A senior Administration official said today that Mikhail S. Gorbachev seems to be uncertain about present United States positions on arms control. The official said the Soviet leader had sought the Iceland meeting with President Reagan to hear his thinking about arms issues first-hand. The official said that one reason for Mr. Gorbachev’s confusion, which was conveyed in a letter September 26, was the differences being voiced within the United States Government. “I think he is wondering what exactly is Ronald Reagan’s judgment or opinion on these questions because he is hearing many voices,” the official said. The United States, in keeping with the Soviet request, will send a relatively small delegation to Iceland. It has also proposed a news blackout there, the official said. He spoke at a White House briefing at which President Reagan also made an unusual appearance, voicing cautious optimism about the meeting.
Mr. Reagan said the growth of American power had changed the strategic situation in favor of the West and improved the prospects for agreement. “But, above all, negotiating is being done in an atmosphere of candor and realism,” the President said. President Reagan said that although the idea of preliminary talks to prepare for a regular summit meeting was Mr. Gorbachev’s, it was the United States that had proposed the dates for the two-day meeting, October 11 and 12. Mr. Reagan suggested that he shared Mr. Gorbachev’s view that progress could be made in one-on-one meetings. He said he would not be “snowed into believing that the leopard is changing its spots.” “I think he is dedicated to their form of Government,” the President said. “I think he believes much of the propaganda about us. ” Mr. Reagan said that in talks with Mr. Gorbachev in Geneva, “there was a certain frankness that I have never felt” in other Soviet officials.
The Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard A. Shevardnadze, said today that he expected other issues besides arms control, including the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, to come up in the Iceland meeting. At a news conference winding up a two-day visit to Canada, he said Mikhail S. Gorbachev had asked for the meeting because of “profound concern” that the buildup of nuclear arms and the prospective deployment of weapons in space would soon pass the point of no return. Before he left the United States on Tuesday, Mr. Shevardnadze had identified arms control as the key issue.
Britain’s opposition Labor Party rejected demands of its own left wing that it take Britain out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and close all U.S. military bases if it comes to power in the next election. At its annual conference, the party adopted a resolution committing a Labor government to end British participation in President Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense program. The party reiterated its support of unilateral nuclear disarmament. Party leader Neil Kinnock said in an interview that he would expect the United States to close its nuclear bases and withdraw cruise missiles within a year of a Labor government’s taking office.
A solid majority of the American public approves of the release of Gennadi F. Zakharov, the convicted Soviet spy, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll shows. In addition, an overwhelming majority said there was a connection between his release and the release of Nicholas S. Daniloff, the American journalist who was arrested in Moscow. Seventy-seven percent of the 612 people interviewed by telephone on Tuesday and Wednesday said they believed there was a connection between the release of the two men, something President Reagan has denied. Nine percent said there was not, and 14 percent said they did not know.
Andrei D. Sakharov has written an autobiography and smuggled it to the West, Efrem Yankelevich, the son-in-law of the banished Soviet physicist and Nobel Peace laureate announced. He said Mr. Sakharov had completed his memoirs in 1983 despite repeated seizures of the manuscripts by the K.G.B.
An official newspaper warned Poland’s outlawed Solidarity labor union today that its formation of a council of former underground leaders was “political blindness” headed for conflict with the law. A commentary in the newspaper Zycie Warszawy by its chief editor, Zdzislaw Morawski, was the first official reaction to Solidarity’s Provisional Council, set up on Monday to campaign openly for free labor-union rights.
In a public letter of resignation circulated in Paris, UNESCO’s former legal director has accused the organization’s Director General, Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow of Senegal, of waging “a private war” against the United States and Britain. Both countries withdrew from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after complaining that the agency is mismanaged and biased against the West.
