Palestinian militants hijacked Air France Flight 139 after it took off from Athens with 245 passengers and 12 crew, then landed at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda with the permission of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada. The Airbus A300 jumbo jet had departed Tel Aviv on a flight to Paris, with a stop in Greece, where six hijackers boarded, then commandeered the flight to land in Benghazi in Libya for refueling before flying on to Entebbe. The flight was hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO) under orders of Wadie Haddad (who had earlier broken away from the PFLP of George Habash), and two members of the German Revolutionary Cells. The hijackers took hostages with the stated objective of compelling the release of 40 Palestinian and affiliated militants imprisoned in Israel as well as the release of 13 prisoners in four other countries. Over 100 Ugandan soldiers were deployed to support the hijackers after the flight landed, and Amin, who had been informed of the hijacking from the beginning, had personally welcomed the terrorists at Entebbe. After moving all of the hostages to a defunct airport, the hijackers separated all Israelis and several non-Israeli Jews from the larger group of passengers, subsequently moving them into a separate room. Over the next two days, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown out to Paris. The 94 remaining passengers, most of whom were Israelis, and the 12-member Air France crew continued to be held as hostages.
Israeli Transportation Minister Gad Yaacobi warned today that Israel would take all necessary action “both politically and in other spheres” to protect the Israelis aboard a hijacked Air France plane flying from Tel Aviv to Paris via Athens.
In the first popular vote presidential election in Portugal in 18 years, a majority of voters cast their ballots for General António Ramalho Eanes, who had the support of Portugal’s three largest non-Communist political parties. The Portuguese turned out in large numbers in the presidential election and most, according to nearly complete returns, voted General Eanes, a law-and-order candidate, dealing the Communist Party a severe setback. General Eanes had the backing of Portugal’s three largest non-Communist parties, as well as several leftist groups. In second place, with just under 17 percent, was Major Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, a far-left candidate.
The “Group of Seven” Western industrial nations (G-7), met for an economic summit in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico, with U.S. President Gerald Ford welcoming President Valery Giscard d’Estaing of France, West Germany’s Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, and the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom (James Callaghan), Japan (Takeo Miki), Italy (Aldo Moro) and Canada (Pierre Trudeau). The Group of Six had added Canada after the 1975 summit in November 1975 in France.
Demonstrators set fire to Communist Party headquarters in Radom, Poland and looted food and liquor stores during strikes Friday protesting Government food price increases, it was learned here today. Residents of Radom, a leather tanning center 60 miles south of Warsaw, said several people were injured when police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. There were no reports of fatalities or use of firearms. Fire destroyed much of the interior of the modern three-story party headquarters building and most of the windows were shattered. Flames scorched the exterior of the building and on the street outside there was a large patch of blackened pavement where residents said the demonstrators had burned several cars. Throughout the city center, food and liquor stores had broken windows and empty shelves.
A Lithuanian father and son who hijacked a Soviet plane to Turkey six years ago and who escaped from a refugee camp in central Turkey last Wednesday, have surrendered to police in Ankara after an unsuccessful request for asylum at the U.S. Embassy In Ankara. Prana Stasio Brazinskas and his son Algerdas said they fled house arrest at Yozgat because the father was ailing and both were suffering from depression.
Veniamin E. Dymshits, the only Jew in the top Soviet leadership, was given broader responsibilities in the government. Dymshits, 66, was I switched to full-time work in the Kremlin’s Council of Ministers. The move was seen as putting Dymshits into a position where he could gain more general experience in government administration.
An all-out campaign against ideological deviation, corruption, and nationalism in the Soviet republic of Georgia has been ordered by the Kremlin. The Communist Party’s Central Committee decreed the crackdown despite four years of political purges and economic reorganization. The decree called for “a relentless struggle against relapses into philistine, petit bourgeois thinking, money grubbing, manifestations of nationalism, outdated and harmful customs and religious prejudices.”
Pope Paul VI expressed confidence in Italy’s future after last weekend’s national elections that saw the Roman Catholic-backed Christian Democrats fend off a strong challenge from the Communist Party. The Pope said, “We seem to catch a glimpse of a positive orientation for the future, and we hope that this is to be.”
