Portugal’s Socialist Government moved today to curb Communist influence in trade unions and to restore order to labor‐management relations as a means of reviving the country’s failing economy. The Government revoked rulings establishing a single national trade union confederation, which has been dominated by the Communist Party. It thus opened the way for creation of a rival labor organization. The Government also acted to:
• Liberalize the grounds for dismissal of workers.
• Control sick leaves by making laws to punish workers as well as doctors and nurses for false declarations.
• Reduce overtime, which is not to exceed 10 percent of total work hours.
• Reorganize labor courts to move with greater speed and efficiency.
• Limit fringe benefits, which are not to exceed 50 percent or salary.
• Establish a 40 to 45‐hour national work week.
• Set up separate collective‐bargaining procedures for public and private enterprise.
Preparing Labor Legislation
At the same time, the Government announced that it was preparing legislation on three of the most delicate labor questions — workers’ control, the limits on the right to strike and the rights of unions. It was announced that this legislation would be presented to the National Assembly by the end of October.
A leftist call for a “day of struggle” in Madrid evoked a spotty response today. Thousands of workers staged job actions or strikes, but life in most of the capital went on normally. Though limited, the day of protest added to the travails of the 3‐month‐old Government of Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez González, who has been guiding Spain toward new democratic institutions as the national economy flounders. The one‐day labor action which, was punctuated by scattered street demonstrations, was called by a loose coalition of Socialist, Communist and left‐of‐center organizations, nominally to protest the slaying Monday of a 21‐year‐old psychology student in downtown Madrid. The murder occurred at the end of a tiny demonstration for political amnesty, and opposition groups have charged it was the work of a right‐wing vigilante group called the Guerrillas of Christ the King. But the themes of today’s mélange of work stoppages, slowdowns, picketing and street protests — on occasion dispersed by riot police — were broadened to include demands for full democratic liberties and the legalization of the country’s embryonic, non‐government labor unions.
Most West German election campaigning ended today in a flurry of bitter words and optimistic statistics. The vote on Sunday is expected to be a tense and close finish between the Social Democratic Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, and his Christian Democratic challenger, Helmut Kohl. At the end of a television debate that lasted three hours and fifty minutes, going on until after midnight, Mr. Kohl turned angrily to the Chancellor and said: “The viewers will see through your arrogance; its a scandal the way you’ve run your campaign.” Mr., Schmidt, smoking a menthol cigarette and calm until that point, whipped off his glasses and retorted: “If anyone has embittered the campaign, it’s you with your shameless slogan, ‘fighting for freedom against Socialism.’ You started it.” Of 5,600 telephone calls received at the Bonn studio, most, according to the moderator, Reinhard Appel, involved angry complaints about the cancellation of the Johnny Mathis show, scheduled at 10:15.
Syrian and Lebanese Christian forces today resumed their offensive against the Palestinian guerrillas, seeking to drive them out of a mountain area directly overlooking Beirut. The new military action, which followed the capture of a mountain salient from the Palestinians east and northeast of here, started at dawn today after the Palestinian command had refused to enter into negotiations on a stiff Syrian cease‐fire offer. The Syrians were understood to have demanded yesterday that Palestinian forces withdraw from all Lebanese fighting fronts and return to the refugee camps within a short time. In Damascus, President Hafez al-Assad rejected a direct appeal from the Soviet Communist Party leader, Leonid I. Brezhnev, for withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
At stake in the battle is a steep, forested and rocky slope rising from the Mediterranean just south of Beirut to a 2,000‐foot‐high ridge above the town of Aleih. If the Palestinians lose control over this area, Muslim west Beirut will be encircled in a tight ring stretching from the eastern side of the port on the northeast of the city through the eastern suburbs in the foothills around the airport and to the sea in the south. The Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, casting about for a political way to prevent military disaster, met today with the Soviet charge d’affaires, Vladmir Silkin, who had previously called on Lebanon’s President Elias Sarkis. The Soviet Union is believed to have stepped up its pressure on the Syrians to preserve a strong Palestinian movement. Soviet sources tonight indicated that Mr. Silkin had presented new ideas to this effect but had no intention of becoming a mediator in Lebanon. An appeal from Moscow for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon has been rejected by President Hafez al-Assad. A close aide to the president said the appeal had come directly from Leonid Brezhnev, the Communist Party leader. He said there was nothing to confirm a report that the Russians had reduced or had threatened to reduce aid to Syria.
