T Frida , D 1 • mb , , 2 , 1 9 7 J rr Landa . , , Th ' " rid' · ir t uper onic air/in ervice began today - in th o t i I V ll i o n - Lt'/1 e r a Tu p o I e l -o n e - for t y - f our jet/in r ha b g 11n t ice-we kly li ht b ti, e n Moscow and lma Ata apital of lh Kazakh Republic in So · iet Central A ia. Th plane co ered the nineteen-hundred-mile in about tu o hou1' - less than half the time normally taken b . con enlional j t . Fo,• the time being, howe er, officials say th Tupole1 will carr NO pas enger - only cargo and mail - hecau e of ome "unresol ed questions" about the aircraft - namel - it's reliability - and its noise. - BOARD nator Pro x mir o f Wi co,i in - lh Chairman of lh nate Rankin. ommittee ha criti ized tho e F d ral ag n i u ho e job il i lo reg1tlate banks. Hi targ t u er th Federal Re er e Board - the Comptroller o f C II r r n. ) - a ti d th F de r al De /J o it Ins u ran c e C or p or a ti on - all of whom - Proxmire sa Pend far too much for trat l, office t,ac and furnishing. Proxmire has already introduc d legi lation that would consolidate all three agencie into a Federal Bank Commission - a move, he says, that u ould a e at lea t Te11-MILLION dollar a year. FORD-DR Pr · id nl Ford - lil le Pr id nl Ni ' On b for him - ha announ d h ' /akin iron a tio11 - lo tem the / I o n of ill , g al d rtt - n ro s A 1n rican border . Mr. Ford indi at d he' /)aYticularl cone r n d - about the "Mexican cont1ect ion." Me ico not the major ource of heroin i,i tlzi countr . Mr . Ford aid he' /)er o,ially talked to Pre id en t L u is E ch e err i a ab out t h e {P r o b le m . A 11 d he 's done ,-r- the ame - L ith t/i leaders of other nations from which narcotics flow in abundance - Colombia, and Turkey. And tile President again called on Congres - to enact his . . proposal for mandatory - minimum entence - for drug traffickers. YR 11 . , r i a n ° . f ; ' a l h a e l a k II p a in · - I o d a - t o h a l k up lho E _ Pfian r Po1 ' l o f a era kdn, n 011 the Syrian 01111111111i I Part) - a a ca e of m11 h ado about nothin Not t ru a th rian - that Pre id nt A sad ordered 1hr -hundr d Commu11i ts arre led. Nor is it true - the a_v - that 1 ria11 ommuni t leader Khaled Bekdash - fled into xil . They O) Bekdash is on a routine tour of Eastern Fur ope. One can onl speculate on , h Egyptian 11ew paper car,-ied the re(>orts. But it could ha e something lo do t ith th running feud between President Sadat and Pr ident A sad - a feud that began with the signing of the Si,iai accords - between Eygpt an . d Israel. KIDNAP The U • • Emba i'n Addis Ababa is asking the Ethiopian government to help gain the release of an Ameri an comm11,iication expert - the latest kidnap victim i11 the rebellious Province of Eritrea. Ronald Mischalke of Mnbel, Minnesota, is the fifth American citizen taken captive in Eritrea in the past five months - b rebels who demand a cutoff of American military supplies to the Ethiopian military regime. The rebels want to secede - and establisla an autonomous government - in Eritrea. LEBANON In Lebanon bitter fighting between Christians and Moslems flared again today - with mortars and sniper fire in tlzree Leban es cities. In Reirut alone, fJr,lice said at least forty were killed - another hu,idred wounded. The bullets i ere NO respecters of persons - one victim: A housewife standin.g in line to buy bread for her family. As · J'ival gangs of gunmen roamed the streets, the National Radio warned citizens to stay in their homes and offices. The overall toll in eight months of fighti"g is now six-thousa,,d- Jive-hundred dead - some thirteen-thousand wounded. The l ea de r of C h in a is e i g h t y - t w o today . Mao Ts e -Tung - who has ruled his nation for over a quarter of a centu1 · - and the Chinese Communist Party for years before that. And foreign observers in the Chi,aese Capital - Peking - say Mao remai,as firmly in command - despite report of a mild stroke - and problems of concentration. The official Chinese ,aews agency - did ,aot report o,a Mao's birthday. There apparently bei,ag no s(.'ecial celebratio,as planned -to mark t lte eveJtt. CHINA Tlze Chinese Communist Part 's official newspaper - "People's Daily - has 11Jarned that "dark clouds of a new , orld war are hanging more heavily" because of the rivalry between Moscow and Washington. The article also indicated that President Fort!. has failed to convince Chinese leaders that tire U. s. has NO desire for world domination or is seeking world t,eace. PLANT Who is man's best friend .. . his dog? ... his cat? •.• Or i it Perhaps that leaf y Plant growing inside his house ... a pet which, after all, doesn't ba, • k .. or damage the furniture. A P r ofHsion of plants, both exotic and ordinary, are taking o er offices, stores, living rooms and kttche,ss. National Geographic Magazine reports tlaat in the year Nineteen-Seventy -Four, A meri tans bouglat more tl1an a hundred-MILLION dollars toortli of ltouseplants, sixty-four percent more than tire pre ious year. And Nineteen-Seventy- Fi v e is expected to be an even bigger year for tlae plant boutiques. For Loroell Tlao,n•s - so long until Mo,cday. I'm Jerry Lan"4y - CBS-News.