Rumblings

Report from Madrid: Franco is planning a full-scale cabinet shakeup, the first in six years. There seem to be three reasons: 1) Franco wants to establish better relations with the democratic world; 2) the Spanish people are increasingly restless under the Franco regime (TIME, March 19); 3) Spanish businessmen have long smarted under the rule of Minister of Industry and Commerce Juan Antonio Suances, who enforces a torpid, controlled economy in Spain. Rumored to go in the shakeup: Minister Suances.

Franco is also reported about to liberalize Spain's restrictive press laws. Steady pressure for this reform is being exerted by the Roman Catholic Church in Spain and its lay organization, Catholic Action.

In Washington, Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations, announced that he would stop off at Madrid on his forthcoming tour of Western Europe. The British and French Foreign Offices nervously--and publicly--advised the U.S. against entering any military arrangement with Franco Spain.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.