A poll taken in Western Europe last summer by the United States Information Agency showed the reservoir of good will there toward the United States was at its lowest level since such polls began in 1954, according to a preliminary analysis. The poll was disclosed to the New York Times by sources interested in Jimmy Carter’s election as President. This analysis of the survey, which was conducted mostly by Gallup organization affiliates under the auspices of the United States Information Agency, was disclosed to The New York Times by sources interested in the election of Jimmy Carter, the Democratic Presidential nominee. The U.S.I.A. is an independent executive agency that takes policy guidance from the State Department.
A Russian military pilot, who defected to Iran in an outmoded plane while he was supposed to be carrying mail to a Soviet outpost, has been granted political asylum in the United States and is already there, a diplomatic source said in Tehran. The source said Lieutenant Valentini Ivanovich Zasimov satisfied Iranian and U.S. authorities that his only motive in leaving the Soviet Union September 23 was dissatisfaction with the regime and way of life there. A U.S. Embassy spokesman, however, said the report could not be confirmed.
Senator Howard H. Baker Jr. (R-Tennessee) told a news conference at the United Nations, where he is a U.S. delegate, that the statement by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General George S. Brown, that arms for Israel put a burden on the United States reflected badly on his competence. Baker said he was sure the matter of Brown’s competence would be thoroughly discussed by President Ford and his advisers.
Police authorities in four northern European countries pressed forward today with investigations into what some officials now believe was a well‐orchestrated smuggling operation organized by North Korean diplomats and directed at most of Scandinavia. These officials feel that prompt action has broken the operation, which was based mainly on the black‐market sale of duty‐free alcohol and cigarettes smuggled in by North Korean officials. But in one country, the operation apk ears to have involved real or potential traffic in drugs as well. These officials are not entirely clear why the North Koreans chose Scandinavia as their target. And, despite lively speculation, they are not certain about North Korea’s motives. Yesterday, Sweden and Finland became the third and fourth countries to become embroiled in the affair, which has dominated headlines in Scandinavian capitals.
Strikes arson and bombings plagued Italy as leftist leaders tried to convince workers to tolerate the austerity program of the new Christian Democrat government, which rules with Communist support. The minority government, formed after leftist gains in the last elections, announced rail fare hikes of 10% December 1 and 20% next March 1. The simmering dispute in Italy’s Communist Party over strategy has broken out in the open, in the form of a rare display of public disunity during a meeting of its Central Committee. Party officials make no secret of the unease in the ranks over the decision to support the ruling Christian Democrats by abstaining from crucial votes in Parliament. Speeches published today disclosed that even the leadership was divided.
The continuing presence of American military bases in Greece has become an emotional and political Issue that reflects deep disagreements over the future course of Greek foreign policy. In Parliament today, Prime Minister Konstantine Karamanlis strongly affirmed his country’s ties to the Western world and endorsed the presence of American bases. If Greece withdrew from the political West, he said, it would not be able to join the European Economic Community and would thus strengthen its traditional enemy, Turkey. Critics called for the Prime Minister’s resignation and advocated a more independent foreign policy. George Mavros, leader of the largest opposition party, charged that Washington was pro‐Turkey and urged Athens to suspend all negotiations over the bases here until American policy improved. He also suggested that Mr. Karamanlis visit Moscow.
A recount of the vote in West Germany’s elections now gives Chancellor Helmut Schmidt’s coalition parties a majority of 10 seats in the 496‐member Parliament, two more than the preliminary tally. Errors discovered in North Rhine‐Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bavaria reduced the total won by the opposition Christian Democrats by 1,993 votes and increased the count of Mr. Schmidt’s Social Democratic Party by 387. The final result, announced today, thus look one parliamentary seat away from the opposition and assigned it to the Social Democrats.
The Government of French Prime Minister Raymond Barre easily survived a Socialist‐Communist censure motion in Parliament last night against its anti‐inflation plan. The 181 votes in favor fell 60 short of the required majority to overturn the Government. The opposition, concentrating on general elections in 18 months, had charged that the Prime Minister’s anti‐inflation package would worsen unemployment and curb workers’ purchasing power. The plan froze prices for this year and recommended a 6.5 percent limit for price and wage increase in 1977.
