President Reagan appealed to the Soviet Union today “not to miss the opportunity” for a major breakthrough on reducing nuclear weapons, saying such an agreement was “within our grasp.” The statement by Mr. Reagan marked the second straight day he has made such an appeal, and it came as he and the Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, engaged in a public competition to promote their own interpretations of the outcome of the meeting in Iceland. Mr. Reagan and other Administration officials undertook a major campaign to explain Mr. Reagan’s decision to refuse to accept restraints on the development of a strategic defense system against nuclear weapons. The White House also began an effort today to salvage something from the Iceland meeting by asserting that the issue of intermediate range missiles had been effectively resolved in Reykjavik despite the absence of a formal agreement.
Mikhail S. Gorbachev said today that President Reagan had proved lacking in courage and political will to take a historic step forward at their Iceland meeting. But the Soviet leader termed the meeting a “major event” and said he was not shutting the door on the search for arms control. Mr. Gorbachev offered his assessment in a televised speech, affirming that a Soviet proposal to scale down nuclear arsenals had foundered on Mr. Reagan’s adherence to a space-based missile defense program. Although Mr. Gorbachev was critical of what he said was Mr. Reagan’s dependence on the “military-industrial complex,” he said the meeting “was not in vain” and held out hopes for a change of heart in the United States. “We are realists,” he said. “We clearly understand that questions that for many years, even decades, have not found their solution can hardly be resolved at a single sitting. We have sufficient experience in doing business with the United States. We know how changeable its political climate is, how strong and influential the opponents of peace are. That we are not losing heart and shutting the door — although there are more than enough grounds for that — is only because we are sincerely convinced about the need for fresh efforts in building normal interstate relations in the nuclear age.”
A Pentagon official, offering new details of the Iceland meeting, said today that the talks ended after Mikhail S. Gorbachev had toughened his bargaining position in response to an American demand. The official, Richard N. Perle, who is an Assistant Defense Secretary, said the Soviet leader had hardened his stand on the United States’ missile-defense program only after President Reagan proposed that all offensive missiles be eliminated within 10 years. Before then, the Soviet Union had taken a less demanding position on limiting missile-defense research. John M. Poindexter, the national security adviser, also said Mr. Gorbachev had toughened his position after President Reagan proposed the elimination of missiles. And Donald T. Regan, the White House chief of staff, made the same point today.
White House officials, expressing unhappiness over news accounts of President Reagan’s stance in his meeting with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, have begun one of the most extensive public relations efforts of the Reagan Presidency. The officials say their goal is to reverse the emphasis of newspaper and television reports that, in their view, portrayed President Reagan’s adherence to the Strategic Defense Initiative as the major reason for the leaders’ failure to agree on a major arms control accord in the meeting last weekend in Iceland. President Reagan and his key advisers today began a series of interviews and speeches that, according to White House aides, are aimed at placing the blame for the outcome on the Soviet leader. As part of the effort to get domestic support and counter potential criticism abroad, Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said today that all officials would speak on the record.
Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that he planned to meet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze early next month in Vienna to press ahead toward accords that were nearly achieved at the meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. Asserting that both President Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, had said their proposals were still on the table, he said, “We want to move forward and make as much out of this tremendous opportunity and achievement as possible.” He said at a late afternoon news conference that the United States would introduce this week at the Geneva arms control negotiations the various proposals and potential agreements that were being worked upon when the talks ended without a final agreement. Plans are under way, Mr. Shultz said, for Mr. Shevardnadze and him to meet in Vienna around Nov. 5, at an East-West foreign ministers conference and he said they would discuss the results of the Iceland meeting. It would be the first high-level Soviet-American meeting since the summit meeting ended.
Congressional leaders from both parties agreed today that the outcome of the Reykjavik talks would lead to greater pressure from Capitol Hill next year for progress in arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union. “Congress will reassert its voice on arms control as soon as it gets its hand on the spending crank,” said Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who heads the subcommittee that handles arms control matters. The focus of Congressional attention is likely to be the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars,” President Reagan’s proposal for a space-based shield against missile attacks. Mr. Reagan’s refusal to limit development of that system was a key to the breakdown of the Reykjavik talks. In light of that refusal, many lawmakers today raised questions about the cost and feasibility of S.D.I., which could cost more than $1 trillion over the next 15 years, by most estimates.
