Tuesday, May 18, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven Tuesday, May 18, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven news brefs By The Associated Press I North Vietnamese score victory in Laotian action TESTIMONY WAS COMPLETED yesterday in the trial of # nine Russian Jews accused of plotting to hijack a Soviet airliner. The prosecution has asked for sentences ranging from one to ten years for the defendants. All nine face possible death sentences. The trial has highlighted the dispute over whether Russian Jews, some of whom have charged that the Soviet government has actively sought to suppress Jewish religious observance and expressions of ethnic identity, should be allowed to emigrate to Israel. PRESIDENT NIXON'S family-assistance plan's essential fea- tures were included in the Social Security- welfare reform bill ap- proved yesterday by the House Ways and Means Committee. The plan's major provision, a $2,400 income floor for a family of four, was approved along with a five per cent increase in Social Security benefits. The bill received prompt condemnation from a coalition of groups concerned with welfare problems who labeled it "worse than the present system". A FEDERAL AGENCY, predicting an electric power crisis in some areas this summer, yesterday announced a nationwide cam- paign to conserve electricity. A report issued by the President's Office of Emergency Pre- paredness indicated that brownouts and blackouts are likely to oc- cur in some areas as they have during other recent summers. 'At the present time,' the report said, 'the most feasible way to avoid an emergency power situation this summer is an extensive conservation program to be exercised by the government, industry and the public during the critical summer months.' The President's special assistant for consumer affairs is said to be heading the program for showing the public how to conserve electricity. The Secretary of Commerce would direct the effort aimed at industry. THE SUPREME COURT yesterday ruled that hit-and-run laws requiring drivers to give their names and addresses after an acci- dent are constitutional. The 5-4 decision rejected the view that such traffic laws are un- constitutional because they compel drivers involved in accidents to assist in their own prosecution. Chief Justice Warren Burger, delivering the opinion in the case of a California motorist, said 'the mere possibility of incrimination is out- weighed by "valid state needs" such as studying the causes of auto accidents. Justices Black and Brennan attacked Justice Burger's view in dissenting opinions. Black said the driver must hand the state an admission when he identifies himself after an accident. Brennan said it would be hard to imagine "a more substantial hazard of self-incrimination." Forest fires continue This fire which began Friday in northeastern Minnesota's Superior National Forest had consumed an estimated 10,000 acres by Sunday. Volunteers and forest service crews from nearby states, with the aid of local rain, are expected to have the flames under control by tonight. BALANCE OF PAYMENTS: U.S. national deficit reaches record higLh WASHINGTON {1P) - The deficit in the U.S. balance of pay- ments took a sharp and record breaking turn for the worse from January through March, the government said yesterday. A yardstick which measures transactions with foreign govern- ments and foreign central banks showed the first-quarter payments deficit climbed to a record $5.5 billion. Another measure of the balance of payments taking into ac- count all foreign transactions set the first quarter deficit at $3 billion, the second-highest on record. "Those results are bad," Treasury Secretary John Connally told a Senate Finance Subcommittee. "Clearly, that level of deficit is not sustainable." The sharp rise in the deficit mirrored the causes for the recent SAIGON (M - North Viet- namese forces have seized almost complete control of the strategic Bolovens P 1 a - teau in southern Laos for the first time in the w a r there, a dispatch from Laos said yesterday. Military sources in Vientiane, the capital, said Laotian troops were driven out Sunday from two government-held towns, in the center of the plateau. This left only one position in the plateau still in government hands. Three North Vietnamese battalions were reported ad- vancing against this position, at Ban Houei Kong also in the central part of the plateau. The North Vietnamese have long held much of Bolovens, in- cluding the important towns of Attopeu in the south and Sara- vane in thenorth.dThey were seized in April and May last year. In taking the two t o w n s, Pak Song and Ban Houei Sai, Hanoi's forces have in effect completed occupation of the plateau. The immediate result is to give the North Vietnamese con- trol of most of Highway 23 and possibly another supply route southward into Cambodia. Laotian troops used to raid the Ho Chi Minh trail from the eastern edge of the plateau, but they were driven off earlier this year. Bolovans Plateau dominates the Laos panhandle and control of it provides access to many of the roads in southern Laos and river tributaries. The eastern side of the pla- teau overlooks the Ho Chi Minh trail, Hanoi's major supply route to its forces in Cambodia and South Vietnam. New voters eligibe in'72 WASHINGTON OP) - M o r e than 25 million young people will be eligible to vote for presi- dent for the first time in the 1972 election, the Census Bur- eau said Sunday. The under-25 vote will make up 18 per cent of the total elec- torate, the bureau said. About 11 million of the new voters will be enfranchised for the first time because of a law passed last year which lowered the voting age to 18 for all fed- eral elections. The other 14 million includes those who will be reaching 21, but were unable to vote in 1968, and those who will be 24 but failed to reach the 21 year-old cutoff in the 1968 election. Youths rumble through streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant section NEW YORK (A) - An esti- injured, including Deputy Chief disorders were brought under mated 500 youths rumbled Inspector Jack Angrist, 49, hit control. through the streets in the Bed- in the back of the head with a Crowds took to the streets ford-Stuyvesant section of bottle, after a Bedford-Stuyvesant res- Brooklyn for several hours yes- Mayor John V. Lindsay visited ident was shot to death by a terday afternoon, some attack- the troubled area in early eve- policeman, ing motorists, terrorizing a pub- ning. While his presence in the lie school staff, stoning stores past has sometimes cooled slum According to the police ver- and stealing. tempers, this time the m a y o r sion, the dead man, Rudy Massive police reinforcements was booed by about 100 b y - Simms, slashed another man eventually checked the o u t - standers and his car pounded with a switchblade during a break, which was carried on by by fists. fight, then turned on Patrolman youths in bands 10 to 20 strong. Bedford-Stuyvesant was sat- Paul Bliss who came to the aid Total damage was described urated with some 300 to 400 po- of the knife victim. A s i n g 1 e as relatively minor. lice, including the riot trained shot from Bliss' revolver caught Several persons were reported tactical patrol force, before the Simms in the heart. international monetary crisis in which the dollar eroded in value in relation to other currencies in Europe. Two main reasons have been given for the dollar crisis, the continuing high U.S. balance- of-payments deficit and a rapid flow of dollars to Europe where interest rates are higher. "Both balances reflected a large increase in outflows of dollars through transactions for which data are not available," the Commerce Department said. "In part, those outflows were probably short term funds at- tracted by higher interest rates abroad than were obtainable in the United States," the depart- ment added. Short-term interest rates plummeted in the United States when the Nixon administration launched t h e economy on an eapansionary course TRANSCI MEDIT Jyst like your dream, timeless... Reflecting a heritage of love as young as the dawn. . .as old as time, in hand- crafted 18 Karat gold. Jacob On$ ANN ARBOR as 1 Ma M Transcendental nique which allc improve his life. INTR Angell Hall 8:00 P.M. ENDENTAL CATI aught by If harishi faheshl Yogi . meditation is a natural spontaneous tech- ws each individual to expand his mind and ODUCTORY LECTURE Aud. D Wednesday, May 19 ..........., .....................................