The Vatican described as “pure fantasy” an Italian newspaper report that Pope Paul VI may appoint a deputy to take over some of his tasks. The Milan newspaper Il Giornale said there was a rumor the Pope, 79. who is suffering from arthritic pains in his knees, might appoint “an alter ego, to whom he would entrust part of the burden and power now weighing exclusively on his shoulders.”
President Ford said today that he would not tolerate another Arab oil embargo, but added that because of his Administration’s Middle East policies, the chances for another embargo “are virtually nil.” In a White House news conference, Mr. Ford also asserted that the Administration’s diplomatic efforts had won the confidence of both Israel and Arab countries and “you won’t find the possibilities of another Middle East war today that you had in 1973” when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. His assessment reflected the intelligence community’s view that at present, because of splits in the Arab world, the drawn‐out fighting in Lebanon, Israeli armed power and American influence, the likelihood of a new Arab‐Israeli war and an accompanying oil embargo are exceedingly slim for the next six months to a year. But most officials, including Secretary of State Henry A, Kissinger, believe that if further diplomatic progress toward Middle East settlement is not achieved next year, pressures in the Arab world will mount for another war.
Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said today they doubted that a peace plan signed by six Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia on. Monday would result in an end to the Lebanese civil war. Most of the resolutions adopted by the Arab leaders struck the Israelis as unrealistic, and the conference itself was viewed by one Foreign Ministry analyst as primarily “a Syrian gimmick.” “We’re not taking this terribly seriously,” another official said. “We see very little chance of success for these Riyadh decisions.” The view here was that Syria gained the most at the Riyadh gathering because it went to the meeting after having begun a major military offensive in Lebanon and left without making a commitment to withdraw its troops from the country. The Israeli officials also questioned whether the proposed 30,000‐member Arab peacekeeping force empowered to impose a cease‐fire on the warring Lebanese factions would become a reality.
A meeting in Damascus between President Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, indicated that the accommodation they worked out at the Riyadh meeting may have gone further than was previously assumed. There are signs that Syria may have abandoned its policy of heavy pressure on the Palestinians and is now seeking to strike a balance between them and the Christian forces in Lebanon.
The Sahara Liberation Army, a left-wing guerrilla organization with close ties to Algeria, has isolated the desert capital of El Aaiun in fighting with the Moroccan army, the newspaper Ya reported in Madrid. Quoting a rebel spokesman in the Canary Islands, Ya said 24 Moroccan soldiers were killed when rebel forces attacked a convoy trying to bring supplies into El Aaiun, capital of the Western Sahara.
Iran’s purchase of a 25.01 percent stake in the holding company that controls the entire Krupp industrial complex unofficially cost more than $200 million and will pump about $70 million of capital into the West German enterprise. It was the first foreign purchase of interest in the holding company and reflects a shift in West German opinion to welcome such investments.
The deposed King of Sikkim, unconscious for more than a day due to an apparent overdose of sleeping pills, was reported “responding to treatment” tonight at a nursing home in Calcutta. Doctors said Palden Thondup Namgyal, former Chogyal (King) of. Sikkim, was found unconscious in his palace Tuesday and flown to Calcutta. “His condition has not materially changed,” said Dr. A. K. Talwar, one of the attending physicians.
Thailand still holds nearly two-thirds of more than 9,000 persons arrested since the October 6 military coup on suspicion of being Communist subversives, the ruling junta disclosed. The new government has decreed an extension of the period for detention without trial or charges to six months, from one month, and other curbs.
The campaign against Mao Zedong’s widow, Chiang Ching, spilled onto the streets of Peking today with thousands of demonstrators demanding her downfall. Cheerful, chanting crowds marched eight abreast down the main Avenue of Eternal Tranquility to the thunder of gongs, drums and cymbals. They carried slogans attacking Chiang Ching by name and three other radical leaders reportedly under arrest for plotting a coup d’état. The demonstration, which clearly seemed organized, pledged support for Hua Kuo‐feng, the newly appointed chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as Prime Minister and army leader.
