The Soviet Union has started preparations for the possible resumption of nuclear weapons testing, Reagan Administration officials said today. Satellite reconnaissance photographs show the Soviet Union has been digging holes and tunnels in which nuclear explosives can be placed and moving monitoring equipment into a test area, according to officials who have seen secret intelligence reports. The Soviet Union announced last July 30, a few days after conducting a nuclear test, that it was halting its testing program and urged the United States to join in. The United States refused on the ground that it had to catch up with Soviet weapons development. The Soviet test halt was extended twice, most recently until the United States conducted its next test. Such a test has been announced for the third week of April. The officials reporting the Soviet preparations did not identify the site. Most Soviet underground tests, the only ones now permitted under the partial test ban treaty of 1963, have been conducted near Semipalatinsk in eastern Kazakhstan, although there have been occasional tests in the Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya.
An Administration official asserted today that the Soviet Union had “been involved in making preparations for follow-on testing from the very beginning” of the moratorium, The United States, which conducted its last test in Nevada in December, has invited Soviet observers for the April test. The Soviet Union has rejected such invitations in the past, on the ground that it wants to abolish all nuclear tests, not observe them. An Administration official said today that the United States testing schedule had been adjusted to give the Soviet Union time to consider the United States proposal to observe the next test. “There are no technical problems in the program,” the official said. “There are political motivations in that we would like to keep the atmosphere conducive for a possible favorable Soviet response.”
The Western Europeans have told the United States that it would violate its treaty obligations by reducing its share of the United Nations budget. The complaint, presented Friday in a letter on behalf of the 12 members of the Common Market, was addressed to Secretary of State George P. Shultz after representatives of the European group — the Ambassadors of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Britain -had been unable for three weeks to get an appointment to see him. A supplementary note expressed regret that Mr. Shultz had not met with them and contained a new request for a meeting.
Swedish authorities today charged a man they have in custody as an accomplice in the murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme. The charge filed by the chief prosecutor, K. G. Svensson, was vague, but some investigators appeared to consider the man a prime suspect in the killing of Mr. Palme, who was shot on the night of February 28 on a street in downtown Stockholm. By Swedish custom, the authorities do not release and newspapers do not publish the names of those accused of crimes. But The Times of London identified the suspect as Victor Gunnarsson, 32 years old.
President Reagan welcomes and meets with Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald of Ireland.
After a day of uncertainty and closed-door meetings among political leaders, President Francois Mitterrand announced today that he would ask a conservative on Tuesday to become the new Prime Minister and form a Government. He acted after his governing Socialists were set back in legislative elections Sunday, and the conservatives won a slim edge in the National Assembly. Under the 1958 Constitution that set up the Fifth Republic, the President must pick a Prime Minister from among the majority in Parliament. Although the final election results showed that the two main conservative parties — Rally for the Republic and Union for French Democracy — had not won an absolute majority by themselves, they won control of Parliament with the help of independents.
The Vatican announced today that Pope John Paul II would visit the central Rome synagogue next month in what church officials described as a historic step intended to improve Roman Catholic-Jewish relations. The chief Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls, said the visit would take place on April 13 and would mark the first time in memory that a Pope had visited a synagogue. “I don’t really remember a precedent,” Mr. Navarro said. “It is certainly historic.”
Haemers gang robs gold transport in Belgium of 35 million Belgian Francs.
The Reagan Administration called on “all civilized governments” today to urge Iran, Syria and other countries that might have influence to try to bring about the release of all hostages in Lebanon. In a statement marking the second anniversary of the kidnapping of William Buckley, an American Embassy official, and the first anniversary of the abduction of Terry Anderson, the chief Middle East correspondent of The Associated Press, the State Department said the release of the six Americans missing in Lebanon was “a top priority” for the Administration. With concern also high in France over the status of French hostages in Lebanon, the Administration sought to broaden the issue into one of general international concern. “We also wish to call attention to the other hostages in Lebanon — French, British, Italian and Lebanese,” said Charles E. Redman, a State Department spokesman. “All civilized governments should join together in demanding that those governments with a demonstrated ability to influence the captors use their influence to bring about the immediate, unconditioned release of all hostages.” Mr. Redman said that “it is no secret that Iran has a great deal of influence among those who have been taking hostages,” and that Syria also has “a key role to play in the region.”
