President Reagan said today that recent Soviet proposals might lead to a “turning point” in the quest for an agreement in the Geneva arms talks. Using language virtually identical with that of a speech June 19 in Glassboro, New Jersey, Mr. Reagan voiced the hope that the Soviet Union would now join in a “serious effort” to effect significant cuts in the nuclear arsenal. White House officials, as they did after the Glassboro speech, reiterated that Mr. Reagan’s statement, at the end of a seven-week round of the arms talks, was intended to send a positive signal to the Soviet Union. “The door is now open to serious discussion on arms control,” an aide said. In Geneva, Mr. Reagan’s remarks were echoed by Max M. Kampelman, the American chief negotiator, who said he believed there could ultimately be an accord in the talks, which are to resume in September.
In response, the Soviet delegation said that Mr. Kampelman was distorting the “state of the negotiations” and that the United States had yet to respond to the last Soviet proposals. Administration officials said they interpreted the response as an effort to put pressure on the United States and said the tactic was not working. They said it had taken months for Moscow to respond to past American proposals. The officials said President Reagan’s decision to abandon the terms of a 1979 arms treaty as a guide to military planning had not hurt the negotiations, as critics have charged. President Reagan, who first voiced his positive view of recent Soviet moves at a news conference on June 11, made his comments today in a statement made public in Santa Barbara, California, where he is on vacation. Noting that the latest Soviet offer had been presented in the last two weeks, he said: “I am hopeful that these proposals signal the beginning of a serious Soviet effort to join with us in actually reducing offensive nuclear arms. If the Soviet Union is now genuinely seeking progress, we may have reached a turning point in our efforts to build a safer and more peaceful world.”
The Irish put their staunchly Roman Catholic tradition to the test, voting in a referendum on whether to scrap the 49-year-old constitutional ban on divorce. Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald’s government, worried by an opinion poll predicting a 55-45 defeat for the reform it initiated, issued last-minute appeals for a “yes” vote on an amendment that would. remove the prohibition. Observers believe the turnout will not exceed 60% of eligible voters, and results are not expected until today. Ireland, 97% Catholic, is the only country in Western Europe that still prohibits divorce.
A suitcase being inspected by El Al security personnel exploded today at the Israeli airline’s check-in counter in Madrid, wounding 12 people, the police said. An airport official said the suitcase had already passed an X-ray examination by Spanish security officials and was to have been loaded in the baggage hold of an El Al flight to Tel Aviv. It was not known what kind of explosive was in the suitcase, or whether it had been designed to detonate aboard the Boeing 767 airliner and had exploded prematurely. The man who checked in the luggage was arrested at the scene and was being questioned tonight, according to one of the airport’s directors, Jose Ignacio Garcia de la Rasilla. The man’s name was not released, but the airport director said the man was traveling on a Spanish passport. He said the suspect had offered no resistance.
Italy’s Socialist-led Government lost a crucial vote in Parliament tonight, and politicians predicted that the defeat would probably bring it down. Prime Minister Bettino Craxi has been presiding over the longest-serving Italian Cabinet since World War II. The loss in the Chamber of Deputies, by a margin of 293 to 266, came on a secret ballot vote on a local finance law. An exceptionally large number of members from the five governing parties abandoned party discipline to vote against the government. “The government presumably will resign,” said Gianni De Michelis, the Minister of Labor and an important leader of Mr. Craxi’s Socialist Party. “It seems difficult to imagine that he will not take account of the situation.” Pier Luigi Romita, the Budget Minister and Social Democrat, said that though resignation was not compulsory, “to govern has become very difficult, if not impossible.” The Communist opposition demanded Mr. Craxi’s resignation.
Israel’s President and Cabinet came under a barrage of criticism today from lawyers, politicians and citizens’ groups for their move to allow the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence service to escape investigation in the slayings of two captured Palestinian hijackers. The Cabinet announced Wednesday that the head of the agency, which is roughly equivalent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had been allowed to resign in exchange for immunity in the case. Three aides were also granted immunity, but were allowed to keep their jobs. Today, the Israeli press, from the far right to far left, denounced Prime Minister Shimon Peres, President Chaim Herzog and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir for their handling of the incident, variously describing them as a behaving like a “junta” and engaging in a Watergate-style cover-up and conspiracy. The language was of a sort rarely seen in Israeli newspapers.
