Mother Teresa Brings S. Africa ‘Tender Loving Care’

Declaring that politics was the last thing on her mind, Nobel laureate Mother Teresa arrived for her first visit to racially divided South Africa. The 78-year-old nun, who said she hoped to steer clear of political controversy, plans to establish a mission in Khayelitsha, an impoverished black township outside Cape Town. “To tell the truth, I don’t know anything about politics,” she told reporters at Johannesburg’s Jan Smuts Airport, where she was greeted by a kindergarten children’s choir. “What is important is that we love one another.” Mother Teresa said she plans no meetings with government officials. Accompanying her were four nuns who will run the new mission that is to provide food, clothing, shelter and what she called “tender, loving care to the poorest of the poor.”

--On his first visit to the West, Soviet dissident Andrei D. Sakharov underwent cardiovascular tests at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to determine if he needs a pacemaker. If doctors determine that he needs the device to regulate his heartbeat, Sakharov will return to Boston for surgery later this month, after visiting Washington and New York, and may extend his stay in the United States, said Matthew Bannister, Sakharov’s spokesman. The 67-year-old physicist and Nobel laureate, who arrived in the country Sunday, has chronic chest pain and is believed to have suffered a minor stroke three years ago. At a news conference Monday, Sakharov said only that his health “hasn’t changed either way” recently.

--A tearful Imelda Marcos returned to Hawaii aboard a jet borrowed from tobacco millionairess Doris Duke, declaring that her New York federal court appearance had been “the most harrowing and most inhuman experience of my life.” Supporters gave Mrs. Marcos roses upon her arrival. She and her husband, deposed Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos, have been indicted on charges of looting the Philippine Treasury. Ferdinand Marcos was excused from appearing in court because of ill health. In Washington, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marhsall temporarily excused the couple from obeying federal grand jury subpoenas. He is referring the matter to the full court.