November 30, 1974

PARIS, Nov. 29—In a historic precedent for a Roman Catholic country, the French National Assembly has voted by a surprisingly wide margin to legalize abortion during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

US Agr Dept repts further declines in grain prices from previous wk because of weaker export demand and weaker US econ (S)

US and other major grain exporting countries meet with grain importing-nations, Rome, Italy, and draw up some outlines for emergency food aid; aim of meeting, called by FAO Dir Gen Addeke H Boerma, is to get nearly $2-billion in grain delivered over next 7 to 8 mos to countries afflicted with widespread starvation and malnutrition; meeting is not attended by USSR and China; Boerma says that session has made 'considerable progress' in recognizing problems, in getting countries to cooperate in helping assure that supplies are available and in exploring financial aspects; another meeting is scheduled on Dec 4 in NYC to consider financial aspects again; UN Sec Gen Kurt Waldheim and UN Emergency Operation head Raoul Prebisch are asked to approach oil-producing nations 'at early date' to see if they can be induced to help with newly increased oil revenues; Bangladesh repr Ahmed Salahuddin, Indian repr G C L Joneja, Tanzanian Agr Min Joseph Mungai and US repr Richard E Bell comment; attending meeting are US, Canada, Australia, Argentina, EEC nations, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tanzania, Japan, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand, IBRD and IMF (M)

Sluggish econ and rising unemployment seen as factors in increase in applications in NYC, NJ, and Conn armed forces and Civil Service; in some cases it has reached levels not seen since Depression; higher-quality applicants interested (L)

FTC to open wk-long hearings in NYC, Dec 2, on series of proposed regulations to govern private voc schools; other hearings will be held throughout country, into Feb; comm, after studying testimony, will decide whether to adopt proposals requiring voc schools to reveal information about themselves, including success of their grads in getting jobs and drop-out rate if they make any employment claims in their ads; rules will also set stringent refund policies to make it possible for students who do drop out to recover much of their tuition; FTC officials say rules are needed because case-by-case study by comm and NYC Consumer Affairs Dept has revealed that such schools often misrepresent opportunities available in their field of instruction and often enroll people who, because of lack of formal educ or criminal record, can never hope to hold such jobs; recent suits brought by FTC and other agencies against Interstate Transportation Trainers, LaSalle Extension Univ and Electronic Computer Programing Inst detailed (L)