Lebanon’s official television station broadcast a videotaped appeal for the release of American hostages. Part of the tape, made in Washington by members of the hostages’ families and by freed hostages, was carried on an evening news program seen in Muslim West Beirut in hopes that the kidnappers would see it and respond. Six Americans are missing in Lebanon, all believed abducted by extremist Muslim groups. One such group, Islamic Jihad, claims to hold three of the Americans and to have killed a fourth, but no body has been found.
Egypt’s ruling party won an overwhelming victory in a midterm election, but three boycotting opposition parties labeled the voting a farce. Interior Minister Zaki Badr said that despite the boycott, nearly 82% of Egypt’s 13.6 million voters cast their ballots Wednesday for the Shura Council, a parliamentary consultative group. President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party won 97% of the 11.2 million votes cast. Three of the five legal opposition parties that boycotted the election accused the government of forging ballots.
The Reagan Administration faced a growing controversy over reports it had made selective disclosures of news and “disinformation” about Libya and its leader, Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi. The White House denied it had tried to give false information about Libya, but said it had a policy designed to harass and ultimately remove Colonel Qaddafi.
Washington is free to take whatever actions may cause trouble for Colonel Qaddafi because the United States is close to a state of war with Libya, Secretary of State George P. Shultz said. In a news conference, Mr. Shultz said that tendencies in the American press to play up secret naval movements helped to deceive the Libyan leader.
The Iranian Foreign Minister said today that his Government had engaged in “extensive talks” with the French Government aimed at improving relations between the two countries. The minister, Ali Akbar Velayati, said at a news conference here that after “more than eight hours of talks last weekend” his Government had come to the conclusion that the “new Government in Paris is in a position to take more positive steps toward Iran than before.” He said the talks “centered on bilateral issues, as well as cooperation for the future.”
Gasoline rationing will begin today in Iran, whose oil refineries were bombed extensively by Iraq last month. Automobiles were reported lined up for four miles in some locations to get gasoline. Iranian Oil Minister Gholamreza Aghazadeh announced the rationing, calling it an economic step, Tehran radio said. It was the first time that Iran, once the second-ranking oil producer in the Middle East, has rationed gasoline since the early days of the seven-year war with Iraq. Aghazadeh said stations will sell fuel to drivers only by coupon, allowing 10.6 gallons a month for small cars and 15.9 for big cars.
A lone gunman made an apparent attempt to kill Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi today, leaving Mr. Gandhi’s entourage shaken and leading to the suspension of several top officials in charge of his security. Neither Mr. Gandhi nor the Indian President, Zail Singh, was hurt in the incident, in which a young man with a homemade gun fired at least one shot in their direction from atop a small concrete pavilion near their path. The gunman fired his first shot an hour earlier, while the Prime Minister was inside a nearby enclosure, but security guards reportedly ignored it and assured Mr. Gandhi’s aides that there was nothing to be worried about. Six people, including three security personnel and two state legislators, received minor wounds from what were described as small pellets rather than bullets. At least three shots were fired in all, according to witnesses.
Philippine Communist leader Rodolfo Salas was charged with the capital crime of rebellion, despite rebel warnings that his continued detention could undermine peace talks with President Corazon Aquino’s government. Salas, whom authorities have variously identified as the rebel New People’s Army commander and the Communist Party chairman, was formally accused of engaging “in war against the forces of the government… and committing serious violence.” If convicted, Salas could receive the death penalty under present law, but a new constitution being drafted would outlaw executions. Salas was captured in Manila on Monday.
The Senate, for the second time this week, refused to approve $200 million more in aid for the Philippines. The vote was 57 to 41. On Monday, the Senate rejected the emergency aid bill, 51-43, after Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D.-West Virginia) proposed to take the money from other foreign aid accounts. Byrd tried again, unsuccessfully, by proposing to take the funds from an economic aid package for four Central American countries. Senator Bob Dole, the majority leader who opposed the proposal, said he wanted to find a way to approve an increase in aid, but it appeared it would be difficult to devise one that could be approved. The Senate leadership is pushing to complete action on the bill to open the way to adjourn for the year next week. But there are still scores of amendments expected to be offered, many of them last-gasp efforts to win approval for pet legislation in an election year. So far the Republican leadership has defeated all major amendments, including two pieces of major farm legislation. The Senate continued to debate amendments into the early hours today.
