December 27, 1979

Draft report of Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel on 3 Mile Island accident recommends that serious consideration be given to dosing of any reactor whose operator is unable to develop plans to evacuate everybody living with 30-mile radius of reactor and that construction of new reactors be halted until far-reaching changes have been made in Federal regulation of nuclear power; recommends that present 5-member commission be abolished and replaced by agency within executive branch that would be headed by single administrator; is particularly critical of how commission goes about granting approval for construction and operation of new reactors; Mitchell Rogovin, who headed study, says there have been very substantial changes and revisions in panel's conclusions and recommendations since draft was written; draft was written by George T Framton; map showing proximity of Indian Point nuclear reactors to population centers in Westchester County and NYC; Rogovin por (M)

profile of Becton focuses on co's expansion plans; portrait; illus; chart depicts company's profits, '70 to '79; financial table for 3 months ended Sept 30 er '78 and '79 (L)

Top military officers of Patriotic Front, after 7 years of being among Rhodesia's most wanted men, return to Rhodesia from Zambia and Mozambique; are greeted by tens of thousands of blacks; front spokesman predicts even larger crowds when Mugabe and Nkomo return from their years directing insurgent effort abroad; guerrilla delegations are headed by Lookout Masuku, commander of Nkomo's Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, and Rex Nhongo, 2d in command of Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army; illus (L)

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have been living in commercial lofts without protection against eviction or arbitrary rent increase will now be covered by city's rent stabilization laws as result of ruling by NYS Appellate Division; while decision provides new protection for tenants in their relationship with landlords, it does not deal directly with question of whether city may evict tenant in illegally occupied loft; case was brought by loft tenants Leonard Pitkowsky and Ulrich Niemeyer against landlord Joseph Mandel (M)

deployment of Soviet troops to Afghanistan is first time Soviet Union has made such a move of ground troops outside Soviet bloc or Cuba since World War II (S)

American clergymen who met with hostages on Christmas morning give their reaction to situation (S)

Deborah Rankin article on need for homeowners and apartment dwellers to keep up to date in their theft insurance policies (M)

Article on devices that can be used to control flow of steam in radiators to insure efficient maintenance of optimum room temperature (M)

Christmas retail sales are substantially short of 13% nationwide increase of '78 season; real gains are expected to average only 2% to 3%; Manhattan stores have increase of between 7% and 10% for season; sales gains in metropolitan area are in range of 3% to 6% (M)

Kerkorian discloses complex plan to purchase million shares of Columbia stock; purchase will not take place for at least 2 years, and then only under conditions that Kerkorian does not specify; plan, if adopted, would give Kerkorian 37% of Columbia, but not enough for working control of company; James D Aljian, president of Tracinda Investment Corp, of which Kerkorian is sole owner, comments; proposal, made without prior consultation with Columbia, is understood to have prompted Columbia to instruct its lawyers to review year-old contract it signed with Kerkorian barring him from holding more than his current interest in company until Jan 1, 1982; Kerkorian por (M)

BL Ltd signs agreement with Honda Motor Co to build new car to be developed by Japanese company; BL chairman Sir Michael Edwardes says collaboration on new car is first stage in closer links between 2 companies; under pact, Honda will give BL exclusive rights to market car in European Economic Community; agreement calls for annual production target of 85,000 cars by BL, while Honda will build model in Japan for sale in domestic and overseas markets excluding Common Market (S)

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