The United States and the Soviet Union agreed, in a joint statement, to use their influence and coordinate the efforts to achieve “a positive outcome” of the Middle East negotiations. The statement, issued after a meeting in Geneva between Secretary of State Kissinger and the Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, was interpreted by Americans as a boost to Mr. Kissinger’s efforts to bring about a troop separation between Syria and Israel. It also seemed to meet Moscow’s insistence that the Soviet Union be permitted to share more fully in the negotiations, which have been dominated by the United States.
After several days of relative quiet, Syrian forces fired hundreds of artillery shells on Israeli positions today and Syrian jets bombed a high, snow‐covered saddle on Mount Hermon. Israel reported that four Syrian MIG‐21’s had been shot down by interceptor aircraft. The bombing and shelling were heard at a loud and persistent volume most of the day in the bulge of Syria conquered by Israeli forces last October. There was no ground assault or really serious military threat by Syrian forces, however. Many Israeli soldiers thought the display of firepower was related to the approaching discussions of a Syrian‐Israeli military disengagement during Secretary of State Kissinger’s visit to the Middle East. At 1:18 PM, Syrian jets struck at the long ridge of Mount Hermon evidently trying to sever the Israeli military road running southwest from the 9,200‐foot peak, which is held by Israelis.
Large gray mushrooms, much the same color as the dirty snowfields on the mountain, blossomed as heavy bombs hit a saddle on the ridge. A few minutes later the whine of interceptor jets was heard approaching from Israel. Israelis said the Syrians had Used relatively slow MIG‐17’s to do the bombing, while supersonic MIG‐21’s flew protective patrols over them. The Israeli sources said that the Israeli planes had attacked the MIG-21’s and shot down four of them in a dogfight. An official announcement in Tel Aviv said that the planes had been brought down by cannon fire or air‐to‐air missiles. The statement said that eight MIG‐21’s took part in the battle but that more were in the air. Israeli jets bombed Syrian positions on the northeast ridge of the long mountain in the morning and afternoon.
But it was the Israeli ground troops, who now wear American‐made, anti-shrapnel jackets almost constantly when in forward areas, who had to endure the long Syrian artillery bombardment. An announcement in Tel Aviv said three men had been wounded during the day. The bang of shells was frequent and gray plumes of smoke from explosions drifted long over the front. However, the official communiqué described the shelling as “sparse.” This seemed open to dispute. On Friday Israeli troops at a forward observation point said, “About 20 shells is what we get on the worst days.” More shells than that fell on the area within an hour today. Observed from a position behind the front salvos of four shells struck the hill again and again. Soldiers of an Israeli tank unit in the area welcomed a visitor but chose to talk close to a bunker. A few yards away was a new crater from a 130mm Syrian shell.
The major Portuguese parties of the left and center differed with the nation’s leader, General Antonio de Spinola, over the long-range program of keeping the African territories tied to Portugal. Leaders of the Portuguese Democratic Movement, an organization of Socialists, Communists and Christian Democrats, said after meeting with the general that they wanted an immediate end to the fighting in Portuguese Guinea, Mozambique and Angola.
Two of the three leading candidates for president of France said they could not accept American leadership of Europe. Jacques Chaban-Delmas said consultation could take place but only after the Common Market members had reached their decisions. Valery Giscard d’Estaing said the idea of U.S. leadership of the Western world is unacceptable. Francois Mitterrand, the third candidate and leader in opinion polls, was vigorously endorsed by former Premier Pierre Mendes-France.
A leading West German opposition spokesman called on Chancellor Willy Brandt to ask World War II Allies to pardon Adolf Hitler’s former deputy, Rudolf Hess. Richard Stuecklen, leader of the Christian Social Union parliamentary party, told the chancellor that Hess should be released for humanitarian reasons as soon as possible.