Experts on Soviet technology said yesterday that the Soviet Union had apparently conducted weapon tests in space of the type that would be restricted by the 10-year ban on “Star Wars” testing proposed by the Russians in Iceland. The American experts said a laser being developed as an antimissile weapon has been fired from a research station at Sary Shagan in Kazakhstan at a manned Soviet spacecraft, with Soviet astronauts wearing special goggles to protect them from the beam. The overall Soviet program, howevever, is seen as crude compared to the American “Star Wars” program, known officially as the Strategic Defense Initiative. This relative backwardness, experts say, is a primary reason why the Soviet Union wants a ban on further testing outside of laboratories. The Soviet Union, although about even with the United States in basic antimissile research, lags badly behind America in advanced technologies needed to turn lasers, particle beams and other devices into effective weapons. The key deficiencies include less powerful computers and a huge lag in the miniaturization of arms.
The State Department announced today that the remaining Soviet diplomats ordered expelled by the Reagan Administration must leave the United States by Sunday. According to an official at the United States Mission to the United Nations, 5 of the 25 diplomats originally named are still here, but they are expected to leave by tomorrow. A leading Soviet official, asked if his country would carry out an earlier threat to retaliate against the United States for the expulsions, said, “The retaliation will be made.” He did not elaborate.
Under Poland’s political amnesty, prison sentences have been reduced for three security police officers accused in the murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a priest who supported the outlawed Solidarity labor union. Polish spokesman Jerzy Urban said that a 25year prison sentence was maintained against Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, convicted of leading the attack on the priest. A 25-year sentence was cut to 15 years for Colonel Adam Pietruszka, and Lieutenants Leszek Pekala and Waldemar Chmielewski saw their sentences reduced to 10 and 8 years, respectively.
A car bomb exploded outside a police station in downtown Barcelona, Spain, killing one policeman and badly injuring at least six other people. No group claimed responsibility, but officials said the bomb appeared to be the work of Terra Lliure, a Catalonian separatist group opposed to Barcelona’s bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The International Olympic Committee, now meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, is expected to announce its choice for the 1992 games on Friday. The separatists, who want independence for four Catalonian provinces in northeastern Spain, see the Olympics as a waste of money.
Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens offered his resignation to King Baudouin today after failing to resolve a dispute over language that has split his coalition of Dutch and French speakers, a Government spokesman said. The spokesman added that the King had withheld acceptance of the offer. Mr. Martens unexpectedly went to the Royal Palace after a Cabinet meeting this morning and shortly before he was due to make an address to Parliament.
The President and First Lady Participate in an arrival ceremony for Prince Rainier of Monaco and his family.
Elie Wiesel, the new Nobel laureate, saw a mystical significance in his winning the Peace Prize right after Yom Kippur, the holiest Jewish day. Mr. Wiesel, who survived Nazi death camps to become a witness against forgetfulness and violence, said some of his friends and he had prayed well.
A U.S. citizen arrested in Iran in June has confessed to charges of passing information to the CIA, the state-owned IRNA news agency said. The agency identified the man as John Patis, 50, a communications expert. His hometown was not listed. Patis has been to Iran several times since 1969 and was arrested June 19 for “espionage activities,” IRNA said. Patis appeared on Tehran television Monday and said he channeled information gathered in Iran to the CIA through the Cosmos Telecommunication Co., which he represented, IRNA said.
Heavy fighting was reported on the central front in the Iran-Iraq War. Iran said that its troops captured an important hill 110 miles northeast of Baghdad and that 1,000 Iraqis were killed or wounded. In Baghdad, a military communique said that Iraqi troops later recaptured the hill and that the bodies of hundreds of Iranians were left lying on the battlefield. There was no independent confirmation of the accounts. Iran, meanwhile, said its jets caused “substantial damage” at Iraq’s northern oil field at Kirkuk, target of a reported Iranian commando raid earlier, but Iraq denied that enemy planes had penetrated its airspace.
