Formalizing of agreements with Peking on such issues as scientific and cultural exchanges, economic cooperation and development of nuclear energy was planned by President Reagan before he was to start on the final leg of his six-day trip to China. The agreements, to be formalized today, call for guarantees against double taxation for American corporations in China, a new round of exchanges of performing arts groups, museum exhibits and other cultural programs, and arrangements enabling American companies to help build Chinese nuclear reactors.
The President and First Lady take Air Force One to Xi’an, the ancient capital of China, and visit the tomb of the first emperor. The President and First Lady tour the excavation site holding the 800 life-size Terra Cotta soldiers guarding the emperor of China’s tomb. Qin Shi Huang, whose tomb President Reagan visited today, was the ruler who first unified China and, while establishing a centralized empire, radically altered the political and social structure. The inclusion of the visit on the Presidential schedule was, like earlier trips by President Francois Mitterrand of France and former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, considered a homage to the history of this ancient civilization. The site, near the 2,200-year-old tomb about 19 miles east of Xi’an, starting point of the Silk Road that for centuries brought traders from the outside world, was discovered by local peasants in 1974. Considered one of the eight wonders of the world, it contains an army of life-sized terra-cotta figures of soldiers and horses. Some 800 of an estimated 8,000 have been excavated to date. In 1980, a further spectacular find was made when two bronze chariots, drawn by life-sized bronze horses and driven by bronze charioteers, were unearthed.
Thousands of people have fled their homes in southeastern Afghanistan as the Soviet Union continues the largest military offensive of its four-year war against Muslim rebels, Afghan resistance sources reported in Islamabad, Pakistan. Estimates of the number of those arriving in Pakistan range from 4,000 to 10,000, including as many as 1,500 families. Refugee workers were unable to confirm the numbers but said such an outpouring could be expected after large-scale bombing operations.
Concerted pressure on Libya’s leader will be sought by the United States in consultations with Britain and other allies, Reagan Administration officials said. Until Britain broke diplomatic ties with Libya last Sunday over the shooting in London of a police constable by someone inside the Libyan Embassy, only the United States, which expelled all Libyan diplomats in 1981, had taken action against the Government of Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi. The Reagan Administration expelled all Libyan diplomats in 1981, advised all American companies and personnel to quit Libya and barred the importation of Libyan oil. There have been no American diplomats in Libya since 1980, after the United States Embassy there was burned down.
The American moves, however, received no support from allies, some of which, like Italy, Britain, and France, have considerable trade with Libya. The public outrage in Britain over Libya has led some officials in Washington to say they hope the United States will be more successful this time in fashioning a coordinated program of trade, economic and political sanctions at the minimum, and support for covert action against Colonel Qaddafi at the maximum, officials said. A high-level review is taking place in Washington among officials on the motives behind Colonel Qaddafi’s latest actions. This review, one official said, is important because of differing estimates on what is motivating the Libyan leader, who has been long known for his desire to spread his version of revolutionary Islam to other countries and for his belief that the West is on the decline. Some American experts believe, the officials said, that the latest incidents, including the recent diplomatic conflict with Britain, may have stemmed from Colonel Qaddafi’s feeling that he was riding a crest of successes.
Colonel Qaddafi has fascinated American intelligence officials since he seized power in 1969. According to authoritative published accounts, the Central Intelligence Agency in the first years of Qaddafi rule saw him as an eccentric anti-Communist Moslem fundamentalist who could be counted on to curb Soviet inroads into the area. In this period, the C.I.A. reportedly provided him with information that allowed him to block coup attempts. But American relations with Colonel Qaddafi began to worsen after Libya began to oppose the willingness of President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt to enter into negotiated accords with Israel starting in 1974. That led to armed clashes with Egypt, and the start of large-scale internal crackdowns inside Libya.
In 1973, students demonstrated against Colonel Qaddafi in Benghazi, and this led to the first public hangings of dissident students. There have been reports periodically of similar executions, including two last month, which are believed to have been responsible, at least in part, for the demonstrations at the Libyan Embassy in London last week by Libyan exiles that led to the killing of a British police constable.