Madrid police announced the arrest of 20 Communist leaders alleged to have planned terrorist attacks on Wednesday — May Day. The announcement came after Roman Catholic bishops in Madrid expressed dismay at the limitations on “just exercises of rights, like those of assembly and expression in Spain.” Police said those arrested were members of the extreme left-wing “Revolutionary Anti-Fascist Front,” which is Marxist led.
Irish Republican Army gunmen hijacked a truck in the Roman Catholic Andersonstown district of Belfast, packed it with explosives, held one driver hostage and forced a second driver to crash the vehicle into a police station in the town of Lisburn, site of the British army’s headquarters in Northern Ireland. Police said the driver leaped from the truck just before the crash and sounded the alarm. The resultant blast wrecked the station but caused no casualties.
Soviet technicians hauled the wreckage of an Aeroflot jetliner into a hangar at Leningrad airport in an attempt to find what caused the plane to crash on takeoff Saturday. All 108 persons aboard were killed. The crash could be clearly seen from the airport and pandemonium broke out in the terminal with relatives and friends of the passengers screaming and crying. Following their usual practice, Soviet news media made no mention of the crash.
The senior Russian Orthodox prelate in Western Europe, Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, had resigned in a dispute over human rights in the Soviet Union, particularly treatment of exiled writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Times of London reported. The resignation has not been announced officially, the newspaper said, adding it was understood that the prelate wished to continue as head of the Russian Orthodox community in Britain.
Ethiopia’s armed forces ordered troops back to barracks so that special courts could get on with trying 200 officials rounded up by soldiers and police last week on corruption charges. The country was peaceful after two months of sporadic turmoil.
The remains of American and other Western victims of last Monday’s Pan Am jetliner crash on Bali were buried in a mass grave near where the Asian victims’ bodies were cremated. Twenty-eight Americans were among 107 people who died when the Boeing 707 crashed into a mountain near Bali International Airport. There were no survivors.
Emperor Hirohito celebrated, his 73rd birthday today, and 55,000 Japanese trooped through the moated confines of the Imperial Palace in a demonstration of the deep emotion and respect the emperor still commands. As the onlookers waved small paper flags bearing the familiar red sun and shouted “Banzai” (“Long life”), the emperor emerged four times during the day to wave back stiffly from a glass‐enclosed balcony of the modern Showa Palace. In contrast with the practice in pre‐World War II years, when the emperor was considered a living god, no one bowed deeply or kept his eyes turned down on the ground. The emperor, a slight, stooped graying man dressed in formal morning coat, was flanked by Empress Nagako, his wife of 50 years, and Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko.
Argentine terrorists released U.S. oil executive Victor Samuelson following five months of captivity, after Esso Argentina, a subsidiary of the Exxon Corporation, had paid a record ransom of $14,200,000 on March 11 to guerrillas of the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP). Samuelson, who had been kidnapped on December 6 from a dining room at the company’s refinery where he had been the manager, dropped Samuelson off at the home of the family’s pediatrician, Dr. Federico Pfister, in the town of Acasusso, outside of Buenos Aires.
The Chilean military junta said today that the most important of the imprisoned members of the overthrown Marxist coalition Government would be transferred this week to Santiago in preparation for court‐martial proceedings. The 29 prisoners have been held since last September on Dawson Island, in the Strait of Magellan, about 1,180 miles south of the capital. They include the former leader of the Communist party, Luis Corvalan, and five former Cabinet ministers José Cademártori, Fernando Flores, Sergio Bitar, Anibal Palma and Jorge Tapia. Orlando Letelier and Clodomiro Almeycla, who served as foreign ministers in the Government of the late President Salvador Allende Gossens, were transferred to Santiago from Dawson Island in February for health reasons, according to spokesmen for the military Government.
Charges of Portuguese atrocities against black Africans in the Portuguese East African territory of Mozambique will be investigated by a United Nations commission next month, a United Nations spokesman announced here today. The group’s five members are to visit Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Lusaka, Zambia, where they will confer with representatives of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, diplomatic sources said, and they will also visit London, Madrid and Rome — cities where allegation of atrocities have been made.