Muslim militias that have dominated West Beirut began to close their offices today in preparation for the deployment of Lebanese soldiers to re-establish law and order in the city. Patrols from the Shiite movement Amal and the mainly Druse Progressive Socialist Party toured quarters of the Muslim part of the capital to make sure that militia centers have been closed and gunmen cleared from the streets. The measures were laid down earlier this month under Syrian supervision by Lebanon’s highest ranking Muslim political and religious leaders at a meeting in Damascus.
An Air France employee held in Iran for 14 months and flogged on charges that he turned his home into a “center of corruption” has been freed, the French airline announced. Jean-Yves Albertini, 42, director in Tehran for Air France, was arrested on April 18, 1985, allegedly during a party at his home attended by about 50 Iranians. The French Foreign Ministry said the release of Albertini was eased by the process “of normalizing relations between France and Iran.”
Philippine President Corazon Aquino named two negotiators for peace talks with the Communist insurgents. The two are Jose Diokno, a prominent human rights lawyer known for his opposition to U.S. military bases in the Philippines, and Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra, who, several of Aquino’s aides said, was chosen by the rebel leaders themselves. The rebels seek land reform and the removal of the U.S. bases. Aquino said, however, that her position against allowing any of the Communist leaders a position in her government remains unchanged. A U.S. official said that Washington has no objection to the two choices. Aquino declined to say when or where the peace talks will be held.
Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Prime Minister David Lange of New Zealand met today but failed to reach agreement on saving the 35-year-old alliance between their countries from collapsing later this summer over differences on nuclear policy. Unless there is an unexpected shift by Mr. Lange’s Government, this would mean the virtual end of the three-way ANZUS alliance, between Australia, New Zealand and the United States, which has been in effect since 1951. The treaty will not be formally abrogated but the United States has already served notice that if New Zealand enacts legislation barring visits by nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships as scheduled in August, Washington will no longer be bound by the treaty to come to New Zealand’s defense. After a meeting with Mr. Lange this morning, Mr. Shultz told reporters that they had been unable to reconcile their differences.
La Prensa, the combative opposition newspaper that for 60 years has been a principal source of news for Nicaraguans, was ordered shut today by the Sandinista Government. The action was announced in a two-sentence letter from Captain Nelba Cecilia Blandon, head of the press censorship office. “In accordance with instructions from above, I notify you that from this moment the newspaper La Prensa is closed for an indefinite time,” Captain Blandon wrote. “With nothing more to add, I send my considerations.”
Prospects for Senate approval of U.S. military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels appeared to be good today after the aid was approved Wednesday night in the House of Representatives. But complications are possible, and one key Republican Senate aide warned today that “it may be messy for a while.” The Republican-controlled Senate voted three months ago, by a margin of only 53 to 47, in favor of an earlier version of aid to the rebels.
Nicaraguan rebels said today that, with the prospect of American aid, a year of heavy fighting lay ahead. Foreign analysts cautioned that the war was unlikely to produce quick results. They predicted a slowly growing fight that could last years. But some analysts added that United States aid would enable the guerrillas, often called contras, to fight far more effectively. With secure rear areas in Honduras and ready supplies, they said, the rebels should be able to mount a sustained war inside Nicaragua.
Leftist guerrillas fired on the home of the leader of Peru’s governing party as unrest continued in the violence-plagued country. Police said the rebels fled after a brief gun battle at the home of Armando Villanueva, secretary general of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance. In Washington, the State Department identified an American killed in the bombing of a Peruvian train Wednesday as Lee Shelby Corzine of Texas. Authorities blamed Maoist guerrillas for the bombing.
The Peruvian police have arrested six people in connection with the bombing of a tourist train headed for the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru’s official press agency said. Officials said seven people were killed in the blast, including an American. The Andina press agency reported the arrests Wednesday night, hours after the bombing, which also wounded up to 40 people. The agency said a preliminary investigation showed that the bomb had been placed in a suitcase left in the train’s luggage rack. The United States Embassy confirmed today that an American had been killed. In Washington, the State Department said nine Americans were wounded, including six who were treated at hospitals and released and three who remained hospitalized today. The State Department identified the slain American as Lee Shelby Corzine of Texas. No group immediately asserted responsibility for the attack.
The Reagan Administration decided to support a $500-million World Bank loan to Brazil, despite reports that it would oppose new financing to the debt-burdened nation. The loan is intended mainly to pay for food imports and to help Brazil reduce farm subsidies. “We decided it was a good loan,” a senior State Department official said. “We do not have a blanket policy against new loans to Brazil.” The United States had voted last week against another proposed World Bank loan to Brazil, whose foreign debt of $103 billion is the highest of any Third World country.
