News stories from Saturday April 30, 1977

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

Richard Nixon became deeply involved in the Watergate cover-up soon after the June 17, 1972, burglary at Democratic national headquarters and for more than a year before he resigned the presidency he devoted most of his time trying to extricate himself from any association with the break-in. This was disclosed by White House tape transcripts never before made public and that had been used by the Watergate special prosecutors in the federal trial of Watergate principals. The transcripts show that Mr. Nixon was intimately familiar with each stage of the attempt to make the cover-up succeed. [New York Times] The blowout on an oil well in the North Sea was successfully capped this morning after four previous attempts had failed. The well had been out of control for eight days and had poured millions of gallons of oil into the sea between Norway and Britain. The capping was carried out by a crew of Americans and Norwegians, including an oil-disaster expert from Texas, Paul (Red) Adair. [New York Times] In his first public speech since taking office, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance made a comprehensive outline of the administration's controversial human rights policies. He said the United States must be realistic and avoid rigidly trying to impose its values on other countries, and that policy should be determined country by country without inflexibility. Mr. Vance spoke at Law Day ceremonies at the University of Georgia Law School in Athens. [New York Times] New York City's economy will grow slightly over the next few years, but not enough to sustain the current level of services the city is providing for its residents. This is the view of top city officials and it was based on the findings of an econometric model of New York that was used to predict tax revenues for the 1977-78 budget. The model enabled the city administration for the first time to be "scientific" in its revenue projects. [New York Times] Vast changes that affect investors and potential ones have taken place in the Wall Street securities business since May 1. 1975. That was the day -- called May Day by the industry -- when the historic pattern of fixed brokerage commission rates came to an end under a federal order that brought price competition to the securities industry. Among the consequences of that order are severe pressures on securities brokers and dealers that have forced many of them out of business or into mergers with larger firms. [New York Times] The problems of peace in Vietnam have proved almost as painful and intractable as the problems of war, according to reports reaching Hong Kong. Some progress has been made by the new Communist leaders in improving the lot of the 50 million Vietnamese, northern and southern. But life for many people in the southern region is worse than during the war. Large numbers of people -- perhaps 100,000, soldiers, policemen and civil servants who served under the South Vietnamese government -- still are confined in so-called re-education camps. [New York Times] The United States was urged to send military supplies and money to Vietnamese who want to overthrow Vietnam's Communist government by a member of the Vietnamese National Legislature who fled to Japan in a fishing boat. Nguyen Kong Hoan, the legislator, was accompanied by two men who with Mr. Hoan, had been members of the peace bloc opposition in the former Saigon National Assembly. They told of their profound disappointment following the Communist victory in an interview. [New York Times]