American officials said French intelligence had intercepted a message from Libya ordering the London embassy to use force against the demonstration, but the message was not decoded and conveyed to the British before the event.
Israel was saved from “a disaster” by security officers who foiled a purported plot by Jewish extremists to blow up Arab-owned buses in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Yitzak Shamir said. Officials in Jerusalem announced Saturday that 20 Jewish suspects had been arrested. However, Interior Minister Josef Burg said the number of arrests should not be taken as an indication that terrorist organization rather than an individual was responsible for the plot.
Irish political leaders examining ways to end the violence in Northern Ireland appear to be planning to call for Irish reunification this week when they report their conclusions. The report from the year-old New Ireland Forum, an initiative by the Dublin Government to end the political and sectarian violence in British-ruled Northern Ireland, is expected Wednesday. While its findings are still secret, the main recommendation is widely reported to be the reunification of Ireland as an independent nation. This proposal is certain to be rejected out-of-hand by the million- strong Protestant majority in Northern Ireland, who want to remain linked to Britain. Northern Ireland’s Protestant leaders boycotted the group’s meetings.
Several thousand protesters against Belgium’s decision to accept U.S.-made nuclear cruise missiles formed an 11-mile human chain, with visible gaps, around the base where the weapons are to be deployed. “We need detente (with the Soviet Union). Perhaps the United States does not,” said Louis Tobback, a Socialist Party leader in the Belgian Parliament. The missiles, to total 48 within the next two years, will be deployed at Florennes, a Belgian military base 44 miles south of Brussels.
An earthquake followed by a series of strong tremors collapsed roofs and toppled walls in central Italy, injuring scores of people and leaving more than 3,000 homeless. Thousands of people ran into the streets at the first of about 200 shocks that originated from an epicenter northeast of Perugia, which is 80 miles due north of Rome. Authorities said the tremors injured at least 100 people and damaged more than 780 buildings. The temblor registered 5.9 on the Richter scale. Officials said tremors were felt as far away as Rome.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s son flew to strife-torn northern India amid tight security in the wake of death threats against him by Sikh terrorists in Punjab state. After arriving in Chandigarh, the joint capital of bordering Punjab and Haryana states, Rajiv Gandhi, general secretary of his mother’s Congress-I Party, discussed with local officials the religious violence that began 10 weeks ago and has left an estimated 180 people dead. Over the weekend, at least one man was killed and seven were injured as strife continued.
In an attempt to win congressional support for continued aid to the Nicaraguan rebels, or contras, the Reagan Administration may soon impose new conditions on use of the funds, rebel sources said. Under consideration are a ban on sabotage operations such as the mining of Nicaraguan harbors and a redirection of the rebels’ efforts against arms shipments to the Salvadoran guerrillas, the sources, quoted in Washington, said. A Senate Intelligence Committee member, Joseph R. Biden (D-Delaware), said the Senate might approve aid if such conditions are included.
Urban guerrillas in Santiago, Chile exploded 11 bombs within minutes of each other today, derailing a subway train and injuring 22 people in one of the most serious attacks in more than a decade of military rule, officials said. Transit officials said 22 people, including seven children, were injured by a bomb explosion that ripped up a subway track and derailed a train carrying 60 passengers. Rescue workers said seven of the victims were injured seriously. Rail traffic on the line was snarled for four hours, transit officials said. Officials said a leftist guerrilla group calling itself the Manuel Rodriguez Revolutionary Front took responsibility for the bombings, which exploded within minutes of each other shortly before midnight in Santiago. After a wave of similar bombings about a month ago, the military government decreed a state of emergency that is still in effect throughout Chile.
A state of emergency was declared in the Sudan by President Gafaar al-Nimeiry, who said the “enemies of Sudan have become active both inside the country and abroad.” Numeiri said in a broadcast that “spreading corruption” and “a series of strikes” forced his hand. The president — a Muslim northerner who has survived more than 20 coup attempts since he took power in 1969 — imposed Islamic law last year, reigniting a guerrilla war in the black, largely Christian south.
