LEAD: The Argentine Army, declaring its loyalty to the Government of President Raul Alfonsin, moved today to end a rebellion by officers opposed to the prosecution of military officers on human rights charges.

ARGENTINA'S ARMY MOVES TO HEAD OFF OFFICER REBELLION

LEAD: The Federal Aviation Administration this spring will conduct tests of an advanced detection system designed to keep bombs or other explosive devices from being loaded into the cargo holds of airliners.

U.S. WILL TEST BOMB DETECTOR FOR AIR CARGO

LEAD: Soviet officials have suggested that the United States and the Soviet Union conduct a nuclear test on each other's territory to improve verification techniques, American officials said today.

SOVIET OFFERING U.S. AN EXCHANGE: NUCLEAR TESTS ON EACH OTHER'S SOIL

LEAD: Airline Hijacker Escapes  A Croatian nationalist serving a life term for a 1976 airline hijacking escaped from a Federal prison 60 miles northwest of New York City. Page 21.

INSIDE

LEAD: ''I could've been a contender,'' Asa Hoffmann said. ''I could've been a grandmaster.'' Instead, Mr. Hoffmann is a hustler, the Fast Eddie Felson of the knight and rook set.

CHESS AT NEW YORK OPEN: 'IT'S LIKE A WAR'

LEAD: President Reagan yesterday nominated James H. Billington, an expert on the Soviet Union, to replace Daniel J. Boorstin as Librarian of Congress. And Dr. Boorstin, who is retiring, named Richard Wilbur, a Pulitzer Prize winner, as poet laureate of the United States.

2 NAMED IN WORLD OF WORDS

LEAD: President Reagan, asserting that he was trying ''to enforce the principles of free and fair trade,'' imposed a 100 percent tariff today on some Japanese-made computers, television sets and power tools.

PRESIDENT IMPOSES TARIFF ON IMPORTS AGAINST JAPANESE

LEAD: Although Governor Cuomo's confrontation with the Legislature stems from a genuine desire to obtain a tougher code of government ethics, it also stems, in the view of both lawmakers and some administration officials, from just plain anger and a calculated strategy that the dispute will strengthen the Governor politically.

CUOMO'S RISKY STRATEGY

LEAD: In its first extensive report on AIDS in Cuba, the Government said today that three Cubans had died from the disease and that it had created a special isolation unit for people discovered to be infected by the AIDS virus.

HAVANA REPORTS 3 CUBANS DEAD OF AIDS AND SETS UP ISOLATION UNIT

LEAD: ''People don't look up to chess players in this country. The public thinks all chess players are short, fat and wear glasses.'' - Asa Hoffmann, chess player for fun and modest profit.  [ 24:2. ]

Quotation of the Day

LEAD: Scientists say they have developed a way to make bacteria produce a key protein from the virus that causes AIDS, a development that could help speed research on drugs to combat the virus.

BACTERIA PRODUCTION PROCESS COULD SPEED AIDS RESEARCH

LEAD: INTERNATIONAL   2-5,20  President Reagan imposed a tariff of 100 percent on some Japanese-made computers, television sets and power drills. Mr. Reagan said he was trying ''to enforce the principles of free and fair trade.''   Page 1   In Sri Lanka, guerrillas killed 107 civilians on three buses and two trucks.

NEWS SUMMARY: SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1987

LEAD: A Malaysian court today convicted two men of drug trafficking and sentenced them to death. The national news agency, Bernama, said Nordin Abu Bakar, 36 years old, a salesman, and Lim Kong Seong, a former technical school student, were charged under a law that carries a mandatory death sentence.

Malaysia Dooms Traffickers

LEAD: One rebel soldier was killed and two hostages wounded today as Government troops crushed a nine-hour mutiny staged by soldiers loyal to former President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

MUTINY BY TROOPS IN MANILA IS PUT DOWN BY LOYAL FORCES

LEAD: The grand jury in the Iran-contra affair has questioned witnesses in recent days about their knowledge of a conservative Washington fund-raiser and his role in providing millions of dollars for Nicaraguan rebel groups, according to lawyers with knowledge of the inquiry.

THE IRAN-CONTRA GRAND JURY IS FOCUSING ON FUND-RAISER

LEAD: Overcoming their fears of war and defying the inhospitable rain forest, more than 10,000 Miskito Indian refugees have returned to their traditional homeland along the broad, free-flowing Coco River.

NICARAGUAN INDIANS ARE BACK HOME

LEAD: An article in Weekend yesterday about the Metropolitan Museum's acquisition of a photograph collection described the transaction incorrectly.

Correction

LEAD: A brief article in Weekend yesterday about the rescheduled opening of the Broadway show ''Sleight of Hand'' gave an incorrect date. The play will now open May 3 at the Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street.

LEAD: Because of a transmission error, a dispatch from San Francisco yesterday about motivational training programs for workers misidentified a man from Carmel Valley, Calif., whose program is used by Pacific Bell. He is Charles Krone.

CORRECTION

LEAD: An article yesterday about the Pulitzer Prizes incorrectly described an aspect of Peter Taylor's novel ''A Summons to Memphis'' and the nomination of ''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' by David J. Garrow. In Mr. Taylor's book about a Southern family, an elderly widower plans to remarry, but does not do so.

LEAD: The investigation of security breaches by Marine guards at American embassies could lead to ''a far greater number'' of prosecutions than have begun so far, including charges against civilian embassy officers and employees, according to a memorandum endorsed last week by the Marine Corps Commandant, Gen.

MARINE CORPS CHIEF WARNS OF MANY MORE PROSECUTIONS

LEAD: Nine United States senators have begun an effort to block money for a new United Nations information office sought by the United States Mission. The senators charge that the office will help Soviet spy efforts.

9 SENATORS TRY TO BLOCK FUNDS FOR U.N. OFFICE ASKED BY U.S.

LEAD: The Government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has been jolted by new reports of bribery, this time in a Swedish arms deal, and today denied there had been ''any clandestine or irregular payment'' in any military contract.

New Report of Bribery In India Arms Dealings

LEAD: As the major Western European nations shape their response to proposals for the elimination of all Soviet and American ballistic missiles in Europe, Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany finds himself in an awkward bind.

BONN AND ARMS PLANS: KOHL IN A BIND

LEAD: A museum dedicated to the lore and enjoyment of marijuana opened on a busy canal-front street here last month and was immediately raided by the police.

April 18, 1987

Headlines from April 18, 1987

ARGENTINA'S ARMY MOVES TO HEAD OFF OFFICER REBELLION

U.S. WILL TEST BOMB DETECTOR FOR AIR CARGO

SOVIET OFFERING U.S. AN EXCHANGE: NUCLEAR TESTS ON EACH OTHER'S SOIL

INSIDE

CHESS AT NEW YORK OPEN: 'IT'S LIKE A WAR'

Billboard 200

Licensed To Ill

The Joshua Tree

Slippery When Wet

Graceland

The Way It Is

Historical Context for April 18, 1987