Diplomatic sources said today a surprise visit to France by Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy of Egypt indicated that efforts were under way to start Paris peace talks to end the Lebanese civil war. The sources said Egypt believes France can play a special role in bringing the warring parties into contact with each other. Mr. Fahmy handed President Valery Giscard d’Estaing of France a message yesterday from President Anwar el‐Sadat of Egypt and postponed his scheduled return to Cairo today for more talks, the sources said. He met again late today with Mr. Giscard d’Estaing and with Prime Minister Raymond Barre. French officials declined to comment on the meetings. Questioned by reporters after seeing Mr. Giscard d’Estaing, Mr. Fahmy said both Governments were anxious to find a solution in which Lebanon would become “an independent, sovereign, unified country that can take its own decisions.” France has already tried on several occasions to mediate an end to the conflict. Mr. Giscard d’Estaing suggested last May the possibility of sending in a peacekeeping force.
The South Korean Central Intelligence Agency, President Park Chung Hee’s strongest instrument for political action, has steadily extended its reach into the United States over the last five years just as it has expanded its power at home. About 25 officers of the agency are operating today from the South Korean Embassy here and from South Korean consulates around the country, according to South Korean intelligence sources in the United States and Americans with access to intelligence files. The officers work closely with South Korean diplomats to influence American policy toward South Korea. They try to assure continued American military, diplomatic and economic support, and to mute criticism of President Park by South Korean residents of the United States.
China observed its national day today with an official editorial calling for increased study of the thought of Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Zedong) and an unusual gathering of top party leaders in the tower above the large Tien An Men Gate in Peking. The call for an “upsurge” of study of Mao’s works echoed a series of similar calls in speeches, party circulars and other editorials since Mao’s death three weeks ago. Analysts believe the emphasis on study and the related stress on party unity and production are designed to insure a sense of stability and continuity following Mao’s death. The meeting in the tower above Tien An Men, the “Gate of Heavenly Peace.” also appeared to be an attempt to symbolize the connection of present leaders with Mao. It was from Tien An Men that Mao proclaimed the birth of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
Hurricane Liza killed more than 600 people in Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, striking the resort city of La Paz, Baja California Sur where 350 people died, and another 280 in the surrounding area.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of this border region of Umtali in Rhodesia was sentenced to ten years in prison today on charges that he failed to report the whereabouts of guerrillas who had demanded medicine at a church mission. The Belfast‐born Bishop, Donal F. Lamont, who has outspokenly accused the Government of terrorizing and torturing civilian Africans in Its search for insurgents, stood at the dock of the tiny courtroom as some 120 supporters, most of them black women, thronged the corridor straining to hear. The judge, William R. Hennings, declared that the 65‐year‐old Bishop had shown “no contrition” when he appeared in court to plead guilty to the charges. “You have condemned the Government but you have not condemned the terrorists,” said the judge, adding that “a deterrent sentence was called for” and that it would be “wrong to postpone sentence or suspend.” Since 1973 the maximum penalty for the crime for which Bishop Lamont was convicted has been death.
Two of the three key figures in the Rhodesian nationalist movement met for half an hour today in an attempt to overcome the divisions that stand in the way of a united black front at the conference on Rhodesia that Britain is to convene within two weeks. The first hesitant step toward unity among the faction‐ridden nationalists came when Joshua Nkomo and Bishop Abel Muzorewa were brought together at the urging of Western diplomats and black African leaders gathered in this capital city for Botswana’s 10th anniversary celebrations. Afterwards, Mr. Nkomo, 58‐year‐old founder of the black resistance movement in Rhodesia, described the meeting as friendly. Bishop Muzorewa, 51‐year‐old chairman of the African National Council, formed two years ago in an attempt to unite the nationalist factions, said the discussions had been conducted in a friendly spirit. The two men announced plans to meet again, possibly as early as Monday, after Bishop Muzorewa had consulted with the African National Council national executive in Salisbury, the Rhodesian capital.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz was severely reprimanded by President Gerald Ford, after racist jokes and remarks that Butz had made against African-American people, were printed in the magazine New Times. Ford summoned Butz to the White House for “a rare public upbraiding of a Cabinet official” and Butz apologized to the lone black U.S. Senator, Edward Brooke. While most newspapers avoided quoting the joke directly, the statement was described as saying that black people wanted “only three things” and that “The things were listed, in order, in obscene, derogatory and scatological terms.” Upon learning of the remarks, Senator Edward Brooke, Republican of Massachusetts and the only black member of the Senate, issued a statement calling for Mr. Butz’s resignation. Senator Jacob K. Javits, Republican of New York, also called for the Secretary to step down. Mr. Butz telephoned Senator Brooke to apologize at about 6 PM this evening, according to Mr. Brooke’s press assistant. Mr. Brooke’s reply was: “I just don’t feel that a man who would make such a statement is fit to serve in the Cabinet of the President of the United States.”
