France announced major changes today in its attitude toward the export of nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes, indicating a new willingness to cooperate with the United States in seeking to prevent the use of such equipment for the making of atomic weapons. France gave no hint that it intended to cancel its controversial agreement to sell Pakistan a plant for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, but the new attitude appeared to be at least partly a response to pressure from the United States. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger has been critical of the French‐Pakistani agreement on the ground that the reprocessing plant could be used to produce plutonium, the ingredient of atomic bombs. The danger of a spreading weapons‐making potential has become an issue in French politics as well as in the American Presidential election.
The change in the French position came in a statement by the High Council for Foreign Nuclear Policy, which was created by President Valery Giscard d’Estaing on Sept. 1 after widespread criticism of French nuclear exports. The council, which is headed by the President himself, is to become a permanent body to examine nuclear sales deals one by one. A spokesman said that France, now established as a producer of nuclear technology, wanted to refine its export policies to prevent the spread of atomic weapons. France has not signed the 1968 treaty, concluded by the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain, to curb the spread of nuclear arms. The pact has now been joined by 109 nations. But today’s statement said that France was ready to “study with interested parties any bilateral or multilateral agreements” aimed at assuring safeguards in nuclear exports. In disclosing this shift, the statement said that France would continue to keep control of its nuclear export policy.
Britain’s embattled Labor Government launched a major defense of its economic policies today amid indications that it was preparing further painful measures to reduce inflationary pressures. In a rare “emergency” debate on the economy before a packed House of Commons, Prime Minister James Callaghan, and the main architect of the policies, Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey, said they felt that the present strategy was correct. Although the Government is under the most serious political strain it has felt since coming to office in 1974, neither man said anything to indicate that it would adopt the massive spending cuts demanded by the opposition Conservatives, or the recommendations for a “siege economy”—chiefly stern import controls—demanded by the Labor Party’s vociferous left wing. “We cannot achieve a transformation of our industrial performance by protecting the less efficient and declining industries by stunting the development of the more efficient,” Mr. Healey said, adding that import controls would almost certainly invite retaliation.
Hundreds of defiant Italians broke through barbed wire barricades to return to their poison‐contaminated homes yesterday, but by early today all had left in response to pleas from health authorities. The police said that more than 500 residents of this northern town, wearing. only street clothing instead of the protective garments and gas masks used by decontamination experts rushed into the danger zone in cars, trucks and motorcycles and then sealed it off again. They were protesting the slow pace of the Government’s decontamination program. A burst safety valve at a Swiss‐owned chemical plant released the dioxin — considered by some the most deadly chemical known to man — over the 494‐acre region last July 10.
Twenty more victims, all workers at the Singer electronics factory in Monza, Italy, were admitted Monday to a hospital with symptoms of gas poisoning, health officials said. Thirty workers entered the hospital over the weekend complaining of dizziness, nausea and breathing difficulties.
The United States criticized Secretary General Kurt Waldheim today for yielding to pressures from governments seeking United Nations lobs for unqualified candidates. The unusual vigor of the criticism made in the General Assembly’s Budget Committee was particularly noteworthy since Mr. Waldheim is nearing the end of his term and is widely expected to be reelected for another five years. The statement was said to be a reflection of growing dissatisfaction in the Administration and in Congress with the caliber of the international staff, or Secretariat as it is called, and a view in some quarters that Mr. Waldheim was more susceptible than his predecessors to the efforts by many governments to stake out key posts for their citizens.
The Vatican renewed its attack on abortion, two days before the Italian Parliament is due to discuss legislation to legalize it. Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo, archbishop of Palermo, wrote in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano: “The extremely grave sin of abortion is committed by everyone cooperating in effecting one, not just the mother, and all incur the penalty of excommunication.”
