President Reagan sends off the U.S. negotiators to the U.S. – Soviet Union Negotiations on Nuclear and Space Arms. U.S. negotiators were authorized by President Reagan to explore an accord with the Soviet Union in which it could have an advantage in strategic missiles in return for allowing the United States to keep its advantage in long-range bombers. Mr. Reagan’s national security adviser, Robert C. McFarlane, who made the announcement, said he had never seen instructions “that provided any negotiators with greater latitude for serious give-and-take.” But Mr. McFarlane indicated that the flexibility lay primarily in seeking curbs in two of the three sets of negotiations that will begin next week — on strategic weapons and on medium-range nuclear forces. In the third area, covering the Administration’s plans for research into strategic defensive weapons, popularly known as “Star Wars,” Mr. McFarlane said the instructions did not permit negotiation of any curbs.
The East German authorities began an unusual propaganda campaign this week that appears to be aimed at discouraging a new wave of applications from people seeking to live in West Germany. The campaign opened on Wednesday in Neues Deutschland, the Communist Party daily, with a banner headline on page three asserting that 20,000 East Germans who had gone to West Germany wanted to return home. On the full page below, the newspaper listed the names of 80 individuals and families, giving ages, occupations and where they lived in West Germany, with terse summaries of their reasons for wanting to return.
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower quickly left a Spanish port after Shiite Muslim militants threatened Americans in Lebanon, United States officials said. A State Department spokesman, Edward P. Djerejian, said today, “Let me make it very clear that embassy personnel are not being evacuated from Lebanon.” An Administration official said the Government would consider it “comforting” to have an aircraft carrier nearby, “should the situation deterioriate.”
A car-bomb killed at least 62 people in a densely populated Shiite Muslim suburb of Beirut, and wounded 200, Lebanese officials said. The blast destroyed a five-story building near the residence of a prominent Shiite clergyman, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of the Party of God, a fundamentalist group. The organization proclaims allegiance to the religious leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and his pan-Islamic revolution. It was the third car-bomb explosion in the Shiite suburbs of Beirut in as many weeks.
After emerging with something of a moral victory from his libel suit against TIME magazine, Ariel Sharon has slipped quietly back into Israeli politics — so quietly that some Israelis may not even know he is back. Mr. Sharon seems be keeping a low profile for now partly to immerse himself in his job as Minister of Industry and Commerce and partly because he is simply much more relaxed. It was clear from two recent interviews with Mr. Sharon — at his Jerusalem office and at his 1,000-acre ranch in the verdant northern Negev — that he got something off his chest in his trial against Time Inc. that had been bothering him for several years. He now seems more at ease than at any time since September 1982, when Phalangist militiamen, acting while the Israeli Army was in Beirut, entered the nearby Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila and killed hundreds of civilians. The massacre occurred shortly after Bashir Gemayel, the Phalangist leader and Lebanon’s President-elect, was assassinated in a bomb explosion.
The Israeli Army denied today a report by a southern Lebanese doctor that the army had taken an unconscious man from a hospital operating room and had raided a vocational school. The military spokesman’s office issued a lengthy communique saying it was “appalled by malicious and ludicrous allegations” by Dr. Ahmed Mroue, director of the Jebel Amel Hospital in the port of Tyre. On March 1 the doctor said in an interview with Reuters that Israeli troops took 15 patients from hospital beds on one occasion, removed a wounded man from the operating room and raided a vocational school outside Tyre.
Iran said Iraqi warplanes raided cities and towns in western Iran today, killing or wounding 400 people in the city of Piranshahr alone. Both sides reported that Iranian forces had shelled Basra, a southern Iraqi port and provincial capital. The fighting was the heaviest reported in five days of increased border clashes. The two countries have been at war since September 1980. A military communique broadcast by the Baghdad radio said Iraq made 242 bombing raids today against Iranian “forces, positions and equipment” across the 700-mile front, “scoring direct and effective hits.” It said all its planes had returned safely. Iraq said Iran shelled Basra during the day, but it gave no account of casualties or damage. The Baghdad communique said Iraqi guns had hit Iranian border units, killing seven soldiers and destroying infantry bunkers, ammunition dumps and other military targets. Neither side’s claims could be confirmed independently.
India is preparing to file a suit in the United States on behalf of all the victims of the gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal last December, according to an Indian Government official. The Indian Consulate in New York said that a Minneapolis law firm, Robins, Zelle, Larson & Kaplan, had been “retained by the Indian Government to file a complaint.” The consulate said, however, that the Government had not reached a final decision about filing suit. Talmiz Ahmed, a spokesman for the consulate, indicated that the Indian Government had been planning to file suit within the next few days in order to be included in a pretrial hearing scheduled for Tuesday on dozens of Bhopal lawsuits.
