April 20, 1985

In the summer of 1983, a new construction company called Concor Associates began renovating dilapidated tenements in East Harlem. Yesterday, the full name and real purpose of the company were disclosed. Concor stands for Construction Corruption, and the company was established by the State Commission of Investigation to uncover racketeering and payoffs in the city's construction industry. In addition to finding graft among union officials and city inspectors, the commission said, it stumbled onto a major organized-crime gambling ring that rented a room in an apartment building Concor was renovating and used it as a headquarters to redistribute bets from bookmakers in five states.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl said today that he was gratified President Reagan had reaffirmed his intention to visit a German military cemetery next month, saying it showed he was ''a friend of the Germans.'' Mr. Kohl told a West German television interviewer that he and Mr. Reagan had discussed the President's revised plan to visit both the Bitburg cemetery and the site of the Bergen- Belsen concentration camp and that Mr. Reagan's decision on his German itinerary was ''final.'' The Bergen-Belsen visit was announced today by the White House. The Chancellor added that Germans ''ought to be very reserved'' in regard to the American debate over Mr. Reagan's plan to visit the cemetery, which has sparked strong criticism from American veterans' organizations as well as Jewish groups in West Germany and the United States. 'Hard Decision' for Reagan ''I know that this was a hard decision for the President,'' the West German leader said, adding that he understood the reaction of American Jews and victims of what he called ''the Nazi barbarity.''

Japan has agreed to simplify some of its telecommunications regulations, making them comparable to those in the United States, a team of American trade negotiators said today. The agreement appears to fulfill Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's recent commitment that Japan would change regulations that American companies regarded as barriers to trade. The Japanese Government praised the agreement, which was reached well before a June deadline. The five-day talks were held amid mounting trade frictions between the two nations, political pressures that the negotiators said had helped to speed their progress.

The space shuttle Discovery landed safely today, despite a tire blowout and a gaping hole at the end of one wing, ending a seven-day mission remarkable for the unexpected things that kept happening at every turn. Like the flight itself, the landing did not go exactly as planned. It was delayed an extra orbit because of rain clouds. When the 100-ton spaceship finally touched down here, at 8:55 A.M., the brakes on one landing gear locked, shredding two tires and causing a blowout. Two other tires were badly worn. Technicians who examined the Discovery found a hole the size of a dinner plate at the tip of the left wing where the elevon, a maneuvering and control flap, hinges to the wing. A heat-shielding tile had come loose, and the fiery temperatures of re-entry melted some of the exposed aluminum and other components of the elevon.

A fire that has been charring Isabela Island for the last month has made life precarious for nesting birds, giant tortoises and other forms of wildlife unique to the Galapagos Islands. But for some of the human residents of this Ecuadorean archipelago, the blaze has created a modest boom. Firefighting experts, pilots, scientists, journalists, volunteers, yachtsmen and tourists have been flocking to the Pacific islands, some to help put out the fire, some to observe the proceedings, others merely to savor the excitement. But whatever their reasons for coming, they have been spending money, and the results are visible in this dusty little fishing village. Big Fire on Isabela Island Sooner or later, nearly everyone who visits the Galapagos Islands ends up here, at least for a few days. Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island is not the archipelago's capital town - Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island has that distinction - nor does it command a view of the big fire on Isabela, which lies 60 miles to the west. But Puerto Ayora is where one finds soft beds, cold beer and good talk, not to mention tame tortoises, Darwin's finches and iguanas.