After seeming for years to avoid any direct contact with Soviet leaders, President Reagan now appears determined to hold some sort of meeting with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, even if it produces no tangible results. His interest in meeting the Kremlin chief has been evolving over the last year, aides say, ever since he decided in January 1984 to pursue a new policy of less confrontation with the Soviet Union. Indeed, Mr. Reagan, under pressure in his first term to ease tensions with the Russians, once publicly suggested a meeting in New York with the ailing Leonid I. Brezhnev in 1982. But that was not taken seriously at the time.
As recently as last month, Mr. Reagan turned down the opportunity to meet with Mr. Gorbachev at the time of Konstantin U. Chernenko’s funeral, on the ground that nothing could be accomplished in such a brief visit. Some Administration officials say that Mr. Reagan wants, in his last years as President, to make his mark in history by achieving significant arms-control accords with the Russians and that, with a new leader in Moscow, there is a fresh opportunity to do so. Others add that having got his military rebuilding program off the ground, he feels he can negotiate with the Russians from a position of strength.
The Soviet Ambassador to the United States said today that it was “high time” for a comprehensive ban on the testing of nuclear weapons. The Ambassador, Anatoly F. Dobrynin, said the Soviet Government had repeatedly asked the Reagan Administration in recent years to resume negotiations on such a ban. But the answer, he said, had been “no, no, no.” Mr. Dobrynin, addressing a conference on arms control at Emory University here, said Moscow would be ready to accept a treaty banning some nuclear tests within two months after Senate ratification of pacts negotiated in the early 1970’s. Ratification of the so-called threshhold test bans would be a “big stimulus” for the arms talks under way in Geneva, he said.
Talks on liberalizing trade were agreed on by the United States and its industrial allies at a meeting of finance and trade ministers in Paris. The agreement was unanimous and most of the participants said they wanted to see the new round of negotiations started early next year. But France was able to prevent the 24 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from formally setting 1986 as their target for starting the talks, as the Reagan Administration had sought. France has been insisting that the talks be tied to an agreement to stabilize the value of the dollar.
An explosion in a Madrid restaurant killed 18 people and injured 82, including some Americans, officials said. They said the explosion at the restaurant, El Descanso, in suburban Madrid near a United States air base might have been caused by a bomb. The blast caused the collapse of the three-story building housing the restaurant. A Madrid radio station and two newspapers in the Basque provinces of northern Spain said they had received calls from the Basque separatist guerrilla group E.T.A. taking responsibility for the blast, but the police said they could not confirm the assertions. The Spanish national radio said it had received unconfirmed reports that 2 of the dead and 12 of the injured were Americans from the nearby United States air base at Torrejon de Ardoz, one of four military bases in Spain at which some 12,000 American service personnel are stationed. It was later determined that no Americans died; 15 were injured. All of the dead were Spanish citizens.
A visit to a German war cemetery planned by President Reagan next month is under review, the White House said. The American Legion and other veterans’ groups joined Jewish organizations in protesting Mr. Reagan’s proposed visit to the World War II cemetery, which was announced Thursday. Mr. Reagan has no similar plans to visit an Allied war cemetery when he goes to Europe next month. What especially stirred anger about the announcement of the visit was that it followed Mr. Reagan’s decision several weeks ago not to visit the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau.
Pope John Paul II, speaking a month before important local elections in Italy, has urged this country’s Roman Catholics to stand united politically so as to serve “the supreme good of the nation.” The Pope’s comments were widely interpreted as offering tacit assistance to the long-dominant Christian Democratic Party.
Albania today rejected Soviet condolences on the death of the Albanian leader, Enver Hoxha, and refused to let any foreigners attend his funeral. A spokesman for the Albanian Embassy in Vienna said about a Soviet telegram of condolences: “The message was sent back as unacceptable. We consider the Soviet Union a superpower that endangers the freedom of our people. We’ll have nothing to do with them.” The two Communist countries have been at odds since 1961. Albania also said it would not invite foreign delegates to Mr. Hoxha’s funeral on Monday. The Albanian leader died Thursday at the age of 76. The Albanian press agency, in a dispatch received in Vienna, quoted the funeral commission as saying, “The presence of foreign state delegations on such occasions is not compatible with the practice of our state.”
A 51-year stay in the Soviet Union ended when Bernard Lamport left to return to what he likes to call the old country, New York City. Mr. Lamport, who was child when his parents brought him to the Soviet Union to escape the Depression, left the Soviet Union with his wife, three daughters and his 82-year-old mother-in-law after a five-year wait for exit visas. “The most important thing for me now is to find for myself a feeling of belonging,” Mr. Lamport said.
