As literature and the arts become less confined under Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet writer Anatoly Rybakov has promised a literary bombshell for next spring. It is an explosion he has prepared for 20 years, a major novel set at a critical juncture of the Stalin era in which the dictator himself is a major character, stripped of official myth, falsified history and a 30-year veil of silence. Even at a time when Moscow’s cultural fraternity is abuzz with talk of long-suppressed writings or bold new works appearing in print, the news that Mr. Rybakov’s “The Children of the Arbat” will appear next year in the literary monthly Druzhba Narodov has come as a sensation. Of all the forbidden themes of Soviet letters, the terror under Stalin looms foremost, a memory both the Government and many people have preferred to suppress because of the questions it raises about the system. Though Stalin lurks in literature, plays and films, usually as the nation’s leader in World War II, no one has dared offer an unadorned portrait of him.
Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou replaced four Cabinet ministers and abolished 11 deputy Cabinet jobs today in a Government reorganization ordered after losses by his Socialist Party in local elections. Conservative challengers unseated Socialist mayors in Greece’s three largest cities, Athens, Salonica and Piraeus, on October 19 as voters protested increased taxes, soaring rents and a two-year wage freeze. Mr. Papandreou said the results were “a significant message from the people,” but he pledged he would maintain economic belt-tightening policies through 1987.
Quietly, with barely a public debate, the Netherlands has become the leader in voluntary euthanasia. Each year, despite an explicit condemnation of the practice in the Dutch criminal code, doctors help more than 5,000 suffering patients to die. In effect, the medical profession, bolstered by court rulings and a sympathetic public, has stepped ahead of politicians in making euthanasia a reality. One of the leading practitioners of voluntary euthanasia is Dr. Pieter V. Admiraal, an anesthesiologist. He began cooperating more than a decade ago, despite the law, with terminally ill patients who asked for final relief from unbearable pain.
In what appeared to be a clear allusion to the AIDS epidemic, the Vatican said today that “advocates” of homosexual rights seem undeterred by the realization that “homosexuality may seriously threaten the lives and well-being of a large number of people.” The reference came in a new document that reinforced previous church teachings on homosexuality. Although acquired immune deficiency syndrome was not mentioned in the document by name, a senior Vatican official said the document was “certainly” referring to the deadly virus in a passage that severely criticizes the pro-homosexual movement. The Vatican official, who asked not to be identified, said, “In 1986 AIDS cannot be ignored in any consideration of the moral and ethical issues raised by homosexuality.”
French Government officials repeated denials today that Syria had helped France to obtain a “truce” with the extremist group believed responsible for a series of terrorist bombings in Paris last month. The report was published Wednesday in Le Monde, and was one of a series of press disclosures indicating that the Government has multiplied its contacts with Syria in an effort to prevent a renewal of the wave of attacks. But French officials, including Foreign Minister Jean-Bernard Raimond and Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, confirmed that France had actively sought Syrian cooperation to put an end to the terrorist attacks, with Mr. Pasqua saying that the secret services of the two countries have entered into a “real collaboration.”
Israeli military officials have been watching the latest fighting in Lebanon between Palestinian guerrillas and Shiite militiamen with a mixed reactions. On the one hand, they are not unhappy that the Shiite militia, Amal, and the Palestinians are now totally absorbed in street fighting, since this has resulted in an almost complete halt to attacks in Israel’s self-proclaimed security zone in south Lebanon — which a month ago was under heavy pressure. “The security zone is quiet because the Lebanese and Palestinians are all involved in killing each other,” one senior Israeli military source observed. On the other hand, Israeli officials say they are deeply concerned by the relatively poor showing that the Amal has made on the battlefield against the Palestinian guerrillas.
Scotland Yard said today that an extensive investigation into the whereabouts of a former Israeli nuclear technician had revealed no evidence that he was kidnapped in London. The former technician, Mordechai Vanunu, gave a British newspaper photographs and other data on a secret Israeli nuclear installation. Mr. Vanunu has been officially listed as a “missing person” here since October 8, when The Sunday Times of London reported his disappearance to the police. That was three days after the newspaper published an extensive report, based on information supplied by Mr. Vanunu, on what was described as a subterranean nuclear bomb plant in the Negev desert.
Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, who was replaced Wednesday as Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, was cut down in the crossfire of increasingly strained Middle Eastern oil politics, diplomats and oil industry sources in the Persian Gulf and Western Europe said today. For the last 24 years, Sheik Yamani — a lawyer by training — has been the architect of Saudi Arabia’s oil policy and has been acknowledged as a major influence in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But his strategy of getting the most long-term value out of the kingdom’s oil reserves — believed to be the largest in the world — came in direct conflict with increasing pressures on King Fahd from Iran, which wants higher income from oil to help fight its war with Iraq. Few details emerged from Saudi Arabia today about the specific events that led to Sheik Yamani’s dismissal, and officials contacted in the kingdom were reluctant to speak.
Saudi Arabia’s acting oil minister, Hisham Nazer, called today for an urgent meeting of OPEC’s three-member price committee only hours after he had succeeded Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani. The purpose of the meeting, the Saudi Arabian Embassy here said, would be to begin the process of raising the price of oil to at least $18 a barrel. Regardless of any decision by the price committee — consisting of the oil ministers of Libya, Ecuador and Kuwait — no major change in policy could be made without the consent of all 13 OPEC members. In response to the announcement, however, oil prices surged today on very heavy trading. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, for example, the price of one important futures contract for oil rose $1.31 a barrel, to $15.04, on record volume. Heating oil and gasoline prices also jumped, although many analysts said that petroleum prices would eventually fall because there is still too much oil on the market.
An Iranian artillery attack on the Iraqi port of Basra killed 14 people, injured 66 and destroyed or damaged 26 houses, five shops and a school, an Iraqi military communique said. Iran had said it would shell industrial and economic targets in Basra in retaliation for two days of air attacks on the refinery city of Bakhtaran. Iran said 32 people were killed in the raids on Bakhtaran, 75 miles from the Iraqi border.
The Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Leonard H. Perroots, today accused the Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, of “sham and deception” over his claim to have pulled out six regiments from Afghanistan. Referring to Mr. Gorbachev’s pledge last July to remove the six regiments, General Perroots asserted that the Sovet Union had removed unneeded units and substituted others so “the number of militarily useful troops in Afghanistan is basically unchanged.” General Perroots quoted Mr. Gorbachev as having said July 28 that one tank, two motorized and three antiaircraft regiments would be returned from Afghanistan before the end of 1986. Later, the general said, the deadline was set for October 31. The antiaircraft units, General Perroots asserted, have played “no significant military role” because Afghan insurgents have no aircraft.
The police in Seoul, South Korea stormed five buildings held by protesting university students today, arresting more than 1,000 students after a two-hour battle in which the protesters hurled gasoline bombs and set the buildings ablaze. The police said 50 students had been injured in the assault, three of them seriously, and that 10 police officers had been injured, none seriously. Three of the buildings were destroyed by fire and the other two badly damaged.
A Japanese man took out large insurance policies before boarding the Thai International jetliner that made an emergency landing Sunday in Osaka after a hand grenade exploded on the plane, the Kyodo News Agency said. It said the unidentified man insured himself for $940,000 in Manila. The blast caused a loss of pressure, and the A-300 Airbus plummeted violently, injuring 62 of the 247 people on board. Police have declined to confirm reports that a 43-year-old man being questioned in an Osaka hospital is a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the country’s largest organized crime syndicate.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 Filipinos marched through Manila’s Makati financial district in support of President Corazon Aquino’s peace initiatives with Communist rebels. Yellow confetti poured from windows of office buildings festooned with ribbons and banners. Some marchers carried signs that read, “Give Peace a Chance.” Another sign read “Rambo, Go to Hawaii,” a suggestion that Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, who has criticized Aquino, join ex-President Ferdinand E. Marcos in exile. Meanwhile, attorney Romeo Capulong, representing the Communist panel negotiating with the Aquino government, said a preliminary accord may be signed soon.
Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino said today that she did not feel threatened by the posturings of her Defense Minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, and that she was confident she had the backing of the military. She said she was “grateful” for recent statements of support from Washington, which her press secretary has said is an important element in the strength of her Government. Speaking to Japanese journalists in advance of a trip to Tokyo next month, Mrs. Aquino also said she had no intention of calling early presidential elections, as Mr. Enrile has suggested.
The State Department reacted to a Mexican protest over provisions of the new U.S. anti-narcotics law by calling for more discussions between the Mexican government and the U.S. Congress about Mexican efforts to combat drug smuggling. Mexico was angered by a provision saying that President Reagan should consider imposing sanctions against Mexico if substantial progress is not made on controlling drug trafficking. That, a protest note said, indicates an “unfriendly attitude toward Mexico.” State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the Administration does not support the offending sections of the legislation and suggested there is a need for a greater exchange of information.
