Israelis and Syrians exchanged tank and artillery fire throughout the day today while Israelis and Egyptians were preparing for a mutual pullback of forces and weapons from the Suez Canal zone tomorrow. At nightfall, military headquarters here said there were no Israeli casualties in the day’s fighting. In accordance with policy, no estimate of enemy losses was given. However, unofficial reports from the front said that at least four Syrian tanks had been knocked out and several Syrian positions struck. Headquarters characterized the shooting as intermittent and sparse. The Syrian description of the incidents as a full-scale and continuous battle was termed exaggerated.
For the ninth day, Syrian military spokesmen reported new and steadily more serious clashes. The reports seemed to indicate that Syrian armed patrols were attacking behind Israeli lines or carrying out reconnaissance missions there. An analyst on the Israeli Defense Forces Radio, Ehud Yaari, said that daily Syrian attacks, which started last week, and overdramatization by the press and radio in Damascus were evidently intended to embarrass the Egyptians. “It’s difficult for the Egyptians to justify their implementation of the separation of forces agreement while the Syrians proclaim there is serious fighting on their front,” he said. He added that the fighting had not, reached a scale that would require Egyptian reaction.
Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko arrived in Washington for meetings with President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger regarding the Mideast truce and arms control.
The South Vietnamese command today reported heavy fighting in Quảng Đức Province along the Cambodian border. The command spokesman reported 30 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers killed and 20 government troops wounded near the district capital, Kiến Đức. The town fell to North Vietnamese forces in November and was then retaken by the South Vietnamese. In December, Quảng Đức was the scene of some of the fiercest battles since the cease‐fire agreement of January, 1973. The command also said 12 attacking soldiers had been killed in an assault on government units near Đắk Song base camp, 120 miles northeast of Saigon. The South Vietnamese lost three dead and seven wounded.
The two million people in the fatigued city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, most of them refugees from the war that has raged in the countryside and chewed at the city’s fringes for nearly four years, are doing what they have done since the war began — waiting nervously for the next attempt by enemy troops to choke them off or to penetrate the city itself. On the military scoreboard kept by the Cambodian government and its American supporters, the picture is one of relief, if not a touch of optimism, because in this latest dry‐season offensive by the Communist‐led insurgents, the government forces have so far been able to check all attempts to break the city’s defenses and swallow Phnom Penh. But on the city’s streets there is only exhaustion with the war. People talk of how their little nation of seven million people has staggered from crisis to crisis, and with more fervor than ever before they voice their plaintive hope that the great powers that led them into the conflict will now lead them out.
Their latest suffering has been the blind enemy shelling of the city for the last six weeks, carried out in an apparent effort to spread terror and panic. If there were such a thing as a war‐weariness meter, Cambodia would be registering somewhere close to 100 percent. Western military analysts here say the current offensive, which began in early December, is the biggest push the Cambodian insurgents have ever made and “the first really concerted attempt to penetrate into Phnom Penh.” They say it is bigger than the offensive of last summer, before the Congressionally imposed bombing halt on August 15, when the insurgents were opposed not only by the Government forces but by a large American air armada as well. It was believed last summer that when the American bombers left the Cambodian skies, there was a fair likelihood that the Government troops would not be able to stave off the insurgents.
That this has not yet proved the case suggests several things — that the Government army, though still weakened by corruption at its higher levels, has improved with experience and necessity; that the insurgents suffered heavy losses of experienced soldiers from the American bombing; and, perhaps most important, that the city of Phnom Penh, protected by such natural obstacles as rivers, lakes and marshes and defended by the best of the Government’s divisions, is not as easy for an enemy to take as it has always seemed to the frightened Cambodians and the foreigners nervously living here.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn angrily reacted to charges circulated in Moscow that he had informed on the school friend with whom he had exchanged the correspondence criticizing Stalin that led to their arrests during World War II. In a statement issued to Western newsmen, he contended that Soviet authorities were preparing a new smear campaign against him by putting pressure on old friends and acquaintances to denounce him.
Leaders of Britain’s 270,000 mine workers made it clear that the second national coal strike in two years would go ahead Saturday-if not before-unless their men were offered more money in talks today between Prime Minister Edward Heath and trade union chiefs. The latter are confident that the current two-day ballot to give authority to close down the 270 pits will result in a resounding “yes.”