Five bishops warned Catholics not to attend a meeting due to be addressed by rebel French Bishop Marcel Lefebvre on October 24. A joint pastoral letter, released in Rottenburg, West Germany, by the bishops of Rottenburg, Augsburg, Freiburg, Feldkirch in Austria and St. Gallen in Switzerland, said anyone who attended the meeting, even as a spectator, would be “playing a role in a humiliating spectacle of a split church.”
Sources close to Planeta Publishing House in Madrid reported increasing pressure on the Spanish government to ban the memoir of Francisco Franco’s personal secretary, who depicted the late strong man in a sometimes unflattering light. The sources said that although the government had allowed the book to appear, the matter was “in no way settled.” The memoir, “My Private Conversations with Franco,” was written by Lieutenant General Francisco Franco Salgado, a first cousin to Franco.
American adventurer Ed Yost, who dropped in the ocean less than 600 miles short of his European mainland goal, said he would not try again to become the first man to cross the Atlantic by balloon. “I was just happy to stay in the air,” Yost said. “I have no intention of trying to cross the Atlantic again. I have bettered the endurance and distance records.” Yost, 57, fell 580 miles short of a successful crossing, being scooped from the sea about 200 miles east of the Portuguese Azores Islands by a West German freighter.
Three Palestinians seized five hostages in the Syrian Embassy in Rome, seriously wounding one of them. The three, who were protesting Syria’s intervention in Lebanon, surrendered after two hours when, according to a Syrian official, they realized the Ambassador was not in the embassy. A similar raid was reported against the Syrian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, but the attackers there were intercepted by police guards.
President Ford has agreed to a long‐standing Israeli request to lift the ban on the sale of some sophisticated American military equipment and to speed up the delivery of other equipment already approved, Administration and Israeli officials said today. The decision was conveyed to Israel on Saturday, and was reported by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to his Cabinet yesterday. Today, Mr. Ford used the visit to the White House by Foreign Minister Yigal Allon to garner some political advantage by discussing his decision with Mr. Allon, who was obviously pleased, while photographers and reporters looked on. “I’m glad you have agreed to the new items,” Mr. Allon said, Mr. Ford replied: “It was the right thing to do so there Would he no question about the support, in order to prevent circumstances we want to avoid.” Details on which items were approved were not made public. Officials said that price and delivery dates would have to be worked out by defense officials on both sides. According to well‐placed officials from both sides, the Israelis had become increasingly concerned about the apparent delays they had encountered in receiving delivery of many items already approved months ago by the Administration. In addition, the Ford Administration had not taken action on some requests, for complicated equipment like laser‐guided bombs and missiles, and missile‐armed helicopters, that have been sought by Israel for more than a year, and had been promised favorable consideration when Mr. Rabin visited Washington last January.
The Soviet Union’s failure so far to bring about a disengagement of its warring clients in Lebanon reflects the extent of the paralysis that is afflicting Soviet policy in the Middle East. In seeking to restrain a Syrian expeditionary force from decimating the Palestinians with Soviet‐supplied arms, the Kremlin has found its influence in the region at its lowest point in many years. Even its recent call for a new Geneva peace conference on the Middle East has not noticeably improved its image. Moscow seems particularly worried that the anti‐Israeli coalition of Arab countries, which it has armed and encouraged, may be falling apart over the Lebanese issue, weakening the Soviet Union’s own claim to a voice in an eventual Middle East settlement. The Russians are aware that with the Arabs taking sides over Lebanon, the issue of Israel has been pushed into the background. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei A. Gromyko, underscored the Kremlin’s concern when he wrote in the current issue of its ideological journal, Kommunist, that “it is in the interest of peace and security in the Middle East that all antiimperialist forces involved in the Lebanese crisis should emerge from it not weakened and divided but strengthened and united around the common interests of the struggle against Israeli aggression and the designs and maneuvers of the imperialists.”
