Arab leaders meeting in Algiers have reportedly agreed to cut back on their oil embargo. The action wouldn’t help the United States directly, but might help indirectly. The oil embargo was discussed by the President with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and a group of high-level congressmen. Senator Hugh Scott declared that the U.S. commitment to Israel is unchanged. Senator William Fulbright stated that the economies of Western nations will be in deep trouble until a Middle East peace settlement is found.
Arab solidarity was shattered as leaders overruled Jordan and voted to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legal representative of the Palestinian people. Jordan’s King Hussein threatened not to attend the Mideast peace talks next month as a result.
Arab terrorists searched for a country willing to grant them asylum after they hijacked a Dutch jumbo jet; they finally released the Dutch passengers and returned to Dubai at last report. Airport sources here said the three gunmen had been offered safe conduct out of Dubai if they handed over the plane, which belongs to the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and freed those still aboard—its crew of 10 and an airline executive. Negotiations were being held early today between the hijackers in the plane and officials in the control tower, where the chief negotiator was said to be Crown Prince Sheik Makim bin Rashid Alyakium, Premier of the Union of Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part. The three hijackers said they were Palestinian nationalists, but Palestine commando organizations have disowned them.
The 247 passengers freed by the hijackers of the KLM jetliner returned to Amsterdam by air tonight from Malta. Among them were 170 Japanese tourists, who were bound for Tokyo when the jetliner was seized. At a news conference at the airport here this evening, Annette Van Ruyk, a stewardess who was on the flight, said she was “almost certain” the hijackers had boarded the jetliner during a stop in Beirut. She said they carried two pistols, two grenades, as well as explosives, which they planted on the plane during the flight.
Japan and the Philippines have been exempted from the next scheduled reduction of 5 percent in exports of Arab petroleum, the Secretary of the Arab League, Mahmoud Riad, announced after a session of the Arab heads of state conference in Algeria.
Cambodian government forces trying to reopen Phnom Penh’s land link to Kompong Som, its deepwater port, came under a rebel mortar barrage 25 miles from the capital, field reports said. Five civilians and two soldiers were reported wounded.
In South Vietnam, Communist gunners stepped up shelling of defense lines around Huế. The district capital of Khiêm Hanh, 40 miles northwest of Saigon, was also fired on. Viet Cong peace negotiators boycotted a meeting with South Vietnamese officers to protest government bombing raids on Communist-held territory 70 miles north of Saigon last week.
A Roman Catholic priest from Binghamton, New York, pleaded not guilty to Philippine charges that he had been highly critical of the country’s martial law government and had aided subversive elements. The Rev. Edward Gerlock, 37, was arraigned before an immigration commissioner in Manila on a government plea that the priest be deported as an undesirable alien. The next hearing was set for December 12.
Chancellor Willy Brandt and President Pompidou today concluded their third meeting of the year by agreeing that the countries of Western Europe should get together to discuss defense problems. The long‐standing West German position had previously been that the defense of Western Europe was an Atlantic problem and could hardly be considered without the United States. The Chancellor’s spokesman, Dr. Armin Griinewald, said Mr. Brandt had agreed to the French idea that Europeans must talk over their long‐range defense problems together, although there was no agreement on the format. The Chancellor wanted such talks held “in the framework” of the European Economic Community, the spokesman added.
The former Protestant Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, today announced the names of the live members of the Unionist party who will join him in the new coalition government of Northern Ireland. Three of the men appointed held Cabinet posts in the former provincial government at Stormont Castle, while the two others entered politics in Assembly elections this summer. The three former ministers are Herbert Kirk, Roy Bradford and Basis Mclvor. They will be responsible for finance, environmental affairs and education, respectively. The two newcomers, Leslie Morrell and John Baxter, have been given the Agriculture and Information Departments. Mr. Faulkner will head the executive body. The five other places in the Government have already been filled by four people from the predominantly Catholic Social Democratic and Labor party and one from the moderate Alliance party.
London’s 2,000 ambulance drivers staged their first strike and executives of ambulance firms struggled to answer emergency calls. Only half the ambulances normally in use were on the roads. In one incident, a policeman injured in a car accident lay unconscious in the road for 30 minutes before an ambulance arrived. The drivers are demanding a raise of $24 on their basic weekly wage of $57.60.
Pope Paul VI will drive to the statue of the Virgin Mary near Rome’s Spanish Steps to celebrate the religious holiday of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 despite a government ban on Sunday and holiday driving. Vatican sources said the Pope was exempt from the ban both as head of a foreign state and as a prelate performing a religious ceremony.
