The official board studying the pay of Britain’s striking coal miners has proposed that they get raises of about 35 percent, more than twice the offer that caused the dispute. Sources who have seen the Pay Board report disclosed its findings as Prime Minister Wilson announced his new Labor cabinet and moved to end the three-week strike. The proposals raised hopes that the strike would soon be over.
Firebombs burned three stores in downtown Belfast. Police said five persons were injured, all of them slightly, when the bombs went off. Roman Catholic priests, meanwhile, opened a campaign urging the end of recruitment of children as killers for the outlawed Irish Republican Army.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Marcello Caetano addressed the National Assembly in Lisbon and said that Portugal would continue the colonial status of Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau), Angola and Mozambique despite the toll taken by guerrilla warfare in all three colonies. Caetano said that there were no plans to allow the natives to vote on self-determination because elections “would be inappropriate for the African mentality.”
Student protests over the execution of a Catalan anarchist forced Spanish authorities to close universities and brought police to campuses in six cities. Eight thousand Barcelona taxi drivers and 12,000 fishermen continued strikes, the drivers protesting a 50% jump — to $1.30 a gallon — in gasoline prices, and the fishermen a 300% hike in diesel fuel.
Soviet party leader Leonid I. Brezhnev has admitted that considerable — but unknown — losses occurred in collecting last year’s record grain harvest. Brezhnev blamed rain during the harvest and inadequate storage facilities for the losses. He pledged efforts to overcome the storage problem.
Lawyers defending American author Robert Katz and Italian film producer Carlo Ponti against charges of defaming the late Pope Pius XII in their film, “Massacre in Rome,” asked a Rome court to question Pope Paul VI on whether Pius knew in advance of the killing of 335 Romans by Nazis in 1944 but did nothing to stop it. The court took the request under study.
Secretary of State Kissinger’s chief spokesman complained that the nine‐nation Common Market had failed to consult the United States in advance of its offer Monday of long‐term economic and technical cooperation to the Arab countries. The State Department spokesman, George S. Vest, said that consequently “the United States reserves the right to take such similar action if it becomes appropriate.”
The scheduled meeting of Arab oil ministers in Libya Sunday brings prospects for a relaxation of Arab oil restrictions, including the embargo against the United States, according to Arab diplomatic sources. But there were signs of continuing doubts among some Arab governments over a complete abandonment of the “oil weapon” until more progress is made on Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territories.
The Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei A. Gromyko, flew to Damascus today after a five‐day visit to Egypt that was apparently designed to show Moscow’s determination to reassert its influence in the area. It a joint communiqué issued, after his departure, the Soviet and Egyptian Governments said they shared the conviction that the Soviet Union must be closely associated with every future step toward a settlement of the Arab‐Israeli conflict. The Soviet Union had deferred for months to Secretary of State Kissinger and his mediation efforts. Mr. Gromyko’s visit to Damascus today is his second in less than a week. He was there Thursday and Friday between Mr. Kissinger’s two visits to the Syrian capital.
Premier Golda Meir of Israel announced that she would complete the formation of a new coalition cabinet tomorrow and that it would include Moshe Dayan as Defense Minister. She also announced that Shimon Peres, the Minister of Communications, would join the cabinet. Both men changed their minds about joining the coalition after a special cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
Iranian and Iraqi border forces exchanged artillery fire today for the second day, and Iraq said three of her men were killed and 12 wounded. A communiqué issued by the general military command in Baghdad accused the Iranians of starting the shooting and said Iraqi forces had returned the fire. Iran said Iraqi border forces had been firing heavy artillery at the Khan Leili border post since early Monday, killing an Iranian soldier and wounding three others, The Associated Press reported. The official Iranian press agency said Iranian forces were returning the fire. According to the Iraqi communique, the fighting took place at a frontier area in the Iraqi district of Khanagin, about 100 miles northeast of Baghdad. The communiqué, quoted by the Iraqi state radio, said that Iranian forces were continuing their build‐up in the border area “in preparation for additional aggression against Iraqi territory and sovereignty.”
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, confronted by continued unrest and increasing demands for sweeping change, announced that he had agreed to a constitutional convention to create a new system of elected democratic government. This is expected to lead to the end of the absolute monarchy that had ruled for many centuries. Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie pledged that he would bring a more democratic form of government to the absolute monarchy, as he made an unprecedented national address on radio and television. The pledged reform came too late to preserve the monarchy, as Selassie would be overthrown in a coup d’état on September 12.