An Indian Airlines Caravelle jet en route to Madras crashed just after takeoff from Bombay’s Santa Cruz Airport early today, killing all 89 passengers and six crew members, India’s national news agency Camacher reported. The three‐engine jetliner crash‐landed at the end of the runway after one of its engines caught fire on takeoff at 1:40 AM, the news reports said. K. D. Gupta, the pilot, tried to bring the plane back down and even signaled the tower for permission, but flames engulfed more of the French‐built aircraft, witnesses reported. Emergency crews said much of the plane and many of the bodies were charred by fire, according to the reports. The flight from Bombay on the west coast to the southern city of Madras on the east coast had been scheduled for departure earlier on a Boeing aircraft, but that plane developed engine trouble on the ground and was replaced by the Caravelle.
Thailand’s new military junta today ordered a series of purges of civilian ministries and the military establishment itself. The purges are expected to have far‐reaching consequences for the way Thailand is governed. At the same time, the head of the junta, known as the Administrative Reform Committee, Adm. Sa‐ngad Chaloryu, announced the formation of a 13‐member commission to begin drafting a new constitution for the country.
Mao Zedong’s widow has been arrested and removed from her position as a Chinese Communist Party official along with the three leading radicals from Shanghai, according to reports Washington tonight. The event occurred in China, where it is October 12, and will be covered tomorrow.
Police said 34 persons had been injured in Manila’s first antigovernment riot since President Ferdinand E. Marcos put the Philippines under martial law in September, 1972. Police Chief Colonel James Barbers said 14 of his men had been injured when thousands of demonstrators, led by Roman Catholic priests and nuns, clashed with club-wielding police Sunday.
A passenger train carrying tourists, including some Americans, collided with a freight train in the rugged Sierra Madre of northern Mexico, killing at least 17 persons and injuring 45 the police reported today. They said that at least five of the injured were Americans, and there were, unofficial reports that one of the dead was from New York City.
Fifteen bodies recovered so far from the wreckage of a Cuban airliner, which crashed after an explosion off Barbados last week, will be flown to Havana to lie in state in the Plaza de la Revolucion, informed sources said. Meanwhile, police from five countries questioned two persons, at least one of them believed to be a Cuban exile, suspected of sabotaging the jet. The two men, who hold Venezuelan passports, were picked up in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, last week.
Gunmen killed an Argentine executive of the French‐owned Renault auto company, the company said today. Quoting witnesses, security sources said that the executive, Domingo Lozano, 41 years old, was shot dead by gunmen who approached him after he left a church yesterday in Cordoba, Argentina’s second largest city, 450 miles northwest of here. Before fleeing, the gunmen fired more shots into Mr. Lozano’s body, the sources said. The company said that Mr. Lozano was manager of a company plant in Córdoba. A statement said the company ordered a 24‐hour work stoppage at the plant in mourning. The security sources said that Mr. Lozano’s wife and their six children witnessed the killing. All had attended services at the church.
Ten black guerrillas and 10 civilians have been killed in an upsurge in fighting in Rhodesia, the government reported today. Security officials said a white construction worker, Robert Bruce Scott, 29, was among the 10 civilian victims. They said Mr. Scott was shot as he picked up workers at a hotel in an area where guerrillas are active. They said a black bystander also was killed. Five other civilians were killed by security forces, including four black women accompanying a band of guerrillas. A black civilian was shot and killed in a curfew area. Scott was the 47th white civilian to lose his life in the guerrilla war, according to government accounts. More than 550 black civilians have been reported killed. The reported death toll among the black insurgents has now reached 1,779, more than 1,000 of them in this year alone.
British officials expressed optimism today that the planned conference to set of up transition government in Rhodesia remained on track despite demands by blacks for a postponement of the meeting and immediate transfer to black majority rule. Although the officials were puzzled about the stream of demands over the weekend from Rhodesian black nationalists, Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland was said to be hopeful that black and white participants would be on hand when the conference assembles an October 21, with a view to a formal opening October 25. He is expected to announce the names of the participants this week, possibly tomorrow. Some diplomats say that the nationalist positions are part of a public negotiating stance that will be muted as soon as the participants meet privately. The British and the Americans are nonetheless uneasy because no firm public commitment has been made by the three key black leaders to attend the conference. They are Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Robert Mugabe.
