Israeli and Syrian artillery blazed away at each other on the Golan Heights for more than four hours in the fifth straight day of dueling. The Syrians reported destroying an Israeli rocket base, machine-gun emplacement and armored personnel carrier while inflicting several casualties. The Syrian spokesman accused the Israelis of trying to “consolidate their front‐line positions in the central sector of the front,” and said Syrian troops had concentrated their fire on Israeli positions in several areas. No losses were reported.
An Israeli Army spokesman confirmed the latest outbreak of shooting along the central sector of the Israeli front line. But despite this new fighting, the semi-official Egyptian press said today that a troop‐separation agreement between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights could be reached by the end of this month.
Other Egyptian press reports said that King Hussein of Jordan wanted to convene an Arab summit conference on Palestinian land claims. The reports said that Hussein was willing to meet with his rival for power, Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian guerrilla movement
Ministers of the world’s major oil-exporting countries, meeting in Vienna, reportedly rejected a reduction of crude oil prices. They deferred until tomorrow a decision whether to freeze prices at present levels, or increase them after April 1. Finance Minister Jamshid Amouzgar of Iran, the chairman of the meeting, said in a telephone interview with CBS News in New York that the ministers had decided to freeze oil prices for three months, “provided that the industrialized countries will make an effort to contain their inflation.”
International oil brokers reported in Vienna that American petroleum companies had offered two million tons of crude oil in European markets over the last month at prices below current market levels. The American companies identified as the partners in the Arabian-American Oil Company — Exxon, Standard Oil of California, Texaco and Mobil — were said to be acting to depress prices in an attempt to dissuade the governments of consumer countries from entering into long-term contracts.
Rebellious Kurds are in control of most of northern Iraq, a Turkish newspaper reported. The Ankara Milliyet said the Kurdish forces, fighting over the terms of autonomy within the Iraqi state, now control the frontier post of Habur as well as the small towns of Zaho, Duhuk and Rebil.
Fighting that flared this week between Kurdish tribesmen and Iraqi troops appeared to have died down today, leaving rebellious Kurds in firm control of large sections of mountainous northern Iraq bordering Turkey. The Iraqi flag was still fluttering over the customs post today in the Iraqi border village of Ruzgari, half a mile from the Turkish frontier. But it was the 40 turbaned tribesmen of the Kurdish militia, the Pesh Merga — rifles slung over their shoulders and daggers at their belts — who were clearly giving the orders. A well‐fortified Iraqi garrison two miles south of the nearby town of Zaho was reportedly still holding out. Turkish officials at the border said that the Persh Merga had the garrison surrounded but felt it would be foolhardy to challenge the Iraqi guns.
The new government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Endalkachew Makonnen authorized pay increases totaling $2.5 million for teachers, who have been on strike for four weeks. Although the pay increase fell $2 million short of what the Ethiopian Teachers Association had demanded, the government appealed to teachers to resume classes Monday “in the supreme interest of the nation.”
Part of an infantry regiment rebelled briefly in Portugal as unrest spread within the armed forces. The 200 soldiers acted to express solidarity with General Antonio de Spinola, who was dismissed Thursday as deputy chief of the defense staff for proposing in a book that Portugal try to end its 13-year-old African war through political concessions. As the 200 rebels moved on the capital, hoping to gather support from other military units, they were confronted by the Seventh Armored Regiment, which remained loyal to the government, and the rebels surrendered.
President Nixon’s criticism of America’s allies stirred bewilderment and bitterness in European capitals, with the sharpest reaction coming from France. The President’s unhappiness with the European Common Market, expressed Friday at a meeting of the Executive Club in Chicago, especially surprised some officials who had been led to believe that the United States now wanted to calm trans-Atlantic tensions. The French newspaper Le Monde said that it appeared that Mr. Nixon had lost control of himself.
A British patrol walked into a machine-gun ambush near the village of Crossmaglen in Northern Ireland near the border with the Irish Republic. Two of the soldiers were killed, one was seriously injured and one escaped. In other Ulster violence, two men were killed when a bomb they were planting in a culvert in Dungannon went off, another man was killed by a bomb blast in Magherafelt and a fourth was machine-gunned to death on a Belfast street.
