Page 2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 26, 1984 U.S., Canada vow to improve ties WASHINGTON (AP) - President Reagan and Canada's new prime minister, Brian Mulroney, underscored their goal of becoming even better friends and neighbors by posing at the White House yesterday with Canada's first astronaut and the Americans who will carry him into space next week. U.S. officials said the two leaders discussed only general areas of mutual interest without getting into the thorny issues that divide the two nations, such as what to do about acid rain pollution. BUT REAGAN said, "The prime minister impressed upon me the impor- tance his government attaches to en- vironmental concerns, and we intend to pursue these issues together . .. We agree to keep each other's interests in mind, to keep one another informed and to hear one another out on the issues which may arise between us." , One administration official, briefing reporters on the visit on condition he not be identified, said Reagan agreed to Mulroney's proposal that the two meet annually to keep up the good start they made in improving relations between the two countries. The official said Secretary of State George Shultz and his new counterpart, Foreign Minister Joe Clark, would discuss acid rain and other U.S.- Canadian concerns in more detail when they meet next month. MULRONEY, in office for only eight days, acknowledged he had no intention of engaging in "hard bargaining" during his first visit to the White House as prime minister. 10 Mulroney said, "As you know the cornerstone of our election campaign was the refurbishing of the relationship of trust between Canada and the United States, the United States being our friend and favorite ally. We propose to do precisely that." "This implies no subservience," said the new Progressive Conservative prime minister who once was president I. Associated Press President Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney examine a model of the space shuttle along with astronauts who will man the next flight. Looking at the model are (From left) astronaut Bob Crippen, the mission commander; Mark Garneau, a Canadian astronaut; Mulroney; and astronaut Kathy Sullivan, who will become the first woman astronaut to walk in space. of an American-owned mining com- pany in his native Quebec. BUT HE made clear he is anxious to erase the stress marks that often ap- peared in the relationship during the long tenure of retired Liberal Party Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Mulroney commended Reagan for his United Nations speech on Monday in which the president said he is now ready to sit down with the Soviets to try to ease tensions. Mulroney had indicated he will give higher priority to the acid rain issue af- ter the U.S. presidential election in November. CANADA, and many scientists, maintain that acid rain results from sulfur dioxide emissions originating in U.S. industrial plants in the Midwest and that it threatens Canadian fishing and timber operations. The Reagan administration has said the link between acid rain and sulfur dioxide has not yet been proved and requires further study. Defending the administration's position on Monday in Chicago, Vice President George Bush said it is preferable to research acid rain pollution than to order tough cleanup measures now, saying "we don't want to needlessly put in something that might not be the right answer" and that could cost Americans jobs in the coal and power industries. Ferraro attacks Reagan 's toxic waste stand INBRIEF Compiled from Associated Press and United Press International reports Agent orange ruling favors Vets NEW YORK - Afederal judge saying "hardships will be reduced to some small degree," tentatively approved a $180 million settlement yesterday for Vietnem veterans and their families who claim they were harmed by the herbicide Agant Orange. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein said the settlement, financed by seven chemical companies who made Agent Orange and were sued by the veterans, might not be much if divided among thousands of claimants. "It is not possible for class members to receive significant individual compensation from the settlement funds," Weinstein said. But he said there was little chance the plaintiffs could collect more by going to trial with their class-action suit. The settlement was reached May 7, the day the veterans' suit was to have gone to trial. More than 26,000 veterans, many joined by their wives and children, have blamed Agent Orange for illnesses ranging from skin rash to cancer, miscarriages and birth defects. The ultimate number of claimants could top 120,000 according to attorneys in the case. Hundreds of veterans had urged Weinstein to reject the settlement. Many said the fund is far too small to compensate everyone for their injuries, while others complained that they wanted a day in court or a contribution from the