In a nationally-televised speech, U.S. President Nixon announced that, instead of releasing tape recordings, requested by the House Judiciary Committee, of key conversations, he had instead arranged to have some of them, but not all, transcribed by his staff. The transcripts began with a recording taken on September 15, 1972, and did not include the June 23, 1972 tape that would ultimately show that Nixon had ordered the halting of further FBI investigation into the burglary. The edited 1,200 pages of transcripts were known for using the phrase “expletive deleted” in place of profanities used during the conversations by the President and his staff. In lieu of presenting the tapes, Nixon said that the leaders of the Judiciary panel would be invited to come to the White House to listen to recordings.
President Nixon announced tonight that he would turn over to the House Judiciary Committee and make public tomorrow 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of Watergate conversations. Appearing on national television in a plea to the American people to believe that he is innocent in the Watergate cover-up, Mr. Nixon said the transcripts included those portions of the 42 tape recordings subpoenaed by the House committee on April 11.
President Nixon’s offer of edited transcripts of Watergate recordings delighted some Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, but may not have resolved the panel’s demand for the tapes themselves. The committee’s chairman, Representative Peter Rodino, said before the President’s offer on television that the recordings were “necessary and relevant” to the impeachment inquiry and that transcripts would not suffice. An aide said tonight that Mr. Rodino would have no additional comment.
Senator Edward Gurney has been indicted by a grand jury in Tallahassee, Florida, on charges of violating state election law, the Senator’s office in Washington said. The Florida Republican immediately declared his innocence. He allegedly failed to report campaign donations.
Senator J. W. Fulbright, Democrat of Arkansas, is seriously in danger of being defeated for a sixth term by the state’s Governor, Dale Bumpers. With the Democratic primary a month away, even Mr. Fulbright’s friends and advisers acknowledged that he had an uphill fight to retain his seat. A polling organization said last month that Governor Bumpers, a Democrat, would have 60 percent of the vote, and Senator Fulbright 27 percent.
The Supreme Court agreed to rule on President Nixon’s authority to withhold $9 billion for sewage plants. Accepted for a decision next term was a Justice Department appeal from a decision by a federal appeals court in Washington, which has held that the President’s budget cutting conflicted with congressional intent and violated the law. A similar appeal questions whether federal courts are even empowered to hear the cases. The cases are unlikely, however, to produce a definitive ruling on the broad issue of whether the Constitution permits a President to impound funds appropriated by Congress. Debate on that subject goes back to the administration of Thomas Jefferson.
The federal government has failed to deal adequately with increasing and threatening shortages of vital commodities and raw materials, the General Accounting Office told Congress. “The government’s decision-making process for commodities that are in short supply is essentially ad hoc and crisis-oriented,” the GAO said in a 265-page report. It said the lack of long-range planning and preparation, fragmented and overlapping responsibilities and a failure to read warning signs correctly have helped create serious economic, social and political problems for the nation.
Kansas City schools reopened after a 42-day teachers’ strike and most of the 60,000 pupils reported for classes. A spot check indicated that attendance of both teachers and pupils was normal. The teachers struck on March 18 and all 100 schools were closed on March 26. The Board of Education and the Kansas City Federation of Teachers voted to approve a new contract which provides an immediate pay raise of 8% and another 2% boost contingent on voter approval of a property tax increase.
The Independent Postal Service was acquitted of mail fraud charges in federal court in Oklahoma City in connection with the selling of delivery franchises. The directed verdict cleared the company and three of its officers of all charges. The men were president and cofounder Thomas Murray and vice presidents Orville D. Claire and Eugene Feronti. The judge ruled that it was legal for the IPS to solicit and deliver third and fourth-class mail in competition with the U.S. Postal Service.
