airlines plane and conspiracy to kill his pregnant Irish fiancée, who was apparently unwittingly about to board the plane carrying a bomb in her satchel on Thursday. On Monday night, in identifying Mr. Hazi as the brother of the Jordanian arrested in London, Western diplomatic and security sources gave a somewhat scrambled rendering of his name — Hazim Mansour, instead of Ahmed Nawaf Mansour Hazi. The name Mansour is common in the Middle East.
The superpowers’ feints and parries over when, and whether, to hold a summit meeting in Washington this year have grown into more than a matter of protocol and timing. In the last two days, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, has linked a session with President Reagan to “the international atmosphere,” saying that such a meeting “can occur only when the necessary international atmosphere exists” and when the United States stops “attempting to poison the international atmosphere.” The latter comment, made during a visit to East Germany, came in response to a question about the United States air attack on Libya last week. These remarks appear to take Mr. Gorbachev’s reservations about a meeting a step beyond his earlier hesitation, and American officials believe they preclude a meeting before the Congressional elections in November. Two months ago, at a congress of the Soviet Communist Party, Mr. Gorbachev linked his projected trip to the United States to progress on arms control, not to any broader set of issues. “There is no point in carrying on idle conversations,” he said at the time, indicating a reluctance to meet with Mr. Reagan in the same get-acquainted format as in Geneva last November. Traditionally, Soviet leaders have preferred summit meetings where concrete agreements were ready to sign.
President Reagan’s tentative decision to remain within the limits of the unratified 1979 treaty on strategic arms has put off, but not settled, the issue within the Administration, officials said today. According to officials on both sides of the dispute, Mr. Reagan has set the stage for another intramural clash in the fall when the United States must again decide whether to continue compliance with the treaty limits. Mr. Reagan’s decision to continue to observe the 1979 limits for the time being, by ordering the dismantling of two old Poseidon submarines, will have the effect of keeping the United States below a limit of 1,200 multiple-warhead missiles when a new Trident submarine begins sea trials in late May.
The President of Austria said tonight that documents about Kurt Waldheim’s wartime activities showed that he must have been aware of German reprisals against partisans in the Balkans. But the President, Rudolf Kirchschlager, said the documents offered no substantiation for other charges, such as that Mr. Waldheim took part in war crimes or knew about the deportation of Greek Jews to Nazi death camps. The documents were made available by the United Nations and the World Jewish Congress. The President’s report was delivered in a broadcast address less than two weeks before a presidential election in which Mr. Waldheim, the former United Nations Secretary General, is favored to succeed Mr. Kirchschlager. Interviewed on television while on a campaign trip in Salzburg, Mr. Waldheim said that with the President’s declaration, “all accusations against me have collapsed, and I hope that now, in the last phase of the election campaign, we can concentrate constructively on the real problems.”
The Polish Government spokesman said today that Polish political prisoners could soon be freed in what would be the fourth amnesty in four years. The spokesman, Jerzy Urban, added that the likelihood of any such step was directly linked to the prospects of tranquility at home and the easing of Western pressures. Mr. Urban raised the question of amnesty less than an hour after a Warsaw court sentenced five members of the Confederation of Independent Poland, an illegal right-wing group, to prison terms of up to four years. Mr. Urban confirmed that Marian Orzechowski, the Polish Foreign Minister, had on his recent visit to Bonn told members of the West German Green Party that another amnesty to mark Poland’s national day July 22 could not be ruled out.
A former police chief in wartime Croatia testified that Andrija Artukovic told him, “Slaughter all Serbs and Jews, one after the other.” Artukovic, 86, who served as interior minister in the Nazi puppet state in World War II, is on trial in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, on war crimes charges. The witness, Franjo Truhar, 85, quoted Artukovic as saying. “You see how I have resolved the Jewish question: I take everything from them, and then I kill them.” Artukovic acknowledged meeting with Truhar but called his testimony “a lie.”