A storm of protest has arisen in South Africa over a threat by the government to prosecute eight white rugby players for joining black players in a match. Opponents of the country’s apartheid policies fear the move will worsen the relations between the government and the country’s blacks. The country’s new sports policy does not allow blacks and whites to play on the same team except In international competition.
Black South African actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona, who starred in the Broadway production of “Sizwe Banzi Is Dead,” have been arrested in a town where they were performing, police said. Authorities gave no reason for the detentions in the country town of Butterworth in The Transkei province. Mr. Kani is believed to he held in the Transkei town of Nggeleni while Mr. Ntshona is believed to be held in Elliotdate. Mr. Kani just last week denied reports that he and Mr. Ntshona had been arrested last month in Port Elizabeth, where they live. Those reports came from the American Theater Critics Association, which issued a statement condemning the reported action.
The U.S. Government has found itself unable to spend money this year as rapidly as it had planned, and many economists are beginning to think that this “shortfall” in Federal spending is one of the main reasons why the economic recovery shows signs of weakening. The Government’s own experts do not understand exactly why spending is so far below what was expected. In the six months from January through June, the amount by which spending fell short of the original estimate was $7.5 billion, or 2 percent of the total budget. For the three months from July through September, the underspending or overestimate was proportionally much greater. All the figures for this period are not yet in, but officials of the Office of Management and Budget believe that total spending for the July‐September quarter will be somewhere between $5 billion and $8 billion lower than the $102 billion they expected as recently as July. This would be a shortfall of nearly 8 percent, if the $8 billion figure turns out to be the correct one. One popular theory about the cause of the shortfall is that the heads of agencies simply padded their estimates more than usual this year, because they feared larger‐than‐usual cutbacks both by an economy‐minded Administration and by a Congress armed with new and tighter budget‐control procedures.
Jimmy Carter marched at the head, more or less, of the Columbus Day parade today, but (many in the crowd of several hundred thousand people never saw the Democratic Presidential nominee. In an extravaganza staged by Mayor Richard J. Daley and billed as “the world’s greatest parade,” Mr. Carter was largely lost to view in the midst of Chicago politicians, security agents, policemen and reporters as the parade lurched down State Street for a dozen blocks. Here and there an individual would spot the Presidential nominee and his wife, Rosalynn, and shout excitedly, “Hey, Jimmy!” But others craning their necks got, in reward, only a view of tumult and confusion at the front of the long parade. The event had been intended as a showcase for the former Georgia Governor. Before the parade Mr. Carter praised Mr. Daley’s political machine as one arousing “political trust” and he said: “I believe in tight, carefully organized political structures.”
While President Ford participated in Columbus Day ceremonies in Washington, a group of President Ford’s political counselors accused Jimmy Carter today of intemperate and overly aggressive behavior in the Presidential campaign. Some of them left the impression they hoped Mr. Ford would show increased aggressiveness himself. “Mean and nasty,” Governor Daniel J. Evans, Republican of Washington, said of Mr. Carter after he and the more than 20 other members of the President’s campaign steering committee had met with Mr. Ford. “Impertinent,” Harry Dent, a specialist on Southern politics for Mr. Ford, said of the Democrats’ Presidential candidate. “Out of bounds,” said Senator Jacob K. Javits, Republican of New York, of Mr. Carter’s recent campaign utterances.
The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 was signed into law by U.S. President Gerald Ford.
Legislation was signed by President Ford for a posthumous promotion of George Washington (who had died in 1799) to the highest military rank in U.S. history, General of the Armies. The U.S. Army would delay carrying out the law for almost 18 months, but on March 13, 1978, Washington’s promotion was put into effect and backdated to July 4, 1976. The only other person with the rank, equivalent to a six-star general, was John J. Pershing, who was promoted on September 13, 1919, and held it as a retired officer until his death on July 15, 1948.
