News stories from Sunday March 15, 1970

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

A munitions ship under charter to the Defense Department and bound for Thailand was diverted to Cambodian waters, the department announced. Officials disclosed a message that the ship had been taken over by "men with guns," who had tricked 24 of the ship's 39 crewmen into leaving in lifeboats by saying that there was a bomb aboard. The ship's captain was reportedly still aboard, possibly as a captive. [New York Times] Premier Aleksei Kosygin of the Soviet Union has called on President Nixon to stop American bombing missions in Laos as a first step to stemming the crisis in Southeast Asia. The request came in a letter to Mr. Nixon, which was made public by Tass, in reply to one sent by Mr. Nixon calling on the leaders of Britain and the Soviet Union to help restore peace in Laos. [New York Times] On the first day that Japan's first world exposition was opened to the public, attendance was only about half of what had been predicted -- largely, it was thought, because of chilly weather and newspaper and broadcast warnings of crowds and traffic jams. Those who did go to Expo '70 at Osaka showed particular interest in the space exploration exhibits at the American and Soviet pavilions. [New York Times] The Senate Commerce Committee is expected to vote this week to adjust the rules of political campaigning on television. The provisions of legislation drawn up by Senator John Pastore would suspend the "equal time" rules permanently for presidential and vice-presidential candidates and clamp a limit on spending. [New York Times] Twenty years and $15 billion worth of American effort to apply atomic energy to peaceful purposes is about to undergo one of its most crucial tests. The first general review of radiation safety standards is about to begin and, if history is a guide, the standards will tighten, although Atomic Energy Commission insiders insist there will not be any change. [New York Times] A month after he charged that the North was guilty of "monumental hypocricy" on the school segregation issue, Senator Abraham Ribicoff is satisfied with his stand and the responses to it. He is particularly glad that his statement provoked a national debate on the problem and that he was supported by "the balance wheels" in the Senate -- men like George Aiken, Richard Russell, Mike Mansfield and John Sherman Cooper. [New York Times] In what represented the strongest assault against Syria since the 1967 war, Israeli commando units penetrated 55 miles into the country to shell an army camp 20 miles beyond Damascus and sabotage a power line. Israel's military command said that the raid was in retaliation for Syrian violations of the 1967 cease-fire. [New York Times]