News stories from Saturday May 31, 1975

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

President Ford arrived in Madrid for talks that were intended to ease the way toward a new agreement that will keep United States air and naval bases in Spain. Mr. Ford, who said his visit was undertaken in "the recognition of Spain's significance as a friend and partner" received an elaborate and outwardly friendly greeting from Generalissimo Francisco Franco and tens of thousands of Spaniards. Mr. Ford had arrived from Brussels, where at a meeting of heads of government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, he had tried to push for closer relations between Spain and the alliance, but there was no reaction from most members. [New York Times] Defendants in the numerous suits that followed the crash of the DC-10 jet aircraft near Paris in March, 1974, in which 346 people were killed, have agreed on a formula under which they would split damage awards that are expected to approach $100 million. The offer to negotiate individual settlements, or have juries decide the amounts of compensation in each case, was made in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. But it appeared to be hedged with a precondition that the plaintiffs withdraw all claims to so-called "punitive" damages, as opposed to amounts compensating survivors for their losses. Lawyers representing scores of survivors rejected the condition, and the court put off further action until mid-June. [New York Times] The number of people on welfare in New York City as of May 1 passed the one million mark, one of the highest figures in the city's history, according to James Dumpson, Human Resources Administrator and Social Services Commissioner. He said that public assistance enrollment would reach an all-time high by July and that federal or state government officials who failed to take action in the current economic crisis would be guilty of "dangerous political gamesmanship" that could lead to civil disorder. [New York Times] The rigid chronological barrier that has long existed between high schools and colleges is being increasingly breached by tens of thousands of restless American teenagers who are performing college-level work before they get their high school diplomas by eliminating the high school senior year or combining it with the freshman year of college. They are getting their Bachelor's degrees at earlier ages. Beth Silverman, for example, who would have graduated this month from high school in Dayton, Ohio, is instead competing her second year at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass, and preparing to transfer to Cornell. [New York Times] American officials believe that the likelihood of a resumption of the "step-by-step" approach toward a peace settlement in the Middle East is increasing. Reporters aboard Air Force One carrying President Ford from Brussels to Madrid were told that his meeting with President Anwar Sadat in Salzburg, beginning today, would be a "very important, crucial meeting." Unless there is some progress toward a peace settlement "it is mathematically certain" that a war will break out in six months to two years, the reporters were told. But American officials believe that Mr. Sadat "wants some progress." [New York Times] The Greek and Turkish premiers agreed that their conflict "must be solved peacefully," and also agreed on guidelines for future negotiations. Both sides said it was a "good start on the dialogue" and "very encouraging." A diplomat said with relief "it may be the major breakthrough we were hoping for." The meeting in Brussels between Premier Constantine Caramanlis of Greece and Premier Suleyman Demirel of Turkey culminated an intricate series of separate meetings with President Ford and a number of European chiefs of state during the meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. [New York Times] Well-placed United States officials have disclosed that Iran has signed a multi-million-dollar contract with a United States defense contractor to set up a communications intelligence facility in Iran that would be capable of intercepting military and civilian communications throughout the Persian Gulf area. The contract, which at the request of the Shah of Iran has not yet been publicly announced, also calls for the defense company, Rockwell International of Anaheim, Calif., to recruit former employees of the United States National Security Agency for the project. The agency's employees generally have or have had access to the United States government's most closely guarded intelligence techniques. [New York Times]