Politics marched along with the paraders yesterday as thousands — including President Ford’s son Stephen and the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Walter F. Mondale — stepped up Fifth Avenue in bright, snappy weather to celebrate Columbus Day. Some local Democrats complained that a jittery Secret Service contingent had held up their entry into the parade, and others complained that the sponsors had given the President’s son a better position, up front. “The Secret Service was so busy shoving reporters away from Mondale that the parade went by without us,” said an aide to Governor Carey. “When we got to the reviewing stand,” said Representative Mario Biaggi of the Bronx, “there wasn’t even a place for us, so I said to Mondale. ‘Come on, Fritz,’ and we made a Democratic beachhead.” But for the most part it was a day for bright‐faced high school youngsters in their band and cheerleader uniforms, for gaudy floats and red, white and green banners, for the sort of cheerful persiflage that goes with all these ethnic parades in New York City.
Security will be tight today for the start of Rubin (Hurricane) Carter’s second trial for murder. The former prize fighter spent nine years in prison trying to prove his innocence. Carter, 39, and codefendant John Artis, 31, will be tried in Jersey City on charges that they killed three persons in a Paterson bar on June 17, 1966. The New Jersey Supreme Court granted a new trial last March on grounds the prosecution had withheld evidence from the defense.
A federal judge delayed a ruling on a defense motion to dismiss a charge that former Senator Edward J. Gurney (R-Florida) had lied to a grand jury about an alleged influence-peddling scheme. U.S. District Judge George C. Young announced in court in Orlando, Florida, that he hoped to rule this morning on the last-minute attempt by Gurney to avoid a perjury retrial. scheduled to begin today. But, Young added, he would at least “have a ruling before the jury is seated.” The case against Gurney focused on the activities of fund raiser Larry Williams, who testified he shook down Florida builders in Gurney’s name between 1971–1973, promising them preferred treatment.
A Justice Department official is urging black citizens in crime-ridden neighborhoods in inner cities to start their own community crime commissions in an effort to spearhead a grass-roots campaign against violence. The suggestion by Benjamin F. Holman. who has been director of the Community Relations Service since 1969, hints at a possible new direction for the agency, which was started to help desegregate public places in the South. Neighborhood crime commissions could he financed with $30 million of Federal funds over the next three years if President Ford signs the Crime Control Act of 1976 that is before him. Citing the disturbing growth of violent urban crime that strikes most often against black victims, Mr. Holman said. “Blacks should take the initiative here and become the focal point for a strong fight against crime.”
Steel production dropped to its lowest levels since early January in the week ending Saturday, the American Iron and Steel Institute reported. Industry analysts appeared to be concerned over the decline in production, and one noted that the Ford Motor Company strike was a factor.
The United States Steel Corporation and state and county environmental agencies reached an agreement today to bring the Clairton Coke Works, the world’s largest, into compliance with pollution control laws. The corporation said it would clean up and modernize the plant by 1983. In so doing United States Steel expects to spend more than $600 million, including about $155 million for pollution control equipment. The agreement, reached after more than a year of negotiations, calls for U. S. Steel to retire or modernize four existing coke oven batteries. The corporation will build three new “super” batteries, rehabilitate five and close down 13.
Guards using teargas and gunfire quelled a brief outbreak of racial violence at the Nevada medium security prison in Carson City that came after a riot in which two persons died and 11 were injured at the maximum security prison Sunday. The medium security facility is about four miles from the century-old maximum security unit. An aide to Governor Mike O’Callaghan called the Sunday violence “an execution, pure and simple,” in which whites and Indians retaliated against blacks for an assault two weeks earlier. After guards broke up the disturbance at the medium security unit — two persons were slightly injured — the inmates were put under an indefinite cell lockup, similar to that imposed on the 400 convicts in maximum security.