Stephen A. Nye, a San Francisco attorney, has been nominated by President Nixon to be a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the White House announced. A statement also said Mr. Nixon intended to name two persons to be directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Durward Belmont Varner, president of the University of Nebraska, would serve until March 26, 1980, to succeed Jack Valenti, whose term has expired. Virginia Duncan, a producer-director of TV station KQED in San Francisco, would serve until March 26, 1976, to succeed former Republican Rep. Thomas B. Curtis of Missouri,
San Francisco Mayor Joseph L. Alioto said today that with his help the police were in contact with an Important source of information in the investigation of the Zebra murders. The mayor would not identify the source nor would he describe the information. Mayor Alioto also said at a news conference at City Hall that “80 murderous assaults on Californians” since 1971 were similar in the methods employed to the killing of 12 and wounding of six white persons on the streets of San Francisco since last November. The so‐called Zebra murders, named for the “Z‐for‐Zebra” radio channel used by investigators, have been characterized by apparently random and unprovoked attacks by one or two black men at a time on one or two white persons. All of the victims have been shot with 32‐caliber automatic pistols. Various groups, including the city, have offered rewards totaling $30,000 for information that will identify the gunmen. The mayor did not say whether the reward money was an issue in the mysterious discussions held in his office from 3:30 to 8:30 A.M. Saturday.
The Chrysler Corporation increased the price of its 1974 model cars an average of $99, predicted that another price rise would be needed before next September, and issued a report that showed its earnings for the first quarter were down 96.9 percent. John Dunlop, the government’s chief price enforcer, fired a broadside of criticism at Chrysler and its chairman, Lynn Townsend, for raising the price of its 1974 models.
Hawaii’s first dual sugar-pineapple strike ended today with the return of about 6,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Unions to pineapple plantations on three islands. Last Wednesday, 9,000 I.L.W.U. workers on 16 sugar plantations returned to work after a six‐week strike. In both labor disputes, the union struck for better job security, higher wages and improved fringe benefits — and succeeded with most of its demands.
Bacteria apparently frozen in the Antarctic ice and soil for at least 10,000 years have grown and reproduced in the laboratory, scientists in Washington reported. The bacteria were found in permanently frozen sediments at depths of several hundred feet below the present-day surface.
The New Jersey state Assembly overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that would authorize casino gambling in the state. The amendment is expected to be approved by the state Senate next month and by the voters in a referendum in November.
The public campaign by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, fire fighters and police officers has made uncertain the future of the homosexual civil‐rights bill, which seemed assured 10 days ago of passage by the City Council. The pressure of the mounting campaign has caused three of the bill’s 19 sponsors to “waver” in their support, according to a City Council source. The three were not identified, but if they change their position, passage will become doubtful.
Pan American World Airways, Inc., reported yesterday a $24.4‐million net loss for this year’s first quarter. It was the second worst showing of any calendar quarter in the company’s history. Pan Am’s operating loss in the first quarter was $40.4‐million, compared with an operating loss of $24.4‐million in the corresponding period of 1973.
Lee May goes 5-for-5, including a pair of two-run homers in a nine-run sixth inning to spark an 18–2 mauling of Chicago. His two “taters” cap a five-for-five performance by the slugger to pace a 20-hit assault. Manager Preston Gomez gives May the rest of the night off or he might have done more. Winning pitcher Dave Roberts adds a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to the cause. The win ties a club record for the largest margin of victory in a game.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 835.42 (+0.78, +0.09%).
Born:
Anggun Cipta Sasmi, Indonesian-born French singer and TV personality, known for her best-selling song “Snow on the Sahara”; in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Alana Blahoski, American women’s ice hockey forward (Team USA, Olympics, Gold medal, 1998), in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Kevin Mathis, NFL cornerback (Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons), in Gainesville, Texas.
Héctor Mercado, Puerto Rican MLB pitcher (Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies), in Catano, Puerto Rico.
Tony Saunders, MLB pitcher (Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays), in Baltimore, Maryland.
Julian Knowle, Austrian tennis player, in Lauterach, Austria.
Jasper Wood, Canadian concert violinist, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
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