The Senate voted today to override President Reagan’s veto of legislation imposing stiff economic sanctions on South Africa. In doing so it rejected his pleas for support as he prepares to meet Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, in Iceland. The vote was 78 to 21, or 12 votes more than the two-thirds vote necessary to override. Since the House also voted to rebuff the President earlier this week, the sanctions bill became law as soon as the Senate voted to override the President’s veto. The vote today capped a two-year effort by opponents of apartheid to force the Reagan Administration into exerting more pressure on the Pretoria Government to change its policies of racial separation. The legislation will ban all new investment by Americans in South African businesses; prohibit the importation of such products as steel and coal from South Africa, and will cancel landing rights in the United States for South African airlines.
Many of the provisions of the law take effect immediately, while others will be gradually introduced over the next few months. For example, the import of iron, steel and agricultural products is banned immediately, while a similar ban on uranium, coal and textiles will take effect in 90 days. The ban on new investments takes effect in 45 days, and the law directs Mr. Reagan to stop all flights within 10 days. Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Indiana Republican who heads the Foreign Relations Committee and was the chief sponsor of the measure, appealed in emotional terms to Pretoria to heed the action taken by Congress. “As a friend of that Government we are saying wake up!” he said.
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe congratulated the United States today for the passage by Congress of sanctions on South Africa. “I say, well done to the people of the United States,” Mr. Mugabe said when a reporter interrupted a news conference here with the information that the Senate had overridden President Reagan’s veto of the sanctions bill. He added, “Leaders come and leaders go, but the people live forever.” Some of those in the room, who included African delegates as well as reporters, applauded the news. The civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who was also present, called the veto override “courageous and correct, the real America standing up.”
The South African Government said tonight that the United States Senate’s 78-to-21 override of President Reagan’s sanctions veto was taken on an “emotional basis” and added that ‘it is clear that misconceptions on South Africa exist.” “The decision of the Senate must make it clear to all South Africans that other countries cannot solve our problems,” Foreign Minister Roelof F. Botha said. “It remains our responsibility.” He added: “It is also clear the decision was taken without considering our reform program and that no reason or argument could have stemmed this emotional tide. I hope from my side that they would now at least leave us alone so that South Africans without outside intervention could give attention to solving their problems.”
After arduous negotiations, House and Senate negotiators agreed today on a tax package to pay for a $9 billion, five-year program to clean up toxic waste sites. The compromise legislation would include new taxes on corporate earnings, crude oil and motor fuel. It would also continue a tax on chemical feedstocks and would draw on general revenue. The two chambers previously agreed on substantive changes to strengthen and expand the hazardous waste law, but not on finding revenue to do it. Today’s agreement ended a two-year deadlock on Capitol Hill over renewing the law. The program expired a year ago and has been administered since by the Environmental Protection Agency under temporary appropriations. Members of Congress said today that they expected the Senate to approve the compromise early next week, and the House shortly thereafter. But they also warned that President Reagan, whose advisers had publicly opposed the size of the toxic waste cleanup program and the broad-based corporate tax, might kill the bill through a pocket veto. If Congress has adjourned before the 10-day period a President has to sign or veto a bill has elapsed, a President may kill it simply by not signing it.
President Reagan attends a meeting with a group of key columnists and television commentators to discuss the upcoming meeting in Iceland.
President Reagan participates in a meeting with members of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB).
A bill that finances U.S. intelligence activities in fiscal 1987 was approved by the House in a voice vote. The measure also requires new reports on such subjects as Soviet military capabilities, possible Soviet sabotage of the space shuttle Challenger and possible KGB penetration of the CIA and State Department. Financing and intelligence activities covered by the super-secret bill, which was worked out by a House-Senate conference committee, were not disclosed. No action has been taken by the full Senate on the measure.
