Israeli bulldozers were at work on the southwestern upper flank of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights as Syrian earth-moving equipment pushed an opposing track up the strategic mountain’s eastern slopes. Both sides consider the mountain a crucial bargaining card in the forthcoming talks on a separation of forces. While Israel claimed an initial victory by establishing a small outpost at the summit, the Syrians seem determined to seize it.
In Jerusalem, Major General Ariel Sharon, a hero of the October war and an opposition member of Parliament, charged that the Israeli defense establishment had been negligent in not thwarting an Arab raid that killed 18 Israelis last week. Sharon, who led the Israeli crossing of the Suez Canal last October and who has been a frequent critic of the Government and the defense establishment, spoke in Parliament in Jerusalem shortly before Qiryat Shemona inhabitants burst into the building’s courtyard demanding greater security for their town. Riot policemen halted the demonstrators, who numbered about 200, outside Parliament. There were some scuffles and a glass door was broken. Menahem Begin, leader of the opposition Likud, the rightwing group in which the general is also a key figure, tried to calm the demonstrators. Addressing them by loudspeaker, the said he had had assurances from Defense Minister Moshe Dayan that Qiryat Shemona would be patrolled by armed forces, day and night.
A noon‐time protest rally and memorial service was held yesterday outside the Syrian Mission to the United Nations in New York, during which it was charged that Syria’s Jewish community was being “systematically destroyed.” Rabbin Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, charged “acts of persecution, repression and deprivation” were being imposed upon the 4,500 Jews in Syria. The State Attorney General, Louis J. Lefkowitz, said that “the civil liberties of one of Syria’s oldest minorities have been grossly violated.”
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt has reaffirmed his intention of working through the United States in seeking a settlement of the Middle East conflict and has made it clear that in his opinion the Soviet Union has been relegated to a secondary diplomatic role. In remarks reported in Egyptian newspapers, Mr. Sadat revealed that he had come close to renouncing the Soviet-Egyptian friendship treaty because of his disenchantment with Moscow.
A group of Muslim fundamentalist rebels in the Egyptian military, including 16 cadets, attacked the Technical Military Academy in Cairo, killing 11 people and wounding 27 others as part of an alleged plot, financed by Libya, to overthrow President Anwar Sadat. Although the Egyptian government initially described reports about the incident as false, 75 members of the military would be arrested over the next 10 days, including the alleged leader, Dr. Saleh Abdullah Sariya of the Islamic Liberation Organization.
Sporadic fighting is continuing in the Central Highlands after the fall of two South Vietnamese positions and the biggest battle since the January, 1973, cease-fire, the South Vietnamese command said. The command claimed that 324 North Vietnamese died in the big five-hour battle Tuesday north of the Plei Me base camp. The command listed government losses at 40 killed and 18 wounded.
For years, Vietnam was front‐page news, a major political issue, and an emotional experience for the nation. Now this has changed: Casualties have been stopped, prisoners released and the controversy eclipsed by matters closer to home. A full year after the cease‐fire, which many thought would bring peace to Vietnam, the country is still ravaged by war with the prospect of continued bloodshed ahead. The ceasefire did bring about an end, to United States military action, cause our 588 prisoners to be released, and set the stage for a truce in Laos. But little else has been accomplished. During the last year, there have been more than 10,000 hostile contacts and over 13,000 armed attacks resulting in the deaths of more than 33,000 Communists and 6,000 South Vietnamese military men. Also, there have been thousands of civilians killed, injured or abducted in the South.
The Polish delegation to the International Commission of Control and Supervision today demanded that the South Vietnamese Government return a member of the delegation who defected two days ago. But Government sources said the South Vietnamese refused. The defector, a 34‐year‐old political officer named Mikolaj Holub, went to the United States Embassy early Monday and asked for asylum. The embassy said it turned him over to South Vietnamese authorities. The Saigon Government said it was considering his request for asylum. A spokesman for Poland’s commission delegation said that Mr. Holub was mentally ill and had been under treatment.
A Seoul criminal court today began the trial of 32 South Koreans on charges of having spied for North Korea using Ullung Island off South Korea’s east coast as their base. They were arrested by the South Korean Central Intelligence Agency in February. They include three college professors, a high school teacher, two Christian pastors, a physician, a former national legislator and several businessmen and fishermen. The defendants were charged with carrying out espionage activities for North Korea during the last 10 years and attempting to overthrow the Seoul Government by organizing underground cells among military officers, students, clergymen, intellectuals and factory workers.
The Warsaw Pact’s top political consultative committee opened a three-day meeting in Warsaw believed aimed at encouraging détente and reducing Western suspicions of Communist policy. No agenda was published for the talks, attended by party and government leaders from the Soviet Union and seven East European states, but the Polish party daily Trybuna Ludu said the summit would continue to promote detente and cooperation.