federal government. Reagan defends U.S. Economy WASHINGTON - President Reagan, speaking to economic leaders, predicted yesterday a further decline in U.S. interest rates and called for a new round of international negotiations to open trade bairriers. Addressing the annual meeting of the World Bank and Internaional Monetary Fund, Reagan promised the United States will not "run up the flag" of protectionism. High U.S. interest rates are blamed in some quarters for hobbling economic development around the world and punishing debtor nations. Reagan told the delegates, finance ministers and other officials from 147 nations, their countries are benefiting more from U.S. recovery and record imports than they are being hurt by high interest charges, which many ex- perts say contribute to U.S. budget deficits. Amnesty International criticizes China's anti-crime campaign LONDON - Amnesty International said yesterday that China is holding thousands of political prisoners in jails and labor "re-education camps" and has executed thousands of other Chinese in a 13-month-old anti-crime cam- paign. In its first major report on Communist China since 1978, the London-based human -rights group said tens of thousands of people were arrested and thousands of others were executed in the first three months of the anti-crime drive. The 132-page report said that since 1981, China had nearly doubled - to 44 - the number of crimes punishable by execution. Amnesty saidl it submitted the report - along with appeals for fair trials, an end to the death penalty and release of political prisoners - to the Chinese government at the beginning of this year but received no reply. Amnesty, winner of the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize, identified 24 individual Chinese, including 10 Roman Catholic priests, whom it has adopted as "prisoners of conscience." It said these were a small fraction of "the total number of political prisoners held. Amnesty spokesman David Laulicht told The Associated Press that the 24 were people about whom Amnesty had "enough information to be quite sure they were imprisoned only for exercising a basic human right such as speaking their minds or writing something." Michener repays college loan SWARTHMORE, PA. - Pultizer-prize winning author James Michner has promised to repay Swarthmore College for a $2,000 scholarship with nearly $2 million in interest, a school spokesman said Tuesday. In a recent letter, Michener pledged to donate $2 million to the small liberal arts college that granted him a degree in 1929, said Swarthmore spokesperson Lorna Shurkin. "It is an unrestricted gift that we are very excited about," she said. In his letter, the author of such works as "Hawaii" and "Centennial" even proposed a press release to announce the gift, she said. "In the spring of 1925, Swarthmore College awarded a $2,000 scholarship to James Michener, a small-town boy with promising high school grades," wrote the native of Doylestown, Pa. - located 30 miles northeast of Swarth- more. "At that time this was a considerable sum which Michener always thought of as a loan against his future. Last week he informed the college that he was repaying it with $1,998,000 interest. Employees strike at Disneyland ANAHEIM, Calif. - Hundreds of disgrunted Disneyland employees, most wearing "No Mickey Mouse" buttons, ringed the world-famous amusement park with picket lines yesterday on the first day of a strike by more than 1,800 workers. "It had been, basically, a big happy family out here," said ride operator Tim Stanley, one of the first strikers to picket near the park's main entrance. "But now, it's like dad has taken our allowance away and given us more work to do," said Stanley, a park employee for 17 years. The strike, the second called at the park in five years, was sanctioned Monday when members of a five-union coalition rejected by a 69 percent margin management's latest master services contract offer. The striking workers drew the support of passing motorists 'and pedestrians as pickets started organizing several hours before the park opened. Vol. XCV - No. 18 The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967X) is published Tuesday through Sunday during the Fall and Winter terms and Tuesday through Saturday during the Spring and Summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. Sub- scription rates: September through April - $16.50 in Ann Arbor; $29.00 outside the city; May through August - $4.50 in Ann Arbor, $6.00 outside the city. Second-class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard Stireet, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109. The Michigan Daily is a member of the Associated Press and subscribes to United Press International, Pacific News Service, Los Angeles Tinmes Syndi- cate and College Press Service, and United Students Press Service. 