Communist forces assassinated four government officials in three South Vietnamese hamlets, a Saigon military spokesman said. In Saigon 199 people pleaded guilty to charges connected with illegal gambling and received jail terms up to two years. In Cambodia, Communist-led insurgents struck at four government garrisons close to Phnom Penh while government reinforcements swept west to counter an insurgent force holding part of Highway 4.
Amid charges by the main opposition party of fraud, Guatemala’s army-backed government announced tonight the victory of its candidate in the Presidential election Sunday. The government’s decision to secure its re‐election is expected to mark the beginning of a new chapter of political violence in the history of this chronically unstable Central American republic. The main opposition party has already called for “pacific resistance,” while the government parties have warned that they will meet violence with violence. Most independent observers and even some government and military sources have recognized that the candidate of the National Opposition Front was the real winner in the three‐way race. However, the ruling rightwing coalition was unwilling to concede defeat and has apparently succeeded in obtaining a favorable result from the Government ‐ controlled electoral registry.
Cuba’s commerce minister said the U.S. economic blockade has been disastrous for his nation and also has hurt European nations that have been pressured into ending trade with Cuba. Marcel Fernandez Font spoke in Punta del Este, Uruguay, to representatives of 20 Latin American nations gathered to discuss trade problems with European Common Market officials.
A mild earthquake shook Managua, Nicaragua, causing panic but no no injuries. Most of Managua was destroyed by a quake in December of 1972 and more than 10,000 people were killed.
More than 700 inmates housed in a dilapidated jail in Hermosillo, Mexico, were moved to a new facility after rioting in protest of living conditions. Six prisoners died of smoke inhalation during the riot Monday. Inmates complained of bad food and poor medical attention.
The sisters of missing balloonist Thomas L. Gatch — Eleanor Hoaglan and Nancy Svien, both of Rochester, Minnesota — offered a $10,000 reward for his recovery alive or for information leading to his recovery alive. Gatch left Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, February 18 to attempt the first transatlantic balloon voyage. He was last seen February 21 by a ship almost 1,000 miles from the Canary Islands.
Judge John Sirica will hear arguments Wednesday concerning the future of the grand jury’s special report. Sirica met with lawyers from all sides to discuss the report today; the lawyers refused comment. John Wilson, the attorney for H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, filed a petition to keep the report bottled up in the grand jury. Earlier, Judge Sirica criticized the Washington Star News for publishing a secret memo which was sent to fellow judges about upcoming Watergate cases. Special prosecutor Leon Jaworski said that a dozen more indictments are expected between now and next May.
The House Judiciary Committee will try to obtain the grand jury’s special report. President Nixon’s attorney James St. Clair promised to respond tomorrow to the committee’s request for evidence to be used in its impeachment probe.
Committee chairman Peter Rodino declared that the committee has waited a sufficient amount of time for the White House’s response. Representative Edward Hutchinson said he hopes the White House will cooperate with the committee. Rodino threatened that subpoenas will be used if the White House refuses to honor the committee’s request. Committee lawyers John Doar and Albert Jenner will appear before Judge Sirica to request that the grand jury report be turned over to them.
The towns of Springfield and Thetford, Vermont, held town meetings to vote on the question of President Nixon’s impeachment. Both towns approved the resolution; Thetford is basically a Republican town. The impeachment issue was also voted on in Norwich and Woodstock, Vermont.
A congressional committee is studying President Nixon’s controversial tax returns. Committee staffers are likely to find that the President owes more than $300,000 in back taxes and interest. Russell Long, chairman of the joint committee on taxation, reported that the President may be forced to pay back taxes and stated that the final results of the investigation will be released when they are available.
White House lawyers are preparing to make a two‐pronged defense against the implication in last Friday’s grand jury indictments of White House and Nixon campaign aides that President Nixon may not have opposed hush money payments to the Watergate defendants.
The government started to get to the core of its case against John N. Mitchell and Maurice H. Stans, two former Nixon Cabinet members, with the first testimony linking Mitchell to Robert L. Vesco, the fugitive financier. The prosecution called its star witness to testify in the trial of Stans and Mitchell. Harry Sears was granted total immunity from prosecution by Judge Lee Gagliardi before his testimony. Sears testified about fugitive financier Robert Vesco and Mitchell.