Sweden gave up its search for a trespassing submarine today after a 13-hour operation around Karlshamn Harbor found no trace of an intruder. Hans Wessberg, spokesman for the national defense staff, said a later evaluation of the sonar contact that touched off the search indicated there may not have been a submarine at all. The serach took place on the southeast coast about 18 miles from the Karlskrona archipelago, where a major hunt was undertaken a year ago after foreign submarines were spotted. No submarines were ever trapped.
Sikh leaders announced tonight that they would give the Government until June 1 to respond to the last of their demands. The Sikhs said they had decided to postpone a confrontation with the Government as a response to its decision to meet three of seven demands. “We give the Government time until June 1 to decide on the remaining demands,” said a spokesman for the Akali Dal, the principal Sikh opposition party. “Otherwise, we shall be forced to take the next step.”
At least 18 people were killed today in two clashes in the southern Philippines, military and local officials said. Col. Orlando Soriano, the army district commander, said at least 10 rebels and 2 militiamen were killed in a skirmish in Alegria in Cotabato Province. In Zamboanga Province, about 200 miles northwest of General Santos, four suspected Communist rebels, a policeman and a militiaman were reported killed after guerrillas raided a town hall.
Central American countries agreed to establish a commission to monitor an accord being negotiated on reducing arms in the region, an international group of mediators announced. In a communique after two days of meetings, the group described the agreement on a commission as a “notable advance in the negotiation” of a regional treaty by the five countries — Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The arms reduction accord would be a major part of that treaty. The agreement tonight gave new life to the two-year-old effort to find a peaceful solution to the turmoil in Central America. The effort, which had been stalled for six months, is being led by the Contadora group — Mexico, Venezuela, Panama and Colombia.
Starting Monday, the battle in Congress for and against renewed aid to the Nicaraguan rebels is expected to reach full pitch. Congress itself assured that campaigning by both sides would be brief but intense when it imposed a deadline – the end of April – for a final vote on President Reagan’s request for $14 million in assistance for the rebels. On Monday, Mr. Reagan and members of the House and Senate return to work in Washington after Easter vacations, and that night Mr. Reagan is to open the White House campaign with a speech to a group called the Nicaraguan Refugee Fund.
A political crisis has erupted in the Central American nation of Guatemala, forcing President Oscar Mejia Victores to cancel a state visit to the Vatican and the Middle East so he can deal with the situation. In the face of growing protests against the harsh economic measures he imposed this week, the President announced today that all the measures would be suspended. At the same time, he dismissed Finance Minister Leonardo Figueroa Villate.
Doctors were increasingly doubtful about the chances for recovery of Brazil’s President-elect, Tancredo Neves, today, after he underwent another emergency abdominal operation. A government spokesman said doctors had removed three abscesses close to Mr. Neves’s kidneys in an all-night operation, his seventh in 29 days. He added that Mr. Neves’s lung and kidney functions were now artificially sustained and that his stomach wall had been only partly closed to allow for possible new operations. The illness, which prevented Mr. Neves, 75 years old, from being sworn in as President on March 15, has moved from an intestinal ailment to an unrelenting infection that entered the bloodstream and provoked abscesses, which doctors fought with surgery, in different parts of his abdomen. The condition, doctors said, often cannot be cured. After the operation today, Vice President Jose Sarney, the Acting President, canceled his trip to the northeast of the country, where rains and floods have caused extensive damage in recent days. Flooding has forced 350,000 people to flee their homes.
Representatives of major unions and political parties in Sudan held a third day of closed-door negotiations with the country’s new military leaders, Sudanese officials said today. The talks were said to be concentrating on formation of an interim cabinet and the length of the transition to civilian rule. Early today, a spokesman for the Alliance of Forces for National Salvation, a 14-member civilian coalition of labor groups and political parties, said the ruling Military Council had accepted the alliance’s demand that the changeover to civilian rule be no longer than one year and that the cabinet consist of civilians except for the Defense Minister.
Two South African blacks were shot and killed by the police in separate incidents today, the day before a mass funeral for 19 people slain when the police fired into a crowd of black marchers last month. Police headquarters in Pretoria reported scattered rioting Thursday night and today in several black townships of the eastern Cape Province. A black policeman fired on a crowd stoning his house in the township of Kwazakele near Port Elizabeth, killing a 26-year-old black man, a police spokesman reported. In Veeplaas, also near Port Elizabeth, a 20-year-old black man was killed when the police fired shotguns at a crowd attacking a police car, the spokesman said. Police and army patrols were increased around the Kwanobuhle black township near Uitenhage, where the mass funeral is to be held Saturday, and outside other Cape townships.
