Hosting the opening of the three-day Organisation of Islamic Conference summit in Lahore, Pakistan extended diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh, the former East Pakistan. After the first day of the summit, the leaders of 39 Muslim nations prayed together at the Badshahi Mosque. Pakistan recognized Bangladesh, her former eastern wing, in a sudden move preceded by the opening in Lahore of a major conference of Muslim nations. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, speaking in an emotional tone to legislators and chief ministers, said, in Urdu: “In the name of Allah and on behalf of the peoples of this country, I declare that we are recognizing Bangladesh.”
The commercial center of Jolo in the Philippines, which had been a town of 40,000 people, is now charred rubble and blasted concrete from which bodies are still being recovered more than a week after the Philippine armed forces took it back from Muslim insurgents. The government admits to more than 300 dead, giving a “body count” of 225 rebels, about 50 civilians and 29 of its own troops. From what could be learned from survivors, it seemed reasonable to estimate the toll at nearly double the government’s figure.
A group of 157 trainees of the South Korean Navy were killed when the tugboat YTL 30 capsized and sank 700 yards (640 m) offshore in Chungmu City harbor. Another 159 were rescued by naval vessels and fishing boats.
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn sailed for Oslo, Norway, tonight after taking day‐long tour of Copenhagen. As he did in West Germany and Switzerland, the 55‐year‐old writer drew crowds of newsmen, photographers, onlookers and well‐wishers. He strolled through the Danish capital guarded by policemen and accompanied by Scandinavian friends. He was greeted by enthusiastic applause as he boarded a ferry for the crossing to Oslo. Mr. Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Union nine days ago for dissident activities.
The Yugoslav authorities have prevented Mihajlo Mihajlov, the Yugoslav essayist and chronicler of Soviet concentration camps, from taking part in a California symposium on “Problems of Forbidden and Discouraged Knowledge,” Mr. Mihajlov’s sister reported yesterday. Reached at her Alexandria, Virginia, home, Mrs. Marija Ivusic said her brother had telephoned her from Yugoslavia Thursday night to tell her that his application for a passport to enable him to travel to San Francisco for the gathering had been turned down.
The man who is really running against Prime Minister Heath in this British election campaign is a 30‐year‐old history teacher who is making his first race for the House of Commons and thinks the result here will be “closer than many people think.” Colin Hargrave has the slimmest chance of just about any Labor party candidate in the country. The Conservative party picked carefully when it selected Sidcup, on the southeastern rim of London, as the district for Mr. Heath so he would not have to worry too much about his election to the House of Commons. If by a miracle Mr. Hargrave emerged victorious, the Conservative party would have to find a new leader and, if it again obtains a majority in the House of Commons, a new Prime Minister. Voters in Britain cast their ballots for individual members of the 635‐seat House of Commons and the leader of the winning party becomes Prime Minister.
The Italian oil tanker Giovanna Lolli Ghetti exploded and sank in the Pacific Ocean after departing Los Angeles in the U.S. with a cargo of oil bound for Indonesia, killing seven of the people on board. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Mellon responded and played a key role in rescuing the crew members.
Premier Golda Meir failed again today to persuade Defense Minister Moshe Dayan to serve in her proposed minority cabinet, and she reportedly said that she would take over his post temporarily in the hope that he will reconsider his refusal. In the cabinet line‐up that she is to present to her Labor party’s central committee Sunday, she reportedly will have the communications portfolio as well. The present Minister of Communications, Shimon Peres, has also refused to serve in the next government. The Labor alignment’s 51 Members of Parliament decided early today to approve Mrs. Meir’s decision to form a minority cabinet in the wake of the elections of December 31.
Mrs. Meir won this approval after a long debate in which important elements in the party said that they would have preferred new parliamentary elections or a broad coalition including the right‐of‐center Likud. The coalition she has shaped so far is three votes short of a majority in the 120‐seat Parliament. Besides her Labor alignment with 51 seats, her coalition includes affiliated Arab groups with three seats, and the Independent Liberal party with four. Mrs. Meir must also persuade rival factions that are not joining the coalition to support her or at least abstain in the parliamentary vote of confidence so she will get a majority of the votes cast.
Iran has agreed to supply part of India’s oil needs on credit and will invest $300‐million in a joint venture to develop India’s iron‐ore export. The agreement was announced today at the end of a visit here by Foreign Minister Bwaran Singh of India, who came to Iran to seek assistance in meeting India’s difficult balance‐of‐payments situation as a result of oil price increases. Neither the amount of oil Iran will supply to India, nor the credit terms were announced, but Indian sources said that Iran’s offer had “gone a long way” toward assuring India’s oil requirements. It had been estimated that at present oil prices, which have risen 300 per cent in the last twelve months, all of India’s income from exports, or about $1.8‐billion a year, would be absorbed by oil payments.
Secretary of State Kissinger began his new dialogue with the foreign ministers of 24 Latin-American and Caribbean governments in give and ‐ take working sessions today. Participants said that even the surfacing of the complex and long‐standing question of what to do about Cuba failed to ruffle the businesslike atmosphere of the closed‐door meetings. Mr. Kissinger was asked directly how the United States Government intended to respond to Argentina’s insistence on allowing Argentine subsidiaries of American‐owned automobile companies to export to Cuba.
According to a United States official, he replied, “I am not in a position to respond at this meeting.” In private talks with Latin-American foreign ministers, however, he indicated that the Nixon Administration would probably permit the licensing of such exports by the Treasury Department in time for the meeting of the Organization of American States in Atlanta, Georgia, in April.