Thieves in Milan stole a tank truck carrying about 7,000 gallons of gasoline, police said. Gasoline in Italy sells for about $1.28 a gallon, making the haul worth nearly $9,000. Police said the truck disappeared while it was parked in front of a refinery.
Leonid I. Brezhnev and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed their resolve today to solidify the links between the Soviet Union and India. “We will be together on our onward march,” said Mr. Brezhnev, the Soviet party leader, to a crowd of thousands at the Red Fort, the red sandstone symbol of Mogul power in the old section of the city. “Only those who do not wish well for India, who do not want India to be self‐reliant and independent are riot happy with our friendship.” Speaking in a rising voice, Mr. Brezhnev said in Russian: “Indian‐Soviet friendship is one of the basic principles of our policy. The Soviet Union stood by you on several occasions in the past. In the future, too, in happiness and in sorrow, the Soviet Union will stand by India.
The resettlement of more than 300,000 displaced persons in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India is becoming a gigantic housing, feeding and medical problem. It is expected to cost the United Nations $60 million for Bangladesh alone, two high Bangladesh officials told the United States. An accord reached three months ago has resulted in the transfer of 85,000 persons so far, including 26,613 Pakistani prisoners of war returned by India. The United States made available $2 million, more than one-third of the $5.6 million pledged by U.N. members after the initial U.N. appeal.
Aruna Shanbaug, a 25-year-old nurse in India, went into a coma that would last more than 41 years until her death in 2015. Shanbaug was sexually assaulted and strangled while working at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Bombay, but survived and remained in a vegetative state until dying, at the age of 66, on May 18, 2015.
Bolivian president Hugo Banzer appointed five new ministers after his previous cabinet resigned Monday because Banzer said he had made an “irrevocable” decision not to run in general elections promised for next year. The ministers said they resigned to leave him a free hand in forming his administration for the remainder of his term. He has announced that he will call general elections to restore constitutional rule for the first time since he took power in a brief civil war two years ago.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on refugees, urged the Nixon Administration to increase emergency food aid to drought-stricken areas of Ethiopia. Kennedy said U.S. officials had been viewing the outlook with greater optimism than that found in a U.N. report, which indicates 1.2 million persons need food aid and “raises serious questions as to the adequacy of America’s response.”
The Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act was signed into law by U.S. President Nixon, 25 days after it had been introduced as a bill. The government issued regulations for rationing home heating oil, but no enforcement mechanism for those regulations was provided. Thermostats must be turned down to conserve oil supplies. The House passed legislation to put the U.S. on year-round daylight savings time but the Senate still must approve the bill. Safety experts warned consumers against carrying cans filled with gasoline in cars. The Pentagon denied that the eternal flame on John F. Kennedy’s grave will be extinguished to save energy.
Government sources reported that the Nixon administration hopes to cut total gasoline consumption in the United States by 30% over the next few months. To achieve that goal, rationing is being considered as well as increased gasoline taxes. White House energy director John Love believes that petroleum companies should be permitted higher profits during their search for new energy sources.
The trucking industry is facing serious problems due to the fuel shortage. Trucks whose monthly fuel allotments have been used up are forced to remain at service stations; truckers must wait for the next diesel fuel shipment. At the end of a month, most major truck stops are occupied by trucks waiting to be refueled.
The United States Senate voted, 92–3, to confirm Gerald Ford as the 40th Vice President of the United States. The three Democrat senators voting against Ford, the House Republican leader, were Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri, William D. Hathaway of Maine, and Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. The House will vote next week on Ford’s confirmation.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted, 311 to 88, to place the U.S. on daylight saving time year-round in order to reduce electricity and heating demands by three percent. With a law that would stop the setting back of clocks by one hour for six months of the year, the measure would, if passed into law, would take effect no earlier than October, 1974.
The first White House tape was played publicly in Judge John Sirica’s courtroom today. President Nixon’s personal secretary Rose Mary Woods played a portion of one tape to demonstrate her allegedly accidental erasure of part of a tape. The gap occurred during the President’s conversation with H.R. Haldeman about Watergate.
An exact duplicate of the machine used by Miss Woods to listen to the tapes was taken to electronics expert Sol Minerov in Valley Stream, New York. Minerov was asked if the events could have happened as Miss Woods described, and if she could possibly have hit the “record” button accidentally. Minerov admitted that it is possible.
The administration had no comment regarding Rose Mary Woods and the White House tapes.
Some little-noticed evidence which has been given to Judge Sirica regarding Watergate may actually be very important. President Nixon claims that he had no knowledge of the Watergate break-in or cover-up for months after the event took place. Federal investigators and some members of Congress are now closely studying a meeting which took place just three days after the Watergate break-in. At that meeting, President Nixon and chief aide H.R. Haldeman allegedly planned a counterattack to neutralize negative public reaction to the burglary. Haldeman’s notes of that meeting are being examined thoroughly. White House officials declined comment.