A Soviet general said today that about 8,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan would leave beginning Wednesday under a plan announced earlier this year. The officer, Lieutenant General Mikhail Sotskov, said at a news conference that the six regiments being withdrawn had served in Afghanistan since 1979, when the Soviet Union interceded. Western military specialists say there are 115,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
Western diplomats in Pakistan said today that Soviet and Afghan troops had begun a drive against guerrillas in hills north of Kabul. Fighting raged all last week in the Shomali area west of the road north out of Kabul, the diplomats said.
Police raided Dhaka University dormitories, made more than 150 arrests and confiscated guns and ammunition on the eve of voting expected to confirm Lieutenant General Hussain Mohammed Ershad as president of Bangladesh. Authorities said that at least three people have been killed in sporadic violence connected with a movement to boycott the election, which political opponents say will be rigged to legitimize Ershad’s martial-law regime. Opposition parties have called for a 12-hour general strike on election day.
Attackers believed by the police to be left-wing radicals fired six home-made rockets this evening in the direction of the Japanese Prime Minister’s official residence and other Government installations. No one was hurt, and the projectiles, fired almost simultaneously from the trunks of two parked cars, landed short of their apparent targets. They fell harmlessly onto the street and a rooftop, with no reported damage more severe than a broken street lamp. Nevertheless, the well-timed attacks jolted Tokyo residents, who are normally unaccustomed to street violence but who have experienced half a dozen such episodes over the last seven months.
Behind the high concrete-block walls that keep the Ilopango air base in San Salvador from the public’s view is a drab two-story building. Over the last three years, the building has served as the waiting room for agents working for the Central Intelligence Agency, leaders of the Nicaraguan rebels, mercenaries and American military advisers, according to American officials and Nicaraguan rebel sources. Now more than ever the base is the center of C.I.A.-supported operations to supply Nicaraguan rebel forces, according to an American shot down in a supply plane over Nicaragua. American men in civilian clothes often pass through the base’s gates and American officials say privately that it is the center of C.I.A. and other clandestine operations here.
Senator John F. Kerry (D-Massachusetts) said that allegations from more than 50 people raise “serious questions about whether the United States has abided by the law” in its relations with Nicaraguan rebels, known as contras, over the last three years. Kerry’s report said the 50 sources told of “an interlocking web of bank accounts, air strips, planes, pilots and contra bases which have been used in common by weapons smugglers, narcotics smugglers, the contras and organizations assisting the contras.” The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which Kerry is a member, will decide early next year on whether it will conduct a probe.
Eastern Nicaragua has always been a land unto itself, and today its biggest town is astir with resentment against the Managua Government. It is possible to find residents of Bluefields who support Sandinista rule, but it is not easy. Nowhere else in the country does anti-Government feeling seem so strong or so widespread. This town’s resentments reflect the vast cultural, ethnic and historical chasm that separates the two Nicaraguas.
House and Senate negotiators agreed today on the terms of a landmark immigration bill that would prohibit the hiring of illegal aliens and offer legal status to several million illegal aliens already in the United States. The agreement, reached after five hours of intense negotiations at a closed meeting, reconciles all differences between bills passed by the Senate last year and by the House of Representatives last week. The compromise bill now goes back to the House and then the Senate for final clearance. If approved, as expected, it would then be submitted to President Reagan, who has repeatedly expressed support for such legislation. The bill would make the biggest changes in immigration law in at least 20 years and would affect virtually every employer in the United States. Under the bill, employers would be subject to civil penalties ranging from $250 to $10,000 for each illegal alien they hired. The bigger penalties would be imposed for a third or subsequent offense. The number of illegal aliens who might qualify for legal status under the bill is unknown; estimates range from one million to five million.