The Mexican federal police have arrested the brother of a former Governor of the northern state of Sonora and charged him with drug trafficking in connection with marijuana fields discovered on ranches he owned, Mexican officials said today. Gilberto Ocana Garcia was arrested this week and charged with drug trafficking after several acres of marijuana were discovered by the Mexican Army at farms in southern Sonora. The state borders Arizona and California. Others arrested at the fields were quoted by Government officials as saying the ranches were owned and operated by Mr. Ocana. His brother, Samuel Ocana Garcia, left office a year ago as Governor of Sonora when his term expired. He is now head of Mexico’s governing political party in the adjacent state of Sinaloa and a powerful force in Mexico’s political hierarchy.
The Reagan Administration has agreed to offer Honduras a more advanced jet fighter and to upgrade its aging squadron of warplanes, State Department officials said today. The decision represents a reversal of a United States policy of not being the first to introduce advanced fighter planes into Central America. The step was taken in anticipation of what officials said was a possible military confrontation between Honduras and neighboring Nicaragua as the United States-backed insurgency in that country increases with the infusion of $100 million in new American aid. Michael H. Armacost, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, will play a major role in supervising Central Intelligence Agency operations financed by the $100 million, officials said. Mr. Armacost, who had never been to Central America, flew there this week for what the State Department called “an orientation trip.”
A senior official of the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry today assailed a plan by the United States to offer Honduras a new fighter aircraft, calling it “a direct slap in the face to the Contadora peace process, which has as one of its basic principles a prohibition on new offensive weapons systems.” Diplomats and military experts here asserted this week that despite recent shipments of new Soviet-designed attack helicopters, the Nicaragua Air Force still did not pose a threat to nearby countries, They said that Honduras still maintained a strong advantage in air power and that the advantage would be dramatically increased if Honduras bought new jet fighters. Reports have been circulating in Central America for several weeks that Honduras was preparing to acquire new jets with help from the United States, and State Department officials said today that the Reagan Administration had agreed to offer Honduras a more advanced jet fighter and to upgrade its aging squadron of warplanes. One ambassador said the advanced helicopters were effective in attacking rebels inside Nicaragua but not in carrying out an attack against a neighboring country.
Continuing clashes between United States-backed Nicaraguan rebels and Sandinista soldiers inside Honduras cut off public transportation to a sealed-off border area, a senior Honduran military commander said today. The area, 96 miles from the Honduran capital and closed off by Honduran soldiers, has been the scene of such fighting for the last week.
The Governor of Puerto Rico said yesterday that the Federal Government had not consulted him about a proposal to train Nicaraguan rebels in the Caribbean commonwealth, and he warned that any such program would create significant political problems on the island. “We have had absolutely no indication from the United States Government that it would want to train contras in Puerto Rico,” Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon said in an interview with editors and reporters at The New York Times, referring to the anti-Sandinista forces. “I would think that is because Puerto Rico has some very difficult politics.”
A Colombian Supreme Court judge, whose predecessor was assassinated, was fatally shot by unknown gunmen, authorities said. Gustavo Zuluaga Serna was riding in a car in Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city, when he was attacked. Authorities said no one immediately claimed responsibility. He is the second Supreme Court judge killed this year and at least the 15th in two years. Twelve jurists died last November when members of the M-19 guerrilla movement stormed the Palace of Justice in Bogota. Zuluaga Serna assumed the judgeship after Judge Alvaro Medina Ochoa was slain in an ambush in Medellin last year.
Argentina announced today that in response to a British move to expand its Falkland Island fishing zone by nearly 200 miles it was canceling plans to discharge military conscripts. The Argentine Government said it would also create a special military committee to deal with the situation. President Raul Alfonsin rejected the British action as a provocation and an encroachment on Argentine sovereignty, saying it would “cause serious tensions and conflicts, with consequences as yet unforeseeable.” The British Government announced Wednesday that it was extending its fishing zone around the islands from 3 to 200 miles, citing in part what it called Argentina’s “aggressive patrolling” of the disputed waters.