Israelis prepared for traditional seder meals tonight starting the Jewish festival of Passover. The eight-day holiday, which commemorates the flight of the biblical Israelites from Egypt, had some secular effects: The Histadrut labor federation and the Civil Service Commission agreed to grant leave for all but essential government employees, and the army canceled its central seder because of budgetary constraints. During the seders, Jews in Israel and worldwide will recount the biblical story in chanted questions and responses.
The Middle East subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged Congress to reject the Administration’s $354-million proposed sale of defensive missiles to Saudi Arabia. A total of 221 House members and 63 senators have co-sponsored resolutions opposing the sale of 2,600 Sidewinder, Stinger and Harpoon missiles. Advocates say the sale is vital to protect U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf. But foes, led by California Rep. Mel Levine (D-California), say the Saudis have shown little interest in the Mideast peace process.
Iran said it is intercepting oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since it threatened 18 months ago to confiscate oil sold by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to support Iraq’s war effort. Iran and Iraq have been fighting for 5 ½ years. Mohammed Hussein Malekzadegan, commander of the Iranian navy, said tankers were among 17 ships intercepted Monday. Tehran radio reported. “We mainly interrogate them, not inspect them,” Malekzadegan said. “If they are in any way involved with our enemy, they will be seized.” Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reportedly have been selling up to 320,000 barrels of oil a day on behalf of Iraq.
Thousands of Soviet and Afghan soldiers were reported today to have surrounded a key Moslem rebel base in southeastern Afghanistan. Rebel commanders said they lost scores of men to air raids and artillery fire. In Moscow, the official Soviet press agency Tass said that the base at Zhawar, near the Pakistani border, had been “completely cleared” of insurgents and that another major guerrilla camp six miles away was largely under Afghan Army control. Tass seldom carries battle reports of the Afghan war, and this one represented the first account of a major offensive against the rebels. It did not mention participation by Soviet forces. Some guerrilla sources said that Zhawar might have been overrun but that the situation was confused. There were no clear reports on who held the stronghold, a major supply and training base.
The Reagan Administration sharply rebuked Thailand today for backing a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemned the United States air raid on Libya last week. The vote by Thailand, one of Washington’s closest Asian allies, allowed the pro-Libyan resolution to come to a vote Monday. Washington had gone to the highest levels in Bangkok to urge that Thailand either vote against the resolution or abstain, State Department officials said. Thailand, which is one of the 10 nonpermanent members of the Council, voted with eight other countries in favor of the resolution condemning the attack on Libya. If there had not been nine countries in favor of the resolution, it would not have been a binding vote. The resolution was killed because the United States, Britain and France all used their vetoes against it. When asked about the Thai vote, Bernard Kalb, the State Department spokesman, said: “We are deeply disappointed that an old and trusted friend such as Thailand chose to vote for a resolution which, turning logic on its head, condemned the United States for a legitimate act of self-defense against a Libyan terrorist act, which was not condemned.”
Delegates from 31 Western Hemisphere countries, including the United States, met in Rio de Janeiro to set up a permanent inter-American commission to combat drug production, trafficking and consumption. The weeklong conference is held under the aegis of the Organization of American States. At the opening session, Brazil proposed a voluntary fund that would pay for drug control programs in the 32 OAS member nations.
Voters in Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest province, ousted a Progressive Conservative government after seven years in office and elected the Liberal Party. Joe Ghiz, 41, a lawyer, will become premier with a strong legislative majority of 21 of the Atlantic province’s 32 seats. The defeated premier, James M. Lee, lost his own constituency. Voters in Ontario and Quebec provinces also chose Liberal governments in the last year.
More than 2,000 Salvadoran telecommunications workers began a work stoppage to protest government austerity policies, demanding higher wages and increased benefits. Strikes are prohibited under El Salvador’s six-year-old state of emergency, so employees show up at their jobs but do no work. Meanwhile, a major labor federation called a four-hour work stoppage for Thursday.
The President accused Nicaragua of seeking to “build a Libya on our doorstep.” Mr. Reagan said the Nicaraguan Government, like that of Libya, “provided a refuge for all sorts of international terrorists.” He said the terrorists included members of the Red Brigades of Italy, the Baader-Meinhof gang of West Germany, the Palestine Liberation Organization and groups from El Salvador, Uruguay and Spain. “That picture making the rounds showing Daniel Ortega standing with Muammar Qaddafi and raising his fist in a gesture of solidarity is very much to the point,” Mr. Reagan said in a speech to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public-policy group. “I hope every member of Congress will reflect on the fact that the Sandinistas have been training, supporting and directing as well as sheltering terrorists.”
