March 10, 1979

For last 5 mos, investigations by reporters have been effectively blocked by Govt, which apptd special judicial comm to hear secret testimony on S Africa's influence‐buying operations in foreign countries and warned newspapers against printing anything that dealt with matters before panel; editor and deputy editor of Rand Daily Mail were convicted of contempt of comm and fined, and other journalists have been called in for questioning by police; Sunday Express pol correspondent John Matisonn is sentenced to 14 wks imprisonment for refusing to reveal source of story about scandal; appeals decision and expects to remain free until appeal is heard (S)

Fed Judge Robert W Warren issues temporary restraining order prohibiting The Progressive magazine from publishing article that, Govt contends, describes ‘how a hydrogen bomb works’ rules that although magazine argued 1st Amendment forbids ‘prior restraint’ of publication such guarantee is ‘not absolute and unlimited’ says he found enough evidence that article could cause ‘irreparable harm’ to temporarily restrain publication; order sets stage for 1st ct battle over Govt authority to prohibit publication of material in newspapers or magazines since it lost Pentagon papers case in '71; Warren schedules hearing for Mar 16 on Govt's request for permanent injunction to prohibit defendants, Progressive, editor Erwin Knoll, managing editor Samuel H Day Jr, and article's author Howard Morland from ever publishing it; Warren, in brief statement before his ruling, says contrary to NY Times case, ‘you have specific expression of public policy’ Thomas S Martin, Deputy Asst Atty Gen who presented Govt's case, says that when editors of Progressive were asked to make some deletions so they would not violate law, they refused; Govt has not charged that Morland obtained any of information he used in article illegally; Knoll illus (M)

BLS repts Feb jobless rate remained essentially stable at 5.7%, lowest rate in over 4 yrs; Cong Joint Econ Com Chmn Sen Lloyd Bentsen lauds continued rapid employment growth, which gained by 345,000 jobs in Feb and 3.5 million over last 12 mos; BLS Acting Comr Janet Norwood, US C of C Chief economist Jack W Carlson and Brookings Inst economist George Perry comment; graphs (M)

Pres Carter approves $390‐million aid plan for Yemen; invokes emergency legis to bypass Cong (M)

Pres Carter and Sadat continue intensive discussions on several unresolved aspects of proposed treaty; crucial disputed point remains way in which treaty will be linked to establishment of self‐governing Palestinian authority on West Bank and Gaza Strip; under latest US compromise, Israel would commit itself only to completion of negotiations toward such authority by certain target date; other disputed points include timing of exchange of ambs and Israeli access to oil in Sinai Peninsula; hundreds of thousands of Egyptians greet Carter and Sadat in Alexandria; illus (M)