A Cambodian rebel coalition issued a peace plan today calling for a partnership with the Hanoi-backed Cambodian Government and the gradual withdrawal of Vietnamese troops under a United Nations-supervised cease-fire. Diplomats said the proposal marked the first time Prince Norodom Sihanouk and his two coalition partners had formally offered to form a government with the Vietnamese-installed Government of Heng Samrin. The plan was released at the end of a meeting in Peking attended by Prince Sihanouk, the coalition president, and his two partners, Son Sann and Khieu Samphan. The plan included a call for negotiations with Vietnam and possibly other countries on the withdrawal of some 160,000 Vietnamese troops from Cambodia. Vietnamese Embassy officials in Peking said they had not seen the document.
Dissident leaders formed a new alliance today to bolster their campaign for election-law change after more than 1,000 clergymen signed a petition calling on the Government to revise the Constitution. A spokesman for the dissidents told reporters that Yi Min U, head of the New Korea Democratic Party; Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam, and leaders of Protestant and Catholic human rights groups had agreed to join forces against the Government, which they accuse of delaying the process of democracy. The agreement was reached shortly after the Korean National Council of Churches named 1,050 priests who it said had signed a petition for a revision of the Constitution that would allow direct presidential elections. The ruling Democratic Justice Party rejected an opposition call for a meeting between President Chun Doo Hwan and dissident leaders to discuss the campaign.
The dollar tumbled yesterday to its lowest level against the Japanese yen since the end of World War II, promising a lift for American industry. The dollar fell as low as 174.50 yen early yesterday and traded at about that level in Tokyo early today. The previous postwar low was 175.50 yen, reached on Oct. 31, 1978. At that time, the dollar’s descent was regarded as a crisis, reflecting high inflation and declining confidence in the American economy. The Carter Administration responded with a multibillion-dollar effort to bolster the sagging currency.
Washington moved to give Manila access today to 1,500 pages of documents taken by Ferdinand E. Marcos when he fled the Philippines. The new Government has said the documents could be essential in helping to trace and reclaim $10 billion it says he and his associates diverted. Mr. Marcos took the documents with him to Hawaii when he fled his homeland. Terry Eastland, the chief spokesman for the Justice Department, said tonight: “The issue is settled legally. There is a green light for the documents to be provided the Aquino Government.”
The graven images that Ferdinand E. Marcos left behind have begun to trouble Filipinos as they seek an inviting identity for the post-Marcos nation. The 500-peso bill printed with his dapper image as a benign patriot was no problem: Destroy it, the officials of the new Government ruled. On the other hand, the Government ordered the Mount Rushmore-like bust of Mr. Marcos near the city of Baguio spared just as angry Ibalois tribal folk displaced by the monument and a surrounding golf course were about to demolish it. They settled for a symbolic exorcism and spilled the blood of a sacrificed pig from the left nostril of the 33-foot-tall bust, which seems to have a wisp of a smile as it endlessly watches the land.
Haiti’s new Government has charged that the Duvalier family received millions of dollars annually by overcharging Haitians for staple foods, including products donated by the United States. Most dramatically, in a country of wide starvation, officials said, the family established a system of profiteering in the sale of flour. Finance Minister Marcel Leger said that for every sack of flour produced by the country’s only flour mill, which is state-owned, $1 was sent to the palace without passing through the Treasury. He added that the mill produced 2.5 million sacks a year, and each 1,000-pound sack cost about $25.
President Reagan and Ambassador Habib participate in a brief question and answer session about his trip to Central America with members of the press. The special United States envoy, Philip C. Habib, back from a visit to Central America, said today that a recent poll had found that “a majority” of people in the region supported President Reagan’s policy and wanted pressure put on the Nicaraguan Government. At an Oval Office photo session with the President, Mr. Habib disputed the contention that the leaders and the public in countries near Nicaragua were against Mr. Reagan’s push to provide $100 million in assistance to the insurgents known as contras. Mr. Habib’s comments, and a suggestion by Mr. Reagan that almost 90 percent of Central Americans supported his policy, sent Administration officials scurrying in an attempt to provide documentation.
Diplomats and military experts here say they believe anti-Government rebels must be trained by experienced soldiers if they hope to develop into a fighting force that can threaten the Sandinista Government. “The rebels need boots and bullets and a few other things from the United States,” said a Latin American military officer who closely follows the Nicaraguan conflict. “But the most important thing the Americans can give them at this point is advisers to train their troops.”