Thomas Luken, a Democrat and a former mayor of Cincinnati, eked out a narrow victory in a special election in Ohio’s 1st congressional district — an election in which Watergate played a role. He defeated Willis Gradison, the Republican nominee, who is also a former mayor of Cincinnati. It was the third Republican district won by Democrats this year in other congressional elections. The district had gone Democratic only three times in this century.
The number of persons covered in the nation’s largest welfare program apparently declined in 1973 for the first time since the program began 36 years ago, said Caspar W. Weinberger, secretary of health, education and welfare. The number of persons in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program dropped from 11,112,000 to 10,821,000 during the first 11 months of last year, an HEW report said. Weinberger said most of the reduction resulted from the Administration encouraging states to close loopholes and reduce errors in eligibility and payments.
The Senate turned back several Republican efforts to trim a bill increasing the minimum wage to $2.20 an hour and broadening its coverage from 49.4 million workers to 56.3 million. Final passage, however, was put off until today or Thursday. The amendments were offered in an effort to make the measure written in the Senate Labor Committee conform to President Nixon’s views.
Official reaction to the streaking fad now raging on high school and college campuses ranges from “quite spectacular” to “a damnable mess.” The first streaker to appear in Sacramento hurtled across the stage at Hiram Johnson High while the chorus was practicing “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord.” Women, too, were girding their loins. The Intramural Coed Underground Streaking League of the University of Missouri said it was preparing a mass streak. Another movement, however, turned out to be a hoax. Paul Matthias of the University of Pennsylvania said a supposed plan to streak around the White House was just a joke and apologized.
Three men were arrested in Sanford, Florida, on federal extortion charges in the kidnapping of a businessman, George Jackson, who was released unharmed last weekend, police said. A “substantial” amount of the $30,000 ransom was recovered, officers said. The three men were identified as Ernest J. Davis, 19, Frank L. Wheeler, 19, and Jesse James Jones, 23, all from Sanford. Police said Jackson, 52, was abducted from his Southern Shortening plant and held for 26 hours in an abandoned house outside town.
The Food and Drug Administration recalled all chocolate products, including Easter bunnies, produced by a Canadian firm because of suspected salmonella bacteria contamination. The products are imported and distributed in the United States by three candy firms — Frankford Candy & Chocolate Co. of Philadelphia, Murray Allen Products of New Rochelle, New York, and Triumph Candy Corp. of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The Canadian maker is Regent Chocolates, Ltd., of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec.
The head of the LBJ Library says President Lyndon B. Johnson donated only a fraction of his 31 million official papers to the government before he died, and the rest were willed to the government without tax benefits to his heirs. Library director Harry J. Middleton, in response to a weekend report that Johnson took between $10 million and $29 million in deductions, said the former President deducted from his taxes the value of about only 200,000 of the documents. He added that he did not know the amount deducted.
“Candide” opens at Broadway Theater, NYC; runs for 740 performances.
“The Seagull,” a three-act opera by Thomas Pasatieri, with libretto by Kenward Elmslie, premiered at the Houston Grand Opera. Based on an 1896 play of the same name by Anton Chekhov, the opera has been performed on multiple occasions since then.
First performance in 3,000 years of world’s oldest known song “Hymn to Nikkal” a 3,400-year-old Hurrian hymn to moon god Nikkal from Ugarit in Syria, played at Berkeley University by Anne Kilmer and Richard Crocker
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 872.42 (+19.24, +2.26%).
Born:
Eva Mendes, American film actress (“Training Day”, “2 Fast 2 Furious”) and model; in Miami, Florida.
Kevin Connolly, American actor (“Beverly Hillbillies”, “Rocky V”, “Angus”), in Patchogue, New York.
Matt Lucas, British comedian and TV actor (“Little Britain”); in Paddington, London, England, United Kingdom.
Brad Schumacher, American freestyle swimmer (Olympic gold medals, 4×100-meter relay and 4×200-meter relay, 1996), in Bowie, Maryland.
Died:
Sol Hurok, 85, Russian-born American impresario known for his influence on American culture by bringing major presentations to the stage in his “S. Hurok Presents” program.
Billy De Wolfe (stage name for William Andrew Jones), 67, American film and stage comedian and actor.
Judd Holdren, 58, American actor in science fiction films, known as the title characters in Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe, committed suicide by shooting himself.
Wally Kinnear, 93, Scottish rower and 1912 Olympic gold medalist in single scull rowing.
History Diaries 