Beirut’s airport, which was reopened late last week, was closed again indefinitely when artillery blasted a Middle East Airlines 707 jetliner that had arrived from Jordan with a three-man crew but no passengers. A half dozen shells fell in and around the airport. The plane burned to its frame. Its first officer and flight engineer were injured and the pilot was believed to have been killed. The engineer was said to be an American but was not identified. The terminal building was crowded with hundreds of people waiting for flights out of the country. Its roof was struck by a shell, but no one inside was said to have been injured.
The Defense Department denied charges that the United States seeded clouds near Cuba in 1969 and 1970 so that they would drop their rain before reaching the island, causing drought damaging to the sugar crop. The charges were made by a former Defense Department consultant, Lowell Ponte, who formerly was an environmental researcher with the International Research & Technology Corp. of Washington, D.C. The defense spokesman said that only one classified weather modification program has ever been carried out — over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam, made public in 1974.
Two young men became the third and fourth persons to be slain in Jamaica over the weekend when they reportedly drew guns and refused to obey orders of police enforcing a state of emergency proclamation. Killed were Earl Wood and Wayne Mitchell, both 22. Slain earlier were a 22-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman. Prime Minister Michael Manley assumed emergency powers last week after asserting that unidentified terrorist groups planned to escalate operations in Jamaica. More than 350 people have been arrested under provisions of the decree, authorities said.
The Bolivian Military Government has offered cheaper consumer goods for tin miners in an effort to defuse a violence-ridden 19-day-old strike that is cutting deeply into Bolivia’s tin revenues. President Hugo Banzer Suarez ordered a police crackdown on possible strike‐related incidents after bomb explosion, killed a child and an adult Thursday night.
Terrorism by left‐wing extremists in Argentina has provoked counterterrorism by security forces that the military government in Buenos Aires is trying to bring under control. Argentina has become very dangerous for anyone suspected of having connections with the subversive guerrilla organizations that are active here. At least three military intelligence services, the federal police and some armed right‐wing “paramilitary” groups have been trying to penetrate and destroy the revolutionary guerrilla forces.
The first known case of the Ebola virus began when “Y.G.”, a cotton factory worker in Nzara in southern Sudan In Africa, became ill with a high fever, headache and chest pains. He was admitted to the Nzara Hospital on June 30, and two days later began internal bleeding, and died on July 6 as the first casualty of Ebola. Ultimately, 151 people would die in Sudan and a more severe outbreak would start in the central African nation of Zaire in August.
The people of Luanda, Angola, elected popular commissions to represent districts of the capital city in dealing with the central government, handling local problems and making sure their constituents are treated properly, officials said. Large numbers of Luandans voted for the first time. Under Portuguese rule, from which Angola won independence, only a limited number of voters took part in elections for representatives in the Lisbon government. Those banned in the current voting were people with close connections to Portuguese rule and to the two losing factions in Angola’s civil war.
In South Africa, the National President of the Black People’s Convention, Kenneth Hlaku Rachidi, declares that riots in Soweto have lead to a new era of political consciousness.
President Ford, at a summit meeting of seven major industrial nations in Puerto Rico, said that governments had overcommitted themselves economically in order to improve social conditions and raise their citizens’ standard of living. He told the other leaders in a private session that the industrialized nations must set more “realistic” social and economic goals that would be acceptable to the people of their countries.
Two previously uncommitted Wyoming delegates switched to Ronald Reagan, thus cutting President Ford’s lead to 25 as the race for the Republican presidential nomination headed for a convention showdown with 182 delegates still uncommitted. The tally now stands at 1,001 delegates for Ford and 976 for Reagan, according to an Associated Press poll. With only 98 delegates left to be chosen and 1,130 needed for the nomination, the outcome apparently rests with the 182 delegates who haven’t made their choice known. Reagan forces were firmly in control at state conventions late Saturday in Idaho, Montana and New Mexico.
