News stories from Sunday February 1, 1970

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

President Nixon intends to create a cabinet-level committee to guide Southern school districts as they integrate their schools, Vice President Agnew said. The committee and an appointed group of Southern educators will work through discussion and dialogue to achieve the spirit and the letter of the court decisions in a way that might least impair the continuance of quality education in those districts, Mr. Agnew said. [New York Times] Desegregation of classes in at least 43 Southern districts has been ordered for tomorrow. In addition, a number of other districts are under orders to desegregate their teaching staffs as the first step toward abolishing dual systems by September. [New York Times] Four shopcraft unions and the nation's railroads agreed to resume bargaining on the one unresolved issue between them -- a proposed change in work rules. The decision to resume the talks followed federal injunctions forbidding any rail shutdown or strike for 10 days. [New York Times] The 10th anniversary of the sit-in at a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, N.C., that began the sit-in movement in the South was remembered by a few participants in the city, which now takes a Negro councilman, a Negro legislator and a Negro middle-class for granted. [New York Times] Israeli and Syrian troops fought for the third successive day in the Golan Heights in the heaviest Israeli-Syrian battle since the 1967 war. Both sides used tanks and artillery in the fighting. The Israelis said they hit three Syrian tanks and the Syrians claimed five Israeli tanks and one plane. [New York Times] More than 70 rocket, mortar and ground attacks by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops inflicted the heaviest casualties on American troops in South Vietnam in a month, the American command said. Nineteen Americans were reported killed and 119 wounded in the attacks. [New York Times] In his first direct response to a request by a Dutch Catholic council that celibacy for priests be made optional, Pope Paul VI said that the principle of celibacy was so fundamental that it cannot be questioned, let alone be dropped. The Pope said abandoning the principle would violate Christ's injunction to his disciples to leave all else to follow him. [New York Times] "Vietnamization", the Nixon' administration's policy of turning over American duties to the Vietnamese, relies on dubious assumptions about the abilities of the Saigon government to withstand a military attack, a report prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said. Even if the policy succeeds, the report added, a large American involvement would still be required in South Vietnam. [New York Times] Jose Figures Ferrer, leader of the opposition National Liberation Party, took a commanding lead in early returns in the race for president of Costa Rica. The election of a president and legislature was peaceful and the country's mood was festive. [New York Times]