United States authorities are investigating a New York company in connection with the deaths of four Peruvian infants who had been treated with an anti-diarrhea medication manufactured by the company, the Agency for International Development said today. John M. Metelsky, an A.I.D. spokesman, said the investigation, which involves A.I.D., the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was initiated following charges by Peru that the medication supplied by U.S. Materials Company of Spring Valley, New York., contained excessive amounts of potassium that caused the deaths of the four children in a Lima hospital last month. The medication, donated under a five-year-old A.I.D. program with the Peruvian Ministry of Health, consists of packets of rehydration salts. A.I.D. officials said oral rehydration therapy is a widely used treatment for acute diarrhea.
The last four town councilors in the South African black township of Alexandra resigned today, saying their hopes for rebuilding the community had been shattered by anti-apartheid violence. It was the fourth council in a black township to collapse this year under pressure from militants, who view the local governing bodies as an extension of the government’s apartheid system. Within hours of today’s announcement, rioting broke out in Alexandra and at least five people were killed, according to the South African Press Association. It said supporters of the ex-councilors burned the houses of several anti-government activists. Alexandra’s five other councilors had quit in the last few months after some of their homes were fire-bombed. Most of them moved from the township, wedged between wealthy white suburbs on the northeastern edge of Johannesburg.
The space agency and its contractors have wasted billions of dollars on the shuttle and other space programs despite warning after warning by Government inspectors that such heavy losses were occurring through bad management, Federal audits show. The problems that come to light now in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reflect a far different picture from the one widely held in the years before the Challenger catastrophe: that NASA was essentially a smoothly run, trouble-free agency. And the audits, many made available under the Freedom of Information Act, hold special significance not only in showing how NASA was operated in the years before the Challenger explosion of January 28. The documents also take on added importance because the Government is facing key decisions about the future of the American space program, including who should direct it, and, some experts contend, about the future of NASA itself. Dr. James C. Fletcher, who headed the agency in the 1970’s and whom President Reagan has nominated to lead it out of the post-accident era, is said by the Federal auditors to have misled Congress and the public in the 1970’s about essential costs of the shuttle program. Dr. Fletcher’s confirmation hearings open in Congress today. In an interview, one of a series with past and present NASA officials, Dr. Fletcher conceded he was “over-optimistic,” but he denied he attempted in any way to mislead Congress.
The pattern of management problems, as well as broken promises on costs, schedules and performance, emerges from a review by The New York Times of more than 500 audits, other Government documents and economic reports by outside experts and from interviews with American space experts. In the last 15 years, bad administration and spending abuses have been found in virtually every aspect of the NASA operations, from running the shuttle to developing planetary probes, from satellites to construction of buildings, from space experiments to employee overtime, from headquarters to field centers, according to the documents. Experts inside and outside Government say such faulty administration procedures have severely hurt the American space program and are impossible to separate from the safety problems that culminated in the Challenger explosion and the death of its seven astronauts. The waste amounts to at least $3.5 billion, according to amounts cited in the audits. But in many cases the audits did not give dollar figures for instances of significant waste, and Francis P. LaRocca, the attorney for the NASA Inspector General’s office, said, “We always assume we have only seen the tip of the iceberg — there is probably much more out there.” NASA officials say that, in general, the audits have been fair and accurate. They concede that their agency was slow to correct financial and management problems, taking several years in some cases to do so. But they insist that their flaws have been strictly administrative, not technical, and they deny that the flaws led to problems with shuttle safety.
President Reagan speaks with Carol Hallett, National Vice Chairman of the group Citizens for America.
President Reagan meets with Republican Members of Congress to discuss he impact of the falling oil prices on oil producing states.