South Carolina Governor James B. Edwards said today that a majority of Southerners would not vote for former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, whom he described as a man who wants to grant amnesty “to the yellow-bellies who were afraid to fight in Vietnam.” Governor Edwards, speaking to the South Carolina delegation to the Republican National Convention, said he believed: Ronald Reagan could counter Mr. Carter’s popularity and win election in November. But said all Republicans must support the party’s Presidential nominee, whoever he is. “I don’t believe the South will buy Jimmy Carter,” Mr. Edwards said. “He is nothing more than a Southern‐talking George McGovern.”
The team of six agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that burglarized the Socialist Workers Party’s offices in New York in 1964 and 1965 were nominated for commendations and bonuses by the bureau’s officials in the city. This became known when documents surrendered by the bureau to the party, which is suing the government, were made public. “The agents involved were extremely careful to make these contacts in such a manner as not to embarrass the F.B.I.,” a recommendation said. The six agents were praised for “constant alertness, swift reaction, sound judgment and great discretion.”
Republican mayors, many from smaller cities, at the 44th annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in Milwaukee, joined Democratic mayors in urging President Ford not to veto the $4 billion public works bill sent to him by Congress last week. The bill, the Public Works Employment Act of 1976, is considered crucial by many big-city mayors facing serious budget problems. President Ford earlier this year vetoed a similar bill he said was inflationary. Another veto, it was apparent at the meeting, would not be politically advantageous for the President. The majority Democratic mayors also pushed through a resolution urging support for the Humphrey-Hawkins full employment bill, as well as another calling for a shift in the nation’s funding priorities from the military and foreign aid to domestic programs. Most of the Republican mayors on the committee, meeting in Milwaukee, joined with Democrats in asking Ford to sign the public works bill but split with Democrats over the other two resolutions.
Jerry Herman, the Marin County prosecutor, has concluded a five‐day closing argument in the trial of the San Quentin Six in California Superior Court there. The defense will begin presenting its case tomorrow. The San Quentin Six are five black and Hispanic inmates and a black former prisoner who are accused of conspiracy, murder and assault in an alleged escape attempt at the prison on August 21, 1971. George Jackson, a black revolutionary, and three guards and two inmate trusties were killed in the incident. Mr. Herman painstakingly reviewed in the five days last week the testimony of Urbano Rubiaco, a guard, who said he saw Mr. Jackson pull a gun and clips of bullets from a wig after he returned from a visit with his attorney, Stephen Bingham, who is now a fugitive. He said that Mr. Jackson declared “The dragon has come,” a reference to a poem by Ho Chi Minh, and ordered him to open the cells in the prison’s maximum security adjustment center.
As the trial of William and Emily Harris moves into its second week tomorrow, not one juror has been sworn in the state’s kidnapping, assault and robbery case against the two members of the self‐styled Symbionese Liberation Army. Indeed, the prosecutor is yet to take his turn to question the 12 prospective jurors so far placed in the jury box about their views on any subject but pretrial publicity. Nor has either side exercised its 40 peremptory challenges. Peremptories permit lawyers to excuse a juror without explanation. The reason for the slow pace lies in the nature of the case, the procedures used in trying to find fair jurors and the leeway given the Harrises — leeway the defense team thinks is limited — to explore jurors’ views of the Harrises and their co‐defendant, Patricia Hearst, who is not on trial with her former S.L.A. comrades.
Scientists in control of the Viking 1 spacecraft began directing it in search of alternative landing sites on Mars today after delaying the scheduled July 4 Bicentennial landing of the craft’s landing module, possibly for several weeks. The Viking project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laborato ry, James Martin, said that recent pictures of the primary landing site showed the area to “have too many unknowns and it could be too hazardous” to risk a landing without first investigating alternative sites. The, alternative area that now most interests scientists is a basin about 300 miles northwest of the original landing site, still within the general touchdown region of Chryse. The alternative site is called Chryse Phoenicia. The Viking team believes Chryse Phoenicia to be an area of gently rolling sand dunes, possibly once the deposit of huge Martian river filled with fine materials carried downstream.
Balloonist Karl Thomas’ ground crew in Lakehurst, New Jersey, has lost radio contact and has asked the Coast Guard to have ships plying the Atlantic to keep an eye out for him. “It sure isn’t planned,” a ground crew spokesman said of the radio silence. “It’s mysterious. We’re really puzzled.” Thomas, 27, a pilot of Troy, Mich., is attempting to become the first person to fly a balloon across the Atlantic. Five persons have lost their lives in the last six years attempting the same feat. At last report the balloonist was 800 miles east of Lakehurst, 500 miles southwest of Newfoundland and 3,000 miles west of his destination, Paris.