The South African authorities were reported today to have freed a dozen labor leaders held under the nation’s two-week-old emergency decree. But the authorities also indicated that there was no immediate plan for lifting the decree. Law and Order Minister Louis LeGrange said it would be applied “relentlessly.” The Government, meanwhile, reported five more blacks had been slain — two shot dead by the security forces and three killed in violence among blacks — bringing to 66 the number killed since the emergency was proclaimed on June 12.
Amnesty International reported yesterday that another church in South Africa had been raided by security forces and some 70 worshipers taken into custody. The raid took place on June 16, at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter Claver in the black township of Duncan Village near East London, the human-rights monitoring group said, adding that none of those detained had been seen or heard from since. Reportedly, the people arrested had gone to church to pray for peace on the day on which many South Africans commemorate the deaths of black demonstrators in Soweto 10 years earlier. More than 100 people were said to have been in the church in the morning when security troops in combat attire arrived, smashed the door and assaulted people in the church with rhinoceros-hide whips.
European Government leaders appeared deadlocked tonight over proposals for new economic sanctions against South Africa. The Netherlands, which holds the rotating presidency of the 12-nation European Community, suggested a limited package of trade restrictions banning imports of South African coal, iron, steel, fruits, vegetables and wine. Sales of these items to members of the Community currently earn South Africa about $1.85 billion a year.
Two Soviet cosmonauts docked their Soyuz T-15 spacecraft with the Mir orbital station, which they opened in March and on which they have spent half of their more than 100 days in space, the news agency Tass said. Cosmonauts Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyev started their space mission March 13, docking with the Mir and staying aboard until May 5. They then went to the Salyut 7 space station, which has been in orbit since 1982, and carried out experiments until they left it for the Mir this week. The Mir, which means “Peace” in Russian, was launched in February and is expected to eventually be the first permanently manned spacecraft.
Congress early today approved a compromise budget of almost $1 trillion for the 1987 fiscal year. The measure soundly rejects President Reagan’s military and domestic spending priorities and challenges him to raise revenue if he wants higher spending for the military. The bi-partisan compromise was approved in the House by a vote of 333 to 43 shortly after 11 PM Thursday, just over an hour after a House-Senate conference committee passed the proposal on a voice vote. The Senate, with only four members present, approved the plan shortly after midnight on a voice vote. Both the House and the Senate then left for a two-week July Fourth recess. In an effort to get around the President’s opposition to tax increases, the budget resolution sets up a mechanism that would allow the President to get a higher military budget if he proposes revenue increases or new spending cuts to offset the increase. This increase, however, only slightly eases the deep cuts in the Pentagon’s budget.
The budget resolution sets overall ceilings for spending and revenue. It does not require Presidential approval. The House and the Senate still have to approve the separate appropriations bills and other legislation to achieve the spending cuts. In addition, legislation is needed to raise the small revenue increases included in the final plan. All these bills must go to Mr. Reagan for his approval. The breakthrough in the budget negotiations, after three weeks of deadlock, came early Thursday when the leaders of the two budget committees reached agreement on a “framework.”
The Senate Democratic leader, Robert C. Byrd, used an adroit parliamentary maneuver today to block, at least temporarily, the appointment of Daniel A. Manion as a Federal appeals court judge in Chicago. The West Virginia Senator acted when an initial tally produced a 47-to-47 tie, which would have allowed Vice President Bush to vote, breaking the tie and assuring confirmation of Mr. Manion. Mr. Byrd then switched sides and voted in favor, which put him on the winning side of a 48-to-46 tally to approve the nomination. Under Senate rules, this gave him the right to call for reconsideration of the decision, which he did immediately.
The President and First Lady enjoy a horseback ride around the grounds at their ranch in California.
President Reagan spends the afternoon surveying the ranch.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 today that the Constitution bars execution of convicted murderers who have become so insane that they do not know they are about to be killed and the reason for it. The Court also held that death row prisoners must be given a fair opportunity to establish their insanity, including an impartial officer or board to consider psychiatric presentations and legal arguments made on their behalf. The Court blocked Florida at least temporarily from executing a man convicted of murder who his attorney says became insane while on death row. The state found him sane enough to be executed, but the Court said Florida’s procedures in making that finding had been inadequate.