Tumbling gasoline prices prompted the Consumer Price Index to fall in March for the second consecutive month, the Labor Department said. The record 12 percent drop in the price of gasoline generated the first back-to-back decline in the inflation gauge in more than 20 years. Last month’s drop was four-tenths of 1 percent, the same as in February. For the first three months of 1986, prices fell at an annual rate of 1.9 percent, the biggest quarterly fall since 1954, when inflation was subsiding from a run-up during the Korean War.
The budget director said today that the Senate could avoid a tax increase and a sharp cut in the President’s military budget by revising some budget estimates and assuming that stronger economic growth would help shrink the 1987 deficit. The suggestion, made in a meeting with reporters called by James C. Miller 3d, director of the Office of Management and Budget, was rejected by the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Pete V. Domenici. But it appeared that there was growing pressure from the Administration and from some Republicans to count on an improved economic outlook to avoid at least some of the differences between the President’s budget request and the plan approved by the Senate Budget Committee. The committee budget, now on the Senate floor, calls for more revenue and less military spending than the President’s plan.
The General Accounting Office told Congress that despite early problems, the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is going well. Denis Galvin, testifying for the National Park Service, said that work on the project is on schedule and the completion date of June 1, 1986, will be met. “It is anticipated that the project will be completed substantially within a budget of nearly $70 million,” Galvin said.
In a move to cut costs and convince military personnel to remain in the service, the House voted today to reduce military pensions in the future for those who retire after 20 years. The bill, approved today by a 399 to 7 vote, does not affect the pensions of any of the 1.4 million servicemen already retired or the future pensions of the 2.1 million people now in the armed services. Only people entering the military after the legislation becomes law would be affected.
Representatives may earn $7,510 more in outside income under a resolution approved by the House without advance notice or debate. The action brought the House in line with the Senate, which last December also voted to raise the limit on outside earnings to 40 percent of a member’s income, from 30 percent. Senators and representatives each receive an annual salary of $75,100; they may now keep $30,040 in outside earnings, as against $22,530 previously.
Twenty-one youngsters whose parents don’t want them going to school with AIDS patient Ryan White began attending sixth- and seventh-grade classes at an alternative school in a former American Legion hall in Russiaville, Indiana. The transfers came after a judge dissolved an April 10 injunction and allowed Ryan to return to his seventh-grade class. Ryan, a hemophiliac who contracted Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome through a blood transfusion, is assigned to Western Middle School in rural Russiaville, three miles from Kokomo.
There is virtually no danger to people and the environment from the use of a living, genetically engineered virus, according to the Agriculture Department. As a result of its assessment, the department lifted a two-week suspension on the sale of the virus as a vaccine to prevent a herpes disease damaging swine herds.
Justices acted on obscenity in a 6-to-3 decision. The Supreme Court today made it somewhat easier for the authorities to seize materials alleged to be obscene, ruling that Federal law requires no more evidence of criminality to support a warrant for the seizure of books or movies than for guns, drugs or other materials. The 6-to-3 decision, reversing rulings by the New York Court of Appeals and two lower New York courts, said the state’s seizure under a judicial warrant to remove sexually explicit movies from a video store near Buffalo did not violate the Constitution. The warrant was based on a local investigator’s written description of graphic depictions of sexual acts in selected scenes from 10 videocassettes that officials had rented from Network Video in Depew, a village just east of Buffalo, and on his general descriptions of the content of the movies.
The Supreme Court ruled 8 to 0 today that a justice of the Alabama Supreme Court violated due process of law when he cast the deciding vote in a decision in which he had a “substantial” financial interest. The Court said the justice, T. Eric Embry, should have disqualified himself in a woman’s $3.5 million suit against an insurance company because he was seeking damages for himself at the time in a similar suit against another company and might have benefited financially from his court’s decision in the woman’s favor. The decision overturned the Alabama court’s ruling and sent the case back for reconsideration because of the role of Justice Embry, who retired for health reasons in September. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger’s opinion, while stressing that “charges of disqualification should not be made lightly,” said Justice Embry had in essence “acted as a judge in his own case” because he had a “direct, personal, substantial” pecuniary interest.