A bill for taxpayer financing of political parties has been passed by Italy’s parliament and becomes law upon publication. The measure sets aside $96 million for use by the nation’s seven main parties. Passed in near-record time, the bill comes in the midst of several major scandals involving top political figures in alleged corrupt activities.
The Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece of the woman with the enigmatic smile, arrived in Tokyo from Paris amid stringent security precautions. The painting, on loan from the Louvre, was taken to the National Art Museum, where it goes on exhibit Saturday. The painting is reported to have been insured for more than $40 million, with the policy costing the Japanese $214,000.
Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger offered U.S. support for the drafting of a code of conduct to govern the behavior of multinational corporations, which have been accused of interfering in the affairs of other countries. Kissinger made the offer to Latin American and Caribbean foreign ministers meeting at the State Department. He said the United States strongly opposed the intervention of U.S. corporations in the internal affairs of foreign governments. Later at a White House dinner for Latin American officials, President Nixon pledged his efforts to maintain current U.S. aid levels. Mr. Nixon also said he sought to develop a new dialogue with their countries based on peace, political freedom and economic growth.
Former President Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes of Guatemala says President John F. Kennedy, responding to the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, ordered the coup that overthrew him 11 years ago. In an interview yesterday on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the invasion, General Ydigoras. Fuentes said the attempt on Premier Fidel Castro’s Government failed because of “the great indecisions of President Kennedy.” “As always, he had to find a scapegoat,” the former President said, “and that scapegoat was Ydigoras Fuentes. It was through Kennedy’s orders that my government was destroyed.” The United States Central Intelligence Agency trained the invasion force of about 300 Cuban exiles in Guatemala and Nicaragua while General Ydigoras Fuentes was President. He was overthrown in March, 1963, eight months before Mr. Kennedy was assassinated, and now resides in El Salvador after having lived in the United States.
The public court-martial of 63 Chilean Air Force officers and enlisted men began in the chapel of the Air Force War College in Santiago on accusations of sedition or treason. Prosecutors asked that six of the defendants be sentenced to death for espionage.
Three days after leading a coup d’état, Seyni Kountché named a 12-man council to run the West African nation and proclaimed himself the Chief of State as Chairman of the Council. Lieutenant Colonel Seyni Kountché proclaimed himself as Niger’s chief of state and named a 12-man all-military council to run the drought-stricken West African nation. The announcement, by radio from the capital of Niamey, came three days after Kountché toppled the government of President Hamani Diori in a military coup. Kountché said Diori was unharmed and under house arrest. Reports reaching neighboring Dahomey said Diori’s wife had been killed in the fighting during the coup.
The largest diamond ever found in Kimberley, South Africa-and the ninth largest in the world-was unearthed at the Dutoitspan mine. It weighs 616 carats and is “a yellow octahedron of good shape but not of the best quality,” De Beers, owners of the mine, said. The world’s largest uncut diamond was found in Sierra Leone in 1972. It weighs 969.1 carats.
President Nixon named William Simon to succeed George Shultz as Secretary of the Treasury, but not as overall director of economic policy for the administration. Instead, a presidential spokesman said, Mr. Nixon will succeed Shultz as chairman of the Council on Economic Policy and will be more active in economic affairs.
The White House said that President Nixon is not dismayed by Republican James Sparling’s loss to Democrat William Traxler in Michigan’s 8th district special election. The district had elected Republicans for the past four decades. Sparling stated that he’s proud Nixon came to campaign for him. Michigan Republican party chair William McLaughlin declared that it will be a tough year ahead, and another Republican spokesman lamented that Republicans cannot win in the year of Watergate. A Republican National Committee official said the party didn’t expect to win this seat, though political adviser Dean Burch noted that Nixon visit raised Sparling’s standing from 9 points behind to 2 points — the President helped him. Vice President Gerald Ford blamed organized labor for the defeat. Another special Congressional election will take place in San Francisco on June 4.
Former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans took the witness stand in his own defense and swore that the reason he kept Robert Vesco’s $200,000 cash contribution to the Nixon re-election campaign secret was Mr. Vesco’s constitutional right of privacy. Mr. Stans denied that the money was a payoff or that there was any quid pro quo arrangement with Mr. Vesco, who has been accused of making the contribution in return for quashing a federal investigation into his financial dealings.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly considering possible fraud charges growing out of the financial collapse of the Penn Central railroad nearly four years ago. Government sources said action in the case was imminent, but did not specify what companies or individuals might be charged in the case.
The American Express Company said it had agreed to allow merchants honoring its credit cards to offer discounts to customers who pay cash for purchases. Claiming a “tremendous victory,” Consumers Union said it would drop an antitrust suit against American Express as a result of the company’s action.
