No early Reagan-Gorbachev talks will be held, the State Department indicated. The Administration said that even though it was pleased that Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, had agreed in principle to meet with President Reagan, “much serious work” had to be done before a summit conference could be arranged. Seeking to reduce expectations for an early Reagan-Gorbachev meeting, the State Department spokesman said that the United States believed that “a carefully prepared” summit meeting should be the goal of the two sides, but that much remained to be done in working out a worthwhile agenda. The stress on the need for the meeting to be well-prepared was in contrast with Mr. Reagan’s seeming readiness, when he started talk of a summit meeting last month, to meet Mr. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, as soon as such a meeting was feasible. The call for a “carefully prepared summit” was said to reflect the view of Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who has been opposed to the idea of a get- acquainted session.
Four U.S. senators canceled a trip to the Soviet Union when a staff aide was denied a visa because a report he wrote about Soviet intervention in Afghanistan angered Soviet officials. John Ritch, an aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who visited Afghanistan last year, cited reports of atrocities there. Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Maine) said the trip was canceled because “we cannot allow the Soviets to engage in manipulation of a Senate delegation.” The delegation was also to have included Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Delaware), Warren B. Rudman (R-New Hampshire) and Carl Levin (D-Michigan).
Soviet publishers altered a dictionary to change definitions of words such as capitalism and socialism. An official at the Oxford University Press said the publishing house had blundered in giving the Russians permission to make changes in a dictionary prepared for students learning English in the Soviet Union.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain declared today that a Soviet moratorium on the deployment of medium-range missiles in Europe was unacceptable because it would leave Moscow in a position of overwhelming superiority. Mrs. Thatcher, visiting Singapore on an Asian tour, said at a news conference that the moratorium “does not alter the position in any way.”
Eleven people went on trial in Varazdin, Yugoslavia today on charges of planting explosives and engaging in hostile propaganda to gain independence for the Yugoslav republic of Croatia. The indictment charges the principal defendant, Stjepan Deglin, 40 years old, with being a member of three Ustashi organizations in West Germany. The Croatian group called Ustashi, which has led a long struggle for Croatian independence, set up a separate Croatian state in World War II with support from Nazi Germany. Mr. Deglin is accused of smuggling into Yugoslavia explosive devices, weapons, anti-Communist books and hostile leaflets, the Tanyug press agency said. Mr. Deglin is also charged with teaching the other defendants how to plant explosive devices and spread propaganda. Mr. Deglin rejected the indictment, calling himself as a social democrat who favors a multiparty system and a Yugoslav confederation.
Despite leftist opposition, Israel is likely to accept an invitation from the United States to assist in research on space-based defenses against missiles, a government source said. The plan is favored by Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who wants to encourage economic recovery by shifting Israeli investment to high technology, the source said, adding that Cabinet approval may not be required because no formal accord is involved. The United States has asked 17 nations to join the program.
Renewed fighting in Lebanon broke out in Beirut, in the mountains east of the capital and in the southern port of Sidon. Overall, four people were reported killed and 10 wounded. In Sidon, Defense Minister Adel Osseiran and other Lebanese army officers, Christian and Muslim members of Parliament from the Sidon area and a representative each from the Shia Amal militia and the Christian Falangist Party attended a meeting to discuss ways of ending the fighting there. Fighting in the Sidon area between Christians and Muslims has claimed at least 67 lives in the last 20 days.
Syrian Premier Abdel-Raouf Kasm, acting on orders of President Hafez Assad, dismissed all but three members of his Cabinet. Retaining their posts were Defense Minister Mustafa Talas, Information Minister Yassin Rajjouh and Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh. The shake-up followed complaints by Assad of inefficiency in government operations.
Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar of the United Nations met with President Saddam Hussein of Iraq today to seek an end to the four-and- a-half-year Persian Gulf war. Mr. Perez de Cuellar conferred separately with President Hussein and Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz. On Sunday, he had met with Iranian leaders in Teheran as part of a 10-day tour of Persian Gulf countries. Iraq’s official press agency said Mr. Hussein told Mr. Perez de Cuellar that “Iraq is ready to sincerely and seriously cooperate in discussing practical solutions leading to a halt of the fighting and a comprehensive settlement to the conflict.” Iraq has insisted on either “comprehensive settlement or comprehensive war” with Iran. In military action, Iraq said its planes staged 108 bombing raids on Iranian troops. Iran did not immediately comment on the raids.