1 (UPI) - Geraldine Ferraro led a pep rally in a steamy gymnasium packed with stomping, screaming students and supporters yesterday, choosing a county high in toxic waste to attack President Reagan's environmental record. "Too long have the citizens of Macomb County waited while wastes bubble in their backyards," Ferraro said. Let's elect a president who takes toxic dumpers to court, not to lunch." RETURNING to the theme several times in her' speech, she said, "I want an administration that does more than talk about law and order: I want an ad- ministration that enforces environmental laws." Gov. James Blanchard recently used a Macomb County site regarded as one of this state's most severe environmental problems as a backdrop to an- nounce a program for combating groundwater con- tamination. About two dozen anti-abortion demonstrators stood outside in pouring rain holding signs denouncing Ferraro as about 1,000 persons jammed the Steven- son High School gym. Heat and 93 percent humidity made it nearly as wet inside as out. FERRARO ALSO hit Reagan's economic policies, saying they have aggravated unemployment in the Detroit suburb and sent jobs overseas. "He tells you to check the newspapers (for jobs)," Ferraro said. "The problem is you don't get all those foreign newspapers where your jobs are being adver- tised. Vice President George Bush, meanwhile, accused Mondale of trying to capitalize politically on the terrorist bombing of a U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut last week. Mondale has charged Reagan with letting terrorists "humiliate us and push us around and kill our people." "I think he's dealing in hindsight, trying to capitalize on a very tragic incident," Bush told a news conference in Chicago, where he campaigned in Jewish neighborhoods and defended the ad- ministration's Middle East policies. d British link U.S. space program to military LONDON (UPI) - America's civilian space program is increasingly influenced by the military's building of astronaut armies, laser battle stations, and manned spy platforms in a race with the Soviet Union, the new Jane's Spaceflight Directory said yesterday. Editor Reg Turnill, who compiled the first Jane's book of 28 space operations, warned American defense chiefs believe "contests" in space - not specifically "battles" - are not only possible but almost inevitable" within the next 25 years. WHILE 70 percent of the Soviet Union's space launches are for military purposes, Turnill wrote that 38 of NASA's 110 space shuttle flights plan- ned through 1989 are also set aside for secret Defense Department missions. The U.S. military space effort was given $8.5 billion in 1983 compared to NASA's $6.4 million, Turnill noted. "A new breed of military astronauts is being quietly elected too," Turnill wrote in Jane's, an authority on inter- national military affairs. ' IN A telephone interview expanding on his remarks, he said that compared to NASA's three civilian astronauts, the U.S. Air Force is building "a secret space force of as many as 50 astronauts." "NASA's program is being in- creasingly infiltrated by the U.S. Air Force, which has the right to take over any shuttle mission although it has not done so yet," he told UPI. "At first, the new military astronauts will work as mission specialists alongside NASA's shuttle pilots," he said. The first was due to have flown on the cancelled STS-10 flight, but won't go now until probably December. "The long-term air is undoubtedly to form them into separate teams who will nurse their secrets as they ferry to and from the inevitable manned military reconnaissance platforms," Turnill said. 4 Oil companies' accord may hold doi By the Associated Press An agreement by major oil com- panies to allow their franchised gasoline stations to sell competing brands should help hold down prices at the pump, although substantial savings are not expected, industry 'analysts said yesterday. The analysts said the proposed resolution of an antitrust lawsuit brought by dealers reduces Big Oil's grip on the gasoline business. THE ACCORD is the latest develop- ment in a decade-long transformation of the way Americans buy gasoline, in- cluding the emergence of automated statinn and the grnth nf nnvenience in gas prices It could give more motorists a choice of either a station's advertised brand or a discount blend with the same octane that has been supplied by a competitor at a lower wholesale price. For some companies involved in the agreement, such as Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp., that choice already exists at a few stations, which dispense bargain blends through pumps clearly identified as not containing their bran- ded products. IF THE process spreads as a result of the latest agreements, "it will have a a tendency to put downward pressure on pricing. but I don't think it will have a major impact on consumers," said Editor in chief ........ . Managing Editors .... . 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