President Reagan spends some time taping television commercials for various Republican candidates running for the House and Senate.
President Reagan’s approval rating among blacks has tripled from about 8% to nearly 25% since 1984, according to a poll by the Gallup Organization for the Joint Center on Political Studies. The survey also shows that black identification with the Democratic Party has weakened, from 56% to 49%, but that 83% of black voters are likely to back Democratic candidates in 1986, about the same percentage as two years ago.
James Malone, President Reagan’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Belize, withdrew his name from consideration, bowing to a filibuster by Senator Edward Zorinsky (D-Nebraska) that could have delayed the Senate’s adjournment. Zorinsky said Malone violated a pledge to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on involvement with former law firm client Taiwan Power. According to Senator Claiborne Pell (D-Rhode Island), Malone, while State Department assistant secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, asked the Export-Import Bank president to approve a loan in 1982 for a Taiwan Power nuclear plant. Malone has denied any impropriety.
House and Senate negotiators agreed on a military budget of about $290 billion for 1987 today, giving President Reagan the smallest increase of his Administration. The agreement is the second major cut in Mr. Reagan’s Pentagon budget request in two years. If approved by both houses of Congress, it would allow an increase of only $4 billion in the military budget, $30 billion less than the President had requested. The accord also incorporates the compromise on arms control issues between Congress and the White House last week, including the deep cut in the President’s request for research on his program to develop a space-based missile defense. The conferees also agreed to appropriate $151 million for 12 T-46A jet trainers, which are built by the Fairchild Republic Company on Long Island. The agreement appears to give new life to the plane and the company, whose contract was canceled by the Air Force earlier this year. The agreements are expected to be approved by the separate House and Senate conferees who are trying to reach a compromise on the comprehensive appropriation bill for 1987. The agreement came as the House and Senate worked to clear away the year’s last major pieces of budget legislation so they could adjourn by the end of this week or early next week.
The House approved a bill that would establish a federal “no fault” compensation program for children injured as a result of routine, required vaccinations, but it would not take effect until Congress approves a new tax to finance it. The system, to be administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, would fix death benefits at $250,000 and limit awards for pain, suffering and emotional distress to $250,000, with adjustments for inflation. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-California) was approved by voice vote and sent to the Senate.
A new abortion case will be decided by the Supreme Court this year. The issue involves whether states may require girls under 18 who seek abortions to wait 24 hours after a doctor has notified their parents of the plan or to obtain a judicial exemption from the requirement.
The FBI reported that serious crime in America jumped 8% during the first half of 1986 — a finding seemingly at odds with a recent Bureau of Justice Statistics report, which said crime appears to be declining. FBI Director William H. Webster, releasing the semiannual Uniform Crime Report in Washington, said violent crimes increased 12% — with murder up 8%. rape 2%, robbery 11% and aggravated assault 14%. The FBI, which measures crimes reported to police, said crime was up 13% in the South, 6% in the West, 5% in the Northeast and 4% in the Midwest.
Nine current and former police officers and 18 people accused of operating illegal lotteries have been indicted in Philadelphia on a variety of charges, the authorities announced today. District Attorney Ronald D. Castille and Police Commissioner Kevin M. Tucker said the indictments followed a two-year joint undercover operation. They said the investigation indicated that the nine suspects had since 1981 operated a “protection racket” for operators of several illegal numbers games and had been receiving up to $1,000 a month in bribes. The ring they describe would be similar to one uncovered here by Federal prosecutors and agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They have been investigating charges of widespread graft and other corruption in the 8,000-member Police Department, the country’s fourth largest, for more than four years. Their investigation led to the conviction of 31 officers, including the department’s former second in command, on corruption charges.
A Federal district judge today blocked the execution of convicted murderer in Texas less than 12 hours before he was to be put to death by injection for murdering a gas station cashier. The judge, Hayden Head Jr. of Corpus Christi, issued the stay at 12:30 P.M. and gave the state 20 days to file arguments on why he should not order a hearing on issues raised in the appeal of the condemned man, Carlos DeLuna.