President Ford will leave on Monday for a six-day trip to California, Oklahoma and Texas, Ron Nessen, his press secretary, said today.
A restriction on the use of Medicaid funds for abortions was blocked by federal judges only hours after the bill containing the restrictions had become law. The judges, in New York City and in Washington, issued temporary restraining orders and the judge in New York said he would rule within 20 days on the granting of a preliminary injunction barring implementation of the restriction until a court decision on its constitutionality.
Jimmy Carter moved to bring his campaign back to its original roots in a series of speeches. The Democratic candidate mixed an attack on Presidents Ford and Nixon — accusing them of inflicting great harm on America — with his affirmation of the country’s ability to survive if he is elected. The speeches were said to be the result of a strategy session in Plains, Georgia, in which the candidate and his aides decided what the campaign needed was Jimmy Carter being himself. In speech after speech — from a small town in Maine to an outdoor rally in Hartford to an appearance at the airport here — the Democratic Presidential candidate seemed determined to steer his campaign back to its original roots, blending its pastoral and populistic themes with the continuing assault on Mr. Ford, linking him with the scandal‐ridden Administration of Mr. Nixon.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun preparing a final report on its field investigation of an allegation of campaign financing irregularities involving President Ford and has uncovered no substantial evidence that would support criminal charges, well informed Government sources said today. According to these sources, the bureau has checked all records, completed all interviews and followed all leads “logically dictated” as necessary to investigate thoroughly the allegation, and in the next several days will finish its report. One source said that Charles F. Ruff, the Watergate special prosecutor, could ask the bureau to recheck any given aspect of the investigation, but other sources said they doubted he would reopen the field inquiry. Mr. Ruff, they said, presumably would make a statement shortly after reviewing the reports. According to a highly placed source in the Justice Department, the special prosecutor will make his announcement, followed by a formal letter indicating this conclusion, early next week.
The 94th Congress adjourned early today after a long series of delays caused by two Senate filibusters and the partisan bickering that has set the divisive tone of the two year‐long sessions. Scores of bills aimed at remedying national problems, ranging in importance from the overhaul of the Clean Air Act, which was ended by a filibuster, to a measure reducing peanut subsidies, which was killed by House inaction, died in the final hours of legislative action. But one the first filibuster ended early last evening, the Senate dealt with a logjam of legislation in assembly‐line fashion, at. one point passing 54 bills in 67 minutes. However, most concerned issues of little more importance than the naming of post offices for members of Congress who are retiring this year.
Senator Hubert H. Humphrey has told a handful of Senate colleagues that he has cancer and expects to lose his bladder in major surgery next week. As the 65-year-old Minnesota Democrat tells it, the good news is that his doctors believe radical surgery can dispose cleanly of a cancer threat that has shadowed him for eight years. After a month or so out of action, Mr. Humphrey notes, he will still have two months left to campaign for the Senate majority leader’s post in the 95th Congress.
About 80 elderly residents of a nursing home in Waltham, Massachusetts, many of whom remember the great world flu epidemic of 1918, were today among the first in the nation to be vaccinated against a possible outbreak of swine flu in the United States this winter.
A major policy shift in the strategic stockpile program was announced by the federal government. The new policy is aimed at assuring a three-year, instead of the previous one-year, supply of critical materials in event of a major war.
The largest merger proposed in the nation’s history will not be challenged by the Justice Department. After weighing whether such a merger might have an anti-competitive impact on the nuclear-steam supply market, the department announced it would not contest the General Electric Company’s projected $2 billion acquisition of Utah International Inc.