President Reagan signed a bill prohibiting the nation’s airlines from discriminating against handicapped people in providing air travel. The new law sets a 120-day deadline for the Transportation Department to write regulations ensuring non-discriminatory treatment of handicapped people by the airlines. A Supreme Court decision last June held that a federal ban on discrimination against the handicapped applied only to airline companies receiving direct federal subsidies.
Conservative legislators and scientists who favor early steps to defend against a missile attack are urging the Reagan Administration to move quickly to deploy defensive missiles, even though they might be only partly effective. Led by Representative Jim Courter, Republican of New Jersey, and the physicist Dr. Edward Teller, the conservatives are pressing the move as a way of showing American resolve to deploy a limited missile defense at a time when President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, a research program aimed at a developing a shield against enemy missiles, is a prominent bargaining chip on the American-Soviet negotiating table.
Imprisoned federal judge Harry E. Claiborne has agreed to put his $78,700 annual salary into a trust fund until the Senate renders an impeachment trial verdict on whether to remove him from office, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said. Dole (R-Kan.) also said that Senate leaders, under pressure to finish legislative business and adjourn by the end of next week, may delay the impeachment trial of the chief U.S. district judge for Nevada until early next year. The trial is set to start Monday.
Four military veterans who are fasting on the Capitol steps in Washington to protest U.S. policy in Central America said they will continue their demonstration until America stops supporting the contras who are fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. One of the veterans, George Mizo of Boston, said that the four, including a Medal of Honor winner from the Vietnam War, have been taking only water and a potassium supplement. Mizo said he has lost about 35 pounds in five weeks.
Michael Wayne Jackson, a fugitive who eluded authorities for 11 days following a three-state spree of murder and abductions, was found dead in a barn in Wright City, Missouri, Thursday night. Jackson. died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Hal Helterhoff, head of the FBI office in St. Louis. Police in Wright City cornered Jackson in the barn earlier in the evening and lobbed eight tear gas canisters inside. Jackson shot at police, but officers did not return the gunfire, authorities said. The barn is less than a quarter of a mile from where Jackson was last seen on foot.
The City Council in New Orleans voted to close city government on Fridays, from October 10 to January 3, and tax the income of everyone who works in the city to help erase a $10-million deficit. Council members also voted a 20% salary cut for themselves, following the lead of Mayor Sidney Barthelemy, who a day earlier announced he would take a 20% pay cut. All city offices will be put on a four-day week, but police and other emergency services will continue with reduced forces on a daily basis.
Los Angeles, under E.P.A. pressure, agreed to spend about $2.3 billion over the next 12 years to reduce the flow of city sewage into the Pacific Ocean. The city also agreed to pay a $625,000 fine, the largest issued to any municipality under the Federal Clean Water Act.
Negotiations to settle a walkout by 30,000 longshoremen collapsed today, leaving ports along the East Coast idle for a second day. Management representatives made a new offer to the union, but Thomas Gleason, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, said, “It moved a little bit but it’s not far enough.”
Millions would not be listed as poor if the Government counted the value of food stamps, housing subsidies and medical aid as income, the Census Bureau said. The effect, it said, would be to reduce the total number of poor Americans by a range of 8 percent to 35 percent.
The use of crack appears to be a “crisis of epidemic proportions in some areas,” according to Attorney General Edwin Meese 3rd. In a 23-page report to Congress, he urged the creation of 24 special task forces of Federal, state and local law enforcement officers to combat crack trafficking. His comments in a report to Congress seemed to differ in emphasis from a study last month by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which found that crack, while readily available in a dozen cities, was a “secondary problem” that had been exaggerated by news organizations. “The present crack situation, in short, is bleak,” Mr. Meese said in the report prepared by the National Drug Enforcement Policy Board, of which he is chairman. He said recent statistics “reflect and support what many experts claim is a crisis of epidemic proportions in some areas.”