A federal judge in Cleveland struck down an Ohio law requiring that physicians notify the parents or guardians of unmarried girls seeking abortions. U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich ruled that the law violates the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She ordered prosecutors in Akron and Summit County not to take action against one of the plaintiffs, an unnamed pregnant teenager. The American Civil Liberties Union had called the law vague and unenforceable. Judge Ann Aldrich said the law violated the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. “Since requiring the physician to effect notification may add to the cost of abortion procedures, while the state’s interest is minimal, this provision unduly burdens a minor woman’s right to choose an abortion,” Judge Aldrich said. Judge Aldrich granted a request for a permanent injunction to the Ohio Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit March 21 on behalf of an Akron abortion clinic and two unidentified 17-year-old girls.
A California appeals court today rejected an emergency request by Elizabeth Bouvia, a quadriplegic, for an order barring doctors from taking her off morphine, which eases her pain. Lawyers for Mrs. Bouvia, 28 years old, who unsuccessfully sought permission to starve herself to death, filed the petition Monday, three days after doctors at High Desert Hospital in Lancaster began weaning her from morphine. The Second District Court of Appeals denied her request and suggested she seek relief in Superior Court. Mrs. Bouvia charged that doctors were cutting back the painkiller because of the publicity created by her victory last week in appellate court. The court ruled she had the right to refuse forced feedings and any other unwanted medical procedure. The nasogastric feeding tube was removed as ordered, but the morphine was cut back.
Assault teams hurling concussion grenades and firing plastic bullets stormed a cell block at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City today and freed three guards held by convicts in the second uprising in six weeks. Four guards, two inmates and two assault team members were injured in the six-hour standoff, but the injuries were not serious, prison officials said. Three guards were hospitalized with head injuries and cuts. Gordon Faulker, the Corrections Commissioner, said he had ordered 30 members of the Prison Emergency Response Team backed by 60 state troopers to storm the maximum-security block after negotiations broke off. The convicts were armed with sharpened broom handles. Fourteen 14 inmates took three employees hostage on March 17.
The Polk County (Florida) schools today halted their five-year-old practice of subjecting students to polygraph, or lie-detector, tests in disciplinary cases after a controversy over the use of the tests. School board members said that on Monday they were read a memorandum from the Superintendent of Schools, John Stewart, saying the schools were discontinuing the tests in grades 7 through 12. Mr. Stewart was in Tallahassee and could not be reached for comment. “I’m just flabbergasted,” said a board member, Ted Aggelis. “I can’t believe John went this route. By discontinuing it, basically the news media and American Civil Liberties Union are making policy for the board.”
Late last month, Portland, Oregon Police Chief Penny E. Harrington called a news conference to announce that her husband would not be indicted. Since then, however, the public scrutiny and criticism have not let up for Chief Harrington or Mayor Bud Clark, who appointed her in January 1985 as the first woman to head a major city Police Department. At the news conference last month, Chief Harrington said Federal and state prosecutors had told her they lacked evidence to prosecute her husband, Patrolman Gary Harrington, on the allegation that he had disclosed information about a major investigation into cocaine trafficking. The matter did not end there. The investigation of Mr. Harrington is to be examined by a special commission formed by Mayor Clark and headed by Sidney I. Lezak, a former United States Attorney here. The Lezak panel is also hearing testiony that alleges Chief Harrington mismanaged the police effort to suppress narcotics trafficking.
Temperatures dropped to record lows in 13 states from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast as cold air flowed from Canada. A 113-year-old record fell in Chicago, which had a low reading of 24 degrees, 5 below the 1873 mark. Duluth, Minnesota, had a record low of 18 degrees. Eau Claire, Wisconsin, had a record low of 19 and Marquette, Michigan, bottomed out at 14 degrees, another new record for the date. Records also were set in the Gulf states, where frost or freeze warnings were issued. Record low temperatures also were registered at Birmingham, Alabama, 36 degrees; Lake Charles, Louisiana, 49; Meridian, Mississippi, 37; Montgomery, Alabama, 40, and New Orleans, which had an overnight low of 49 degrees.