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is stepping up the Indian Government’s attempt to negotiate with Sikh leaders to avert a confrontation that many fear may occur next weekend. Sikh leaders have set April 13 as the date for a renewal of agitation if their demands are not met. There is concern that demonstrations and violence may resume in Punjab, the state on the Pakistani border where Sikhs predominate. A month ago, Mr. Gandhi, in a change of tactics, began making concessions to the Sikhs, freeing eight leaders held in prison since June and directing his aides to make contact with these and other Sikhs. The Sikhs have two sets of demands. First, they seek greater self-government in the Indian state of Punjab; second, they demand an end to what they call Indian Government repression. For example, they demand the release of thousands of prisoners accused of seditious activities and the lifting of a ban on certain Sikh groups.
India sought compensation for the more than 1,700 people killed and tens of thousands injured in the December 3 toxic leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal. India’s Government, in a suit filed in a Federal court in Manhattan, also sought punitive damages, setting forth a legal theory called “multinational enterprise liability,” asserting that a parent company is responsible for the actions of a subsidiary. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages “in an amount sufficient to deter Union Carbide and any other multinational corporation from the willful, malicious and wanton disregard of the rights and safety of the citizens of those countries in which they do business.” In addition, the complaint says the Indian Government seeks to recover damages for the cost of its emergency aid and relief – including medical treatment, food and rehabilitation – to the victims of the Bhopal disaster.
An Arizona congressman, after visiting the Hanoi prison where he was held for six years, said that the United States must “pressure the Vietnamese to render as full accounting as possible” on missing Americans. “I don’t know whether there’s anyone alive or not, and I don’t think we’ll ever resolve that issue until we get a much better accounting,” said Republican Rep. John McCain, a Navy pilot shot down in 1967. McCain also said he found the Vietnamese eager for better ties with the United States.
A civilian court convicted two reputed gangsters today of planning and carrying out the murder of a Chinese-American writer last year in California. They were sentenced to life in prison. The defendants, reputed leaders of the Bamboo Union, the country’s biggest crime syndicate, were tried by three judges in a Taipei district court for the killing of Henry Liu. Mr. Liu, who wrote a critical biography of President Chiang Ching-kuo, was shot three times in the garage of his home in Daly City, California, last October 15.
President Reagan calls the Presidents of Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela.
Brazilian President-elect Tancredo Neves, who is recovering from five abdominal operations in three weeks and the resulting complications, was in good condition today, the Government spokesman reported. The spokesman quoted doctors as saying Mr. Neves, 75 years old, was showing “continued improvement” in his recovery from infection and a lung inflammation. He was listed in critical condition last week, but medical bulletins since then have been optimistic. Mr. Neves had his first operation, for an intestinal inflammation, last month just hours before he was to be inaugurated as Brazil’s first civilian President after 21 years of military rule. Vice President Jose Sarney is the acting chief executive.
A powerful earthquake jolted central Chile for three minutes during the dinner hour, causing widespread panic, brief power blackouts, the collapse of at least one house and a fatal heart attack. The tremor was apparently an aftershock from a 7.7 quake March 3 that killed 177 people and left nearly a million homeless. The U.S. National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said the latest quake measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and was centered 50 miles west of Santiago.
Sudanese professional unions ended a five-day general strike that helped precipitate the overthrow of President Gaafar al-Nimeiry. Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency reported that the new Government of Gen. Siwar el-Dahab had freed 1,000 political prisoners and had arrested 350 of Mr. Nimeiry’s senior officials, including his brother. The agency also said 45,000 members of the Sudan’s unpopular and newly disbanded internal security force had surrendered their weapons.
The Sudan’s military leaders decided to oust President Nimeiry on Saturday to forestall a move by younger military officers who were plotting to purge the country’s leadership, United States officials said. One official said the Sudan’s senior military leaders felt their juniors would act if they did not.
