News stories from Sunday May 5, 1974

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

Gen. Alexander Haig, the White House chief of staff, suggested that "excesses and distortions" in investigating Watergate scandals might lead to "the cure being worse than the illness." He said on the "Issues and Answers" television program of the American Broadcasting Companies that he was not condoning "what alleged wrong-doing may have occurred" in the Watergate case, but said that the time had come "to bring this matter to a conclusion." [New York Times] Investigators for the Senate Watergate committee, inviting an immediate clash over President Nixon's newly revived claim of executive privilege, have again summoned Fred Buzhardt, the White House counsel, to testify in secret about a controversial $100,000 campaign contribution from Howard Hughes, sources said. [New York Times] The General Accounting Office has raised questions about the legality of a proposed accounting procedure that would allow the Defense Department to give South Vietnam $266 million more in military aid. [New York Times] Voters in France chose Francois Mitterrand, Socialist, and Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a conservative, as the two contenders for the presidency. Jacques Chaban-Delmas, the candidate of the Gaullist party, which has governed France for 16 years, ran a weak third among 12 candidates. Because neither Mr. Mitterrand nor Mr. Giscard d'Estaing received a majority of the vote, there will be a runoff election May 19. [New York Times] The Communist party has emerged from suppression to become the strongest and best-organized political force in the new Portugal being shaped after the military coup. The party, calling itself "the major Anti-fascist" movement, reaffirmed its bid for a share of power in the projected provisional government.The military junta, still seeking a balance between what it considers the proper exercise of freedom and its abuse, issued a warning against direct action by public employees trying to oust superiors with strong links to the old regime. A roaring crowd of several thousand whites jammed the plaza in front of the city hall in Lourenco Marques, the capital of Mozambique, and demanded that the junta in Lisbon keep Mozambique Portuguese. [New York Times] Secretary of State Kissinger flew to Amman, Jordan, from Tel Aviv after urging Israeli leaders to draw up a new cease-fire line that he could propose to Syria when he returns to Damascus on Tuesday in his continuing search for an agreement on the separation of Syrian and Israeli forces. [New York Times] Americans influential in national policy decisions have begun to debate the issue of relations with Cuba again after a lapse of more than five years. Although senior administration officials insist that no change is imminent in this country's boycott of Cuba, some of those officials say that resumption of the debate signifies an important policy change. [New York Times]