The World - News from Dec. 9, 1988

Soviet human rights activist Andrei D. Sakharov ended his month-long visit to the United States, his first trip outside his homeland in 30 years, by applauding Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s speech to the United Nations. “I believe that Gorbachev has shown important initiatives and I think it will broaden the support for Gorbachev and strengthen his position in the Soviet Union,” he said in Boston before boarding a flight to Paris, where he will attend the 40th anniversary of the U.N. declaration of human rights. Sakharov, 67, also appealed to Soviet authorities to allow international relief efforts into earthquake-ravaged Armenia.