The U.S. performs a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site. A nuclear device nearly 12 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb was detonated in the Nevada desert today. It was the third announced United States test in a month and the 10th announced since the Soviet Union began a test moratorium August 6. The Russians have since announced that they are ending that moratorium because the United States refused to join in it.
Major League Baseball:
The Houston Astros edged the Atlanta Braves, 3–2. Alan Ashby’s leadoff homer in the ninth gave the Astros the victory. Ashby hit a 2–2 pitch from Duane Ward (0–1) over the right-field fence to cap a late rally that helped the Astros overcome a 2–0 deficit with two runs in the seventh.
Detroit’s Kirk Gibson sprains his ankle when his foot slips off the bag at Fenway. He’ll be out till June 3. The Red Sox win today, 6–4. The Tigers will be 10 games behind Boston when Gibson returns. Gibson led off the second inning with a walk. With a 2–1 count on Parrish, Gibson got back to first base in time to beat Clemens’s pickoff attempt. He hurt his ankle as his left foot landed on top of the bag. Dr. David Collon, the Tigers’ orthopedic consultant, said Gibson sprained ligaments on the outside of his ankle. X-rays taken at Beth Israel Hospital revealed no fracture. Roger Clemens (3–0) struck out 10 Tigers before leaving with two outs in the seventh. Baylor gave the Red Sox the lead for good with his fourth homer of the season, a two-run clout in the third inning after Wade Boggs singled.
The Angels downed the A’s, 5–1. A two-run homer by Doug DeCinces and bases-empty shots by Dick Schofield and Wally Joyner backed Kirk McCaskill’s two-hit pitching for California. In halting Oakland’s four-game winning streak, the Angels replaced the A’s atop the American League West standings. McCaskill (2–1) allowed only Alfredo Griffin’s single in the third and Mickey Tettleton’s run-scoring double in the sixth. He walked five and struck out 12.
The Cubs squeaked past the Cardinals, 3–2. Ryne Sandberg hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth to score Manny Trillo with the winning run. But John Tudor of St. Louis, who has won 14 straight regular-season games, averted defeat when the Cardinals tied the game in the top of the ninth on a two-run, two-out triple by Clint Hurdle, a pinch-hitter.
The Orioles beat the Indians, 5–2. Cal Ripken and Larry Sheets hit home runs off Phil Niekro, and Ken Dixon scattered seven Cleveland hits in eight and a third innings in near-freezing temperatures. The right-handed Dixon (2–0) struck out seven and walked one.
Bob Tewksbury came within six outs of becoming the first New York Yankee rookie to throw a shutout since Doc Medich defeated Detroit in 1973 in his 5–1 Yankee victory over the Kansas City Royals. But he gave up an infield hit to Jim Sundberg and a run-scoring triple to Jorge Orta, then hit Willie Wilson on the arm with an 0–2 pitch. “We certainly weren’t trying to throw at anybody,” said Lou Piniella, the Yankee manager. “He was just trying to throw the ball inside.” Tewksbury had been warned by Larry McCoy, the home-plate umpire, in the second inning after he got a pitch high and tight to Hal McRae. In the top half of the inning, Kansas City’s Mark Gubicza had thrown a close one to Willie Randolph. When Wilson was hit later, he threw up his arms and took several steps toward the mound. Ron Hassey, the Yankee catcher, intervened, and the two exchanged shoves. Benches emptied, and Tewksbury was thrown backward by the crush of players. The fingernail on the index finger of his right hand was pushed back slightly, forcing him to leave. The injury was not considered serious. Order was restored, but Wilson was ejected moments later when he and Mike Pagliarulo, the third baseman, began shouting at each other from across the field.
Harold Baines hit a three-run home run to cap a four-run Chicago seventh inning as the White Sox edged the Brewers, 5–4. Joel Davis (1–0) went eight innings to help the White Sox break a four-game losing streak. Davis allowed five hits, three walks and struck out three. Bob James recorded the final two outs for his first save.
