September 14, 1973

Laotion Govt and Pathet Lao formally sign agreement, Sept 14, that will create a coalition govt; coalition govt is 3d since '50; Prince Souvanna says he expects coalition to be formed before the 10th of Oct; signers for Govt are Mins Pheng Phongsavan and Ngon Sananikone, for Pathet Lao, Phoumi Vongvichit and Maj Gen Phoune Sipraseuth; also present at signing are Brit and USSR Ambs to Laos, who, as reprs of co-chmn nations of the '62 Geneva conf, are given special place of hon; new agreement is cast in legal framework of the '62 accords; also present are Indian, Canadian and Polish delegates to Internatl Control Comm, once again called on to play a nominal policing action, and the diplomatic corps, including US charge d'affaires J G Dean; Souvanna, in remarks to press, says Laotians are happy that they finally going to have peace and natl reconciliation; hopes that all signatories of '62 Geneva accord will respect accord and make it real; says agreement calls on Laos to pursue a course of internatl neutrality'; main provisions of agreement, which will carry out Feb 21st cease-fire accord, outlined

M R Laird, counselor to Pres Nixon, notes on Sept 13 that Cong is increasing some spending items beyond Pres's proposals, news conf; says proposed tax increase might be offered to offset increased spending 'in spirit of cooperation and conciliation' between 2 Govt branches; predicts continuing confrontations between Cong and Pres on spending; says he is discussing ideas in public now because Adm plans to 'move toward greater openness'; Laird illus

Sept 14: Israeli and Syrian jets clash over Mediterranean on Sept 13 in their biggest air battle since '67 war; Israeli mil spokesman says 13 Syrian planes and 1 Israeli plane were shot down; no ind repts are available on losses, which occurred off Syrian coast; Israeli pilot and 1 of Syrians who were shot down are picked up by Israeli helicopter; Israeli Air Force comdr Maj Gen B Peled says that encounter with Syrian MIG's started over internatl waters, but declines to specify how far off Syrian coast it occurred, news conf; says Israeli Phantoms and Mirages were intercepted and fired upon while they were conducting what he describes as routine patrol 'to find out what's going on in the Mediterranean waters'; says there were 2 phases in encounter; says during 1st phase Syrians lost 9 planes and Israelis 1; repts that 2d dogfight occurred when Israelis tried to gain control of enough sky so that rescue helicopter could reach downed Israeli pilot; says Syrian pilot is hospitalized in good condition; by Israeli calculations, Syrians have now lost 60 jet warplanes in dogfights since '67 war; Israel's total losses on Syrian front are put at 4; illus of Peled; map

Chile mil junta names Gen A Pinochet Ugarte Pres on Sept 13 and forms 15-member Cabinet of mainly mil officers; names Gen O Bonilla Interior Min; lifts round-the-clock curfew for 6 hrs so that people could buy food and those trapped in office bldgs by curfew since Sept 11 can go home; junta appeals for donations of blood to cope with wounded; troops continue to battle snipers in city and junta warns workers occupying factories that they will be executed if they are found with arms when captured; Foreign Min Rear-Adm I Huerta advises Cuban Amb M G Inchaustegui that junta has broken diplomatic relations with Cuba and Cuban mission returns home; Gen Pinochet declares that junta will 'exterminate' Marxism; sketch of career; junta says it will expel from country left-wingers who were given asylum by Allende; Christian Democratic party and Natl party issue communiques stating support of junta; illus of soldiers firing on snipers and rounding up prisoners

Met Opera gen mgr Chapin and assn pres Moore on Sept 13 announce cancellation of '74 opera in park series because of co financial difficulties; says series will be presented if donors come forward to pay expenses

Steelworkers from Chicago, Gary, and Youngstown area send lr to USWA hqs in Pittsburgh protesting no-strike labor contract it signed with steel indus earlier in '73; accuses leadership of violating basic union policy and conspiring with steel cos; warns that workers will take their case to ct if no-strike contract is not revoked; provisions of contrast revd; spokesman for USWA pres I W Abel acknowledges some rank-and-file dissatisfaction with agreement but insists that it is concentrated in Chicago-Gary-Youngstown area; says any gen revolt against contract would have erupted in local union elections, which was not the case; says contract was ratified by union's Steel Industry Exec Bd in accordance with standard union procedures; revolt seems to be spreading with 5 major union locals in Los Angeles electing local slates that oppose no-strike agreement; there are also signs that Abel's rivals within union regard no-strike issue as possible tool for challenging leadership