The Senate Watergate committee voted to postpone further public hearings. Instead, the committee will broaden its investigation into Nixon administration favors to the dairy industry in exchange for campaign contributions, and will also focus on Howard Hughes’ campaign contribution to President Nixon which was given through Bebe Rebozo.
United Air Lines announced further flight cutbacks to meet the President’s requirements to reduce jet fuel consumption. Employees will be laid off also. Many flights will be dumped by December 7. United believes that its profit level will remain steady even with flight cutbacks.
The U.S. had a balance of trade surplus in October.
President Nixon’s personal finances became the topic of a meeting of a group of Senators. Senator Bennett Johnson revealed that the President intends to make some of his income tax returns public.
A congressional committee is looking into abuses and widespread corruption involving the Small Business Administration. Chief investigator Curtis Prins explained the corruption in detail, including the case of former NFL player Bennie McRae. McRae, who supported President Nixon in 1968 and 1972, sought a loan for his Virginia construction company. The company was turned down twice by the state for not having a valid license, but was later granted a controversial federal loan from the SBA as the result of “pressure” from the White House.
House-Senate conferees agreed on a home rule bill for Washington, D.C., that would set aside a national capital enclave that would include the Capitol, White House and other areas, but give the rest of the city substantial local government. The compromise bill would permit partisan elections of a 13-member City Council as well as a mayor. The council’s decisions would be final unless both the House and Senate overturned them by majority votes. The last would be necessary to meet constitutional requirements. Supporters said they expected Congress to ratify the bill quickly and that President Nixon would sign it by Christmas.
An Eastern Air Lines DC-9, unable to stop after an instrument landing at the Akron-Canton Airport, ran off the end of the runway and crashed. At least 22 persons were reported injured, some seriously. Sheriff’s deputies said the jetliner’s tail section split off the fuselage. Eastern officials said the plane was en route from Miami to Akron-Canton via Pittsburgh. They said 21 passengers and five crew members were aboard. Only hours earlier, a Delta Airlines jet with 77 persons aboard crashed short of the runway and caught fire during a landing attempt in the rain and dark at Chattanooga. There were no fatalities but police reported that 10 persons, including the pilot and copilot, suffered minor injuries.
Records of the Associated Milk Producers, Inc., which could have shed new light on the giant dairy cooperative’s secret funneling of campaign contributions to the Nixon Administration, were destroyed in the spring of 1971. Disclosure of the destruction was found in documents filed in federal court in San Antonio, Tex. In a letter filed three weeks ago, E.C. Heininger, an attorney for the 40,000-member group headquartered in San Antonio, said he learned only recently that employees in the Arkansas division headquarters had destroyed some documents in “March or April, 1971.”
U.S. Steel announced that it is seeking a 6.5% price increase; almost all of its American-made products would be affected. The company said that under Phase 4 regulations it had filed notice of its proposed price increases with the Internal Revenue Service, and hoped to have approval for shipments on January 1.
Tornadoes and heavy rains rode a fast-moving cold front across Tennessee and north Mississippi, killing three persons and injuring dozens more. Several other twisters also struck in Alabama but no deaths were reported. Tornadoes ripped through two big trailer parks and damaged two schools in DeSoto County, Mississippi. The three deaths, all in Tennessee, resulted from heavy rains and flooding extending from Memphis to Knoxville. Most of the injured were in Mississippi.
Neil Simon’s play “Good Doctor” premieres in NYC.
Gary Matthews outpolls 8 other vote-getters, receiving 11 of 24 nominations for the National League Rookie of the Year Award. The Giants outfielder batted .300 in 145 games.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 817.73 (-7.22, -0.88%).
Born:
Jon Runyan, American politician (Rep-R-New Jersey 2011-2015), and NFL tackle (Pro Bowl, 2002; Houston-Tennessee Oilers-Titans, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers), in Flint, Michigan.
Jason Beverlin, MLB pitcher (Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers), in Ashtabula, Ohio.
Samantha Harris, American model and host (“Entertainment Tonight”), in Hopkins, Minnesota.
Twista (stage name for Carl Terrell Mitchell), American rap artist known for his fast (598 syllables per minute) enunciation skills; in Chicago, Illinois.
Vladimir Zelenko, Ukrainian-born American physician known for promoting hydroxychloroquine as part of his three-drug “Zelenko Protocol” that he claimed to successfully treat the COVID-19 virus; in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union.
History Diaries 