Strong action against Nigeria’s press has been taken by the military regime that seized power on New Year’s Eve. Five journalists have been imprisoned in the crackdown, which started April 17 when the Government gave itself the power to close newspapers and radio and television stations for inaccurate reporting or for unflattering reporting of Government officials.
The leaders of six black African states opened a summit in Tanzania to discuss the future of their crumbling “front-line” movement against the apartheid policies of white-ruled South Africa. The two-day summit was the first such meeting since two of the six states — Mozambique and Angola — signed peace accords with South Africa earlier this year. President Samora M. Machel of Mozambique and Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola defended their peace pacts today and appealed to the leaders to accept the new-found peace with apartheid, delegates said. Both Presidents said the accords would lead to regional stability in southern Africa, the delegates added. Also at the conference were leaders of Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as leaders of the rebel African National Congress.
The National Labor Relations Board, reversing a 1980 policy decision, announced a ruling allowing employers to interrogate workers about union organizing activity in some cases. The 3–1 ruling, with three appointees of President Reagan in the majority, reversed a decision by a judge in a case brought by the Hotel and Restaurant Employees union against Rossmore House, a residential retirement hotel in Los Angeles. In that case, an employee who was an active union supporter was questioned by management about a mailgram dealing with an organizing campaign. The judge ruled that such questioning was an unfair labor practice. The board’s ruling was the latest in a series that leaders of organized labor contend has tilted enforcement of the nearly 50-year-old labor law in favor of management.
A woman running for Vice President would gain as many votes from women as she would lose from men, a New York Times/CBS Poll suggests. While the net effect would probably be no change, some segments of the population would shift strongly, the poll indicates. A woman on the Democratic ticket would apparently attract significant numbers of women under the age of 45, Republican women and nonwhites of both sexes, but she would drive off large numbers of men who are independents or between 45 and 64 years or from the West and suburbs.
New chemical weapons sought by the Reagan Administration may be less efficient as weapons and more conducive to arms proliferation and terrorist use than existing types, according to a study by a nonpartisan Congressional organization. The new weapons, called binary because they rely on two nonlethal chemicals that mix to become lethal after the ammunition has been fired, are part of a $1.1 billion chemical warfare program requested by President Reagan for the 1985 fiscal year.
Four churches filled with worshipers in Mannford, Oklahoma were hit by a tornado today, as some parishioners sought shelter in closets and under pews. One person was killed and 20 were injured. The churches, all within a block of each other, were either in the midst of services or about to start them when the tornado hit, said the Mannford Chief of Police, Orlin White. Loren Athens, about 70 years old, was killed when his pickup truck was lifted by the tornado and thrown into Mannford Elementary School. The same storm later touched down in Prue, injuring 30 more people. In Pittsburg County in southeastern Oklahoma, a separate tornado damaged six homes northeast of McAlester. There were no reports of injuries. Several tornadoes were also reported today in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. At least eight people were injured and 75 homes damaged by a tornado in Owensville, Missouri, 40 miles southeast of Jefferson City. Four of the injured were hospitalized. One injury was reported in Kansas.
A freight train plowed into a group of illegal aliens walking across a railroad trestle in the dark near Kingsville, Texas, forcing some to jump into a shallow creek 31 feet below and killing four of them. At least seven were injured. As many as 40 aliens may have been on the bridge when the train approached late Saturday night at about 40 mph, said Rod Saucier of the U.S. Border Patrol office in Kingsville. Those killed were two women, a boy about 12 years old and a younger child, authorities said. A Missouri Pacific spokesman said the engineer of the 43-car freight saw the people on the bridge but was unable to stop the train until it had crossed the 464-foot-long trestle over Olmos Creek. Authorities arrested 14 aliens who escaped injury.
Doctors barred from practicing medicine in one state for unethical behavior or incompetence may move to another state and continue receiving federal payments under Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to a General Accounting Office report. The federal government stopped payments to “relatively few physicians who changed states after their licenses were revoked or suspended by other states, the report said. The report added that doctors convicted of crimes not directly related to Medicare or Medicaid may not be barred by the government from either program on the sole basis of the conviction.