Factions opposing Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki in his ruling Liberal Party have selected Takeo Fukuda, the Deputy Prime Minister, as their candidate for party president at a convention scheduled for October 31. The choice was made today at a meeting of the executives of the Council for Party Unity organized by the anti‐Miki factions, which command a two‐thirds party majority. The selection of Mr. Fukuda did not come as a surprise. He has been aspiring to Mr. Miki’s post. The anti‐Miki factions have made several attempts in the last few months to oust him.
Chile, angered over limits on its aid imposed by Congress, formally notified Washington today that it did not want to receive any economic assistance from the United States. A memorandum submitted to the State Department and made public by the Chilean Embassy said that Chile had decided not to seek aid because its own economy had improved and because of the “amount of the assistance allocated for Chile” in the current foreign aid bill. Because of the alleged repressions carried out by the military Government of Chile, Congress has banned any future military sales or grants to Chile and put a limit of $27.5 million on economic aid. That amount, plus some additional food grants, had been included in the aid bill for fiscal year 1977 that began on October 1. Since the military coup in 1973 that overthrew President Salvador Allende Gossens, Chile became a major recipient of American aid, receiving the largest amount of Food for Peace aid in South America.
An American woman suspected of being leftist guerrilla has been shot to death by Argentine security forces, the army said today. The United States Embassy confirmed the death of Chris Ana Olson de Oliva, 30 years old, of Berkeley, California, daughter of a vice president of Kaiser Industries. An army communique said she was killed yesterday in Cordoba, 440 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, after she threw a hand grenade at policemen surrounding a house where suspicious activity had been reported.
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, President of the Central African Republic and raised a Roman Catholic, announced his conversion to Islam, changing his name to Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa. Forty-six days later, he would declare the republic to be a monarchy and proclaimed himself to be Emperor Bokassa the First of the Central African Empire.
Although British officials initially expressed optimism that the conference on Rhodesia opening here next week would set up an interim biracial government leading to black majority rule, they are now stressing what appear to be irreconcilable differences between the white and black sides, coupled with dissent among black leaders. Preparatory talks are set to start tomorrow, shortly after the arrival of Prime Minister Ian D. Smith of Rhodesia’s white government and of Ivor Richard, British delegate to the United Nations, who will preside. Rhodesian black leaders are due to arrive over the next few days, with the full conference set to start October 28. British officials are worried about confusion in black ranks and they express fears that rivalries will paralyze the conference. This pessimistic view is compounded by uncertainty about Mr. Smith’s negotiating position.
Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith said he was “cautiously optimistic” as he left Salisbury to attend the Geneva conference on setting up an interim multiracial government in his country. Preliminary meetings begin today and the first formal meeting of the conference will be next Thursday. The conference centers on Anglo-U.S. proposals for an eventual black majority government in Rhodesia.
The South-West African People’s Organization, the black guerrilla group in South Africa’s trust territory of Namibia, reported from Zambia that it had asked for massive foreign military assistance to step up a “war of liberation.” A SWAPO spokesman said a recent trip to Cuba by leader Sam Nujoma was connected with arms shopping to help in that war. The spokesman said, however, that SWAPO had enough manpower without resorting to foreign troops. Meanwhile, African diplomats said a triple veto by the United States, Britain and France against U.N. sanctions aimed at South Africa for not relinquishing control of Namibia placed new responsibility on the vetoing countries to bring about the independence of Namibia.
Hopes that Viking 2’s lander would find evidence of life in soil beneath a Martian rock have faded with the tiny robot laboratory’s failure to detect organic molecules. Dr. Klaus Biemann, head of the project’s molecular analysis team, said yesterday that Viking’s instruments did not find even a trace of organic compounds in a scoop of soil taken from under a rock. Organic compounds, chemicals united with carbon, are necessary for all forms of life found on earth. Scientists decided they could not proclaim discovery of life on Mars, indicated by earlier Viking experiments, unless they found organic compounds. Some scientists believed that earlier searches had failed because organic compounds could not survive powerful solar radiation bombarding Mars, which is not protected by a thick atmosphere like earth’s. They had speculated that organic molecules might be shielded under rocks. Mission officials said, however, that plans were going ahead to scoop up more dirt from under another rock this week.
