The Michigan Daily-Friday, June 20, 1980-Page 9 NEW DEVELOPMENTS OVERSHADOW SUMMIT Carter begins European trip From AP and UPI ROME - President Carter began an eight-day, five-nation European trip yesterday that he hopes will shore up a beleaguered NATO alliance and boost his sagging political fortunes in the United States. The trip was planned originally for the president to attend an economic summit conference in Venice on Sun- day and Monday. But that agenda has been overshadowed by other inter- national developments and additions to his travel schedule that will take him to Yugoslavia, Spain, and Portugal. THE TRIP marks the first time Car- ter has left the White House for an ex- tended period since Iranian militants seized 53 U.S. hostages in Tehran in November, and his first foreign trip since last summer. Polls at home show his re-election effort may be in trouble in a race with expected GOP nominee Ronald Reagan. Air Force One landed on schedule to massive security on a cool, clear night after the eight-hour flight from Washington. There was no official arrival ceremony, and Italian soldiers outfitted with bullet-proof vests and automatic weapons outnumbered those $50 trillion solar power program proposed NEW YORK (AP) - A major West German electronic equipment manufacturer yesterday proposed a $50 trillion program to convert the world's economy to one powered by thousands of solar energy "plantations" by the middle of the 21st Century. AEG Telefunken, a Berlin-based company with annual sales of $10 billion, said vast banks of silicon cells could generate electricity which then would be conducted through tanks of sea water to create hydrogen gas. THE HYDROGEN, transported by tanker or pipeline in the same manner as natural gas, would power autos and factories worldwide and eventually could be "comparable to the present cost of gasoline," Telefunken said. The solar plantations, located in tropical or subtropical regions, also would contain plants manufacturing equipment for new plantations, thus reproducing themselves, Telefunken said. By the year 2040, 10 solar "families," each containing 10,000 iden- tical plantations, could be producing "enough hydrogen to replace 15 billion tons or 100 billion 42-gallon barrels of oil," Telefunken said. The world produced about 24 billion barrels of oil last year. The total area of the plantations would cover 750,000 square miles, nearly as big as oil-rich Saudi Arabia. "The total investment costs would amount to $50 trillion," the company said. . Silicon cells, made by Telefunken and several other companies, already generate electricity for space satellites and long have been used in other small- scale applications including photographic light meters. who greeted the presidential party. Carter shook hands with cabinet of- ficials and representatives of the Vatican, then flew by helicopter to the Quirinile Palace in downtown Rome to greet President Alessandro Pertini. CARTER, WHO warned allies before leaving Washington that the Soviet threat in Europe should not be un- derestimated and must be handled without a "reckless confrontation" or a return to the Cold War, was confident West German Chancellor Helmut Sch- midt will not break ranks. The president has added to his agen- da a private meeting with Schmidt tomorrow night in Venice to discuss the West German Chancellor's upcoming trip to Moscow, Secretary of State Ed- mund Muskie told reporters on the flight from Washington. Muskie said he did not think Schmidt would use the Moscow meetings to propose a three-year freeze on deployment of new nuclear missiles - a move the chancellor has suggested in the past despite a North Atlantic Treaty Organization decision to deploy nuclear missiles capable of reaching the Soviet Union from Europe.x AS HE LEFT the White House with his wife Rosalynn, daughter Amy, and top foreign policy advisers, Carter har- dly mentioned the world economy as he reviewed the list of topics he plans to discuss. "Our mission has many facets," he said. "We will examine such issues as energy dependence, the economics of emerging nations, and lasting peace for the Middle East. We will discuss the clear-cut challenge of the Soviet in- vasion of Afghanistan, the question of terrorism and how to deal with Iran, the control of nuclear arms." Carter is scheduled to visit Yugoslavia, where he said he would assure that nation's leaders and people "of America's unwavering support for the independence, unity, and territorial integrity of that great country, as well as of our respect for its constructive, non-aligned position." Carter's visits to Spain on Wednesday and Portugal on Thursday before returning to the United States were scheduled to give the president an op- portunity to personally congratulate the leaders of those countries for what he called their "remarkable transition from autocracy to democratic gover- nment in the last several years." HARLAN COUNTY, USA TONIGHT at 7:30 and 9:30 we present Barbara Kopple's Acad my Award winning documentary. This film portrays the classic 20th Century conflict between labor and management with an inti- mate look at the coal mining families of Harlan County, Kentucky. Saturday: LA CAGE AUX FOLLIES Sunday: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU CINEMA GUILD At OId A&DoAud. 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