Senator Richard S. Schweiker (R-Pennsylvania) said he feels there is a possibility the White House was involved in a coverup after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He said on the TV program Face the Nation that he had been told by some officials that there was a fear of the results if it should be determined that Cuba had a hand in the murder. That could have led to a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union over Cuba, and to avoid this a coverup may have been arranged. Schweiker, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee that issued a report last week on the Kennedy assassination, also said the panel had “come up with several leads that are still hot and worth following.” He added that he might risk “blowing” the leads if he described them more fully.
A third of the doctors questioned in a poll by the American Medical Association say they are considering “going bare” — practicing without malpractice insurance. The trend was reported in the June 28 issue of American Medical News, a weekly newspaper published by the AMA. Already 1 out of 8, or 13%, of those polled are without malpractice insurance. “Not surprisingly, physicians in high-risk specialties whose malpractice premiums in some states now run upward of $30,000 annually, are most inclined to consider the no-insurance route,” the report said.
Interior Secretary Thomas S. Kleppe suspended three five-year leases issued to the Exxon Corp. to mine uranium in the Lake Mead National Recreation area. Department officials said it was discovered earlier this year that the leases had been issued without environmental studies required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Kleppe said the department would make a new environmental analysis “to form the foundation for further action.”
Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Pacific Overtures”, starring Mako, closes at the Winter Garden Theatre, NYC, after 193 performances, and two Tony Award wins.
Major League Baseball:
George Hendrick and Buddy Bell had seven hits between them and drove in five runs to escort the Indians to a 6–3 victory in the first game of a doubleheader, but Bobby Grich and Andres Mora helped bat the Orioles to a 6-2 triumph in the second game. Hendrick rapped 4-for-4, including a homer, and batted in two runs in the lidlifter, while Bell accounted for three RBIs with as many hits. Pat Dobson gained his sixth straight victory with help from Jim Kern. In the nightcap, Grich knocked in a run with a double in the first inning and scored himself on a single by Lee May. Mora hit his homer in the third. Frank Robinson smashed the 585th homer of his career in the Indians’ losing cause.
Two unearned runs in the 11th inning, resulting from a wild throw by reliever Tom Murphy, enabled the Tigers to defeat the Red Sox, 4–2. With one away, John Wockenfuss singled. When Jerry Manuel bunted and Murphy threw the ball away, both runners were safe. Following a passed ball, Murphy walked Ron LeFlore intentionally to load the bases and the Tigers’ two runs then ensued on an infield out by Tom Veryzer and single by Dan Meyer.
The Mets tied their club record for most runs in one inning, eight, while trouncing the Cubs, 13–3. After Mike Phillips led off the game with a homer, the Mets had their scoring spree in the second, including a homer by Ed Kranepool with a man on base. Dave Kingman also drove in two runs with a double.
Fred Norman allowed only four hits in seven innings and Rawly Eastwick then completed pitching the Reds to a 4–2 victory over the Astros. Pete Rose knocked in two runs for the Reds with a single in the second inning and an error by J.R. Richard enabled them to add an unearned pair in the fourth.
After George Brett saved the Royals from defeat with a two-run homer in the ninth inning, John Mayberry singled with the bases loaded in the 11th to defeat the Angels, 5–4. Mayberry also hit a homer in the seventh. In the 11th, Jim Wohlford doubled and Amos Otis and Brett walked to fill the sacks before Mayberry singled.
Manny Mota singled for the 100th pinch-hit of his major league career to help the Dodgers defeat the Giants, 12–8. The Dodgers broke a 6–6 tie in the fifth inning with singles by Ed Goodson, Bill Russell and Ellie Rodriguez. Mota followed with his pinch-single for another RBI. Bobby Murcer was the Giants’ big batter with two home runs.