The U.S. state of California became the first in the United States to grant terminally ill hospital patients the right to the “living will”, where they could opt to withdraw life-sustaining procedures if there was no hope of recovery. Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law after it had passed both houses of the California state legislature. The controversial law, which was supported by the state’s medical association and many other civic and religious groups, has strict guidelines to insure that the patient is both competent to make the authorization and is indeed terminally ill. The Governor told reporters today that he had given the measure “careful and thoughtful” deliberation. “There’s a very ancient moral doctrine that there’s no moral obligation to sustain life through artificial and extraordinary means,” said Mr. Brawn, a former Roman Catholic seminarian. “Machines should serve humans rather than the reverse. It ill serves a human being to be hooked up to one of those technological machines and be treated as though the person was subhuman.” The new law was praised by so‐called patients‐rights groups, which, unsuccessfully supported similar legislation in 16 other states this year. The controversial law was supported by the California Medical Association, the American Association of Retired Persons and many other civic and religious groups as permitting the terminally ill “to die with dignity.”
Harold Carswell, a one-time Supreme Court nominee who was accused of making homosexual advances to an undercover police officer, has been convicted of battery in Florida. A charge of attempting a lewd and lascivious act was dropped. Officials said yesterday that Mr. Carswell appeared before Leon County Judge Hal McClamma on Wednesday, pleaded no contest, was found guilty and was fined $100. Battery, defined as any illegal touching of another person. is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Reached at his home here, Mr. Carswell, 56 years old, would say nothing about the case. His attorney, Murray Wadsworth of Tallahassee, said the former judge “is not well.” “I imagine he’ll be under a physician’s care for some time.” Mr. Carswell, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Nixon in 1970, was arrested on June 24 by a Tallahassee vice squad officer who said he had met the former judge in a shopping mall men’ s room. The police said they had had the room under surveillance because homosexuals had been congregating there and merchants had complained.
A jury today convicted two Dallas men and acquitted another of weapons violations in the commando-style raid last March that freed 14 Americans from a Mexican jail. After deliberating more than eight hours, the jury convicted William McCoy Hill of conspiring to export a weapon and importation of a weapon, found Sterling Davis guilty of conspiracy and exonerated Billy Jack Blackwell. In addition, Mr. Hill and Mr. Davis were found not guilty of two additional counts of violating neutrality laws by exporting a weapon and by possessing an unregistered firearm. Mr. Davis was accused of hiring Mr. Hill, Mr. Blackwell and Don Fielden, described as a soldier-of-fortune, to rescue Mr. Davis’ son from the jail. Mr. Fielden, who admitted masterminding the raid, was allowed to plead guilty to one charge in exchange for his testimony against the other three, He said he was paid $5,000 by Mr. Davis. The charges stemmed from allegations that the raiders had used an illegal sawed-off shotgun to surprise guards at the Piedras Negras, Mexico, jail during the early morning of March 12.
The alcohol industry in the United States switched to the metric system in identifying the volume of liquor. Notably, the fifth, (1/5 of a U.S. gallon or 757 milliliters), was replaced by the 750 mL bottle and the pint bottle (1/8 of a gallon or 473 mL) was replaced by the 500 mL bottle.
It was announced that Jane Pauley, a 25-year-old newscaster in Chicago who has been with the NBC station there for only a year, will join the regular cast of the network’s “Today” program, probably as soon as October 11.
Muhammad Ali visits Istanbul, Turkey, and prays alongside Deputy Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan at Sultan Ahmet Mosque.
Major League Baseball:
Carl Yastrzemski went over the 100 mark in RBIs for the fourth time in his career with the Red Sox, batting in three runs to reach a total of 102, during a 4–1 victory over the Orioles. The veteran star hit run-scoring singles in the first and third and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Carlton Fisk contributed a homer to the Red Sox attack, while Reggie Jackson rapped one for the Orioles.
Bill Bonham (9–13) observed his 26th birthday with a victory and Rick Monday hit his career high 32nd homer of the season as the Cubs defeated the Expos, 3–1. Bonham needed help from Bruce Sutter after the Expos counted their run with one out in the ninth inning on doubles by Mike Jorgensen and Larry Parrish. Jose Morales made his 82nd pinch-hitting appearance for the Expos in the eighth, setting a major league record.
Helping Gary Nolan become a 15-game winner, Tony Perez and Cesar Geronimo each batted in two runs to lead the Reds to a 5–2 victory over the Braves. Perez accounted for his RBIs with a double and homer, while Geronimo drove in one run with a single and another with an infield out.
