September 21, 1973

B J King defeats B Riggs on Sept 20 in Houston Astrodome; illus

NYS Soc Services Comr A Lavine asserts on Sept 20 that because NYC has scheduled face-to-face ints of welfare families, program which was ordered by state to recertify eligibility, for only 3.6% of 130,531 cases state required, he will impose penalty on city; holds that penalty could approach $750,000 for last 2 wks of Aug; adds that he has warned city that penalty could climb to $1.5-million a mo starting this mo and to $9-million a mo starting in Nov if city continues to ignore state mandates and timetables; penalty involves withholding of Fed and state reimbursement for unscreened cases; state announcement prompts NYC Human Resources Deputy Admr C Morris to charge that city was deceived by state into thinking city's own system of face-to-face ints was satisfactory; adds that city will challenge penalty

Pres Nixon's attys and special Watergate prosecutor A Cox inform US Appeals Ct on Sept 20 that they failed to reach compromise on access to Pres tape recordings bearing on Watergate crimes; in similar lrs filed with ct, both sides say they met on 3 occasions this wk in effort to reach out-of-ct settlement, as panel of judges requested, but regretted to rept that 'these sincere efforts were not fruitful'; this means that const issue of whether a Pres must yield records of private conversations with his aides for purposes of criminal prosecution must be decided by Appeals Ct and is virtually certain to go to Sup Ct for final settlement; lrs filed Sept 20 say that Cox and special White House counsel J F Buzhardt Jr met on Sept 17 and 18 and final, lengthy meeting was held Sept 20 and attended by Prof Wright, special legal consultant to Nixon, White House counsel L Garment, Buzhardt, Cox and P A Lacavara of Cox's office; illus of Cox

Sen Foreign Relations Com says on Sept 20 sends formal rept to Sen recommending confirmation of H A Kissinger as State Sec; rept finds no grounds to bar him because of wiretapping

article notes that moderate and conservative Middle East Arab leaders are fashioning new solidarity, which is fostering feeling that for 1st since '67 war events seem favorable to Arab cause; says that European diplomats believe that Arabs have substantially strengthened their bargaining power in political maneuvering that is expected later in '73; says that future UN Middle East debate will find Israel and US more isolated than ever if some African leaders keep promises made to Arabs at recent Algiers conf of nonaligned nations; asserts that Arabs are girding for what Cairo Al Ahram editor M H Heykal calls a political confrontation with Pres Nixon's foreign policy adviser H A Kissinger; notes that Syria, Jordan and Egypt will speak with 1 voice in future debates; says that according to informed sources, Syria has accepted UN Security Council resolution of Nov '67 as basis for peace settlement for 1st time; notes that until now, Syria, like Libya, Algeria and other radical Arab govts, rejected resolution, which calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and for just and lasting peace as implied recognition of Israel; notes that Saudi Arabian King Faisal, in new alliance with Egyptian Pres A Sadat, has given large-scale financial assistance to Egypt, promising political support in US for Egypt's refusal to negotiate surrender of any part of Sinai Peninsula; notes Egypt and Syria have decided to resume diplomatic relations with Jordan, and 3 countries have agreed in principle to restore eastern Arab front against Israel by resuming mil coordination; notes that Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich countries have begun to use their oil as political assets in conflict with Israel; holds that Arab diplomats say that key element to Arab moves is that it implies long-term political approach to issue of settlement with Israel, as opposed to rush into mil confrontation; says that leaders of Palestinian resistance, having tried to prevent Syrian and Egyptian reconciliation with Jordanian King Hussein, are seen by many observers as losers in new trend; notes Syrian Pres H Assad is leaning hard on resistance leaders to prevent them from obstructing his reconciliation with Jordan