The United States aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and an Ecuadorean tanker collided off Cuba last night, and the carrier was significantly damaged in its bow area, the Navy said today. In addition to bow damage, the 52,500-ton Coral Sea also sustained damage to some of its communications and radar equipment.
Space shuttle Discovery rocketed off into orbit on a five-day mission to deliver two satellites, test the medical effects of weightlessness and conduct experiments that could lead to potent new drugs. The crew of seven included Senator Jake Garn, Republican of Utah. He is chairman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s budget. The astronauts released a Canadian communications satellite early this evening and plan to deploy a Navy satellite Saturday. The Canadian satellite, Anik C-1, was sent on its course toward a higher equatorial orbit. The mission is commanded by Colonel Karol J. Bobko of the Air Force, who is making his second shuttle journey.
President Reagan goes horseback riding and does chores around the Ranch.
President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, paid $147,826 in Federal income taxes last year, the White House announced today. The amount represents 34 percent of their total earnings. The President and Mrs. Reagan reported $440,657 in total income, including $200,000 in his Federal salary and $115,608 in interest from various sources.
The White House assured Congress today that a Government-wide program to monitor long-distance telephone calls of Federal employees would not be used to stifle political dissent. Joseph R. Wright Jr., deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to two Congressmen that the review of long-distance calls “is being carefully planned to insure that the necessary precautions are taken against unwarranted disclosures or invasions of privacy.” The legislators were Representatives Don Edwards, Democrat of California, and Patricia Schroeder, Democrat of Colorado. Mr. Edwards is the chairman of House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights and Mrs. Schroeder is the chairman of House Post Office Subcommittee on Civil Service.
The chairman of the House Labor Committee has asked for an inquiry into whether the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration violated the law when he participated in agency regulatory matters affecting companies in which he owns stock. Representative Augustus F. Hawkins, Democrat of California, raised the matter with Charles A. Bowsher, the Comptroller General, in an April 3 letter by Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins said he was forwarding “an unsolicited letter” that made “various allegations” about the head of the occupational safety office, Robert A. Rowland. “I have no personal knowledge of the validity of these charges,” Mr. Hawkins wrote.
Gary Dotson was sent back to prison in Joliet, Illinois, after being briefly freed on bond, to continue his sentence for a rape his accuser now says never occurred. Public outcry followed the refusal of a Chicago judge to overturn Mr. Dotson’s 1979 conviction for rape. but legal scholars were divided on the judge’s decision to reject recanted testimony. Mr. Dotson, who was briefly freed on bond after Mrs. Webb came forward, was put in the hospital of the prison in Joliet, Illinois, according to Nick Howell, a state corrections spokesman. Mr. Howell said Mr. Dotson was “distraught” and would stay in the hospital for the weekend because “this way, he has easy access to psychiatrists.” Mrs. Webb said today that she would be willing to stand trial for perjury if that would mean Mr. Dotson’s release. “If a jury could hear the testimony, read the transcript, hear my true story now,” she said, “I feel confident they would believe the truth.”
Rhode Island has no legal power to force Claus von Bülow’s former mistress to return to testify at his retrial for the attempted murder of his wife, the State Attorney General said today. Attorney General Arlene Violet also said she was confident that prosecutors would be able to use taped testimony and transcripts of Miss Isles’s appearance on the witness stand at Mr. von Bülow’s first trial in 1982. The fifth day of jury selection resumed with Judge Corinne Grande issuing a stiff warning to four prospective jurors who read a newspaper in the jury room while waiting to be questioned about the case. Jurors convicted Mr. von Bülow, 58 years old, in 1982 of trying to kill his wife, Martha (Sunny) von Bülow, with insulin shots at their Newport mansion. Mrs. von Bülow remains in a coma at a New York City hospital. The verdict was later overturned by the state Supreme Court.
A fire that has burned nearly 4,000 acres of a state game preserve broke through containment lines today while other blazes around North Carolina abated, leaving behind damage estimated at $54 million, officials said. The blaze in Pender County in the southern part of the state began Thursday at the Holly Shelter game management area and spread to land owned by the International Paper Company. Meanwhile, blazes that burned some 95,000 acres in Washington, Hyde and Tyrrell counties in the eastern part of the state had abated, officials said.