Taking advantage of errors by Johnnie LeMaster and loser Jim Barr (15–12), the Astros scored four unearned runs in the seventh inning to defeat the Giants, 5–4. Mark Lemongello (3–1), who started for the Astros, gave up two-run homers by Gary Alexander and Gary Matthews, but came out a winner on the Astros’ rally. Larry Milbourne led off with a single, took second on a throwing error by LeMaster and scored on infield outs by Ed Herrmann and Ken Boswell, who batted for Lemongello. Wilbur Howard then was safe on an error by Barr, opening the gates for three runs on singles by Alex Taveras, Cesar Cedeno and Cliff Johnson.
The Royals were defeated by the Twins, 4–3, but later in the evening backed into the West Division championship when the Athletics also lost to the Angels in their game at Oakland. The Royals took a 2–0 lead in the fifth inning with the aid of a triple by Tom Poquette, but the Twins forged in front with three runs in the seventh when Butch Wynegar and Larry Hisle singled, Dan Ford walked to load the bases and Mike Cubbage cleared the sacks with a double. The Royals tied the count in their half on a single by Al Cowens, sacrifice by John Wathan and single by pinch-hitter Cookie Rojas. The Twins pushed a run across in the ninth with a pass to Cubbage, sacrifice by Bob Randall and single by Steve Braun to beat the Royals and delay their title celebration until the news arrived of the A’s loss to the Angels.
The first Dodger in history to collect 200 hits for each of three consecutive seasons, Steve Garvey achieved that club mark with a single in the second inning during an 8–1 victory over the Padres. Dennis Lewallyn, who pitched the first seven stanzas before giving way to Charlie Hough, gained credit for his first major league victory.
Making his first start since October 1, 1972, John Hiller (12–8) pitched the Tigers to a 5–0 victory over the Brewers. In between starts, Hiller had made 215 relief appearances. The Tigers bunched five of their eight hits off Bill Travers for all their runs in the seventh inning, two scoring on a single by Phil Mankowski.
The Athletics’ last-ditch drive to overtake the Royals in the West Division race came to an end with a 2–0 loss to the Angels in 12 innings. Rusty Torres, batting only .206, smashed a homer to break up the scoreless duel between Frank Tanana (19–10) and loser Vida Blue (18–13). The Angels then added an insurance run on a single by Mike Miley, Bill North’s error and a single by Terry Humphrey. Tanana held the A’s to five hits before turning the mound over to Dick Drago, who yielded one hit while retiring the A’s in their half of the 12th.
John Vukovich homered in the ninth inning for his first hit of the season with the Phillies to beat the Mets, 2–1. The Phillies used consecutive singles by Mike Schmidt, Ollie Brown and Dick Allen to take the lead in the first inning. The Mets tied the score in the fourth with a single by John Milner, pass to Dave Kingman and single by John Stearns. Vukovich entered the game as the replacement for Allen at first base and was retired in one trip before tagging his homer off Jerry Koosman.
The Rangers tied their club record for homers in one game with four while outslugging the White Sox, 11–8. Tom Grieve whacked two round-trippers, each with a man on base, while Jim Sundberg and Jeff Burroughs clouted one apiece in the Rangers’ 13-hit attack. The White Sox piled up 18 hits but had no homers in their assortment.
The scheduled game between the Cleveland Indians and the Yankees at New York was postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader tomorrow.
The scheduled game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pirates at Pittsburgh was postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on October 3.
Baltimore Orioles 4, Boston Red Sox 7
Montreal Expos 1, Chicago Cubs 3
Atlanta Braves 2, Cincinnati Reds 5
San Francisco Giants 4, Houston Astros 5
Minnesota Twins 4, Kansas City Royals 3
San Diego Padres 1, Los Angeles Dodgers 8
Detroit Tigers 5, Milwaukee Brewers 0
California Angels 2, Oakland Athletics 0
New York Mets 1, Philadelphia Phillies 2
Chicago White Sox 8, Texas Rangers 11
Stock prices suffered their largest one-week decline of 1976. The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 10.30 points to 979.89, to register a decline of nearly 30 points for the week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 979.89 (-10.30, -1.04%)
Born:
Denis Gauthier, Canadian NHL defenseman (Calgary Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings), in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Jaroslav Svejkovský, Czech NHL right wing (Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning), in Plzen, Czechoslovakia.
Nasir al-Wuhayshi, Yemen-born terrorist and leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula (killed in drone strike 2015).
Antonio Roybal, American painter and sculptor, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
