President Nixon briefed Congressional leaders today on his Middle Eastern trip and assured them that he had reached no secret agreements or understandings with Arab or Israeli leaders. The President also sought to allay misgivings expressed in Congress about the nuclear aid promised to Egypt and Israel, Gerald L. Warren, the deputy White House press secretary, said at a regular news briefing this morning after the meeting with Democratic and Republican members of Congress. Mr. Warren said that questions about the possible misuse of American nuclear aid was discussed “to a very limited degree” during the two‐hour meeting at the White House. He reiterated Administration assurances that there would be adequate safeguards and a Congressional review on the nuclear materials to be given to Egypt and Israel.
Preparations for next week’s summit meeting in Moscow are less advanced than before the previous two Nixon-Brezhnev sessions, according to some Soviet quarters in Moscow. Agreements may be signed on trade and underground nuclear testing. Strategic arms controls and lesser areas such as shipping and energy are said to be still unresolved. As a result, the Soviet press build-up is relatively modest.
In his campaign against Senate restrictions on Soviet American trade, Secretary of State Kissinger is said to have told Senators that Moscow is prepared to issue a written guarantee to allow 45,000 Jews to emigrate each year and a statement on harassment of would-be emigrants. The Senators have reportedly called the pledge on harassment unacceptably vague.
Soviet police detained seven Jewish activists in what appeared to be the start of a crackdown to prevent protests during President Nixon’s visit next week, Jewish sources in Moscow said. The activists included mathematician Alexander Luntz, one of several Jews seeking to arrange an international seminar with Western scientists in Moscow next month, the sources said.
Israeli planes attacked Palestinian camps in South Lebanon for the third day, reportedly killing at least 20 people and wounding scores. The Lebanese Defense Ministry said the planes had been fired at but did not say whether any had been hit. Unconfirmed reports reaching this capital tonight said two planes had been shot down. The Lebanese called for urgent blood donations as the unconfirmed estimate of casualties for the three days of attacks rose to about 70 dead and 70 injured.
In the three days, Israeli planes have reportedly bombed and rocketed more than a dozen camps and settlements of Palestinian refugees. The camps and settlements are strongholds of the militant Palestinian guerrilla groups that have claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks on Israeli settlements in the area bordering southern Lebanon. Lebanon does not police the camps, but generally asserts that the terrorist raids do not originate in Lebanon. After most of the terrorist raids, the responsible guerrilla groups say that the raid was carried out by guerrillas based inside Israel. Still, the principal guerrilla groups have their headquarters in Beirut, where their leaders move unhindered by the Lebanese authorities.
Both Lebanese officials and guerrilla groups acknowledged that the Israeli attacks were in reprisal for guerrilla attacks on Israeli settlements. The most recent guerrilla attack, at the kibbutz of Shamir a week ago, resulted in the death of three women and four guerrillas.
In Jerusalem, official sources said the raids against targets in Lebanon reflected a new government policy of pre-emptive attacks against guerrilla bases. The sources said the purpose of the new policy was to disrupt the guerrilla organizations and to pressure the Lebanese government into curbing guerrilla activity in Southern Lebanon.
A commentary broadcast by Radio Hanoi accused American pilots of flying combat missions over South Vietnam, “to bomb and strafe populous areas” around the Bến Cát battlefield, 25 miles north of Saigon. A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Saigon said the charge was “ridiculous.” On the truce front, the U.S. delegation to the Four-Party Joint Military Commission charged that the Communists were continuing to block the search for 1,100 Americans missing in the Indochina war.
West Germany and East Germany exchanged permanent representatives to open formal relations with each other for the first time since being created as separate states after World War II. Michael Kohl of East Germany presented his credentials in Bonn to President Gustav Heinemann, and Günter Gaus of West Germany did the being received in East Berlin by President Willi Stoph. The lower house of West Germany’s parliament voted, 232 to 190, to ratify a treaty to establish normal relations with its Communist neighbor, Czechoslovakia.
Two more bombs went off in Northern Ireland and a third was defused in the third day of a terror bombing blitz by the Irish Republican Army. No injuries were reported in the blasts at Keady and Cookstown, which brought to 22 the number of explosions since the IRA’s extremist Provisional wing vowed to continue its campaign until Britain declares its readiness to withdraw 16,000 troops stationed in the province. Police were able to defuse a bomb at Portadown when a tip from an anonymous caller led them to the scene.