Attorney General William Saxbe said he did not regard Patricia Hearst as a “reluctant participant” in Monday’s San Francisco bank robbery, but a “fugitive” who is a part of a group of “common criminals.” In his weekly news briefing, Mr. Saxbe said he was not relaying his personal view to the Federal Bureau of Investigation — which said it was proceeding on the possibility that Miss Hearst had been forced to cooperate in the robbery.
The Supreme Court ruled that parents of three slain Kent State students may sue the Governor of Ohio and National Guard officers for damages growing out of the 1970 campus protests. The Court, which did not pass on the merits of such a damage suit, overruled two lower courts in holding that state officials are not immune from damage suits that are based on charges of a violation of civil rights.
In San Francisco, Nelson Shields IV, 23, was making room in a friend’s car for a rug he had just purchased when he was shot in the back three times. He died grasping a lacrosse stick. He is the twelfth victim of the city’s “zebra” killings. The victims have all been white, the killers black. No motive has been established for the murders.
A federal judge in St. Paul rejected a motion to dismiss charges against American Indian Movement leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means, who are charged in connection with last year’s 71-day takeover of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. U.S. District Judge Fred J. Nichol held, however, that the government may not use any evidence it secured through monitoring of phone calls coming out of Wounded Knee during the occupation. In his ruling, Nichol cited eight examples of FBI misconduct and also criticized the prosecution for inadequate trial preparation.
Retail beef prices have fallen an average of 24.5% a pound in the last two months, according to a nationwide survey by the American National Cattleman’s Association. The survey said ground beef prices in the 19 cities checked have declined by an average of 14 cents a pound, or 13% from two months earlier. Round steak was down 30 cents a pound, or 16%. Sirloin declined by 23 cents a pound, or 12% since February and T-bone prices have dropped an average of 28 cents a pound, or 13%. The survey said average chuck roast prices were 28 cents lower, or 24%.
Pilot error probably caused the crash of a Delta Air Lines DC-9 in Boston last July 31 in which 89 persons were killed, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The crew was concerned with an erratic instrument when it should have been checking the plane’s altitude as it approached fog-bound Logan International Airport and slammed into a seawall at the end of a runway on the edge of Boston Harbor, the board said in a report.
Chairman Wayne Hays (D-Ohio) of the House Administration Committee considering a Senate-passed bill providing for publicly financed congressional races said there was no chance the House would approve the measure. Hays said it was unlikely the House would go beyond public financing of presidential campaigns and tighter spending limits on congressional campaigns. The Senate bill would provide full public financing of both presidential and congressional election campaigns.
The murders of two Cuban exile leaders — one in New York City and the other in Miami — were linked by New York detectives, who said both men apparently were slain by a guerrilla gang that is believed to have made a death list of a dozen men, all active in the anti-Castro underground. Arturo Rodriguez Vives, a newspaper columnist, was shot dead Tuesday in Manhattan. Jose de la Torriente, a wealthy Miami businessman, was shot dead last Friday. Authorities are inclined to believe the two were victims of a power struggle but they do not discount that Castro agents might be responsible.
The number of black law students in predominantly white Southern schools has increased sharply since 1969, but must increase much more before their proportions are equal to the black population in their states, said a study sponsored by the Carnegie Corp. of New York.
Ted Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears in Ellensburg, Washington. Susan Rancourt left a meeting for prospective dorm counselors at Central Washington State College. That would be the last time any of her friends and classmates would see her alive. Rancourt’s remains would later be found at Taylor Mountain. She would turn out to be one of many women killed by serial killer Ted Bundy, who confessed to killing her and other women in Washington state. Bundy was never tried for her death but confessed to it while awaiting execution. She was Bundy’s third known murder victim.
Cubs catcher George Mitterwald hits a double and 3 home runs, including a grand slam, driving in 8 runs in an 18–9 win over the Pirates at Wrigley Field. The 14 total bases is a club record. Bill Madlock scores 5 runs.
Cleveland’s Gaylord Perry pitches 15 strong innings against Milwaukee, striking out 14, and departs with the game tied 4–4. Perry is the last pitcher this century to pitch 15 innings in a game. Former Brewer Ken Sanders comes on and gives up a home run in the 16th to the first batter, the Brewer’s Bob Coluccio.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 867.41 (+6.18, +0.72%).
Born:
Victoria Beckham, English singer best known as “Posh Spice” for the Spice Girls; in Harlow, Essex, England, United Kingdom.
James Hamilton, NFL linebacker (Jacksonville Jaguars), born in Hartford, Connecticut.
Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish heavy metal guitarist; in Stockholm, Sweden.
Died:
Frank McGee, 52, American TV journalist and co-host of the NBC Today show since 1971, died of multiple myeloma six days after his last newscast.
Blossom Seeley (stage name for Minnie Guyer), 87, American singer and dancer billed as the “Queen of Syncopation.”
History Diaries 