Congressional cuts in funds for the Pentagon’s research into defenses against nuclear missiles threaten for the first time to delay the government’s decision on the feasibility of such a space shield, the general who heads the program said today. “I think it will be a very substantial delay,” Lieutenant General James Abrahamson, director of the research plan officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, said at a news conference. “It might be on the order of a year or more.”
Prosecutors are appealing a ruling by the judge in the espionage trial of Jerry A. Whitworth, saying that there is a “significantly greater chance” of Mr. Whitworth’s acquittal if the ruling is allowed to stand. The ruling was issued Wednesday by Federal District Judge John P. Vukasin Jr. in connection with the wording of the indictment, which says that Mr. Whitworth, while a Navy radioman, stole classified material and passed it to a Soviet spy ring headed by John A. Walker Jr. in exchange for $332,000. The indictment said Mr. Whitworth had “intent and reason to believe” that the material would be used to the advantage of the Soviet Union. Judge Vukasin said he would tell the jury that for a guilty verdict they must find that prosecutors had proved that Mr. Whitworth knew the materials were destined for the Soviet Union. Mr. Walker, who testified in April, said he never directly told Mr. Whitworth that the materials were being bought by agents of the Soviet Union.
A panel voted for the impeachment of an imprisoned Federal District judge. The panel, the House Judiciary Committee, approved four articles of impeachment against the judge, Harry E. Claiborne, who is being paid $215 a day in salary while he serves a sentence for tax evasion.
Mexico’s cooperation in patrolling the border with the United States ranges from incomplete to nonexistent, American officials say. In the latest joint effort, 3,506 fugitives were arrested on charges including drug trafficking and murder. Of the 3,506 suspects, 3,503 were arrested in the United States, 3 in Mexico.
Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. and the former manager of the securities firm’s Philadelphia office were indicted in the laundering of at least $1.2 million for an organized-crime gambling syndicate. The indictment also charges six Philadelphia men, including the son-in-law of former Mayor Frank Rizzo, with conspiracy and operating an illegal sports gambling enterprise. Prosecutors said it was the first indictment of a securities firm on charges of failing to report cash transactions of more than $10,000, as required by Federal law. Several banks have had action taken against them for laundering money made in criminal activities.
The American Civil Liberties Union condemned Attorney General Edwin Meese III’s Commission on Pornography and called the crackdown it proposed “a dangerous call to arms against free expression.” Barry Lynn, the ACLU’s legislative counsel, said that nearly all of the panel’s 92 proposals would violate the First Amendment and undermine constitutional rights to privacy, due process and individual choice. Dee Kuhn, speaking for the Meese panel, had no comment on the ACLU’s criticisms. The commission’s report is due to be released next month.
A national campaign to improve nursing homes was started in Washington by a bipartisan group of congressmen and 14 national organizations. Its goals: public awareness of abuses of elderly people, stricter and more frequent inspections, more supervision and tougher penalties for substandard care. Actor Kirk Douglas, chairman of the group, noted that this week is Elder Abuse Awareness Week in Los Angeles and said he would like to make a national observance. “I want to reach those who think they’re exempt from growing old,” he said.
The Communications Workers of America and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company agreed on a new contract today, ending a 26-day strike. Full details of the tentative settlement were not immediately available, but both union and company spokesmen said workers would return to work Friday. The strike by the communications workers was the nation’s largest since 500,000 telephone workers staged a 21-day walkout in August 1983. A.T.&T. reached a tentative agreement last week on a new national contract to end the strike, but that accord was held up by disagreements over issues in six separate contracts for divisions of the company. Under the proposed national settlement, outlined last week, workers would receive average wage increases of 2 percent in the first year of the contract, 3 percent in the second year and 3 percent in the third year. The union said workers would receive total wage and benefit increases of 10.2 percent over the life of the contract.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted in Washington to require warning labels on products containing asbestos, and to support an Environmental Protection Agency ban on all uses of asbestos. The substance, which has been found to cause respiratory cancer, was once widely used in construction and as a fire retardant. The commission said it would issue a warning that asbestos is still found in many common products, such as stove pads and gaskets, iron rests, some papers and millboards, laboratory and artists’ supplies, furnace cement and duct seals.
Health inspectors in Washington state were scouring stores for non-prescription capsules on the eve of a 90-day state ban, triggered by two cyanide deaths and the discovery of five bottles of cyanide-tainted painkillers in the Seattle area. The state Pharmacy Board prohibited sale of capsules that can be pulled open. The state asked stores to return capsules to distributors or manufacturers, said Chuck Kleeberg, chief of environmental health for the Seattle-King County Health Department. Prescription capsules will still be available, said Bud Nicola, director of the Health Department.
