February 4, 1978

NYC Investigation Comr Stanley N Lupkin asserts that city officials should be disciplined if they fail to rept bribe offers or misconduct by fellow employees and that supervisors must be held 'accountable' for overlooking poor performance or misconduct by those they oversee; calls for stricter policies as part of broad plan he is preparing to fight corruption in city agencies and to get 'fair day s work' from munic employees (S)

Franc comes under heavy selling for 2d consecutive session as possibility of leftist victory in Mar elections increases (M)

D Carmody article discusses changing newspaper business; repts that out of 1,762 daily newspapers only about 400 are under single ownership, and these are being sought by 25 major newspaper chains; repts afternoon newspapers in large cities are closing because of middle-class flight to suburbs, competition from TV and distribution problems in congested streets; cites Buffalo Evening News, which is doing well, as exception; repts afternoon dailies in small cities doing well; notes recent purchase by Gannett Co of Wilmington News-Journal, Time Inc acquisition of Washington Star, and threatened closing of Chicago Daily News; repts total US circulation of dailies dropped from 62,108,000 to 60,677,011 in '76, but number of dailies dropped only from 1,768 to 1,762, most of them evening papers; lists 10 top newspaper chains, number of newspapers owned and circulation totals (M)

Klein, Marci: Marci Klein, 11-yr-old daughter of fashion designer Calvin Klein, is kidnapped on Manhattan's Upper E Side and released unharmed more than 9 hrs later after her father pays $100,000 ransom; illus (M)

Fob 4: Pres Sadat tells Pres Carter that Middle East it now at 'a historic and crucial crossroads' and urges US to become 'the arbiter in Israeli-Arab dispute, remarks on S Lawn of White House before flying with Carter to Camp David for talks; Carter lauds Sadat, pledges US will spare no efforts in quest for peace, but seeks to maintain neutrality; Sadat, using Carter's human rights policies, cites Egypt's willingness to sacrifice lives to defend lands against encroachment and stresses belief in inherent right of self-determination for all peoples; Carter and Sadat illus (L)

Time Inc announces it will buy paper from Joe L Allbritton for $20-million; acquisition will place Time in direct competition with Washington Post Co; Time has assumed all Star's indebtedness, including $8-million mortgage on plant built near Washington in 59; Allbritton will remain as publisher for at least 5 yrs; illus (M)

State Sec Vance orders expulsion of Dinh Ba Thi, Vietnam's chief delegate to UN, but Dinh refuses to leave; denies being involved in espionage; Amer officials say they could have his visa revoked if he does not leave country voluntarily (M)

NEWARK, Feb. 3—Reduced sentences of six months in prison were imposed by a Federal District Court judge today on four persons convicted in 1975 of having offered a $500,000 bribe to the then Mayor of Fort Lee, Burt L. Ross.

BLS Comr Julius Shiskin repts Jan jobless rate was 6.3%, slight drop from 6.4% in Dec, confirming belief that dramatic drop announced at end of '77 was no mirage, testimony, Joint Econ Com; says new figures show econ is improving; rate is lowest since Oct '74, when it was 5.9%; White House press sec Jody Powell echos Shiskin's interpretation; says Pres Carter welcomes improvement; rate among black and white workers remains unchanged for mo at 12.7% and 5.5% respectively; drop in jobless rate for women noted; AFL-CIO chief spokesman Albert Zack says that while results are hopeful, persistence of high unemployment among blacks requires Fed Govt to direct employment programs more precisely to impoverished inner-city areas; graphs (M)

Article examines financial problems besetting Tokyo, which is on brink of bankruptcy and financial takeover by central Gov (M)

Article on China's emphasis on modernizing its 3.5-million mil force notes that mil comdrs appear to be debating best way to proceed (M)

Group of 39 lawyers, politicians, writers, journalists and artists appeals to Brezhnev to release dissident Aleksandr Ginzburg and to free all pol prisoners, news conf, NYC; spokesman announces formation of 2 groups; 1 that would specifically press for release of Ginzburg, known as Aleksandr Ginzburg Defense Com, and other, internatl com of lawyers that will try to help all pol prisoners in USSR; speakers at news conf include Natalya Solzhenitsyn, ex-US Atty Gen Ramsey Clark, dissident-emigre Dr Valentin Turchin and atty Edward Bennett Williams; members of Ginzburg com include Mayor Koch, Edward Albee, Sens Jackson and Moynihan, Harold Prince, Kurt Vonnegut, Mrs Solzhenitsyn and Clark (S)