A coroner’s jury in Birmingham, England, has ruled accidental death in the case of Michael McEldowney, 64, who came alive during an operation to remove his kidneys for transplant. McEldowney had been pronounced dead an hour prior to the attempted transplant, but began to breathe of his own accord on the operating table. He died 15 hours later.
George Mavros, a Greek politician who is considered to be the chief spokesman of the suspended Center Union Party, was arrested by military police in Athens. A government announcement said he would be deported because he asked for foreign intervention in Greek affairs. Mavros had publicly approved of a British decision to cancel a visit to Athens by two Royal Navy ships as an expression of disapproval of the Greek regime.
The day after author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was exiled to the West, the Soviet government ordered all public libraries to remove the five works he published in the Soviet Union, literary sources said in Mostow. Removed were his first novel, ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” and four short stories.
The Saigon command today reported fighting on the central coast and the loss of two F‐5A jet that collided on a training flight. The command spokesman said 66 Communist soldiers were killed and 26 Government soldiers killed or wounded in three outbreaks of fighting in the central coastal provinces of Bình Thuan and Bình Định yesterday. Most of the casualties occurred only six miles from Phan Thiết, a fishing town that is the province capital of Bình Thuan, a province that has been fairly quiet since the cease‐fire. The collision of the two jets occurred near Biên Hòa, the major air base just north of Saigon. One of the pilots is missing. The other ejected from his crippled jet and was rescued injured.
Cambodian Government paratroopers recaptured a small island two miles northeast of Phnom Penh today, but faced heavy fighting on a nearby larger island in the Mekong River. The paratroopers pushed Communist rebel units from Olmhatei Island in mid‐morning, according to newsmen’s reports, but the insurgents pulled back to Khsach Kandal Island, within wading distance of Olmhatei. Fighting on Khsach Kandal, about three miles long and mile wide, was reported to be serious.
A Seoul military tribunal sentenced five opposition members to prison terms ranging from 12 to 15 years on charges of violating President Park Chung Hee’s ban on attempts to revise South Korea’s constitution. A military spokesman said the five were members of the splinter Democratic Unification Party.
Guatemala has ordered five foreign priests to leave the country for allegedly involving themselves in the country’s internal affairs. Although the names have not been released, it is understood they include three American Maryknoll fathers, a Spaniard, and a German.
Chile’s military government extended the nation’s state of siege for six months. The state of siege, declared after the September 11 coup that ousted President Salvador Allende, permits people to be arrested and held without charge.
President Nixon went to Nashville, the capital of country music, and helped the Grand Ole Opry open a new $15 million home. In a carefree mood, the President drew standing ovations from the invited guests as he played “Happy Birthday” and “My Wild Irish Rose” for Mrs. Nixon and led the crowd in singing “God Bless America.” Mrs. Nixon, who was 62 years old today, had joined him at the opening after completing a tour of South America. This was the last time President Nixon played the piano in public. Previously, country music’s Grand Ole Opry had been housed at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
Congressional investigators and the Internal Revenue Service have challenged as seriously inflated, and for some years possibly fictitious, the deductions for California gasoline taxes that President Nixon has taken on his federal tax returns. The deductions, totaling $244, have saved the President $78.51 in federal income taxes in the years 1969 through 1972. Mr. Nixon was President throughout this period, except for the first 19 days of 1969. His automobile travel and that of his family was in government-owned and operated vehicles that were fueled at government expense.
Amid a fresh flurry of allegations about the sales of ambassadorships, the White House has refused a request by Leon Jaworski, the special Watergate prosecutor, for documents that bear on the awarding of diplomatic posts to major Republican campaign contributors. President Nixon, meanwhile, contends that “ambassadorships cannot be purchased” from his administration. However, sources said that Mr. Jaworski was continuing his investigation, and suggested that indictments against Republican fundraisers and possibly some contributors could be expected in the near future.