The Ford Administration lifted its objections to two federal civil rights surveys of the nation’s school districts this year. Reversing an earlier decision that was criticized by civil rights organizations, the White House Office of Management and Budget approved the survey plans by the US. Office for Civil Rights. The surveys will look for evidence of discrimination on the basis of race, sex or handicaps. The Civil Rights Office said survey forms for 3,000 school districts containing about 90% of the nation’s minority students should be distributed by the end of November.
Secretary of Commerce Elliot L. Richardson said today that he had sought unsuccessfully on at least two occasions this year to get White House authorization for disclosing the names of American companies that reported they had been approached to participate in the Arab boycott against Israel.
The Food and Drug Administration is conducting a nationwide investigation to determine whether producers of high-fiber breads and cereals are making unjustified medical claims. Last week, after ITT-Continental Baking Co. agreed to tone down its claims for Fresh Horizons bread, the company said that “many other high-fiber products now on the market contain information almost identical to that which we used.” The bread wrappers cited “increasing scientific and medical opinion that fiber may even help prevent serious diseases.” Scientists are divided on the role of dietary fiber in preventing bowel cancer, second only to lung cancer as a cause of death in the United States.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has compiled a massive internal report on allegations that top staff members have sought to stifle questions of reactor safety raised by its own technical experts. In addition, nine staff engineers charged in interviews that the agency had failed to act on some of these questions. This was denied by the chairman of the agency.
The Federal Power Commission, which nearly tripled the price of recently discovered natural gas and also increased the price of gas from earlier sources on July 27, ordered a 25 percent reduction in the size of the increase. The action is expected to save consumers $500 million a year, but the F.P.C. acknowledged that gas would still cost consumers about $1.5 billion more.
Seventy-eight passengers and crew on the U.S. ferryboat MV George Prince were killed when the boat strayed into the path of the Norwegian oil tanker Frosta and was capsized. The collision occurred at 6:20 in the morning as the ferry was transporting workers, most of whom were in their vehicles with the windows rolled up, from Destrehan, Louisiana to the other side of the Mississippi River to their jobs in Luling. There were only 18 survivors. An autopsy on the ferryboat’s captain, who was nearing the end of a long shift, showed him to have a blood alcohol content of 0.09 percent, slightly under the limit of legal intoxication under Louisiana law.
Common Cause said the most comprehensive study ever made of conflicts of interest in regulatory agencies — independent as well as executive branch — shows a possibility that serious pro-industry bias permeates the top echelons of the entire federal bureaucracy. “The prevailing government philosophy appears to be, ‘Do everything possible to give the special interests extraordinary access and influence’,” said David Cohen, president of the self-styled citizens’ lobby. The study proposes several reform measures, including annual financial disclosure statements by executive branch officials and top employees.
The federal government should outlaw a common practice by cities of floating tax-free bonds to finance construction of privately owned plants and equipment, says a privately funded task force study. The report, financed by the Twentieth Century Fund, said such bond sales. should be allowed only “in very rare instances.” The report also appeared to endorse President Ford’s approach last year of granting direct U.S. Treasury loans to New York City to help solve its credit crisis. The task force recommended that the federal government aid cities in a financial emergency only when failure to do so would have “major national impact.”
The Postal Service is preparing for an extraordinary crush of Christmas package mail if negotiations remain dead locked in a five‐week regional United Parcel Service strike, an official said today. The company is the Postal Services biggest bulk mail competitor, and the walkout has already doubled parcel volume in the strike area covering 15 Eastern states. William F. Bolger, Deputy Postmaster General, said that the Postal Service was using stand‐by leased facilities and had ordered overtime and extra shifts. “Contingency plans are now being developed for use of additional facilities, transportation and manpower should the strike continue through the holiday season,” Mr. Bolger said.
More than 2,000,000 Americans received swine influenza shots last week at the height of reports’ doubting the safety of the vaccine. Federal health officials said today that the turnout strongly indicated confidence in the inoculation program. The National Center for Disease Control said that most of the 2,109,706 receiving flu immunization were elderly or chronically ill persons, another indication that the adverse publicity did not frighten away great numbers from getting’ inoculations. Health officials feared last week the deaths of 35 elderly persons soon after getting flu shots would diminish, confidence in the program. The center said, however, that the deaths were not connected with the vaccine and those who died suffered from chronic ailments. Windell Bradford, associate director of the program, said “I think as time goes on, more and more people will be getting their flu shots.” Since the immunization started October 2, about 2,787,000 doses of vaccine have been administered.