South Africa today denied accusations by black African countries that it was involved in the plane crash that killed President Samora M. Machel of Mozambique 11 days ago. At the same time, Foreign Minister Roelof F. Botha denied press reports that Mr. Machel lived for four hours after his Soviet-built plane crashed in South Africa, saying the Mozambican leader died instantly. Defense Minister Magnus Malan said: “South Africa was not involved in the crash — in no way. Let this be clear to everyone now.” President Kenneth D. Kaunda of Zambia said in Maputo, Mozambique, on Wednesday that “circumstantial evidence” pointed to South Africa’s involvement. This view was echoed by other leaders of South Africa’s black-ruled neighbors. Mr. Botha said in a statement this evening that Professor J. P. Nel, head of forensic medicine at the University of Natal, had “confirmed that President Machel died instantaneously from multiple fractures of the skull and injuries of the chest and abdomen.”
Striking South African gold miners returned to work with full shifts reporting at the three mines affected by a four-day walkout, mine owners said. Marcel Bolding, a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, said that up to 35,000 men were involved in the stoppage at the three mines. Mine owners put the number of strikers at 25,000. The walkout began when officials of the Gold Fields group of mine owners rejected an industry settlement granting increases of 19% to 23% on average wages of about $180 a month.
Despite President Reagan’s intense schedule of campaigning and his near-record level of popularity, voters still see next Tuesday’s elections as contests among individuals and not as a referendum on the President, a New York Times/CBS News Poll shows. The survey found the election at a dead heat between Republicans and Democrats, with each party’s candidates for the House of Representatives getting the support of 47 percent of the probable electorate. In early October, Democrats held a lead of 48 percent to 46 percent, but the change was not statistically significant. Although a national survey cannot be used to make direct projections on the outcomes of 435 House elections, this finding suggested that Republicans would lose few House seats, and depending on how their support is distributed could conceivably post gains, something the party holding the White House has not done in a mid-term election since 1934. On the central question of the 1986 campaign, which party should control the Senate, those surveyed divided almost evenly: 44 percent favored a Republican Senate, as against 42 percent for a Democratic Senate. Respondents living in states that have Senate races this year were slightly more likely to favor Democratic control than those living in other states. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus three percentage points.
President Reagan meets with the wife of one of the American hostages in Lebanon, Mrs. Jean Sutherland.
President Reagan signs H.R. 4350, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, into law.
The nation’s trade deficit, one of the most politically sensitive economic indicators, narrowed in September for the second straight month, the Commerce Department reported today. The amount by which imports exceeded exports shrank by $760 million, to $12.56 billion, a modest improvement but considerably better than most economists had expected. The Administration promptly seized on the news, coming less than a week before the Congressional elections, as confirmation of the long-anticipated turnaround in trade, which has been a drag on the nation’s economy. President Reagan, who has been stumping for Republican Senate candidates, said, “The economy is on a roll.” Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, repeating an assertion he made last month, said, “We have turned the corner on the trade deficit.”
Americans think their Government often lies and they do not like it, a New York Times/CBS News Poll has found. The survey of 2,016 adults conducted after the controversy over charges that the White House had lied about Libyan terrorist attacks found that only 1 percent of those surveyed thought the Administration told the truth all the time and 34 percent thought it told the truth most of the time. A majority, 53 percent, of those questioned by telephone from October 24 through October 28 said the Administration told the truth only some of the time. Nine percent said it hardly ever told the truth. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Members of the National Academy of Science think President Reagan’s “Star Wars” program cannot produce an effective defense against Soviet nuclear attack, and they believe spending for the program should be cut, according to a survey released today. The survey will be taken “very, very seriously” next year in Congressional debate over the antimissile plan, said Senator William Proxmire, Democrat of Wisconsin, an opponent of the system, which Mr. Reagan calls his Strategic Defense Initiative.
President Reagan, pressing in the West for continued Republican control of the Senate, today described his space-oriented missile defense proposal as a vehicle for creating thousands of new jobs and for improving the quality of life. In what White House officials said was a subtle shift in emphasis, Mr. Reagan packaged a key national theme in a local wrapping as he campaigned here and in Colorado. The contests for Senate in both states are considered close, with the outcome next Tuesday in doubt. Mr. Reagan opened a new argument for his Strategic Defense Initiative as he appeared at a rally in Colorado Springs for Representative Ken Kramer, the Republican candidate for Senate.
The NASA space shuttle Discovery moves to the Orbiter Processing Facility, where more than 200 modifications are made.
Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole endorsed efforts to raise the 55-m.p.h. speed limit on rural interstate highways. Dole, making a brief campaign stop in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, said she thinks states should be allowed to raise the speed limit on rural interstates if it does not create a safety hazard. Lawmakers discussed raising the limit to 65 mph on rural interstates, but no agreement was reached before Congress adjourned. “I feel that some flexibility is permissible,” Dole said at a news conference with GOP gubernatorial candidate Julie D. Belaga.
Attorney General Edwin Meese III endorsed workplace surveillance of drug users, saying employers can help curtail narcotics abuse by keeping close watch on employees in parking lots and locker rooms and even in nearby bars. In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Meese embraced an approach to on-the-job drug abuse prevention set forth by a former director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Peter B. Bensinger, in a 1982 article in the Harvard Business Review.
Government officials, armed with potent provisions in the new anti-drug law, vowed to wipe out the “well-organized criminal element” that reportedly is growing $1-billion worth of marijuana annually in the national forests. Officials said nearly 1 million acres of 191 million acres in the national forests have been turned into death traps as growers protect their illegal crops with guard dogs, sawed-off shotguns, machine guns and booby traps.
The crew of a United Airlines Boeing 727 jet reported a near-collision with a Government helicopter Wednesday as the jet turned to land at Los Angeles International Airport, officials said yesterday. The captain of the United plane, which was carrying 94 people, was quoted by airline spokesmen as saying he had missed the helicopter by about 200 feet. But a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, which was operating the helicopter, said the special agent flying it said the airliner had passed 700 feet above his craft and a quarter mile away. The spokesman, William Deac, said the helicopter was on an “operational surveillance mission.” Industry sources said there were indications that the helicopter, a five-person, turbine-powered Hughes 500 with only the pilot and another agent aboard, was pursuing a suspect.
The Justice Department has decided to keep a plea bargain with John A. Walker Jr. and his son, Michael Walker, despite some lingering suspicions that John Walker has not told the full truth about his family’s Soviet espionage ring, two Government sources said today. The sources, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, said top Justice officials had decided that the Walkers should be sentenced as planned on November 6 under the agreement calling for John Walker, a former Navy warrant officer, to serve a life term and his son, a former Navy yeoman, to serve 25 years. In return, they pleaded guilty and promised to tell all they knew about the spy ring that operated for at least 17 years.
A Federal grand jury in Chicago today indicted four street gang members on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist acts in the United States for the Libyan Government. Anton Valukas, the United States Attorney here, said the four were charged with conspiring from last March until today to obtain and obtaining explosives, automatic weapons and a rocket to kill unspecified people and to destroy unspecified buildings in the United States. Indicted were Jeff Fort, Melvin Mayes, Alan Knox and Trammel Davis, all members of the El Rukns street gang here. The indictment said the four gang members “contacted, met and dealt with representatives of the Government of Libya in an effort to obtain money in exchange for the commission of a violent act or acts in the United States on Libya’s behalf.”
A circuit judge in Orlando, Florida, refused to allow newspapers access to the medical records of Senator Paula Hawkins (R-Florida), and media attorneys promptly appealed. The Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald and the Florida Times-Union are seeking access to documents in Hawkins’ personal injury suit against Orlando television station WESH, where the senator was injured when a prop fell on her neck during a 1982 interview. Hawkins is seeking unspecified damages in the suit, which contends that she was permanently injured and her ability to work was impaired. But, during the campaign, Hawkins has insisted her health is fine and her back and neck problems are not an issue in the election. The media attorneys charge that she has been dishonest about her health either on the campaign trail or in the lawsuit. Hawkins is in a tight race against her Democratic challenger, Governor Bob Graham.
A Roman Catholic shelter in San Benito, Texas that has housed 10,000 Central American refugees over four years was closed today. The 500 current residents were bused to a Immigration and Naturalization Service center, where they faced a review of their status. Officials said about 50 Salvadorans had arrived at the shelter, Casa Oscar Romera, Wednesday night, apparently fleeing the recent earthquake. The City of San Benito in August asked the church to move the shelter because of a fight between residents and neighbors.
The Detroit police, seeking to hold down what has become a surge of arson surrounding Halloween, arrested more than 250 juveniles Thursday night and early today as they enforced a second dusk-to-dawn curfew. There were 246 arrests on the first night of the curfew. In recent years, the night before Halloween, known as “Devil’s Night,” has brought an outbreak of arson to the nation’s sixth largest city, with hundreds of fires set at random.