The White House was accused of joining with business lobbyists in a last-ditch effort to sabotage a bill establishing a consumer protection agency. Rep. Chet Holifield (D-California), chairman of the House Government Operations Committee, which is to begin final drafting of the bill Tuesday, and Rep. Frank Horton of Kentucky, the committee’s ranking Republican, charged the White House with “knuckling under” to business pressure by recommending amendments that would weaken the proposed agency. The recommendations were in a letter from Roy L. Ash, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The father of Patricia Hearst, the kidnapped newspaper heiress, said today that “I have not broken my word” to her captors and was doing everything possible to meet their demands. Randolph A. Hearst, editor and president of The San Francisco Examiner, also said “I am doing all I can” to facilitate the appearance on national television of two prisoners linked to the group that calls itself the Symbionese Liberation Army. He said he believed such an appearance could be “very helpful” in obtaining his daughter’s release. “The one thing I want above all is to get Patty home as quickly as possible and, I repeat, I’m doing all I can to bring this about,” Mr. Hearst said in a written statement given to reporters at the family’s home in Hillsborough.
He said he had not yet prepared a detailed response to the kidnappers’ last communication, which was delivered a week ago, because “it was more complicated than previous messages in that it deals with more objectives.” Mr. Hearst said he was trying to speed the proposed live TV appearance demanded by Joseph Remiro and Russell Little, two prisoners whom the Symbionese Liberation Army refers to as its “soldiers.” The two men, charged with murdering Marcus Foster, Oakland school superintendent, have said they would offer suggestions that might help Miss Hearst. “Unfortunately, these things take time as the people involved include lawyers, judges, district attorneys, and sheriffs,” Mr. Hearst said.
A bank president pleaded for the safe return of his wife, who has been missing from her suburban home near Minneapolis since Friday morning, apparently a kidnapping victim. The banker, Gunnar Kronholm, 60, said he had received a call Friday afternoon from someone who told him to “gather all the money you can,” presumably ransom for his 46-year-old wife, Eunice. There has been no further communication. “I am awaiting instructions and will pay the ransom,” he told the abductors through the news media.
William A. H. Williams, charged in the kidnapping of Atlanta Constitution editor Reg Murphy, appealed publicly for funds to obtain his freedom on $150,000 bail and for his defense. In a letter released by his attorney, Williams said that “no one was hurt and no money was lost. All that was done was that the American Revolutionary Army and my staunch conservative beliefs were given some publicity.” He and his wife, Betty, were indicted in the $700,000 abduction of Murphy on February 20. Murphy was freed 49 hours later and the Williamses were quickly arrested.
Three teen-agers were arrested in Brooklyn for allegedly stealing 28 racing pigeons from a rooftop coop earlier this month. They told New York police they had taken the birds because someone had stolen their pigeons. Some of the racing pigeons had been released with notes demanding ransom, but none was paid
The Democratic Party Charter Commission voted tentatively to continue midterm policy conferences of party leaders. Chairman Terry Sanford cast the deciding ballot after the commission had voted 37-37 on the controversial issue. The commission is putting together the first charter ever adopted by a major U.S. political party. The issue could come up for another vote when the entire draft is submitted to the commission later. The first of the mini-conventions will be held this December in Kansas City.
New guidelines for priests hearing confessions of homosexuals have been issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Chicago. In general, they reinforce traditional church doctrine on homosexuality but urge priests to be more understanding in handling such cases. Although they called homosexual acts “contrary to the will of God,” the bishops asked priests to deal with homosexuals individually and with sensitivity.
Both Wales (12-16 v England) and France (6-19 v Scotland) lose their final round matches handing Ireland their 8th Five Nations Rugby Championship.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota defeated Michigan Tech (the Huskies of Michigan Technological University), 4 to 2, to win the NCAA ice hockey championship.
Born:
Lamont Burns, NFL guard (New York Jets), in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Died:
Daniel Frank Gerber, 75, American manufacturer of baby food.
History Diaries 