An explosion occurred on a bus as it was traveling on a highway past the town of Batley in the Yorkshire region of northern England, killing 10 persons aboard, police said. Early reports indicated that passengers included soldiers returning from furlough in Manchester to the Catterick army post. Police stopped another bus carrying soldiers near Leicester, about 100 miles to the south, and searched it for explosives. A rash of bombs, most of which were believed to have been planted by IRA terrorists, have plagued major British cities since last summer.
Charges of an oil scandal involving widespread bribing and hoarding by oil companies has generated new reaction in Italy’s already fragile center-left cabinet. Premier Mariano Rumor repeatedly has delayed a meeting demanded by the feuding coalition partners to force a showdown on government policy. The dispute forced the government to cancel a new 7½-cent increase in the price of gasoline per liter.
A French military mission visiting Kuwait has concluded talks on a possible arms deal, according to Kuwaiti Defense Minister Sheik Saad al-Abdulla. Reliable sources said the Persian Gulf oil state was considering buying 16 Mirage jet fighters and other military equipment from France. There was no indication whether oil supplies were involved in the talks but the French have made no secret of their desire for more oil from Kuwait, which now supplies about 14% of France’s needs.
The French weekly magazine L’Express said President Georges Pompidou will appoint Finance Minister Valery Giscard d’Estaing premier before the end of February because Premier Pierre Messmer has been unable to gain the confidence of the French people. French officials refused to comment on the report. Under the French constitution the president appoints the premier.
Three unidentified gunmen released the Greek freighter and crew members they were holding in the Karachi, Pakistan, harbor. The gunmen surrendered after the Greek government assured them that Arab terrorists being held in Greece won’t be executed. The three gunmen were allowed to leave Pakistan without punishment.
The winter in the Netherlands has been the mildest in years, and so the Dutch are saying, with the nearest thing to a wicked leer they can muster: “Allah is punishing the Arabs.” Ten car‐less Sundays proved to be national lark. Gasoline rationing, what there was of it, ends today after 23 days.
India is planning a major reduction in imported oil this year, a move that will stall economic advancement. Senior Government officials say privately that India will cut back on imported oil by 3 million tons, in the light of the decision of Persian Gulf nations to double their price of crude oil. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is to make the final decision in the next few weeks.
Voting took place in Costa Rica for the Central American nation’s President and for the 57 seats of the Asamblea Legislativa. Amid a fiesta atmosphere. Costa Ricans went to choose a new president. “This election is a plebiscite for or against my government,” said outgoing President Jose (Pepe) Figueres. If the government party’s candidate, Daniel Oduber Quirós, 52, wins the 40% plurality required to be elected, it would be the first time since 1944 that the party in power has been able to succeed itself. After receiving more than 40% of the vote, the threshold for avoiding a runoff election between the top two finishers, Oduber was elected to a four-year term to start on May 8, and his National Liberation Party won 27 seats in the Asamblea.
Bolivia’s Roman Catholic Church urged that the military government revise recent economic moves in an effort to end peasant protests that have resulted in deaths and injuries. “We believe that it is our duty to issue a strong call for a search for positive and realistic solutions that will overcome the situation that has been created,” Bolivian bishops said.
Four prisoners were shot and killed trying to escape from a military patrol in the southern Chile city of Puerto Montt, the army reported. It said one of the prisoners tried to grab a sentry’s weapon while the other three attacked other guards. The incident brought to 10 the number of deaths of prisoners during January.
Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) said he did not favor a tax cut “unless we can cut the President’s budget.” On the television program “Meet the Press,” Proxmire said, “The best way to stimulate the economy is to put idle resources to work… I would reduce military spending and instead have public service spending.” Rep. Wright Patman (D-Texas), asked about inflation on the same program, said, “The way to stop it is to roll back interest rates.” Neither legislator defined any specific program and a commentator remarked that both men “give the impression of being helpless.” Proxmire replied, “Well, the Administration doesn’t tell us anything.”
Lewis A. Engman, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said the FTC soon would announce new policies designed to open its operations to the public “to an extent beyond that which is now characterized by any agency in the government.” The changes will give the public greater access to proceedings, Engman said, and encourage consumer groups and other private parties to use a wealth of information that the FTC collects on advertising, business practices and frauds. Engman, in a Washington interview, said he had been concerned since he became chairman last summer about how the agency could be more accountable to the public.