Miami, Las Vegas and Anchorage, Alaska, were among the cities that gained substantially in population between 1980 and 1982, a Census Bureau survey found. The bureau’s ranking of the 176 American cities with populations of 100,000 or more began with a list of the top 25 cities — topped by New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, in that order — released several weeks ago. Most of the major gains were in the West and Southwest. Miami, in 34th place, had an increase of 10.3% to 382,726. Las Vegas gained 9%, moving from 90th to 80th place with 179,587. Anchorage, 72nd, grew 11.6% to 194,675, moving up from 78th place. Oil-rich Alaska again led the nation in per capita income ($16,820), while Mississippi remained in last place ($8,072).
Negotiators for the Hilton hotels and two unions today tried to reach an agreement that could lead to an end to the 28-day strike by workers against 29 casino hotels. The talks were between Hilton hotel negotiators and the stagehands’ and musicians’ unions. The Las Vegas Hilton and Flamingo Hilton have all but completed a contract with culinary and bar workers. If they can settle with stagehands and musicians, many feel it could have a domino effect that would end the strike by 17,000 workers. A city official said last week that the strike was hurting the hotels.
Armed federal marshals wearing bulletproof vests are evicting hundreds of persons from their homes in Washington, D.C., for failing to pay rent in a stepped-up campaign to clear a backlog of scofflaws in the nation’s capital. “We started with around 2,500 (households to be evicted) and we’re down to 1,700,” said Roger Ray, chief U.S. deputy marshal for the District of Columbia. Washington is the only city in the country where federal marshals, as court officers, serve eviction notices. The court issues about 100 eviction orders daily.
Laboratory tests expected today should disclose whether cocaine and painkillers found in David Kennedy’s body caused his death, investigators said. Preliminary test results in Palm Beach, Florida, showed “significant amounts” of cocaine and the prescription painkiller Demerol in the body of Kennedy, 28, son of the slain Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California started up nearly 10 years behind schedule with a successful fission reaction. A nonradioactive water leak in a coolant system was quickly contained. The start-up at the plant near San Luis Obispo was hailed by many people in the nuclear industry as a long-waited victory.
The president of Baylor College of Medicine has acknowledged that one death and two cases of brain damage to patients at Ben Taub Hospital last year may have resulted from problems with anesthesia, it was reported today. In a copyright article, The Houston Chronicle, reporting Dr. William T. Butler’s acknowledgement, also said its own investigation indicated that in at least one other case a woman’s family was told by doctors that her death was anesthesia-related. In both cases involving death, The Chronicle said, doctors obscured or denied anesthesia problems. The college began an internal investigation after accusations by a former Baylor anesthesiology resident, Dr. Olufunso Ogunbase, who cited 23 cases in which death or brain damage resulted from “anesthetic mishap.”
An itemized list from funeral homes detailing the cost of services and materials they offer is required by a federal regulation that goes into effect today, 12 years after first being proposed. The regulation, which is being put into effect by the Federal Trade Commission, was long sought by consumer groups against the resistance of funeral homes.
“Oliver!” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 17 performances.
On Strawberry Sunday, former World Series hero Jerry Koosman is greeted warmly by the Mets’ faithful in his first start at Shea Stadium since 1978 when he faces his old team for the first time. Prior to the 6–2 victory over Philadelphia, fans are treated to strawberry sundaes provided by Carvel in honor of Darryl Strawberry, last season’s National League Rookie of the Year.
Born:
Hallie Jackson, American reporter and Sunday network anchor for the “NBC Nightly News”, in Yardley, Pennsylvania.
Dan Girardi, Canadian NHL defenseman (NHL All-Star, 2012; New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning), in Welland, Ontario, Canada.
Nikki Blue, WNBA guard (Washington Mystics, New York Liberty), in Bakersfield, California.
Billy Petrick, MLB pitcher (Chicago Cubs), in Kankakee, Illinois.
Cesar Carrillo, MLB pitcher (San Diego Padres), in Chicago, Illinois.
Taylor Cole, American actress (“The Event”, Hallmark’s “Ruby Herring Mysteries”), in Arlington, Texas.
Firass Dirani, Lebanese-Australian actor (“Power Rangers Mystic Force”), in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
History Diaries 