If Congress approves the military aid for the Nicaraguan rebels that President Reagan has requested, the Central Intelligence Agency is ready with a basic plan for providing them with arms and training, according to Administration and Congressional officials. The officials said Stinger antiaircraft missiles would be high on the C.I.A.’s list of weapons for the insurgents. The weapons would be shipped to Honduras and turned over to the rebels as soon as possible, the officials said.
Democrats still have the votes to defeat President Reagan’s request for aid to Nicaraguan rebels despite his nationally televised plea for the request, according to House Democratic leaders. Several Democrats called his speech harsh and exaggerated while some Republicans praised it as being tough. “We will win this vote on Thursday,” Representative Thomas S. Foley of Washington, the Democratic whip, said late today. Earlier today he had said, “We’re ahead, and there has been no perceptible erosion.”
A weekend of tribal battles, rioting, bombings and arson left more than 20 blacks dead and hundreds injured, according to reports by officials and witnesses. Nine people were killed and more than 60 were injured in a battle between workers from rival tribes at a gold mine 95 miles southwest of Johannesburg, the miners said today. Officials at the mine said eight miners died in the incident. Seven miners were killed and 176 wounded Friday night in a factional fight and by riot-squad gunfire at a gold mine 45 miles west of Johannesburg, mine officials said. Among the other incidents, the police said rioting in 13 black townships and a bomb explosion had left 2 people dead and 6 wounded, and one person was killed and 40 injured in a jail brawl. The bullet-riddled body of a black policeman was found today in his home in a black township near Pretoria, the police reported. They said murder was suspected, but no link with anti-apartheid unrest had been established.
A Commonwealth delegation appears to have broken new ground on a visit to South Africa by meeting with the black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela. The meeting was the first such diplomatic contact that Mr. Mandela has been permitted in the 23 years he has been in prison, and it seemed to represent a tacit recognition by the South African Government of his status as a political leader. On at least other two occasions last year, the authorities selected foreign journalists and allowed them to interview Mr. Mandela at the prison. Mr. Mandela met last week at Pollsmoor Prison outside Cape Town with seven “eminent persons” visiting South Africa on a special mission for the Commonwealth. The members of the group were named by the Commonwealth after a conference of the 49-nation group in October in Nassau, the Bahamas.
A shuttle explosion on the launching pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida could under some circumstances release enough radioactive material to contaminate up to 386 square miles of land and cause 43 cancer deaths over 50 years, the Energy Department said. The estimates were contained in previously classified documents that were made public under prodding by Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts.
Genetic engineering and other emerging technologies, often cited as cost-cutting tools that will help save small and medium-size farms, could instead raise costs and cut the number of farms in half, a Congressional report predicted today. The two-year study, “Technology, Public Policy and the Changing Structure of American Agriculture,” was conducted by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. It is the first thorough analysis of the consequences of an array of new biological, mechanical and management technologies for agriculture, research institutions and the rural economy. The report’s authors predicted that these technologies will help the largest and wealthiest farms realize significant gains in productivity and efficiency, enabling them to regain price and quality advantages American farmers used to enjoy in the world market.
President Reagan today received a series of recommendations from a Cabinet group for changes in laws dealing with product liability claims against manufacturers, a White House official said. The recommendations, aimed at addressing what business groups and some in the Administration have characterized as a liability insurance crisis, would establish Federal guidelines for state courts to follow in liability cases. The changes would include limits on punitive damages, restricting compensation to only the out-of-pocket expenses and income losses of injured people, limits on attorneys’ fees and application of a stricter definition of liability under which only the party or parties actually at fault could be held liable for damages.
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration today minimized the importance of a survey by a Congressional agency that reflected a high level of dissatisfaction among air traffic controllers. Donald Engen, Administrator of the F.A.A., appearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, also rejected a recommendation in the survey that his agency restrict air traffic until the number of fully qualified traffic controllers and overtime requirements meet the goals of the air safety agency. Referring to the survey by the General Accounting Office, a Congressional investigative arm, Mr. Engen said it was “a good tool for me to use in gauging the perceptions of our controllers.” He said the report also tended to confirm the findings of earlier ones done by the agency itself.