Senators rebuffed the archivist nominated by President Reagan. A spokesman for a Senate panel said it had decided not to act on the bitterly contested nomination of John T. Agresto to the lifetime post of National Archivist because many members did not want to vote on it.
The chief of the shuttle program when the Challenger exploded January 28 will step down from his current NASA post to take a leave of absence, the space agency announced. It said that Jesse W. Moore, 46, would be reassigned to Washington and eventually take a sabbatical.
The space agency said today that it would test the new booster rockets for the space shuttle by firing them horizontally rather than in the vertical position suggested as a possibility by the Presidential commission that investigated the Challenger disaster. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it concluded “after an intensive study” that a horizontal test “best simulates the critical conditions on the field joint” whose failure destroyed the Challenger and killed its seven crew members Jan. 28. The commission, headed by William P. Rogers, former Secretary of State, recommended that tests “duplicate the actual launch conditions as closely as possible.” It urged that “full consideration” be given to conducting “static firing of the exact flight configuration in a vertical attitude.” But the commission shied away from flatly recommending vertical testing.
Alabama’s Attorney General said today that he would definitely run a write-in campaign for Governor even if the United States Supreme Court ruled that Lieutenant Governor Bill Baxley was the legal nominee of the Democratic Party. The Attorney General, Charles Graddick, said the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit insulted Alabama voters Wednesday when it reversed an order for a new Democratic runoff.
Former McMartin Pre-School teacher Mary Ann Jackson filed the latest in a series of civil suits against Los Angeles County, the City of Manhattan Beach and a child-abuse diagnostic center, among others, claiming that her life was ruined by charges that she molested students at the preschool. Jackson is one of five defendants against whom charges were later dropped for lack of evidence. She said she was “forced to sit through 18 months of tortuous proceedings” during the lengthy preliminary hearing, which led to publicity that implied that she was involved in the sexual molestation of children, satanic rituals and mutilation of animals. The suit, which also names KABC television and former District Attorney Robert H. Philibosian, seeks unspecified damages. Two other former McMartin teachers have sought $10 million in similar lawsuits.
Chicago’s Newberry Library is beginning its 100th year with a wide range of public activities. The Newberry, one of the nation’s 15 major private research libraries, has 1.4 million books, including some nearly a thousand years old, almost five million manuscripts and more than 60,000 maps and photographs.
Major League Baseball:
The Kansas City Royals claim Jim Eisenreich off the waiver list. He’s been out of organized baseball for the past 2 seasons because of Tourette’s Syndrome after appearing in 46 games with the Twins in 1982-84.
The Cincinnati Reds downed the Atlanta Braves, 6–4. A two-run homer by Kal Daniels in the 13th inning gave the Reds the victory. After the Reds rallied for four runs that tied the score in the ninth, and failed to cash in on a bases-loaded opportunity in the 12th, Sal Butera got them started in the 13th with a one-out walk. One out later, Daniels connected against Charlie Puleo, 1–2, the Braves’ fourth pitcher, sending a drive over the right field fence for his sixth home run.
Don Mattingly sets a Yankees record with his 232nd hit of the season in a 6–1 win over the Red Sox, eclipsing the mark set by Earle Combs in 1927. Mattingly will finish the season with 238 hits and a .352 batting average. Mattingly went 2 for 4, leaving his average at .350. But there was none of the anticipated drama to the evening because Wade Boggs, the Boston Red Sox third baseman who is hitting .357, did not play and may not appear at all in the series. Mattingly’s memorable night overshadowed a three-hit effort for eight and one-third innings by Doug Drabek, who won his seventh game in the victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Drabek was relieved by Bob Shirley in the ninth, but Shirley needed help from Dave Righetti, who entered with the bases loaded and two out. When Righetti got the final out, he also earned his 44th save of the year, one short of the major league record shared by Dan Quisenberry and Bruce Sutter.
