July 18, 1959
COLD WAR: Geneva, July 16 – The US Secretary of State Christian Herter told his Russian counterpart Andrei Gromyko today that the US was ready to move quickly toward a meeting of head of states if the Berlin problem was settled and its freedom guaranteed. This statement leaves the Soviets with the dilemma of whether to respond to Western concessions or to appear intransigent and confirm the West’s accusations that it really does not want to reach a peaceful agreement, despite its repeated propaganda to the contrary. KRUSHCHEV: Szczecin, Poland, July 17 – Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev arrived here today and, in a speech before a large crowd, he said Russia would defend Poland if Western Germany tried to invade the Oder and Neisse river borders and seize control of territories it lost after the Second World War. HEAT WAVE: Greece is in the grip of a heat wave that brought temperatures to 36C yesterday in Athens. MANOS KATRAKIS: Performances of Spanish playwright Lope de Vega’s celebrated play «Fuente Ovejuna» by Manos Katrakis’s Laiko Theater are continuing at the Pedio tou Areos Theater.
