News In Brief

Imelda Marcos, the wife of deposed Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, arrived in New York yesterday to prepare for arraignment on fraud and racketeering charges in New York today. A federal judge in New York on Thursday delayed indefinitely for health reasons the arraignment of Mr. Marcos on racketeering charges, including embezzling more than $100 million from the Philippine treasury to buy New York buildings.

85 Czechs still held after Prague protest

Czechoslovak police still held yesterday 85 people rounded up in raids three days ago in an effort to block a demonstration for political reform, a leading human-rights campaigner said. The detainees included members of the Charter 77 human rights movement, according to Anna Sabatova, a Charter signatory and member of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted.

Thursday's raids, in Prague, Brno, and Bratislava, were aimed at preventing the demonstration Friday marking the 70th anniversary of Czechoslovakia's founding as an independent nation.

Latin leaders pledge to work for debt relief

Seven South American presidents pledged Saturday to devise a common strategy to persuade creditors to write off part of their $339 billion foreign debt. The leaders also called for a new dialogue on regional issues with richer, industrialized countries. They said they would seek meetings with US government officials to coordinate efforts to curtail drug trafficking and end wars in Central America.

The leaders of Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Uruguay attended the three-day summit, which concluded Saturday.

Arab teenager killed by Israeli troops

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian yesterday, and hospital officials and Arab sources said at least 21 Palestinians were wounded by Army gunfire in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Extra soldiers were deployed throughout the territories, fearing Tuesday's national elections might bring more violence.

Algerian president fires party chief in shuffle

Algerian President Chadli Benjedid on Saturday fired Cherif Messaadia, number two in the ruling National Liberation Front and his effective deputy, the official APS news agency reported. The move followed riots earlier this month which Mr. Chadli ended with the promise of far-reaching political reform.

Mr. Messaadia's post is to be taken by Abdelhamid Mehri, newly appointed ambassador to Morocco with which Algeria restored diplomatic relations last May.

Prince Charles attacks British architecture

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, on Friday launched a new attack on the country's architects, saying postwar developers had built ``Godforsaken cities'' and ruined one of London's best-known views. In a 75-minute television production which he wrote and narrated himself, Charles traveled around Britain and found that ``too many of our modern buildings are huge, blank, and impersonal.''

US plans to ease tensions, trade with North Korea

The Reagan administration is expected to relax some diplomatic and trade restrictions against North Korea early this week as part of a coordinated strategy with South Korea to ease tensions on the peninsula, according to US officials. The officials, who asked not to be identified, said the US trade embargo against North Korea will be relaxed, possibly to remove the ban on the sale of US medical supplies to North Korea.

Burmese military leaders encourage private sector

Burma's military rulers announced new steps over the weekend to encourage private enterprise in the midst of dismantling the country's 26-year-old socialist system. But they made clear the Army, which seized power on Sept. 18, would maintain tight control while preparing for promised general elections. Rangoon Radio, monitored in Bangkok, said four laws restricting private and cooperative activities in exporting and domestic trade were being repealed.

US says Soviets sent warplanes to Afghanistan

The Soviet Union is believed to have sent up to 30 high performance ground support warplanes into Afghanistan in what may be a violation of the Geneva Accords on Red Army withdrawal, State Department officials said Saturday. The MiG-27 Flogger-D close air support fighters are based at Shindand, 100 miles south of Herat in far western Afghanistan near the Iranian border, said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Mig-27s are suited for offensive operations, whereas the Soviet Union has said that it would undertake military operations in Afghanistan only to protect its own troops from attack.

Anti-abortion protests staged in 26 US cities

Police in at least 26 US cities arrested more than 2,000 anti-abortion demonstrators Saturday. Operation Rescue, the organization that organized the demonstrations, said a total of 2,212 people were arrested in 27 cities Saturday and in four cities on Friday.

Separately, Roussel Uclaf, a French pharmaceutical company that manufactures abortion pills, reversed itself Friday and agreed to resume distribution of the controversial drug after the government demanded it do so.

Soviet shuttle launch is postponed

The launch of the Soviet space shuttle, stopped within 51 seconds of blastoff Saturday, will take place after the November 7 public holiday, Soviet officials said yesterday. Blastoff of the Energiya rocket, which was due to carry the shuttle into its maiden flight, was postponed Saturday when a computer detected a malfunction in a platform surrounding the rocket. The shuttle, Buran (Snowstorm), which for this flight was unmanned, had been due to circle the earth at least twice. Reports in the Soviet media say that neither the shuttle nor the booster rocket were damaged. Part of the delay, they say, is due the time-consuming process of draining the rocket's liquid fuel before scientists could look for the problem.

In a break from the secrecy which once surrounded the Soviet space program, the official media has given the shuttle flight a considerable build-up. And yesterday the Communist Party newspaper Pravda reported the shuttle problem on its front page.

For the record

Federal prosecutors say they expect the first indictments in the Pentagon fraud and bribery scandal just one week after the presidential election. UN-mediated peace talks between Iran and Iraq resume today in an effort to consolidate the precarious truce in the Gulf war.

John Morrell & Co. was fined a record $4.33 million by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Friday.