A New Jersey waste disposal concern, its top two officers and three other employees were indicted today on 17 counts each in connection with the fatal explosions December 20 at the Akron Recycle Energy System plant. Three plant workers were killed in the explosions and seven were injured. Charged by a Summit County grand jury with involuntary manslaughter were S.&W. Waste Inc. of Kearny, New Jersey, William Moscatello, Harry Moscatello, Robert Chitren, Victor Skirtun and Freddie Lee Jones. The Moscatellos are the company’s two top officers. Investigators believe that a sawdust-oil mixture, tainted with paint wastes that included explosive chemicals, was dumped at the plant shortly before the explosions. The paint wastes were not authorized to be dumped at the plant.
Citrus canker was confirmed today at an 18-acre nursery, the first discovery of the disease this year, while agriculture workers in Miami hung insect traps to combat a new infestation of the Mediterranean fruit fly. All 840,000 citrus trees at the nursery, Hillsboro Wholesale Nurseries in Valrico, and an adjacent one, Pleasant View Nursery, which had received some plants from Hillsboro Wholesale, must be destroyed. There is no known cure for citrus canker. Meanwhile, agriculture workers in Miami continued hanging insect traps in citrus trees and prepared for aerial spraying of the pesticide Malathion in two areas in northern Dade County Monday to wipe out a new infestation of Mediterranean fruit flies. Two male fruit flies were discovered in a trap near Miami Wednesday.
The names of more than 300 Vietnam veterans who died outside the official combat zone will be carved into the glossy black marble of the Vietnam Memorial, officials said today. “These veterans have been done an injustice,” said Senator Don Nickles, Republican of Oklahoma, who is behind the move. “Just because of an arbitrary line, they’re not on the memorial.”
A device that can track stolen cars, trucks and boats has successfully completed 550 tests conducted in the last four months by the Massachusetts State Police. Police officials say the transmitting device has led to the hidden, “stolen” car every time. The electronic transmitter is the invention of William R. Reagan, of Lynnfield, Massachusetts.
People in the United States view newspapers with a contradictory mixture of faith and distrust, according to a study of newspaper credibility made public today at the annual meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. For instance, although the study found that newspapers had high credibility with only 32 percent of the people polled, 84 percent said they had some or great repect for newspapers and 76 percent said they thought the “press helps keep public officials honest.” The study “had both good news and bad news,” said Katherine Fanning, editor of The Christian Science Monitor, treasurer of the society, which includes editors from most of the nation’s daily newspapers and for whom the study was prepared. “It points us in the direction we need to go, like being willing to admit we’re wrong and print corrections.”
Major League Baseball:
Mike Davis has 4 hits, including 2 doubles and a homer, and drives in 5 runs as Oakland does all its scoring in the last 5 innings to beat the Angels, 14–6. Dick Schofield hits a 9th inning grand slam for the Haloes to make it respectable. Starters Tommy John (0–1) and Don Sutton (1–0) each allow 2 earned runs.
Bill Schroeder has a big day for the Brewers, clubbing a grand slam, off Frank Tanana, and driving in 6 runs as Milwaukee whips the host Rangers, 11–6.
For a change, they didn’t need extra innings to do it. But the Mets won their third straight squeaker of the season last night when they edged the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0, behind the three-hit pitching of Bruce Berenyi and Doug Sisk and another home run by the new star of the cast, Gary Carter. It was the second time in three games with the Mets that Carter cleared the fence in Shea Stadium with a game-winning shot, and the third time that he figured in the winning rally.
San Diego Padres 7, Atlanta Braves 3
Toronto Blue Jays 2, Baltimore Orioles 7
Montreal Expos 5, Chicago Cubs 1
Philadelphia Phillies 3, Houston Astros 8
San Francisco Giants 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 1
Cincinnati Reds 0, New York Mets 1
California Angels 6, Oakland Athletics 15
St. Louis Cardinals 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 6
Minnesota Twins 1, Seattle Mariners 2
Milwaukee Brewers 11, Texas Rangers 6
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1265.68 (+1.99)
Born:
Ted Ginn Jr., NFL wide receiver and punt and kick returner (Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears), in Cleveland, Ohio.
Brennan Boesch, MLB outfielder (Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Cincinnati Reds), in Santa Monica, California.
Adonis García, Cuban MLB third baseman and outfielder (Atlanta Braves), in Ciego de Avila, Cuba.
Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer (Hangry & Angry), in Miyoshi, Saitama, Japan.
Jeísa Chiminazzo, Brazilian supermodel (IMG Models), in Muçum, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Olga Seryabkina, Russian singer and songwriter (Serebro), in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
History Diaries 