The Labor Department issued long-awaited standards for controlling exposure of steelworkers to cancer-causing gases from coke ovens. The new rules must be reached by Jan. 10, 1980. Certain chemical emissions known as benzene-soluble particulates, which workers inhale while around the ovens, will be limited to 0.15 milligrams per cubic meter of air averaged over an eight-hour period. In some plants, emissions currently range up to 1.5 milligrams, the government said.
The judge in the John Harvey Adamson trial urged the county prosecutor today to “be careful” in making public statements about the slaying of Don Bolles, a reporter. The suggestion to Donald Harris, Maricopa County Attorney, came after the prosecutor had said that several other persons might be indicted soon in the newsman’s slaying. Mr. Adamson, a 32‐year‐old dog breeder, is the lone defendant indicted in the bombing death of Mr. Bolles. Mr. Harris, who said yesterday that as many as seven “well‐to‐do types” might be conspirators in the killing, confirmed that Judge Frederic Heineman had told him “to be careful about my public statements.” ‘
Even after J. Edgar Hoover had ordered a halt to illegal break-ins by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there were repeated burglaries of the Greenwich Village apartment of a sister of a Weather Underground fugitive, according to sources familiar with the operation here.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled today that a state constitutional amendment designed to stop nearly all tax increases would remain on the November 2 ballot. Opponents of the amendment fear that passage would virtually halt all state and local tax increases. They say it could require an election before a local government could increase such things as school lunch prices or parking meter rates. The proposal would require voter approval before any new tax could be created or existing tax increased on the state and local levels. The court’s unanimous decision said that the amendment must be on the ballot because there was no evidence of fraud or irregularities in the initiative drive.
U.S. physicist Edward Teller, speaking to a group of scientists at Laxenburg, Austria, said fears about radiation fallout from atomic power plants are exaggerated. Teller, 68, of Pepperdine University, said, “In all the many years since the setting up of atomic power reactors all over the world, there is not a single case of damage to human life.”
Continued availability of natural gas is vital to solution of California’s air pollution problems, Governor Brown said in urging President Ford to sign the Alaskan Natural Gas Transportation Act. The measure sets up procedures for prompt decisions on transportation of natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states. Congress approved it last month. Brown noted that because of severe air pollution in Southern California, this state is more dependent than others on natural gas.
The Hartford Times, a 159-year-old evening newspaper that had been published in Hartford, Connecticut since 1817, put out its final issue, that included ” its own front‐page obituary edged in black” and called the Times “a newspaper strangled by litigation” after its previous owner had sued the Gannett Company for fraud in the 1973 purchase of publication rights. At one time, the Times had the largest circulation of Hartford papers and almost twice as many subscribers as the rival Hartford Courant.
Argentine soccer football star Diego Maradona made his professional debut at the age of 15, ten days before his 16th birthday, playing for the Argentinos Juniors of the top division of Argentine football, in a game against Talleres de Córdoba. He remains the youngest ever player in the Primera Division. On November 14, the future World Cup star scored his first professional goal in a game against the San Lorenzo team of Mar del Plata.
New York Nets star Julius “Dr J” Erving is sold to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Stock prices posted a second day of modest gains as the Dow industrial average rose 4.90 points to close at 954.87, though the pace remained subdued. Tax-exempt bonds continued to show higher interest rates as new issues entered the market.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 954.87 (+4.90, +0.52%)
Born:
Reidel Anthony, NFL wide receiver (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), in Pahokee, Florida.
Tom Wisniewski, American Christian-punk guitarist (MxPx), in Dunoon, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Somaya El Khashab, Egyptian actress and singer; in Alexandria, Egypt.
Plamen Goranov, Bulgarian photographer and dissident, the first of six people who set themselves on fire to protest the regime in 2013; in Varna (d. 2013).
Died:
Jane Duncan (pen name for Elizabeth Jane Cameron, 66, Scottish author of children’s books, best known for her “My Friends” series of 19 books.
Vladimir Kudashov, 58, Soviet war hero.