For a few months, a glow of near-invincibility seemed to surround Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. His promises to revamp industry, eliminate corruption and forge a new national unity stirred hope even among the cynical in India. But this week, the results of the latest parliamentary election brought India back to some familiar realities. Instead of the 80 percent electoral sweep he scored in December, Mr. Gandhi and the Congress (I) Party won 57 percent of the seats at stake in state legislative elections that were held in 11 of India’s 21 states and one union territory. More sobering was the fact that the party failed to make inroads in the opposition areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where two charismatic Chief Ministers are now in an improved position to challenge Mr. Gandhi. The party also fell sharply behind its 1980 showing in the heavily industrial state of Maharashtra and even in Uttar Pradesh, in the Hindi- speaking heartland that has long been its power base.
Cambodian guerrillas defending their last major base on the Thai border struggled today to hold off advancing Vietnamese troops, according to the chief of Thailand’s armed forces. At the same time, Thai and Vietnamese forces continued to fight over control of three hills inside Thailand near the border with Cambodia. Vietnam has tried to take the hills to further its drive on the Cambodian resistance base called Tatum. Tatum is the name of the nearest Thai village, a few miles over the border.
Deng Xiaoping, China’s top leader, said in remarks made public today that action should be taken to impress on the people of China that Communism remains the country’s ultimate goal despite the Government’s espousal of policies permitting private enterprise and foreign investment. In a speech that appeared to mark a shift of emphasis from others he has made in recent months Mr. Deng said that while the country would “hold firmly” to the more flexible economic policies, it had to be made clear that their purpose was not to revive capitalism but to enhance socialism and its “ultimate goal of attaining Communism.”
Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke said today that there was no possibility that his Government would adopt the antinuclear stance that led New Zealand to deny visiting privileges to American warships. Mr. Hawke said that he would step down as Prime Minister rather than preside over a Government that opposed either of the two elements he considers “indispensible” to Australia’s alliance with the United States. He said these are port entry and the three military bases in Australia that are run jointly by the two countries. “I would simply not be Prime Minister of this country under those circumstances or leader of a party that went to that position,” Mr. Hawke declared.
Bolivia was paralyzed by a general strike today that was called to protest tough economic policies imposed to fight the country’s high inflation rate. If the strike continues, the Government warned, the military may seize power in Bolivia again. The Bolivian Labor Confederation called the walkout in support of tin miners already on strike for more pay, price controls, nationalizations and the resignation of President Hernan Siles Zuazo. Its effects stretch across the social and economic fabric — Government and private businesses, public transportation, schools, airlines, hospitals and long-distance communications. Information Minister Mario Rueda Pena said the strike and social unrest could set off a coup against Mr. Siles Zuazo’s two-year-old elected Government. “This would mean turning the Government over to right-wing forces who will impose their will with force,” he said. “The losers will be the workers.”
Uruguay’s parliament approved a bill today that would release 267 political prisoners and criminals confined by the former military government on charges ranging from distributing pamphlets to assassination. The bill was passed by the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives exactly a week after the inauguration of President Julio Maria Sanguinetti, Uruguay’s first civilian president in 11½ years. The bill must be signed by Mr. Sanguinetti before becoming law. The legislation would release all the country’s 206 political prisoners condemned by military courts and 61 others accused of homicide, political party sources said. The prisoners include urban guerrillas, former students accused of distributing pamphlets when political activity was banned after the 1973 coup, and a former Communist Party congressman.
Soviet trucks driven by Ethiopian soldiers carried American grain into this country’s main storage and transshipment center today. It was the first time that Ethiopia’s military had been directly involved in the famine relief effort, according to Tafari Wassen, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. Mr. Tafari said the involvement of the army was unrelated to recent statements by Vice President Bush and other American officials criticizing the Ethiopian Government for not using troops and military vehicles to save the lives of starving Ethiopians. “Relief is part of the military’s responsibility too,” said Mr. Tafari. “Priority is being given to the food effort and when there are bottlenecks the military can be called upon to help.” The $13 million relief installation at Nazareth, about 400 miles southwest of Ethiopia’s main port at Assab, is the country’s largest warehousing and transshipment center, capable of holding up to 100,000 metric tons of grain.
Ghana’s leader, Lieutenant Jerry J. Rawlings, today ordered the release of 202 political prisoners, including two former Government ministers, to mark independence day. The official Ghana News Agency named the former ministers as John S. Nabila, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Samuel K. Riley-Poku, Minister of Defense.