NY Times survey of reaction at 8 NYS colls to stringent new drug law that went into effect Sept 1 finds heightened fears among drug users and finds that may campus dealers say they have gone out of business; finds users and sellers are far more cautious than they appeared in similar survey last Nov; finds most remaining dealers are limiting selves to marijuana and hashish; notes coll admrs are making major effort to inform students about new law; notes many students and admrs expect only temporary drop in drug use

NFL repeals its TV blackout of all sold out home games on Sept 13 in wake of Cong action prohibiting continuance of blackout policy; final legis, passed by HR 336 to 37, is sent to Pres Nixon for his expected signature; legis states that blackout of home games could remain if all tickets were not sold 3 days in advance of event; NFL comr Rozelle and team owners had announced that such legis would bring out problems, many of them unknown, and Cong seemed to respect their view in that limitation was placed on legis; law will apply until Dec 31 '75 and then ostensibly be revd by Cong again; Reprs H Staggers and T H MacDonald, chief sponsors of legis, comment; illus

Sources dose to NYC Investigation Dept say on Sept 13 that Comr N Scoppetta will arrest more than 25 affluent businessmen on bribery charges within next 3 wks as yr-long inquiry into bribing of city officials nears completion; Scoppetta refuses to discuss matter but source says that while city employes have reptd bribe offers and some are also expected to be arrested for taking bribes, investigation's main thrust has been against those businessmen initiating bribes; investigation is said to cover wide variety of businessmen, who offered bribes to officials to overlook violations, approve alleged repairs and speed approval of work completed; after arrests are made, cases will be turned over to boro Dist Attys

US Appeals Ct, Washington, DC, on Sept 13 proposes out-of-cf compromise solution to dispute between Pres Nixon and Watergate grand jury over White House tapes; issues unanimous memo urging Pres and attys for both sides to avoid const confrontation by themselves settling issue of 9 recordings sought by grand jury; recommends that Nixon voluntarily submit portions of recordings to special Watergate prosecutor A Cox and White House atty C A Wright for their examination; 2 attys, together with Pres himself or his delegate, would decide what parts of tapes could properly go to grand jury; presumably, if they agreed, lawsuit to force Nixon to produce recordings would be withdrawn; ct does not suggest that US Dist Judge Sirica take part in screening of tapes; Cox announces almost immediately that he would be 'more than glad' to meet with Pres or his delegate or any of his attys in sincere effort to pursue ct's suggestion to 'mutually satisfactory conclusion'; proposal is apparently originated with ct as Cox and Wright say they made no such suggestion; ct action is rare

White House and US State Dept officials continue to deny that US had any definite information concerning Sept 11 coup in Chile; say Amer Embassy in Santiago was under instruction to have nothing to do with any plans for uprising brought to it by any element in Chile; say information given embassy on exact date of coup did not reach responsible officials until after coup was under way; UN delegate J A Scali holds news conf to deny that US or any of its agencies participated in any way; State Dept spokesman P J Hare says rept that coup would take place on Sept 11 could not be taken more seriously than repts, which US Embassy received, that it would take place on Sept 8 and 10; says no attempt was made to inform Allende Govt of such repts; reiterates denial that planned US maneuvers with Chilean navy were halted because of foreknowledge of coup; says H A Kissinger's summoning of US Amb N Davis to Washington was extended to all ambs and was unrelated to any coup repts; expresses regret over loss of life in Chile, particularly Allende's; State Dept officials say they expect to follow Latin-Amer countries in response to junta's request for continued diplomatic relations; Chilean Embassy in Washington makes no comment on govt change and repts that no one has resigned

article on S Vietnamese inflation-ridden economy; problems seen as staggering; hundreds of businesses have folded and unemployment has continued to mount; economists see situation largely a result of forces beyond Saigon's control; US economists note that worldwide price rises and devaluation of the dollar have reduced S Vietnam's buying power by more than a third, so that it will spend more than ever this yr on imports but will receive the smallest quantity since '65; US aid seen keystone of S Vietnamese econ future; Pres Nguyen Van Thieu illus