The deputy commander of Liberia’s presidential guard was executed on a beach near the capital of Monrovia, allegedly for trying to kill Samuel K. Doe, the country’s ruler. Doe, who had many of the nation’s previous leaders executed on a Monrovia beach when he came to power in 1980, said he doomed Lieutenant Colonel Moses Flanzamaton because the officer machine-gunned his car at the gates of the presidential palace April 1. Doe freed four politicians held on suspicion of involvement with the officer.
A plan to cut 80,000 Federal jobs through attrition over the next three years was announced by Reagan Administration officials. They said the move would reduce the Federal work force by 4 percent. At the same time, major unions representing federal employees began a drive to counter the damage they say the Administration has done to their public image and economic welfare. Donald Devine, head of the Office of Personnel Management, said that in a morning Cabinet meeting led by Vice President Bush, officials gave final approval to a plan reached with Senate Republicans as part of the effort to reduce the budget deficit. The plan would freeze Federal pay for a year, provide a 2 percent cost-of- living adjustment in benefits to Federal civilian retirees and reduce the work force by 80,000. This represents a 4 percent cut, he said.
President Reagan goes horseback riding and does chores around the Ranch.
A third commercial screening test to find indirect evidence of the virus believed to cause AIDS was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The test, developed by Litton Bionetics, a division of Litton Industries Inc. of Beverly Hills, is similar to two others previously approved, and is designed to screen blood and other substances for antibodies to the suspected virus. Tests are being used to to screen donated blood because the causative agent of AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, appears to spread through intimate contact with bodily fluids, including blood.
Twenty-nine persons were dismissed as jury selection began in Providence, Rhode Island, for Claus von Bulow’s retrial on charges of twice trying to kill his wife. Superior Court Judge Corinne P. Grande dismissed them after determining that the expected lengthy trial would be too much of a hardship on them. Von Bulow, 58, was convicted in 1982 of trying to kill Martha (Sunny) von Bulow by injecting her with insulin in their Newport mansion. She has been in a coma since 1980. He was given a 30-year term, but the state Supreme Court overturned the conviction, saying that Von Bulow’s constitutional rights had been violated.
A slight drop in military enlistments was reported by the Pentagon after four years of increasingly successful recruiting. Also, the proportion of recruits who are high school graduates has slipped. Those trends have begun to generate calls for a return to the draft, which ended in 1973.
More than 1,000 angry farmers and their backers chanted “no sale” at a farm foreclosure auction in Plattsburg, Mo., after hearing a fiery speech by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. However, the farmers seemed to sense the futility of their protest and stood quietly by as 73-year-old Perry Wilson saw his home and 127 acres bid away by his banker.
A Farmers Home Administration county supervisor pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1 million from the agency, in what is believed to be the largest such theft in the FHA’s history. Roy Brake, 29, supervisor for Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling government funds before U.S. District Judge Lee West. Jim Johnson, 23, an Oklahoma City businessman, and William Sigl, 33, a Kingfisher farmer, also pleaded guilty to conspiring with Brake in the scheme.
The cost to hospitals of providing health care rose in 1984 by only 4.6% over the previous year, the smallest annual increase since 1963, the American Hospital Association reported. It cost the hospitals $125.7 billion to provide health care in 1984, compared with $120.2 billion in 1983, the AHA said. The flattened rate of increase was attributed to fewer admissions, an increase in outpatient visits and recent limits on government health insurance payments.
The federal recount of a disputed Congressional election in Indiana resumed today, with each candidate saying that the new tally may not settle the race. With results from eight of the 15 counties in the Eighth Congressional District, Frank McCloskey, the incumbent Democrat, has picked up 17 votes from Rick McIntyre, a Republican. Mr. McIntyre was the certified winner in last November’s election by 34 votes. In a recount he was 418 ahead.
Idaho labor leaders turned in nearly 61,000 verified signatures asking a referendum on the state’s new right-to-work law. The referendum will be included in the next election in November, 1986, state officials said. Unions gathered the names in about half the 60 days allowed. The drive’s quick success indicates that voters will reject the law, state AFL-CIO President Jim Kerns said. The Legislature in January enacted the law over the governor’s veto, making Idaho the 21st state with a statute banning union membership or compulsory payment of dues as a condition of employment.
