News stories from Saturday October 14, 1972

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

In what may have been the worst civil air disaster, a Soviet airliner crashed while preparing to land in the rain at Moscow, killing all aboard. Soviet officials refused to confirm the exact number of casualties, but Western airline officials said they were told by authorities at the airport that the death toll was 170, possibly 172. An airport official did confirm that the maximum capacity of the Aeroflot Ilyushin was 172, including a crew of 10. The casualties included a group of Chilean tourists. [New York Times] The suburbs of America's major cities, which already have more population than the cities that produced them, have equaled -- and perhaps surpassed -- the central cities in providing jobs. A New York Times analysis of new data from the 1970 Census indicates that half of all employment in the 15 largest metropolitan areas is now outside city limits. Of all the workers who live in the suburbs, only a fourth remain traditional commuters, traveling from suburban home to city job. [New York Times] Caught in a power struggle with President Nixon over a $24.6 billion water pollution bill, the 92nd Congress put off adjournment until later this week. House-Senate conferees agreed on scrapping the President's controversial welfare reform plan, but retained an assortment of improved Social Security benefits. They also agreed to kill a bill extending the federal highway program for two years after failing to reach agreement on whether to allow the funds to be used for mass transit. A compromise was also reached on a spending ceiling. [New York Times] Secretary of State Rogers says the United States plans to use its veto power in the United Nations far more readily than it has in the past. The new position reflects a recent decision by the United States to pursue a more independent yet "responsible" course in United Nations affairs, according to Mr. Rogers. [New York Times] The United States and the Soviet Union signed a maritime agreement today. The pact, described by the administration as "an indispensible first step" toward a contemplated vast increase in commercial relations between the two countries, calls for the Soviet Union to pay American ship owners premium rates for transporting Soviet grain purchases. Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson confirmed that the administration had reneged on an earlier draft of the agreement two weeks ago when it was discovered that the Soviet Union could have used the pact to pay American shipowners less than prevailing rates. Today's agreement also provides for the loading and unloading of Soviet merchant vessels at East Coast and Gulf ports for the first time since 1963. [New York Times] An agricultural gamble undertaken 15 years ago by Nikita Khrushchev may have paid off for the Soviet Union once again. Harvest reports from two widely separated Asian grain-growing regions indicated a record crop, compensating in part for the near-disaster that befell the winter grain crop in the European part of the country. The Asian areas reporting record harvests were plowed up in the mid-1950's under the late Soviet leader, whose gamble was opposed by associates citing unreliable rainfall for the regions. [New York Times]