Jack Morris pitched a five-hitter and Alan Trammell homered to lead Detroit over the Brewers, 2–1. Morris, 21–8, won his sixth consecutive decision. The right-hander, who leads the major leagues with six shutouts, lost his bid for another when Ben Oglivie led off the ninth inning with his fifth home run of the season. Morris struck out four and walked two in his 15th complete game.
John Cangelosi drew a bases-loaded walk that forced home the go-ahead run and Tim Hulett followed with a three-run double in the 10th inning to spark the Chicago White Sox to an 8–4 win over the Minnesota Twins. Bobby Thigpen, 2–0, pitched 1 ⅔ innings for the victory.
New York Mets’ Dwight Gooden becomes the first pitcher to collect 200 strikeouts in each of his first three seasons when he records seven in an 8–2 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. His 200th victim was Luis Rivera, who made the last out in the eighth inning. “I was aware I needed seven,” said Gooden, who improved his won-lost record to 17–6. “This was the first time all season that I tried to strike out anybody who came to the plate. Gary Carter made club history by becoming the first Met to have 100 or more runs batted in in two seasons. Carter’s achievement came on his 23d home run of the season in the eighth inning, a three-run shot over the left-field wall. He also had driven a run in the first for a total of 102 runs batted in. He had 100 last year and is now three runs short of the team record, set by Rusty Staub with 105 in 1975. Darryl Strawberry also hit a home run, his 26th of the season, and Keith Hernandez had two more hits for the Mets.
Mike Scott strikes out eight San Francisco Giants in a 2–1 Astros victory to run his season total to 306, joining Sandy Koufax and J. R. Richard as the only National League pitchers to fan 300 batters in one season. Scott lost his bid for a 2nd consecutive no-hitter when Will Clark doubled in the 7th inning, and scored on Candy Maldonado’s double, giving the Giants a 1–0 lead. Bill Doran led off the 10th inning with a home run to give Houston the victory over the Giants.
Jim Morrison drove in three runs with a homer and sacrifice fly and Sid Bream added a two-run homer, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5–1 triumph over the host St. Louis Cardinals. Bob Kipper, 6–8, pitched a four-hitter over eight innings to spoil St. Louis’ home finale. The Cardinals, who started the year as defending National League champions, finished with a 42-39 home record.
Texas Scott Fletcher, atoning for a key error in the top of the inning, got his fifth hit of the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, an RBI single that capped a two-run rally and gave the Texas Rangers a 10–9 victory over the California Angels.
Cincinnati Reds 6, Atlanta Braves 4
New York Yankees 6, Boston Red Sox 1
Detroit Tigers 2, Milwaukee Brewers 1
Chicago White Sox 8, Minnesota Twins 4
New York Mets 8, Montreal Expos 2
Houston Astros 2, San Francisco Giants 1
Pittsburgh Pirates 5, St. Louis Cardinals 1
California Angels 9, Texas Rangers 10
Ending a two-day rally on Wall Street, stock prices closed mixed yesterday as trading volume contracted. “No one is willing to be a hero,” said Charles Jensen of MKI Securities Inc. “The attitude is very hesitant. Nobody seems willing to bet that the market has bottomed.” That insecurity on the part of investors produced one of the dullest sessions of recent weeks. Of the 10 stocks on the consolidated active list, for instance, only two moved more than one point. The Dow Jones industrial average, up 27 points in the previous two sessions, fell 1.69 points, to 1,781.21.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1781.21 (-1.69)
Born:
Camilla Belle, American actress (Rip Girls), in Los Angeles, California.
Stu Bickel, NHL defenseman (New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild), in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
Maurice Leggett, NFL cornerback (Kansas City Chiefs), in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
Died:
Benny Payne, 78, American jazz pianist (Cab Calloway; Billy Daniels Show).