The minority British Labour party Government was defeated in the House of Commons tonight over plans to extend state control over industry. This was the second major defeat for the Labour administration in two days. It indicated that the opposition parties — the Conservatives, Liberals and a small group of Scottish and Welsh Nationalists and Northern Irish Unionists who together form a majority — were ending the tolerance with which they have treated the Government of Prime Minister Wilson since it took office after the February 28 general election. The Government’s Chief Whip, Robert Mellish, later talked outside the House about the need for a new election to give the country a government with a workable majority. Asked if that meant soon, he replied. “I never said that.”
Passengers boarding airliners at Paris’ Orly Airport for the United States were subjected to extensive searches as police tightened security on all U.S.-bound aircraft. Officials said that they had received no explanation for the extra precautions, but that there were reports that other main European airports may be taking similar steps on U.S. flights. Besides personal and luggage checks, planes were being searched, police said.
The Post Office Workers’ Union ended its four-day-old strike in Portugal, saying it was doing so because of threats of physical violence by Communist and Democratic Party followers. But the government was still plagued by strike threats by sailors, caterers and bakers. Meanwhile, an unconfirmed radio report from Angola that a major African guerrilla group had given up fighting the Portuguese was met with skepticism in Lisbon.
Mexico has sent a strongly worded diplomatic note to the United States protesting treatment of illegal Mexican migrant workers, particularly in detention centers. The note urged a solution including a quota system, fair treatment for workers and authority for Mexican consular officials to intervene in bracero affairs. The State Department replied that present conditions prevented resuming an agreement which expired in the late 1960s.
The last fugitive from Britain’s Great Train Robbery of 1963 will be deported from Brazil-but, the court of appeals ruled, Ronald Biggs will not be sent to Britain or any country which has an extradition treaty with Britain. No deportation date was set, and Biggs reportedly will be allowed to remain in Brazil until the government finds a country willing to take him. Biggs broke out of a London prison in 1965 while serving a 30-year term for his part in the $6 million holdup.
The United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, largest international meeting in history up to that time, based on the number of nations participating, was opened Caracas in Venezuela by UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. Delegates from 147 countries gathered in a 10-week session described as “pitting the rich against the poor, the fishermen against the fished, the coastal states against the landlocked.”
The remains of 17th-century naval vessel HMS Anne, on the low water mark of the beach near Pett Level, East Sussex, were designated under the British Protection of Wrecks Act.
Transcripts of some of President Nixon’s Watergate tape recordings made available for the first time through the House Judiciary Committee show many significant differences from the edited transcripts given out by the White House. The new version suggests President Nixon knew of some elements of the Watergate scandal before he met with John Dean on March 21, 1973. The reliability of the White House of transcripts the Watergate Tapes was called into question as the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee revealed that the editing by the White House had removed remarks that might suggest President Nixon had attempted to cover up the scandal.
Most notably, a March 21, 1973 tape showed Nixon telling White House counsel John Dean, “Understand, I don’t want it that goddamned specific,” in a report on a public about Watergate, and that when Dean mentioned paying “hush money” to conspirator E. Howard Hunt, Nixon said “We should, we should,” and added “for Christ’s sakes, get it.” In another tape, Nixon told senior aides that if they testified, they should say that they had faulty memories, saying “Just be damned sure you say ‘I don’t remember; I can’t recall; I can’t give any honest answer to that I can recall.”
The House of Representatives passed its first major housing bill since 1968. The measure reactivates a program of aid to housing for the elderly phased out in 1969. The bill lumps various federal housing programs into bloc grants that localities use largely as they see fit. The bill was passed by a vote of 352 to 25, but it now heads for a House-Senate conference that is expected to be long and difficult.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service seriously considered charging President Nixon with income tax fraud. They decided on the lesser charge of negligence for underpayment of more than $400,000, on which he was assessed a 5 percent penalty.
The House passed a $11.3 billion housing and community development bill after Republicans pushed through new programs for the elderly and for urban homesteading. Democrats protested that they had been beaten back in committee when offering similar amendments on the grounds they were inflationary and would prompt a presidential veto. Attempts to resuscitate subsidized construction programs for the poor and subsidized home ownership programs were defeated by 2-1 margins. The House, however, did modify its minimum rent provisions for low-income tenants of leased housing programs. It gave the Housing and Urban Development Department discretion to set the rents between 15% and 25% of a tenant’s income.