The Expos beat the Phillies, 8–2. Tim Raines and Hubie Brooks each drove in two runs for Montreal. Andy McGaffigan (1–0) went five and two-thirds innings to earn his first decision of the season. Tim Burke pitched three and one-third innings of one-hit relief to earn his second save. The Philadelphia starter, Charles Hudson (1–1), lasted three and two-thirds innings and allowed five runs. Andre Dawson hit a homer for Montreal in the third, his fourth of the season and fourth in his last four games.
The New York Mets rolled on to their fifth straight victory last night when they survived the elements and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7–1, on a muddy track in a steady rain and in a 45-degree chill. Then they packed for St. Louis, tied for first place with the Cardinals and primed for four games against the team they chased but didn’t catch last year. The firing will commence tomorrow night and continue through the weekend. The Mets had all kinds of heroes last night in Shea Stadium, from the senior umpire Doug Harvey, who kept the game going in the rain, to the groundskeepers, who kept pouring bags of sand across the infield. The conditions, said Tony Pena of the Pirates, were “the worst I ever played in.” And to Johnny Ray, they were “without a doubt the worst.” But the Mets’ true heroes were Bob Ojeda, who finally got to start a game in the National League after five years in the American and who pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, and Ray Knight, the retread who roars. Knight reached base four times on three walks and a home run (his fourth in seven games), and he closed the performance with a .417 batting average.
Mark Salas hit a bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning and hit a home run in the ninth to pace Minnesota to a 7–1 win over Seattle. Mike Smithson (2–2) allowed four hits, walked one, and struck out seven as he picked up his third complete game in four starts for the Twins. In their last four games the Mariners have struck out 39 times. Seattle has lost six straight.
San Francisco scored seven runs before the first out was recorded in the first inning, with Chili Davis’s two-run double sparking the rally as San Francisco streaked to its sixth straight victory, routing the Dodgers, 10–3. Chris Brown led first-place San Francisco’s 14-hit attack with four hits and scored three runs. Davis drove in three runs. The last time the Giants, 10–4, were in first place this late in the season was August 13, 1978.
The Rangers bombed the Blue Jays, 10–1. Gary Ward drove in four runs with a single and a home run, and Pete Incaviglia, Steve Buechele and Pete O’Brien also had homers for Texas. Bobby Witt overcame a bout of wildness to check the Blue Jays on three hits over six innings and pick up his first major-league victory in his third start of the season. Witt struck out five and walked four.
The scheduled game between the San Diego Padres and the Reds in Cincinnati is postponed due to cold. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on August 15.
Houston Astros 3, Atlanta Braves 2
Detroit Tigers 4, Boston Red Sox 6
Oakland Athletics 1, California Angels 5
St. Louis Cardinals 2, Chicago Cubs 3
Baltimore Orioles 5, Cleveland Indians 2
New York Yankees 5, Kansas City Royals 1
Chicago White Sox 5, Milwaukee Brewers 4
Philadelphia Phillies 2, Montreal Expos 8
Pittsburgh Pirates 1, New York Mets 7
Minnesota Twins 7, Seattle Mariners 1
Los Angeles Dodgers 3, San Francisco Giants 10
Texas Rangers 10, Toronto Blue Jays 1
A severe bout of profit taking on Wall Street yesterday sent stock prices down sharply in heavy trading. “The bond market really got hit,” said Michael Sherman, head of the investment policy committee at Shearson Lehman Brothers. “People are saying this is the last discount rate cut. This created a lot of profit taking in the bond market and it spilled over into the stock market.” The session got off to a bad start and prices deteriorated throughout the day. At the finish, the Dow Jones industrial average, which had been up 66 points this month to a record level on Monday, gave back 24.92 of those points, to 1,830.98.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1830.98 (-24.92)
Born:
Amber Heard, American actress (“Aquaman”), in Austin, Texas.
Marshawn Lynch, NFL running back (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 48-Seahawks, 2013; Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders), in Oakland, California.
Darren Fells, NFL tight end (Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), in Fullerton, California.
K.J. Gerard, NFL defensive back (Baltimore Ravens), in Orange County, California.
Enver Lisin, Russian NHL right wing (Phoenix Coyotes, New York Rangers), in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
Justin Pogge, Canadian NHL goaltender (Toronto Maple Leafs), in Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada.
History Diaries 