Dr. Otis R. Bowen, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, will create a new agency in his department to operate programs serving low-income families, department officials said today. The officials said Dr. Bowen would announce the reorganization this week, perhaps Tuesday. Explaining the move, Thomas R. Burke, chief of staff for the department, said, “The Secretary feels very much that we must bolster the family and focus our efforts on the family.”
A sweeping new legislative initiative to curb acid rain at an estimated cost of $6 billion a year was announced today by the chairman and other key members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The bill, which Senator Robert T. Stafford, chairman of the committee, described as “a turning point” in the long-running debate on acid rain, is to be formally introduced Tuesday as President Reagan meets with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada to discuss what has become a contentious issue between the two countries. “The case against air pollution generally and acid rain in particular is becoming clear and clearer everywhere in the world,” Mr. Stafford, a Vermont Republican, said at a news conference. “Lakes and forests are dying, buildings are being destroyed and human health is at risk.”
Philadelphians struggled to get to work on the first full day of a strike by 5,200 transit workers. The walkout was an inconvenience, a severe one for many, but the 20 percent increase in traffic did not bring the city to a halt, as had been feared. The suburban commuter railroad lines, which carry about 75,000 riders daily, continued to operate, though slower than usual. They were hobbled by equipment problems and weekend vandalism that knocked out a key signal box. The strikers, represented by the Transport Workers Union, walked off their jobs at 6 PM Sunday after contract negotiations over salary, pension and disciplinary policy unexpectedly collapsed. New talks between the union and the deficit-plagued Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, or Septa, have not been scheduled.
Jury selection was completed here today for the trial of Jerry A. Whitworth in what Federal prosecutors have called the most important espionage case in decades. On March 24, the jury will hear opening arguments. Mr. Whitworth, a retired Navy communications specialist, is accused of providing technical manuals and guides to changes in communications codes to the Soviet Union through his friend, John A. Walker Jr., who pleaded guilty to espionage last year. Two other members of the Walker family have been convicted. Mr. Whitworth has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He could be sentenced to seven life sentences and fined $260,000 on a total of eight espionage counts. Mr. Walker, a retired Navy chief warrant officer, is expected to be the Government’s key witness. Defense attorneys have indicated that they plan to attack his credibility.
The issue of whether cigarettes should be sold to military personnel at cut-rate prices has divided high members of the Reagan Administration, as a result of a decision by Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger that the practice should continue, at least for now. But he ordered that the military begin a campaign to discourage smoking. The Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. C. Everett Koop, said after the announcement last week: “I was, of course, terribly disappointed when I learned of the decision. I had been working behind the scenes at the Department of Defense to get the change.” Mr. Weinberger, while continuing the discount, ordered that the military begin a campaign to discourage smoking. Personnel will be reminded of the health dangers of smoking whenever they get medical and dental examinations, some restrictions will be placed on where smoking is allowed, and antismoking literature will be added to programs already in effect to discourage the abuse of alcohol and drugs.
The U.S. Army said today that burning outmoded chemical weapons at the eight sites in the United States where they are stored would be safer but slightly more expensive than moving them to centralized destruction centers. In a preliminary report to Congress, the Army said it would cost $1.97 billion to incinerate the stockpile at the weapons’ current storage sites, while the cost to build three destruction sites would be $1.86 billion and the price of erecting a single incineration plant would be $1.95 billion. “However,” the report said, “the concept of transportation followed by destruction as opposed to on-site destruction inherently will pose a larger risk to the overall general population.” Congress last year ordered the Army to devise a way to destroy the existing supply of aging chemical weapons, many of which were made as long as 40 years ago, as part of the Pentagon’s plan for new chemical weapons. Chemical weapons in the continental United States are stored at the Lexington-Blue Grass Army Depot, Richmond, Kentucky; the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, Maryland; the Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Alabama; the Newport Army Ammunition Plant, Newport, Indiana; the Pine Bluff Arsenal, Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Pueblo Army Activity, Pueblo, Colorado; the Tooele Army Depot, Tooele, Utah, and the Umatilla Depot Activity, Hermiston, Oregon.