Federal and state officials met with truckers’ representatives in Washington in order to try to end their protest. Violence and unemployment have stemmed from the truckers’ strike. Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp, who called for the meeting, requested that truckers begin a 45-day moratorium from striking. Truckers’ representative Leonard Fleet stated that truckers won’t go along with any moratorium until their demands are met. Truckers have faced serious hardships due to the 55-m.p.h. speed limit and fuel rationing.
Ohio Governor John Gilligan ordered the National Guard to protect truckers along the roads. Violence and damage are extensive in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania National Guard has been protecting working truckers in that state, and extra Guardsmen are being called in. More violence is expected. The strike has been relatively calm in Illinois, but Indiana is hard-hit by the truck strike. Truckers there plan to stay off the roads until their demands are met. Attorney General William Saxbe exhorted governors and other state officials to stand up to the truckers.
Vice President Gerald Ford said that the White House should release any evidence clearing the President. On “Face the Nation”, Ford stated his belief that such evidence exists, and he asserted that the White House has cooperated fully with special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski. On ABC’s “Issues and Answers”, however, Jaworski insisted that all information needed from the White House has not been made available to the prosecutor’s office. Jaworski believes Ford is sincere, but said that his office has had to fight for all tapes and documents. Jaworski hinted that he was almost forced to use a subpoena on the President.
Investigators for the Senate Watergate committee reportedly have learned that the Secret Service was ordered to keep Donald Nixon, the President’s brother, under physical surveillance during his first term because of mounting concern within the White House that his business dealings, particularly with the Howard Hughes organization, might embarrass the President and hurt his chances for re-election.
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) chided President Nixon for never consulting congressional Republicans “until you get your tail in a crack.” Goldwater, the 1964 GOP presidential nominee, said also in the current issue of U.S. News & World Report that there was not enough evidence to impeach the President “as of right now” and he should not resign. But, Goldwater added, “You’ve always got to qualify (such comments) … because we have a centipede here — we never know when the 50th shoe is going to drop.”
Circuit Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler of Los Angeles said the Supreme Court’s 150 decisions each term are far too few to supply answers to pressing national issues. Part of the high court’s job is to resolve conflicts that occur in the U.S. circuit courts, but, Judge Hufstedler said, “Only a small fraction of the reported wrinkles are ironed out… despite invitations to do so.” Judge Hustedler gave her views in a speech for a luncheon meeting in Houston of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, which is meeting in conjunction with sessions of the American Bar Association.
Despite proposals calling for minimum government regulation of cable television, Congress should require that Sunday football games be viewed at home for free, a White House official said. Clay T. Whitehead, director of President Nixon’s Office of Telecommunications Policy, said also that he could conceive of a time when X-rated movies would be shown on cable TV, provided they were not banned by law. In a Washington interview, Whitehead called sports an exceptional form of entertainment, as shown by their immunity from antitrust laws granted by Congress. Mr. Nixon is currently reviewing a report that recommends minimum regulation of cable TV, Whitehead said.
Taxpayers who mostly passed up a chance last year to earmark a dollar of their taxes for financing presidential election campaigns are showing more interest this year, the Internal Revenue Service says. But the figures indicate that the response so far is still less than overwhelming. About 13% of the returns already filed this year carry the authorization. Originally the taxpayer could designate a political party or have his dollar go to a nonpartisan fund to be distributed by formula among the candidates, beginning with the 1976 race. But midway through 1973 Congress abolished the party designation. Rep. Henry S. Reuss (D-Wisconsin) called the change “an inexcusable breach of faith” and said he was preparing corrective legislation.
Shoppers across the nation are reacting with anger and frustration to sharply climbing food prices and the dire predictions of worse days to come. But instead of attempting to counterattack with a boycott or mass protests, most men and women shrug in hopeless resignation.
“Pajama Game” closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 65 performances
Born:
Ayanna Pressley, U.S. representative for Massachusetts and one of the eight persons on the far-left Democrat group “The Squad”; in Chicago, Illinois.
Miriam Yeung (Yeung Chin-wah), Hong Kong actress and singer; in Sai Ying Pun, British Hong Kong.
Shahab Hosseini, Iranian actor and film director; in Tehran, Iran.
History Diaries 