Negotiators reached a tentative agreement today between the largest of four striking dock workers’ locals and dock companies in New Orleans, a union leader said, but workers will not return to their jobs pending a ratification vote.
Texas Air won tentative approval from the Transportation Department of a proposed purchase of financially weak People Express and assets of Frontier Airlines. But the agency delayed a final decision to allow both Texas Air and its opponents to answer questions about the impact of the plan on competition.
A candidate pushes ‘Star Wars’ as a Senate campaign issue in Colorado. The candidate, Representative Ken Kramer, a Republican, has highlighted the space-based missile defense system in his bid against Representative Timothy E. Wirth. a Democrat, to succeed Senator Gary Hart.
Vote-buying and election fraud are widespread in the isolated towns of western North Carolina, according to Federal investigators. Forty-one people have been convicted in the inquiry. They include three country sheriffs, three deputy sheriffs and a magistrate.
FBI agents and police arrested 10 men as they unloaded hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of seafood allegedly stolen during two hijackings last week. A detective in the Miami suburb of Medley said warehouse employees tipped police that frozen seafood was being unloaded from a rental truck. Seafood hijackings are so common that some trucking companies forbid drivers to stay overnight in the Miami area and order them to call in frequently, the Miami Herald reported. A security consultant said thefts of lobster and shrimp from freezer trucks total about $2 million a year in South Florida.
One man was arrested in Chamblee, Georgia and two other suspects were being sought today in the slayings of two men who were shot while handcuffed and a woman whose throat was slashed as she was telephoning the police, the authorities said. The attack Monday that killed a 54-year-old man, one of his adult sons and the woman, and left another of the man’s adult sons wounded, may have been revenge stemming from gambling, said Dick Hand, the DeKalb County Public Safety Director.
Harvard Medical School professors said about 50,000 patients are suffering renewed blindness and facial spasms because an experimental drug was shelved when its maker could not find liability insurance. The patients suffer from a rare neurological disorder, blepharospasm, which causes involuntary muscle spasms and can force eyes shut. The drug, Oculinum, is awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
Earlier release of premature babies from hospitals could save $334 million a year, according to a new study. It said many of the babies remain in hospitals longer than necessary while their parents, with a little training from a nurse, could be caring for them at home and saving thousands of dollars.
Dial-a-porn services attract millions of calls each month despite new Federal rules that seek to protect children from explicit sex messages. A court test is expected to determine the extent to which the Government can keep sexual messages off the telephone lines.
Keenan Wynn, the actor, died of cancer at his home in Brentwood, Calif., at the age of 70. Mr. Wynn, one of Hollywood’s most versatile and dependable character actors, played in more than 200 movies and 250 television productions.
Mary Lund, the first woman to receive an artificial heart, died at a Minneapolis hospital nine months after her Jarvik 7 mechanical pump was replaced with a human heart. Lund, 40, of Kensington, Minnesota, had been listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit, a hospital spokesman said. Her condition had been good enough last month to allow weekend visits out of the hospital, but doctors said her condition began deteriorating last week.
The IOC decides to stagger the Winter & Summer Olympic schedules, alternating games every two years, beginning in 1994. The move by the I.O.C., which is meeting here this week to adopt new policies and choose the sites for the 1992 summer and winter Games, would take effect following the 1992 winter and summer Games, which are to be awarded Friday. The summer Games would be held as planned in 1992 and in 1996, maintaining the four-year cycle as it is. The winter Games would be held in 1992, then again in 1994 and then would maintain a four-year cycle from that date.