Federal health officials, saying they were worried about possible misinterpretation of a Justice Department ruling on the civil rights of AIDS victims, have issued a statement stressing that the AIDS virus cannot be spread through casual contact in the workplace. Privately, some scientists also expressed dismay and anger about the ruling last week that a Federal civil rights law did not protect victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome or those carrying AIDS virus antibodies from dismissal by employers who feared the spread of the virus. Health officials said yesterday that the Justice Department’s memorandum contained an unwarranted implication that AIDS might be transmitted though casual contact. Scientific evidence does not support such a belief, the medical officials said.
Followers of the political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. have succeeded in placing a referendum on the Nov. 4 California ballot that could lead to the quarantine of AIDS victims, the office of the Secretary of State says. The referendum, which would empower public health officials to test anyone suspected of carrying the virus for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, was formally certified for the ballot Wednesday, state officials said. A referendum to declare English California’s official language was also certified for the November 4 ballot Wednesday. It would require state and local government agencies to conduct their business in English.
The Defense Department has invited hospital chains and large insurance companies to comment on a sweeping proposal to change its system of providing health care for military dependents and retirees. The plan, which was outlined to Congress last week, is part of an effort to reduce the soaring costs of providing health care off military bases for 6.2 million military dependents and retirees and their dependents and survivors.
A ban on sightseeing flights in the Grand Canyon, prompted by the deaths of 25 people in an aerial collision there last week, cleared a House committee. The measure would prohibit flying below the canyon’s rim except for emergency and administrative purposes, and direct the Federal Aviation Administration to “provide for substantial restoration of the natural quiet” of the national park in Arizona through management of air traffic.
Major League Baseball:
The A’s fire manager Jackie Moore and name Jeff Newman his interim replacement. They will eventually hire recently ousted White Sox manager Tony LaRussa.
The Detroit Tigers downed the Baltimore Orioles, 8-3. Lance Parrish hit two two-run homers and Walt Terrell pitched a five-hitter over eight and two-thirds innings to give Detroit the victory. Terrell walked three in the ninth, including John Shelby with the bases loaded, before giving way to Willie Hernandez, who struck out Mike Young to end the game for his 14th save. Terrell won his first decision in more than a month to raise his record to 7-5. The right-hander walked seven and struck out two. The victory was Detroit’s sixth in seven games with Baltimore this season. Alan Trammell, who had four hits, singled to left with one out in the first and Parrish followed one out later by lining a 1-0 pitch into the left-field seats for his 16th home run. The Detroit shortstop and catcher worked the exact same single-home run in the fifth to pad the Tigers’ margin to 4-1. The losing pitcher was Mike Flanagan (1-5), whose only victory was April 17.
Jorge Orta of the Royals hit an inside-the-park home run and Kansas City scored eight runs in the first two innings in posting a 9-2 victory over the A’s. It was the seventh loss in eight games for the A’s, who have dropped 18 of their last 22 games. The Oakland starter, Rick Langford, lasted just five batters into the second inning and was charged with eight earned runs in falling to 1-8.
The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-3. Larry Parrish and Steve Buechele each hit two-run homers during a six-run first inning to power Texas. The Rangers rapped eight straight hits in the first inning. Texas finished with 17 hits and broke a three-game losing streak.
Baltimore Orioles 3, Detroit Tigers 8
Oakland Athletics 2, Kansas City Royals 9
Texas Rangers 10, Seattle Mariners 3
Wall Street suffered a mild setback yesterday as stock prices weakened as they approached record territory. Part of the softness was attributed to a rumor that President Reagan was ill, despite the fact that the report was quickly denied by the White House. “As the rumor circulated that Reagan was sick, the market sold off,” said Richard Meyer, senior trader at Ladenburg, Thalmann & Company. “Once it was denied by the White House, the market attempted to rally.” But the comeback was thwarted, market analysts said, by profit taking induced by the current high levels of stock prices. The Dow Jones industrial average, which exceeded the previous closing record of 1,885.90 during intraday trading yesterday, finished with a loss of 4.85, at 1,880.20.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1880.2 (-4.85)
Born:
Lou Marson, MLB catcher (Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians), in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Michael Kohn, MLB pitcher (Los Angeles Angels, Atlanta Braves), in Camden, South Carolina.
Casey Desmond, American pop singer, in Boston, Massachusetts.
History Diaries 