Military experience was more valuable in personal development than it was in teaching job skills, according to a survey of young American men and women. Those who left the Army after one enlisted term of two to four years said they had greater self-esteem and self-confidence, had learned to lead and had established their independence. The findings of the survey, ordered by the Secretary of the Army, John O. Marsh Jr., so surprised senior Pentagon officials and Army officers that they presented the data to Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, Army officials said, and he instructed the Army staff to prepare a succinct report for President Reagan. The survey’s findings will be used in recruiting campaigns, according to Lieut. Gen. Robert M. Elton, the Army’s chief personnel officer. “This will give us a clearer picture of where we should focus in the future,” he said in an interview.
After 22 weeks months of testimony, closing arguments begin here Tuesday in the first corporate murder trial in Texas history, in which a nursing home chain and four of its current or former managers are charged with killing an 87-year-old patient through conscious neglect. State District Judge Don B. Morgan said last week he would sequester the jury Wednesday when deliberations begin. In the testimony that ended last week the state called 43 witnesses and introduced 653 exhibits in its attempt to prove that Elnora Breed, who spent her last 47 days at the Autumn Hills nursing home in Texas City, died there on Nov. 20, 1978, of starvation and infection brought on by willfully poor care. Prosecutors contended that at least eight and as many as 60 patients died after similar treatment, which they alleged was undertaken to cut costs and was concealed in falsified records.
The superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park said today that he would not move immediately to ban flights in the canyon area. The official, Richard Marks, said only the Federal Aviation Administration had jurisdiction to limit the flights, which number about 100,000 a year. “We believe we’re going on in a timely fashion,” he added. “We don’t think we can step forward today.” Two environmental groups, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, have urged that the National Park Service immediately ban tourist flights below the canyon’s rims. They cite a memorandum in which a lawyer for the Park Service said airspace below the rims is part of the park and deserves protection if flights significantly affect “the natural quiet and experience of the park.” The environmentalists say the memorandum “means the Park Service can directly and immediately move to control aircraft flights below the canyon rims without waiting for F.A.A. approval.”
King salmon, which weigh up to 30 pounds each, are disappearing from Puget Sound here, but an ambitious effort by public and private groups has begun to reverse this trend. In 1983 half a million king, or chinook, salmon were caught here, down from 1.3 million in 1975. As part of the broad program to increase this population, a small private hatchery on Orcas Island decided recently to switch production from coho to king next season. About 10 years ago James Youngren and Walt Moller began the coho salmon hatchery on Orcas, north of Puget Sound.
The brains of schizophrenics can be different in structure and chemistry from those of normal people, new studies show. Computer-generated images of the brain that light up in vital regions when a normal person tackles a mental problem stay ominously dim when the disordered mind of the schizophrenic takes the same test.
What the tennis fans at Madison Square Garden may have been witnessing last night was a glimpse into the future of women’s tennis. In a few years, Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini could be competing for the top ranking, matching slingshot forehands, tracking down apparent winners with long, court-gobbling strides. Even now, as teen-agers on the rise, they offer one of the more intriguing matchups on the tour. Miss Graf holds the advantage, although it was not a decisive one in the first round of the Virginia Slims Championships. The third-ranked player in the world defeated Miss Sabatini, 6-0, 6-7, 6-2, and now has won all three times they have played, dating to their junior years — which were not that long ago.
Stock prices fell sharply yesterday on Wall Street as investors, already fat with profits from last week’s record gains, decided to trim their portfolios. “People were still talking about last week, no one really wanted to become active today,” said Laszlo Birinyi, manager of equity market analysis at Salomon Brothers. “I think there was a little bit of profit taking and a little bit of uneasiness.” The Dow Jones industrial average, coming off its 92.91-point rise last week, lost 15.92 points yesterday, to 1,776.82. The blue-chip average had not dropped this much in a single session since February 19, when it fell 20.52 points.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1776.82 (-15.92)
Born:
Olesya Rulin, Russian-American actress (“High School Musical”), in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
Chris Davis, MLB first baseman, third baseman, and outfielder (All-Star, 2013; Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles), in Longview, Texas.
Jeremy Pargo, NBA point guard and shooting guard (Memphis Grizzlies, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors), in Chicago, Illinois.
David Laliberte, Canadian NHL right wing (Philadelphia Flyers), St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada.
Dwayne Hendricks, NFL defensive tackle (New York Giants), in Millville, New Jersey.
Died:
John Bagot Glubb, 88, British commandant and writer (“A soldier with the Arabs”).
History Diaries 