Major League Baseball, American League Championship Series, Game 6:
Boston scores 5 in the 3rd to beat California 10–4. The American League Championship Series is now tied at 3 apiece. Still reeling from their Game 5 loss, the Angels struck first in the top of the first off Oil Can Boyd on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Reggie Jackson and Doug DeCinces after a one-out walk, but the Red Sox tied the game in the bottom of the inning off Kirk McCaskill without a hit. With runners on second and third and one out via two walks and a groundout, a passed ball and Jim Rice’s groundout scored both runners. In the third, after back-to-back leadoff singles, Marty Barrett’s RBI double put the Red Sox up 3–2, then Bill Buckner’s RBI single extended their lead to 4–2. After a forceout at home, Don Baylor’s two-run single (aided by first baseman Bobby Grich’s throwing error) and Dwight Evans’s RBI single made it 7–2 Red Sox. Dave Henderson’s bases-loaded groundout off Doug Corbett in the fifth made it 8–2 Red Sox. Brian Downing hit a home run in the top of the seventh off Boyd, but in the bottom of the inning, Spike Owen’s two-run triple off Corbett after a single and walk made it 10–3 Red Sox. The Angels got a run in the eighth off Bob Stanley on shortstop Owen’s throwing error on Rob Wilfong with Dick Schofield at second, but could not score again as the Red Sox’s 10–4 win forced a deciding Game 7.
California Angels 4, Boston Red Sox 10
Major League Baseball, National League Championship Series, Game 5:
After rain postponed Game 5 to a noon start on October 14, the Mets took a 3–2 series lead as Gary Carter’s single off Charlie Kerfeld in the bottom of the 12th inning scored Wally Backman with the winning run for a 2–1 victory. Game 5 was a pitchers’ duel between Dwight Gooden and Nolan Ryan as Gooden allowed just one run in 10 innings with Ryan also surrendering a single run on two hits while striking out 12 in nine innings. With no score in the top of the second, Gooden surrendered consecutive singles to Kevin Bass and José Cruz, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. He then struck out Alan Ashby on a full count, and induced Craig Reynolds to ground into a double play to escape the jam. Replays showed that Reynolds appeared to beat out the play at first base, but he was called out by umpire Fred Brocklander, negating a potential run from Kevin Bass that would have given the Astros a 1–0 lead.
The Astros eventually did take a 1–0 lead in the fifth when Ashby doubled, took third on a single by Reynolds, and then scored on Bill Doran’s ground-out. However, the Mets came right back and tied it in the bottom half when Darryl Strawberry smashed a homer for the Mets’ first hit of the game and his second bomb of the series. The Astros had a runner reach second base in the eighth and tenth innings. However, in the eighth, with one out, Gooden got Denny Walling to fly out to Mookie Wilson in left field, where Wilson doubled off Doran from second base to end the inning. In the 10th inning, with two out, Gooden gave up a single to pinch hitter Terry Puhl, who then stole second base, and walked Doran. He got Billy Hatcher to fly out to right field to end the inning with no damage done.
The game stayed tied until the 12th when with one out Backman got an infield single off Kerfeld. Backman then took second on Kerfeld’s errant throw on a pick-off attempt. Houston manager Lanier opted to intentionally walk Hernandez and pitch to Carter, who had been just 1-for-21 in the series, but the catcher came through, lashing a single to center to give the Mets the win and a one-game lead as the series shifted back to Houston. Jesse Orosco again earned the win for New York by hurling two perfect innings.
Houston Astros 1, New York Mets 2
With most oil issues weak, Wall Street closed mixed yesterday. Blue-chip stocks slightly outperformed the broader market. Saudi Arabia’s decision to press for permanent production quotas, instead of a simple extension of a temporary plan, sent energy stocks lower. The Dow Jones industrial average, coming off Monday’s slight gain, rose 1.83 points, to 1,800.20.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1800.2 (+1.83)
Born:
Wesley Matthews, NBA shooting guard and small forward (Utah Jazz, Portland Trailblazers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks), in San Antonio, Texas.
Manuel Johnson, NFL wide receiver (Dallas Cowboys), in Gilmer, Texas.
Jeff Owens, NFL defensive tackle (Philadelphia Eagles), in Sunrise, Florida.
Died:
Keenan Wynn, 70, American actor (“Dr Strangelove”; “The Absent-Minded Professor”; “The Love Bug”), of cancer.
Mary Lund, 40, American women first to receive an artificial heart.