The Senate Budget Committee was criticized by the White House, which said the panel was “marching in the wrong direction” on cutting the Federal budget deficit. The White House spokesman said President Reagan “is prepared to go to the people in order to carry our message forward.” The comments came after the Republican-controlled committee moved this week to cut Mr. Reagan’s 1986 military budget by almost $11 billion and refused to endorse many of his nonmilitary spending cuts and program eliminations. By Thursday night, when the committee recessed until next week, Democrats and several Republicans on the committee were moving toward approving an across-the-board freeze on spending that would fall short of Senate Republican goals for reducing the budget deficit. While about $11.3 billion in projected nonmilitary spending was cut, the committee rejected about $21.1 billion of further reductions offered by its chairman, Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico.
President Reagan underwent a complete battery of medical tests today, including a checkup on a benign colon growth discovered last year. Afterward he made a thumbs-up sign and said he felt “just fine.”
President Reagan travels to Camp David for the weekend.
A falling metal bucket smashed into the top of the space shuttle Discovery today, leaving gashes that forced a delay of its next flight, space agency officials said. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it was too early to assess the damage, but Charles Redmond, a NASA spokesman, said the flight would be delayed at least until early April. Launching had been planned for March 28 or 29.
The man who was given three hearts in three days in marathon surgery at University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, died. The death of Thomas Creighton, 33 years old, was caused by a complication called shock lung and heart failure, Dr. Jack C. Copeland, leader of the surgical team at the University Medical Center, said at a news conference. Mr. Creighton’s death followed one of the most extraordinary series of operations in the annals of medicine. One of those operations, the implantation of a mechanical heart that was untested in humans, drew both harsh criticism and warm praise. Officials of the Food and Drug Administration, which has jurisdiction over experiments with artificial devices, immediately criticized Dr. Copeland for implanting the mechanical heart without agency approval.
Some border crossings were opened by the Customs Service, which had abruptly closed nine crossings along the Mexican-United States border from Texas to California last Saturday, saying that drug traffickers had threatened to kidnap or harm customs employees. The closings threatened hardship for American border towns, whose livelihood depends on business from Mexicans. Carlos Silva had almost no customers today at the Gila Auto Supply. Ray Ewing, a retired copper miner, could not cross the border to get his usual $2 haircut in neighboring Naco in the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Rev. John Ellitson had to cancel his Thursday night prayer meeting at the Mexican Baptist Church over the border. These are some of the small victims of the latest round of tension along the porous United States-Mexico line. Last Saturday night the United States Customs Service abruptly shut down nine small and remote border crossings from Texas to California, saying drug traffickers had threatened to kidnap or harm customs workers. Six crossings were opened under pressure from local officials.
Failure to report cash transfers to foreign banks was disclosed by the Shawmut Bank of Boston, the third largest bank in Massachusetts. The bank said it discovered the errors last month after the Bank of Boston pleaded guilty to failing to report $1.2 billion in cash transfers with Swiss banks and was fined $500,000. Shawmut said it had neglected to report $162 million in cash transfers since 1980 with seven foreign banks. The statement said 27 customers, including schools, churches, hospitals, airlines and commercial companies, had been improperly placed on the bank’s list of concerns exempted from the reporting rules. The bank would not identify them except to say they were longtime clients.
The unemployment rate edged down insignificantly in February and overall employment rose despite a large decline in manufacturing jobs and hours, the Labor Department reported. The 7.2 percent rate, including both the civilian work force and the armed forces, was a tenth of a percentage point lower than in January. The department said the change was too small to be significant.
School officials in one Mississippi county dismissed 156 teachers today for refusing to return to work in the first showdown between teachers and officials in a 12-day strike. The strike in defiance of a court order has idled some 9,300 teachers and nearly 174,000 students in one-third of Mississippi’s 154 districts. Thomas Blakeney, schools superintendent in Marion County, said 156 teachers were declared in breach of contract and dismissed. He said nine teachers showed up for work and 17 called in sick or on personal leave. School officials mailed all the teachers certified letters Tuesday telling them to show up for a teacher “work day” or be considered to have breached their contracts. Teachers had voted Thursday night to continue the strike. Mississippi teachers, the lowest-paid in the nation, average less than $16,000 a year and are seeking a $7,000 raise over two years. A joint legislative committee appointed to work out a compromise on a teacher pay bill met again without reaching a solution.
“We’re very emergency, emergency!” radioed the China Airlines crewman. He said the Boeing 747 airliner, which had been cruising normally at 41,000 feet, had just plunged to 10,000 feet. “Oh, we can’t control the airplane!” the Taiwanese pilot radioed a moment later, according to a transcript made public today of the messages exchanged in the February 19 crisis. An air traffic controller in Oakland, California, advised the crew to hold their altitude if possible, then climb to 20,000 feet and turn to a southeast heading. The plane was then about 300 miles northwest of San Francisco on a flight from Taipei to Los Angeles.
Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards pleaded not guilty today to federal charges of racketeering, mail fraud and wire fraud. The Governor, a Democrat, was indicted last week with six colleagues in connection with the state’s approval of hospitals and nursing homes, qualifying the medical facilities for federal payments. Mr. Edwards has acknowledged receiving almost $2 million for work he did in behalf of the medical facilities while he was in private law practice from 1980 to 1984, between his second and third terms as Governor. Later, as Governor, Mr. Edwards exempted those five facilities and three others from a state moratorium on new hospitals and nursing homes.
A United States Attorney today said that the Mutual Bank of Boston had violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by putting pressure on its officers to contribute to the bank’s political action committee. The bank solicited contributions for Thriftpac, the national political action committee of the savings bank industry, without informing the employees of their right to refuse, William Weld, United States Attorney for Massachusetts, said in a criminal complaint filed today. He said the election act required such notification. The bank has agreed to plead guilty to the charge under a plea-bargain agreement filed with United States Magistrate Lawrence P. Cohen, Federal authorities and bank officials said today. Mr. Weld’s office has recommended a $17,000 fine for the charge, which will be heard by Mr. Cohen on Monday.
The presidents of Transport Workers Union locals on strike against Pan American World Airways agreed yesterday to meet together Sunday to seek a way to restart negotiations with the company, according to union leaders. They are divided on strategy, however. There have been no negotiations since the strike began February 28, disrupting a major portion of the airline’s operations. The union represents 5,800 workers, such as baggage handlers and food service workers.
A judge today sentenced former Nebraska State Attorney General Paul Douglas to three years of probation for perjury and ordered him to perform 1,500 hours of volunteer work and pay a $25,000 fine. “It appears you somehow felt that the rules did not or should not apply to you,” Judge Jeffre Cheuvront of Lancaster County District Court told Mr. Douglas. Mr. Douglas told reporters, “I’m quite confident the Nebraska Supreme Court will overturn that decision. If not, I’ll take it to the Federal courts.” Mr. Douglas was convicted December 14 on a charge that he perjured himself before a special legislative committee investigating the collapse of the Commonwealth Savings Company of Lincoln, an industrial loan and investment company.
A father who said the government hid his two children from him for almost two years while their mother was being protected as a federal witness has won a $100,000 settlement from the government, according to court papers. It is the largest settlement yet in a number of similar suits against the Federal Witness Protection Program, said Herbert Kaiser, the lawyer for the father, Robert Salmeron. The program protects witnesses who may be in danger. In the settlement, the Government acknowledged no wrongdoing but agreed to pay $95,000 to Mr. Salmeron and $2,500 each to the children, Robert, 15 years old, and Melissa, 14. The agreement was approved February 19 by Federal District Judge Alfonso Zirpoli but remained sealed until Thursday. Mr. Salmeron’s former wife had agreed to testify at a racketeering trial of members of the Hells Angels.
Lawrence W. Hughes, 61 years old and black, had believed it would happen, but never in his lifetime. Baltimore, a city where Jim Crow once reigned, was about to name its courthouse for a black man. “I was overseas for three years and I’ve been on the force for 30, so I’ve seen a lot,” Mr. Hughes, a deputy in the Baltimore Sheriff’s Department, said as he watched the dignitaries file into rededication ceremonies for what was to be called the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse. “But I never expected to see this. I guess all that suffering, all that humiliation, had to lead to something better.”
The flooding Illinois River, which has displaced at least 1,700 people and killed four people, dropped slightly here today, giving riverfront towns the first hope in two weeks that the worst may be over. The river peaked Thursday at 28.4 feet, its third-highest recorded level, then fell 1.2 inches by noon today, the Army Corps of Engineers said. Residents who had spent days piling sandbags voiced relief, but health officials warned against possible disease caused by polluted river water. The Army engineers warned that whatever happened, the river, swollen by rain and melting snow, would remain above its 18-foot flood stage at Peoria for at least two months. “It takes a long time for it to drop,” a corps spokesman said. Four men drowned Wednesday when they were trapped in a vehicle after it flipped over while they were driving on a levy near Spring Lake. Their bodies were not found until Thursday.
The Ice Dancing event at the Figure Skating World Championship at Tokyo is won by Natalya Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin (USSR).
Dave Stieb, the ace of the Toronto staff for the past 5 seasons, signs an 11-year contract that could be worth up to $25 million with deferred payments and incentives.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1269.66 (-1.87)
Born:
Mike McGlynn, NFL guard (Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints), in Austintown, Ohio.
Ewa Sonnet [Beata Kornelia Dąbrowska], Polish model and pop singer, in Rybnik, Poland.
Died:
Edward Andrews, 70, American actor (“Tea & Sympathy”, “Glass Bottom Boat”), of a heart attack.
Thomas Creighton, 33, U.S. heart patient (3 implants in 46 hrs).
History Diaries 