A predominantly white police union asked a Federal judge today to force the city of Atlanta to promote police officers according to results of a recent test. City officials say they stopped using the test because it was racially discriminatory. The union, the Fraternal Order of Police, also asked Judge Charles A. Moye Jr. of the Federal District Court to find Mayor Andrew Young and the Public Safety Commissioner George Napper in contempt of court. The union contends city leaders have violated Judge Moye’s 1980 order prohibiting the use of race as a factor in promotions.
Wearing a beard and “riding a fine, euphoric cloud,” William Mathers returned to the United States after nine months’ imprisonment in Vietnam, where he was accused of spying. Mathers, 41, appeared thin but fit at his reunion with his parents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He was freed Thursday after his father paid a $10,000 fine. Mathers was arrested while sailing his 80-foot schooner from Singapore to Hong Kong.
Wildfires that stretched in a 25-mile line, consuming 92,500 acres of coastal brushlands and destroying 25 buildings, were “mostly contained,” a North Carolina forestry official said. The outbreak in three eastern North Carolina counties “still poses a threat to unburned adjacent areas,” a state Forest Service spokesman said. Meanwhile, damage from a week of fires across North Carolina climbed toward $5 million, officials said.
Tom Bradley is expected to win a fourth four-year term as Mayor of Los Angeles today. His chief opponent in the nation’s second-largest city is John Ferraro, a conservative Democrat and 19-year member of the City Council. After the nonpartisan primary, the big political question in California will be whether Mr. Bradley, a liberal Democrat, will run again for Governor.
A major marijuana arrest was announced by Federal officials. They said that Eligio Briceno, a former Cabinet member of the Central American country of Belize, had been seized in Miami by undercover agents and charged with plotting to import 5,000 pounds of marijuana into this country every month.
A move to restrict access to unclassified research papers being pressed by the Reagan Administration may be applied to the meetings of many scientific and engineering associations, according to Francis Sobieszczyk, a senior staff assistant in the Pentagon.
Amdahl releases UTS/V, 1st mainframe Unix.
“Leader of the Pack” opens at Ambassador Theater NYC for 120 performances.
Major League Baseball:
Opening Day.
At Fenway, 46-year-old Phil Niekro starts for the Yankees, the 2nd oldest pitcher ever to start an Opener: only Jack Quinn, for Brooklyn in 1931, was older at age 47. Boston chases Niekro after 4 innings and behind the pitching of Oil Can Boyd coasts to a 9–2 win. Niekro walks 4 in the 3rd inning, including two with the bases loaded, to lose his 7th Opener in a row (6 with Atlanta), the worst opening day record ever. Tony Armas, Dwight Evans, and Jim Rice stroke homers for Boston.
At the opener in Baltimore, Texas starter Charlie Hough is lifted in the 6th despite giving up no hits. Hough walked 4 in a row — 8 altogether — and catcher Don Slaught had allowed a run to score on a passed ball. Hough’s replacement Dave Rozema only allows 2 hits. Unfortunately, one of the hits is a 2-run home run in the 8th by Eddie Murray to snap a 2–2 tie. Don Aase is the winner.
Rowdiness by drunken baseball fans has prompted some major league teams to change their policies on liquor sales during ballgames. At Detroit’s Tiger Stadium, where drunken fans fought with the police after the team won the World Series last year, only low-alcohol was sold as the new season opened.
Texas Rangers 2, Baltimore Orioles 4
New York Yankees 2, Boston Red Sox 9
Montreal Expos 1, Cincinnati Reds 4
Cleveland Indians 4, Detroit Tigers 5
Toronto Blue Jays 1, Kansas City Royals 2
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1252.98 (-6.07)
Born:
Juan Abreu, Dominican MLB pitcher (Houston Astros), in San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic.
Matt Antonelli, MLB second baseman (San Diego Padres), in Peabody, Massachusetts.
Died:
J. Fred Coots, 87, American songwriter (“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”; “Love Letters In The Sand”).
History Diaries 