China said its border artillery killed or wounded many Vietnamese troops and destroyed hundreds of military installations in retaliation for Vietnamese border provocations. But a diplomat at the Vietnamese Embassy in Peking denied the report, calling it nonsense. The two sides have traded propaganda barrages as well as gunfire recently. China invaded northern Vietnam in a month-long engagement in 1979 after the Vietnamese occupied Cambodia.
The United States, charging that Moscow is trying to preserve an unchallenged military advantage in space, denounced a Soviet proposal for a moratorium on the testing of anti-satellite weapons. Louis G. Fields Jr., the chief U.S. negotiator at the 40-nation Geneva disarmament conference, said the Soviets for more than a decade have had the world’s only operational anti-satellite weapon system. “Now, having established this military advantage in space, for the Soviet Union to propose a moratorium on the testing of such systems strikes my delegation as monumental cynicism,” Fields told the conference.
The Supreme Soviet, the Soviet Union’s nominal Parliament, enacted a sweeping reform of the country’s elementary and secondary school system. The heart of the reform is a massive increase in vocational education aimed at steering millions of youths away from careers requiring higher education and into the blue-collar work force. Under the new program, children will start school at age 6, rather than 7, and face a compulsory 11 years of education. The program will take effect in 1986.
A bomb killed a 52-year-old woman and a policeman at the woman’s home today in the second terrorist attack in Belfast in five days. Neighbors said the woman, Margaret Whyte, a mother of eight, was a staunch Roman Catholic nationalist. Her husband, Isadore, 53, said the family was not involved in politics. The dead policeman was identified as Constable Michael Dawson, 23. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, the second in a year at the the Whyte home in predominantly Protestant south Belfast. Last April a Protestant militant accused of placing the bomb was wounded when he kicked it and it went off prematurely. On Sunday gunmen wounded a Belfast magistrate and killed his daughter as the family was on its way home from church. The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility.
The British government said it is banning the unlicensed export to Iraq or Iran of eight chemicals that could be used in chemical warfare. Trade Minister Paul Channon told Parliament that Britain is urging its partners in the European Economic Community to follow suit. Early last month, the United States accused Iraq of using mustard gas against Iranian troops.
Yitzhak Shamir was nominated by the Likud bloc today to run for a second term as Prime Minister in elections July 23. He defeated former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, 407 to 306. The margin of Mr. Shamir’s victory was far narrower than had been expected, and added to speculation that Mr. Sharon had begun laying the groundwork for a political comeback. Mr. Sharon, who is a member of the Cabinet without portfolio, was relieved of his defense duties last year after an inquiry commission said he was indirectly responsible for the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps. Mr. Sharon, who had not expected to win, indicated that he went into the contest to gain support for his demand to be restored to a policy- making Government role.
Some political commentators speculated tonight that the unexpectedly large number of votes for Mr. Sharon reflected a feeling that he had not been treated fairly. Experts interviewed on television before the vote was announced said a 20 percent showing would be considered impressive. Mr. Sharon’s supporters rose to their feet cheering and clapping rhythmically for several minutes when the result was announced. After the vote Mr. Sharon called for the party to stand 100 percent behind Mr. Shamir in the election campaign. The Prime Minister, thanking Mr. Sharon for his statement, said he hoped a new chapter would be opened in their relationship.
Arab terrorists hijacked an Israeli bus near Tel Aviv and forced it to the occupied Gaza Strip, where it was being held with at least 10 passengers aboard. The hijackers, forcing the bus to crash through two roadblocks, took the vehicle to the heavily populated Gaza Strip, an Arab area occupied by the Israeli Army. There, Israeli soldiers shot into the vehicle’s tires, stopping it about six miles south of the city of Gaza. When the bus was halted, several passengers — some reports said as many as seven — leaped out of windows. A few were injured, military authorities reported.
Egypt has set up an air defense system around the capital of Sudan to protect its ally from hostile incursions, Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel-Halim abu Ghazala said. Last month, a plane dropped bombs on a town adjacent to Khartoum, and Sudan and Egypt blamed Libya. Abu Ghazala said Egypt has sent a few hundred men to “secure the skies” over Khartoum. Two U.S. AWACS radar surveillance planes sent to the region in the wake of the raid have since returned to the United States.
A new effort to end the Iran-Iraq war prompted an unannounced visit to Egypt by a high-ranking State Department aide. Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy met with President Mubarak’s key foreign policy adviser to discuss an Egyptian proposal to end the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Details of the proposal were not made public.
A Turk implicated in the attack on Pope John Paul II in 1981 surrendered to the Italian authorities today after being extradited from West Germany. The Turk, Omer Mersan, arrived here from Munich accompanied by two Interpol agents. He was transferred to the Rebbibia Prison on Rome’s outskirts to be questioned by the magistrate who has been conducting the Government inquiry into the shooting of the Pope.