The Senate voted to put back into law a requirement for full public disclosure of foreign travel expenses by members of Congress. The requirement was removed late last year. The action was taken as an amendment to a $722.4 million appropriations bill that provides, among other congressional operating expenses, funds for restoring the Capitol’s historic west front. It also provides pay raises for the Senate’s top-level employees, raising the ceiling for such positions as sergeant-of-arms from $36,000 to $38,760.
The Senate went round and round again on the question of a tax cut and tax reform but advocates of these measures lost again. The outcome reinforced the view that the chances of attaching them to a pending debt limit increase bill were zero. Nevertheless, Senate leaders said the debate would be resumed today. The bill itself must be passed and sent to President Nixon late next week. Otherwise, the debt ceiling will drop and the Treasury will be in a serious financial position.
A Washington meeting of state, county and city consumer protection officials agreed to form a national organization. Its goals will include pressing for federal and state consumer legislation, exchange of information on problems, and giving a counter-voice to business on consumer issues. Those attending unanimously favored pending legislation to establish a federal Consumer Protection Agency.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby was fined $100 and placed on nine months’ probation after he pleaded no-contest to a charge of driving in Austin while intoxicated. A police officer said he observed Hobby early in the morning moving “at approximately 20 m.p.h. down the center of the white stripes, gently weaving back and forth.” Hobby also refused to take a Breathalyzer test. “Needless to say,” said Hobby, 42, “I am extremely sorry about this incident.” Hobby was recently nominated to run again for his post this fall.
Former First Lieutenant William L. Calley Jr. walked briskly into a military stockade today after surrendering to Fort Benning authorities in compliance with a Federal appeals court order that put him in Army custody. He spent three and one‐half days in the stockade between his conviction and sentencing in 1971 for the premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians at the hamlet of Mỹ Lai. President Nixon then ordered him confined under house arrest in a civilian apartment at Fort Benning, where he spent 35 months until being released on bail February 27.
Local members of the United Auto Workers voted overwhelmingly to accept a new contract and end a nine-day strike at a Ford stamping plant in the Chicago suburb of Chicago Heights. It was the last group to agree on a local pact with the company, and its walkout forced the closing of 12 Ford plants across the country. Workers were told to return to their jobs as soon as possible. Ford said it planned to begin recalling idled workers at 12 closed assembly plants in the United States and Canada next week — including the 1,400 employees laid off at the Pico Rivera, California, plant — as soon as the units begin receiving parts from the Chicago stamping plant.
A victim of a motorcycle accident clung to life in Atlanta after he had been pronounced dead and arrangements had been made to remove his kidneys for transplanting. Edward W. Sanders, 33, of Riverdale, near Atlanta, was injured late Sunday when he was thrown from his motorcycle. Surgeons were preparing to remove his kidneys when they saw his hand twitch. A hospital spokesman declined to say who declared Sanders dead.
Rejected by the medical school of the University of California at Davis, 34-year-old Allen Bakke filed the lawsuit that would lead to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning “reverse discrimination”.
The troubled Franklin National Bank disclosed that its losses in the first five months of 1974 have reached $64.6 million, some $25 million more than it indicated six weeks ago. Former Treasury Secretary Joseph Barr took over from Harold Gleason as chairman, president and chief executive. New York Clearing House figures indicated the bank’s deposits fell by $100 million for the fifth straight week.
“Chinatown”, directed by Roman Polanski starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, is released.
John Briggs belts a first inning grand slam and Ed Sprague pitches 8⅓ innings as Milwaukee shuts out the Orioles, 6–0.
Home runs by Jose Cardenal and Billy Williams led the Chicago Cubs to a 3–0 triumph over Pittsburgh today, ending the Pirates’ victory string at six games.
In a Pacific Coast League at Honolulu, Hawaii tops Spokane, 7–4, behind Ralph Garcia. He ties a PCL record striking out 19 Indian batters.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 820.79 (-5.32, -0.64%).
Born:
Linh Dan Pham, Vietnamese-born French actress (“Indochine”), in Saigon, Republic of Vietnam.
Julian Wells, American actress, in San Francisco, California.
Died:
Susana Brunetti, 32, Argentine film and TV actress, of cancer.
Horace Lindrum, 62, Australian snooker and billiards player and 1952 world snooker champion, of lung cancer.
History Diaries 