There is no weapon in existence that is both nonlethal and effective as a crime-fighting tool, according to a report issued by a special Army task force. The report, published by the U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, said several commercial weapons were tested, including a variety of kinetic-energy, chemical and electrical devices. “The conclusion reached was that no such utopian-like weapon exists,” said the group, commissioned to make the study by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The task force pointed out also that nonlethal weapons could be inaccurate and unreliable, thus endangering police officers who used them.
Edward E. Sadlowski, rebel candidate for the United Steelworkers presidency, completed his slate of running mates with a ticket designed for broad appeal. Sadlowski, 38, director of the union’s Chicago district, is running against Lloyd McBride, 60, of St. Louis, to head the 1.4 millionmember union. The theme of his campaign has been to “return” the union to the rank and file. For geographical and racial balance Sadlowski picked Oliver Montgomery, a black, of Pittsburgh, Andrew Kmec, also of Pittsburgh, Ignatio Rodriguez of Los Angeles and Marvin Weinstock of Youngstown, Ohio. McBride said he wasn’t impressed. The race will end February 8.
Proposing massive cuts in state aid to localities, Governor David Pryor of Arkansas told the legislature that he wanted to return control of finances to local officials who are closest to the people. Mr. Pryor said he would ask the legislature to hold increases for state spending for education to a minimum. The governor said his plan would give local citizens the final decision about local services.
Scientists are extracting a high-grade protein from tobacco leaves that has the potential to become an important source of food. “It’s as good for you as milk,” said Martin Schwartz, dean of science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, as he gazed at a test tube of tiny white crystals. Schwartz, puffing on a cigarette, observed also that the tasteless and odorless protein, called fraction-1-protein, is hazardous when smoked in tobacco despite its potentially high nutritive value when extracted. An announcement from the Agriculture Department said its “nutritional value is comparable to milk and surpasses that of soybeans.”
The national TV career of Jane Pauley, at the time a 25-year-old newscaster for WMAQ-TV in Chicago, began as Pauley joined the newscasting team of NBC’s Today show.
10th Country Music Association Awards: Mel Tillis wins.
NFL Monday Night Football:
The San Francisco 49ers, in an major upset, shut out the Los Angeles Rams, 16–0. Jim Plunkett threw for 183 yards and two touchdowns as the 49ers dealt the Rams their first loss and first shutout ever in the Coliseum. After a scoreless first half, Plunkett and former Ram Willie McGee combined for a 36-yard scoring play on the first possession of the second half, and on the next series Tom Mitchell caught a six-yard pass for a touchdown. The 49ers’ defense, which sacked James Harris 10 times for 97 yards lost, set up Steve Mike-Mayer’s 18-yard field goal when Tommy Hart hit Harris and Jimmy Webb gathered in the ensuing fumble at the 14-yard line.
San Francisco 49ers 16, Los Angeles Rams 0
Despite an almost 75 point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average over the last three weeks, most Wall Street analysts continue to speak optimistically about the future. Some experts say the Dow Jones has overstated the weakness of the market and predict a technical rally in the near future. The consensus view on Wall Street is that the recent spate of bad economic news is directly related to the slump.
Stock prices continued their downward trend, with the Dow Jones industrial average losing 11.56 points to close at 940.82. Credit prices remained stable in very slow trading in the few markets that were open.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 940.82 (-11.56, -1.21%)
Born:
Emily Deschanel, American TV actress (“Bones”); in Los Angeles, California.
Sal Khan, American educator (Khan Academy), in Metairie, Louisiana.
Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, former Mexican drug lord; in Apatzingán, Michoacán state, Mexico.
Dale Purinton, NHL defenseman (New York Rangers), in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Carl Sadler, MLB pitcher (Cleveland Indians), in Gainesville, Florida.
Died:
Masa Nakayama, 85, Japanese politician and the first woman to be appointed as a cabinet officer in Japan. She served for five months as the Minister of Health and Welfare in 1960.
Connee Boswell, 68, American singer popular in the 1920s and 1930s with her sisters Martha and Vet as part of The Boswell Sisters.
