News stories from Sunday July 10, 1977

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

South Korean favors to senior House members were more numerous than had been reported, congressional sources say. A preliminary reading of answers to a questionnaire sent to 700 members of the House by the House ethics committee has disclosed more details about the favors received, including cases of what committee sources said were confessions of criminal misconduct. [New York Times] President Carter has decided not to offer to sell some of the new Alaska pipeline oil to Japan in exchange for oil more readily available to the East Coast and the Middle West. James Schlesinger said in a television interview that the proposed exchange of oil with the Japanese to save transportation costs had been rejected, "partly for political grounds, partly for other technical reasons." The rejection, he said, "will have the advantage of increasing pressure" on oil companies to building pipelines in the interior part of the country. [New York Times] Bodies of young men have been discovered almost daily in the Los Angeles area since David Bill and Patrick Kearney, who are suspected of murder, began cooperating with the authorities early this month. Both men have acknowledged a homosexual relationship and some of their alleged victims were believed to be homosexual. At least 12 bodies have been recovered and investigators say that the two men may be linked to as many as 40 murders. [New York Times] Atlantic City real estate people say that unrealistically high asking prices for property may be holding back the boom that has been expected to follow official approval of gambling casinos in the resort. Since last November, when the casino referendum was held, the value of Atlantic City's real estate has increased by $100 million or more, local brokers say. [New York Times] Corporate dividends are being declared, resumed and increased at a record rate as companies seek to draw investors away from the bond market and into new equity issues after years of a virtually unremittent bear market. The companies are in a position to offer more now that profits are up after the long and deep recession. [New York Times] Eritrea's 16-year-old fight for independence from Ethiopia has reached a decisive stage, with rebel forces braced to meet a major Ethiopian offensive. The rebels have grown far beyond the roving bands of guerrilla fighters who harassed Ethiopian soldiers a decade ago. They have formed a full-fledged, highly trained army of 700 strong battalions. [New York Times] Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed the country since 1955, appeared on the verge of losing its majority in the upper house of Parliament. Incomplete election returns for the 126 seats at stake in the 252-seat chamber indicated that the Liberal Democrats might lose its majority by two or three seats. [New York Times] Two men hijacked a Soviet plane carrying 72 people on a domestic flight and forced it to land at Helsinki. The hijackers, armed with guns and grenades, asked to continue to Sweden in the same plane, but were prepared to change planes, the Finnish police said. They released the plane's seven crew members, the police said, but were still holding the passengers, including seven children. [New York Times] Washington is pursuing an "old, bankrupt policy of imperialism," the Soviet press charged, with a warning that every new American arms development would be matched in kind. Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, and Tass, the official press agency, condemned American weapons development in especially strong terms and both said that President Carter's decision to produce the cruise missile was a major blow to detente. [New York Times] No-frills air fare plans are providing tough competition for Laker Airways, the British concern that proposed a $135 bargain fare to London. Pan American World Airways says it will match that fare while providing without charge the food that Laker would sell to its passengers. It would also offer the security of advance reservations, which the Laker proposal does not. [New York Times] Iran is taking steps to deal with a serious power shortage before it hurts the country's development programs. Serious delays in starting operations at the Reza Shah Kabir Dam are responsible for the shortage, according to the Deputy Minister of Energy, Jahanger Mahdmeina. The Iranian press and government officials tend to put the blame for the delay on foreign contractors -- Harza International of Chicago and Alsthom of France. Harza has been blacklisted, and it was reported that Alsthom will be, too. [New York Times]