Woodie Fryman, who worked 6 ⅔ innings, gained credit for the 100th victory of his major league career as the Expos defeated the Pirates, 4–3. The Expos jumped on Doc Medich for three runs in the third inning on a single by Larry Parrish, walk to Pepe Mangual, double by Tim Foli, error by Willie Stargell and single by Jim Lyttle. Parrish walked in the fifth, Mangual was safe on an error and Foli singled for his third RBI of the game, providing what proved to be the Expos’ winning run.
Mickey Rivers had one hit in the opener and three in the nightcap to extend his batting streak to 20 games as the Yankees defeated the Brewers in a doubleheader, 6–2 and 10–2. In the first game, the Yankees were trailing, 2–1, when they rallied for two runs in the seventh inning on a double by Willie Randolph, a pinch-hit by Thurman Munson, single by Rivers and infield out by Oscar Gamble. Three more runs in the eighth that included a sacrifice fly by Rivers clinched the verdict. In the nightcap, Graig Nettles hit two homers and drove in five runs, while Rivers scored three times. The victory went to Dick Tidrow, who made his first start since September 20, 1974.
Averting a threatened strike by his players, owner Charlie Finley put Joe Rudi, Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers back on his roster, but only Rudi and Fingers saw action as the Athletics defeated the Twins, 5–3. Rudi, playing in left field, went hitless in four trips. Fingers relieved with two out in the sixth inning, pitched the rest of the way and picked up his ninth save of the season. Sal Bando hit a pair of homers, driving in three runs, and Gene Tenace accounted for two with a triple.
The first grand-slam homer in Bob Boone’s career climaxed a six-run outburst in the fourth inning and powered the Phillies to a 6–2 victory over the Cardinals. A single by Dave Cash, walk to Mike Schmidt and single by Dick Allen produced the first run and Jay Johnstone hit a ground-rule double for another tally. Then, after Garry Maddox was hit by a pitch to fill the sacks, Boone unloaded them with his slammer. Jim Lonborg wins his 10th.
Andy Messersmith, winner of five straight decisions, was stopped on his streak when the Padres edged the Braves, 3–2. With the score tied, 2–2, pinch-hitter Dave Winfield drew a walk from Messersmith with one out in the ninth inning and stole second. Ted Kubiak, also pinch-hitting, walked. Johnny Grubb followed with a single, but Winfield was thrown out at the plate. However, Kubiak moved to third on the play and scored the winning run when Tito Fuentes singled.
The White Sox scored four runs in the fifth inning and added two more on a homer by Buddy Bell in the sixth to defeat the Rangers, 6–2. In the fourth, Jack Brohamer walked, Bell beat out a bunt and, after a groundout, both runners counted on a single by Bucky Dent. Chet Lemon tripled, driving in Dent, and scored himself on a grounder by Pat Kelly.
Cleveland Indians 6, Baltimore Orioles 3
Cleveland Indians 2, Baltimore Orioles 6
Detroit Tigers 4, Boston Red Sox 2
New York Mets 13, Chicago Cubs 3
Cincinnati Reds 4, Houston Astros 2
California Angels 4, Kansas City Royals 5
San Francisco Giants 8, Los Angeles Dodgers 12
Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Montreal Expos 4
Milwaukee Brewers 2, New York Yankees 6
Milwaukee Brewers 2, New York Yankees 10
Minnesota Twins 3, Oakland Athletics 5
St. Louis Cardinals 2, Philadelphia Phillies 6
Atlanta Braves 2, San Diego Padres 3
Chicago White Sox 6, Texas Rangers 2
Born:
Leigh Nash, American pop singer and songwriter (Sixpence None The Richer -“Kiss Me”, “There She Goes”), in New Braunfels, Texas.
Johnny Estrada, MLB catcher (All-Star, 2004; Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, Washington Nationals), in Hayward, California.
Chris Woodward, MLB shortstop, second baseman, and third baseman (Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox), in Covina, California.
Wagner Moura, Brazilian actor (“Narcos”, “The Secret Agent”), in Salvador, Brazil.
Joseph Sikora, American TV actor (“Power”); in Chicago, Illinois.
Died:
C. Wade McClusky, 74, U.S. Navy aviator and hero of the Battle of Midway.
History Diaries 