March 14, 1975

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, March 13—Insurgent gunners scored a direct hit on an ammunition dump at this capital's airport today, forcing a temporary suspension of the American airlift from Thailand arid South Vietnam that is supplying Phnom Penh.

Portugal's new mil 'Revolutionary Council' decrees nationalization of all Portuguese banks except for foreign, savings and agr credit insts; act is council's 1st econ measure after Pres Francisco da Costa Gomes warned citizens that 'hard core' of opposition forces still existed in Portuguese pol and econ; Costa Gomes also described oppositionists as 'capitalist and privileged' sectors without capacity for adaptation to new social pol conditions and pol forces whose ideologies were incompatible with happiness of Portuguese people and armed forces; compensation to banks' owners is not announced, but is expected; Govt has arrested several of country's leading industrialists and bankers--several are being hunted--on charges of having backed attempted coup; some include brothers Manuel and Jose Espirito Santo, dirs of 1 of Portugal's major banks, Jorge and Jose Manuel de Melo, dirs of country's major industrial and financial combine; others include Jose Carlos Champalimaud, son of Portuguese industrialist Antonio Champalimaud; Econ Min Emilio Rui Vilar and Finance Min Jose da Silva Lopes are thought to be in danger of losing their jobs because of possible changes being discussed by Govt; Govt extends control over pol process as civilian members of legislative Council of State resign; Pres Costa Gomes and Premier Vasco dos Santos Goncalves meet and are expected to make changes in Govt that will weight heavily toward left; Portuguese Dem Movement, which has allied with Communists, is expected to be brought into Govt, while Social Dem Center and Christian Dem parties are expected to be banned (L)

N Vietnamese Foreign Min Nguyen Duy Trinh indicates publicly for 1st time that N Vietnamese Govt has information on Amer soldiers missing in action in SE Asia, lrs to US Sen Edward M Kennedy; most US officials believe all of estimated 1,300 men missing in action are dead; lr states that N Vietnamese Govt will not release any of information it has until US forces S Vietnamese Pres Nguyen Van Thieu out of office and stops providing mil aid to S Vietnam; Dale DeHaan, head of Kennedy's staff in Sen Judiciary Subcom on Refugees, says that Nguyen Duy Trinh's lr, dated Jan 21, was not released until recently because official copies and translations had not been received; says that information in lr had been passed on to appropriate Adm officials and to Natl League of Families of Amer Prisoners and Missing in SE Asia officials (M)

Dem leaders in NYS Assembly propose alternative to Gov Hugh L Carey's request for rise in state gasoline tax and new sales taxes; back restructuring of state income tax, with rates for incomes of $27,000 or more to rise even higher than proposed by Carey; size of tax pkg Dems will seek is dependent on size of their budget proposals, which be be greater or smaller than Carey's budget; Dems appear persuaded that sizable tax increase is inevitable (M)

Conn Gen Assembly approves increase in state sales tax to 7% from 6%, effective Apr 1; Gov Ella T Grasso says she will sign bill; had wanted July 1 effective date; vote in Sen was 22 to 12; in HR, 85 to 57; some Dems in both houses defected despite decision of Dem majority in House to begin closing gap between revenues and expenditures with politically palatable sales tax; Reprs Irving Stolber, Gerald F Stevens and Sen Joseph I Lieberman comment; additional tax could raise as much as $18-million (M)