Mr. Mersan is wanted in Italy on a warrant charging him with false testimony in connection with the state investigation into the shooting of the Pope by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish terrorist. The Italian authorities have accused Mr. Mersan of providing a fake passport for Mr. Agca that the Pope’s assailant used in travels before arriving in Italy. Mr. Ağca is serving a life sentence in an Italian prison for the attack. According to recent Italian newspaper reports, a state prosecutor has recommended a trial for three Bulgarians and several Turks on charges of complicity in the shooting of the Pope.
No mines remain in Nicaraguan ports, according to the nation’s Chief of Staff. Commander Joaquin Cuadra Lacayo also denied that the Sandinista Government was sending arms to rebels in El Salvador, as the U.S. has charged.
A compromise on aid to El Salvador is being sought by White House and Congressional leaders. The plan, which would provide $32 million in emergency military and medical funds, was developed in the face of a Congressional revolt, even by Republicans, against the Reagan Administration’s Central America policy.
The trial of five former Salvadoran guardsmen charged with killing four American women missionaries has been delayed again, at least until late May, according to San Salvador court officials. Resolution of the 1980 case is a key demand of U.S. opponents of further U.S. military aid to El Salvador. Raul Hernandez Zuniga, one of four defense attorneys, won the delay on the grounds that he needs more time to prepare for trial because he has a heavy workload.
Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, saying he fears that the latest U.S.-initiated effort toward independence for Namibia has stalled, called upon the United States to pressure South Africa into direct talks with Namibian insurgents. In an interview in Lusaka, Kaunda, who has played a key mediating role, said Washington pushed South Africa into talks and now must make sure it does not back away from a settlement.
Cameroon said tonight that 70 people were killed and 51 wounded last week in an unsuccessful attempt by part of the presidential palace guard to take over the West African nation. Cameroon President Paul Biya dissolved the command of his palace guard after dissident members tried to overthrow him in a bloody coup. The guard now will be under the national police, and the army will protect the presidential palace. Coup leaders will face a military trial and punishment, Biya said.
A cyclone destroyed most of the port of Mahajanga today, killing 15 people and seriously injuring 30 with winds of up to 150 miles an hour, the Malagasy radio said. The radio said 80 percent of the port on this island off the east coast of Africa had been wrecked. It said entire sections of Mahajanga, which has a population of 45,000, were under water. Over the weekend the cyclone leveled most of the island’s major northern port, Antseranana. The radio gave no casualty figures for Antseranana, where 30,000 of the city’s 40,000 inhabitants were made homeless and had little food or water. Before returning to Madagascar today the cyclone devastated the French-administered island of Mayotte in the Comoros archipelago, according to reports from Paris.
The Challenger astronauts gently placed a once-crippled satellite back in orbit today, completing their task of demonstrating that significant, cost-saving repairs can be made in space. The five-man crew is now set to bring the mission to an end by landing tomorrow at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:07 AM. The forecast is for favorable weather, but if conditions change the astronauts could land later at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The research satellite they repaired, Solar Max, was now alive and on its own. All its systems and scientific instruments were responding to commands and able to function normally, flight controllers said.
In fact, they said, the newly installed control system was pointing the satellite at targets with greater precision than the original unit had been able to do before it failed three years ago. However, the satellite’s telescopic observations of the sun will not begin until the completion of a 30-day checkout directed by Mission Control. Captured by a robotic grappling arm Tuesday and repaired by spacewalking astronauts Wednesday, the 5,000-pound satellite was redeployed in its own 308- mile-high orbit at 4:26 AM today as the space shuttle Challenger was making its 90th revolution of the earth. Solar Max was in its 23,013th revolution since its launching in February 1980. It was the first time a disabled satellite had ever been visited in orbit, had its defective components replaced and then been dispatched for what should be several more years of active life.
The House Armed Services Committee approved Pentagon spending of $276.5 billion next year, a record $19-billion cut from President Reagan’s original request. The package reduces a proposed 5.5% military pay raise to 3.5% and scales back several major weapons programs, including the MX missile and a futuristic space defense system. The panel approved Reagan’s request for 34 B-1 bombers.
A House panel headed by Rep. Donald J. Albosta (D-Michigan) voted to give the special prosecutor investigating Edwin Meese III all materials relating to any role the attorney general-designate may have had in Jimmy Carter Administration documents reaching the 1980 Ronald Reagan campaign. The materials were requested by independent counsel Jacob A. Stein, who is investigating questions about the White House counselor’s political and financial dealings.
President Reagan addresses a group of construction workers in Texas. President Reagan was warned by home builders and bankers that “time is running out” for dealing with the high federal deficit and preventing a downturn of the business recovery. The criticism came from a round-table panel, organized by a construction industry magazine, with which the President met in Arlington, Texas.
Back in Washington later, President Reagan hosts a reception for the National Republican Congressional Leadership Council.
Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole said an inspection of the nation’s airlines shows potential problems at 44 of the more than 400 carriers examined. She refused to identify which 44 carriers need closer study, but said that air travel is safe overall. One small airline — Sundorph Airlines in Cleveland — was grounded during the inspections, and another “may be grounded imminently,” another transportation official said at a news briefing. That airline was not identified, but department sources said it is not a scheduled carrier.
Richard M. Nixon says he thinks John F. Kennedy shared his view that Election Day fraud may have cheated Nixon out of the White House in 1960 and was “rather relieved” when Nixon told him he would not contest Kennedy’s victory. In the final installment of Nixon’s paid television memoirs, to be aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Nixon told interviewer Frank Gannon that he did not challenge the razor-close results for the good of the country. He said he may have lost because of “immense fraud” in Chicago that tipped Illinois into Kennedy’s column and because, in many Texas precincts, “twice as many voters voted as were on the rolls.” Nixon did win the presidency in 1968 and 1972, but resigned over Watergate in 1974.
A plan to freeze physician fees under Medicare was rejected by the House. The rejection of the amendment, which was part of a comprehensive package to reduce the Federal deficit, was seen as a victory for the American Medical Association and a setback for House Democratic leaders.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination appears to be reshaping the contours of American politics. Analysts say Mr. Jackson’s campaign has crystallized black political power into a potent force in national politics by raising blacks’ political consciousness and voter turnout. Moreover, they say, the respect he has achieved has made the idea of a serious black national candidacy much more acceptable.
Henry Lee Lucas, who has confessed to killing 360 persons, was convicted of capital murder stemming from the 1979 sex slaying of an unidentified female hitchhiker. The San Angelo, Texas, jury will hear additional testimony before ruling whether Lucas will be sentenced to death or to life in prison. In confessions that Lucas has since repudiated, he told of killing women as he traveled around the country with a companion. Jurors heard part of the confessions, which Lucas’ lawyer attributed to a suicide wish. Lucas is serving a life sentence for killing his wife and 75 years in the death of a Texas woman. He has also been imprisoned for killing his mother.
A 54-year-old man pleaded innocent to kidnapping former Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown Jr.’s campaign manager in an incident that his lawyer said was merely a business deal, not an abduction for ransom. Wallace Wilkinson, a prominent Lexington businessman who is heading Brown’s bid for the U.S. Senate, was freed Wednesday, reportedly after a $500,000 ransom was paid. Jerome B. Jernigan was charged with kidnapping and extortion, but defense attorney Bobby G. Wombles said, “There was a business transaction to justify the payment that was made.”
A Tennessee prison escapee who is a long- distance runner eluded a multi-state search for a fourth day today as National Guardsmen aided by tracking dogs and helicopters pursued the killer at a cost of more than $20,000 a day. More than 300 guardsmen, joined by 160 state troopers, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents and the local authorities extended their search to a 10- mile radius from Fort Pillow State Prison. Garry Sanders, 30 years old, of Memphis, was serving a life term for the 1974 murder of a retired Memphis policeman when he and three other inmates slipped into a culvert Monday and fled a work detail while cutting brush. One convict was recaptured within hours, while a bloodhound tracked down two others Tuesday along a railroad right-of-way.
A freight train and a bus carrying elementary school students collided at a crossing in the southeast Virginia community of Carrsville today, injuring the bus driver and all 26 children aboard, the authorities said. The Chessie System train and the bus from Carrsville Elementary School crashed on Virginia 615 about 3:30 PM, officials said. ”There were no fatalities. The majority of the injuries were cuts, bruises, lacerations and fractures,” said Leo Childers, a vice president at Southampton Memorial Hospital in Franklin, where all but six of the injured were taken.
Lynn R. Williams has defeated Frank McKee and becomes the first Canadian to be elected president of the million-member United Steelworkers of America, the union announced today. The final vote in the union’s March 29 election was 193,686 for Mr. Williams and 135,823 for Mr. McKee, according to the chief teller, Phillip Cyprian. On Monday the tellers began counting ballots mailed to the union’s Pittsburgh headquarters from 4,600 locals in the United States and Canada. The totals are subject to field hearings on 21 challenges to the vote, most of them raised by Mr. McKee, according to union officials.
Intractable migraine headaches can be cured by a slight twist on an old remedy, a doctor told the American Academy of Neurology in Boston. Dr. Neil H. Raskin of the University of California at San Francisco said he has been injecting Dihydroergotamine intravenously every eight hours for several days to cure the migraines, which can leave sufferers bedridden for most of their lives. DHG has been used for years to treat periodic migraines, which afflict most sufferers.
The computer has become essential to the functioning of virtually every aspect of Congress, and has assumed a major role in writing legislation, recording votes, publishing reports, paying staff, conducting research into social issues and communicating with the nation’s voters.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1157.14 (+26.17).
Born:
Kamil Mitoń, Polish chess grandmaster, in Kraków, Poland.
Died:
Ruth Taylor, 76, actress (“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”).
History Diaries 