A pharmacist who killed the man he believed had fatally abused his grandson was convicted of a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. Charles Jones, 49, of Nashville, Tennessee, who had been charged with second-degree murder, faces a prison sentence of two to six years for pumping six bullets into Bobby Gann Jr. as he slept in a waiting room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where Jones’ 2-year-old grandson lay in a coma. The child, Ryan Reed, died the next day. The cause of his death was ruled to be a blow to the head. Police said Gann, 23, who had been living with Jones’ daughter, would have been charged with first-degree murder had he lived.
In its closing days, California’s gubernatorial campaign has evolved into an increasingly hostile personal war between Governor George Deukmejian, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles. Mr. Bradley, trailing his rival in fund-raising and public opinion polls, has repeatedly called Mr. Deukmejian a liar, accused him of endangering children’s health through failure to deal with the state’s toxic waste problems because of ties to big business, and has otherwise attacked his integrity and character. “He is a cold, uncaring man,” Mr. Bradley said at one campaign stop. In turn, Mr. Deukmejian has become increasingly strident in his attacks on Mr. Bradley, blaming the Mayor for toxic waste problems in Los Angeles, assailing him as “petty” and “desperate” and calling him the “sultan of sludge” and “the mayor of mud.”
The results of a new survey rebut the idea that college students have become politically more conservative. The study shows a move to the center and a continuation of liberal views on specific issues such as abortion, the environment and taxing the wealthy. The survey, made public today, shows that while the number of students who identify themselves as liberals today has shrunk by a third from the number in 1970, the total who describe themselves as conservatives has held relatively steady: 15 to 20 percent, with a net gain of 2.4 percentage points since 1970. The report, “American Freshmen: 20-Year Trends,” was prepared by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles and the American Council on Education. It records, from 1966 to last year, the educational achievements, attitudes and goals of freshmen at almost 600 colleges and universities around the country. The survey covered 300,000 freshmen last year.
Farmers are taking advantage of two Federal programs in conjunction to turn an immediate profit on Government loans against their crops.
The new tax law sharply reduces the returns of such investments as stocks, gold and collectibles and enhances the yields of such investments as bank accounts, money market funds and corporate bonds.
Halloween is becoming an adult fete. One official said 60 percent of Halloween business came from adult costumes, 20 percent from accessories and only 20 percent from children’s costumes.
Evidence a greenhouse effect is warming the earth’s climate was cited in a Federal study that reported that frozen ground beneath Arctic lands in Alaska has warmed 4 to 7 degrees in 100 years.
Lakes Michigan and Huron continued their unseasonal climb this month, reaching the highest levels on record and increasing fears that strong autumn winds could cause unprecedented damage to coastal areas. The two lakes, considered a single body of water by hydrologists, were up to a foot higher this month than in the previous October, when a record for the month was set, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Heavy rains in September caused the unseasonably high levels, hydrologic engineer Dave Schweiger said.
Major League Baseball:
San Diego trades catcher Terry Kennedy and minor leaguer Mark Williamson to the Orioles for pitcher Storm Davis.
Stock prices soared on Wall Street yesterday, propelled by the possibility of a discount rate cut by Japan, strength among blue-chip issues and rising takeover speculation. The market was also lifted by a Commerce Department report showing a smaller-than-expected deficit in the nation’s merchandise trade, and oil stocks surged after Saudi Arabia’s acting oil minister called for an urgent meeting of OPEC’s pricing committee. The move by Hisham Nazer came just hours after Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani was ousted from the post. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 26.57 points, to 1,878.37. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange climbed to a strong 194.2 million shares, from 164.4 million on Wednesday, for the seventh-best day in the exchange’s history. The Big Board volume record was registered on September 12 of this year, when 240.5 million shares exchanged hands.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1878.37 (+26.57)
Born:
Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian ski jumper (3 Olympic gold medals, 2006, 2010), in Spittal an der Drau, Austria.
Desmond Jennings, MLB outfielder (Tampa Bay Rays), in Birmingham, Alabama.
Tamera Young, WNBA forward (Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Las Vegas Aces), in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Ryan Reid, NBA power forward (Oklahoma City Thunder), in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida (d. 2025, from a heart attack).
Marcus Mailei, NFL fullback (New Orleans Saints), in Salt Lake City, Utah.