The Teleamazonas television network began broadcasting in Ecuador as color television was introduced to South America.
Student protests intensified in Ethiopia over soaring prices and began a series of events that would eventually lead to the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie. Within five days, the rebellion had spread to the northeast African nation’s armed forces. About 300 people were in jail and an estimated five dead tonight after four days of violence. Troops moved into the capital last night, ending the clashes with the police, and there was calm tonight. The clashes apparently were the outgrowth of protests against soaring prices and unemployment. The soldiers, unofficially estimated at 1,500, were guarding such key points as Government ministries, the telecommunications headquarters and the radio station. Most embassies warned their nationals to stay off the streets at night and to limit daytime travel as much as possible.
The cost of living has been climbing sharply, as has joblessness. Basic foodstuffs such as rice, flour and bread have more than doubled in price in the last three months — with little or no Government effort to control the situation. Cost‐of‐living and employment figures are not published here, but a real indication of the economic situation is the ever‐increasing number of beggars on city streets. Violence erupted here at the beginning of the week when taxi drivers went on strike in protest against increased licensing fees and the recently doubled price of gasoline. The 3,500 drivers, most of them private owners stoned city buses, forcing them off the streets and bringing public transport to a standstill. The buses began running again today but each had an armed soldier aboard.
During a failed attempt at Baltimore-Washington International Airport to hijack Delta Air Lines Flight 523 to Atlanta, 44-year-old Samuel Byck shot and killed an airport policeman and the copilot of the DC-9 and seriously wounded the pilot before killing himself. The hijacker was identified as Samuel Joseph Byck. Byck opened fire on security guard George Ramsburg and made it onto a plane. Copilot Fred Jones was killed; pilot Reese Lofton is in grave condition. Byck was killed by a county sheriff while inside the plane. Byck had intended to crash the plane into the White House in order to assassinate President Nixon.
Byck drove to the Baltimore/Washington International Airport. Shortly after 7:00 a.m. EST, he shot and killed Maryland Aviation Administration policeman George Neal Ramsburg before storming a DC-9, Delta Air Lines Flight 523 to Atlanta, which he chose because it was the closest flight that was ready to take off. Pilots Reese (Doug) Loftin and Fred Jones immediately complied with Byck’s orders and calmly tried to reassure him that they would cooperate, then Loftin told Byck they could not take off with the doors to the aircraft open and then alerted the control tower and summoned police assistance while Byck left to close them.
After the pilots told him they could not take off until wheel blocks were removed, he shot them both and grabbed a nearby passenger, ordering her to “fly the plane”. Jones died as he was being removed from the aircraft after the event was concluded; Loftin survived the attack. Byck told a flight attendant to close the door, or he would blow up the plane. An Anne Arundel County Police Department officer attempted to shoot out the tires of the aircraft to prevent its take-off, but the .38 caliber bullets fired from their police-issued Smith & Wesson revolvers failed to penetrate the aircraft’s tires and ricocheted off, some hitting the wing of the plane.
After a standoff between Byck and police on the jetway, Anne Arundel County police officer Charles Troyer fired four shots through the aircraft door at Byck with a .357 Magnum revolver taken from the deceased Ramsburg. Two of the shots penetrated the thick window of the aircraft door and wounded Byck; before the police could gain entry to the plane, Byck committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. He lived for a few minutes, dying after saying “help me” to one of the policemen who entered the plane after he had been shot. A briefcase containing the gasoline bomb was found under his body. The plane never left the gate, and Nixon’s schedule was not affected by the assassination attempt, although he was in the White House at the time.
There were new developments in the Reg Murphy kidnapping: William Fields, executive editor of the Atlanta Constitution, reported that the $700,000 ransom for Murphy will be paid by the newspaper. FBI agent Leo Conroy revealed that Murphy may be released tonight. Murphy’s kidnappers claim to belong to the “American Revolutionary Army”. Murphy, speaking on a tape, explained that his kidnappers believe the news media is too leftist and liberal. Murphy’s family remains secluded.
A food giveaway by the Hearst Corporation, on behalf of kidnap victim Patty Hearst, made at the demand of the Symbionese Liberation Army as a condition of setting the heiress free, began in San Francisco and Oakland at four distribution centers where bags of groceries were given away. The bags contained “a small frozen turkey, a box of crackers, a box of biscuit mix, a can of tomato juice and a quart carton of milk,” for the thousands of people who showed up.
More money will be added to Randolph Hearst’s free food program in an effort to bargain for the release of his daughter Patty, though Hearst announced he can not meet the kidnappers demands to add $4 million more to the free food program. Hearst executive Charles Gould stated that the Hearst Corporation would contribute $4 million to the food program if Patricia is released unharmed.
The “People In Need” program ran into trouble in Oakland, California. Food trucks were mobbed, and many people returned home angry and without free food. A late‐arriving truck delivering free food in East Oakland was broken into by part of a waiting crowd.
The White House and the House Judiciary Committee moved toward two potential collisions over the inquiry into the impeachment of President Nixon. The White House press secretary, Ronald L. Ziegler, declared that the President’s Watergate lawyers and the Department of Justice would both issue “another point of view” challenging the conclusion of the committee staff that the scope of impeachment covered a broad array of offenses not limited to indictable crimes.
The Judiciary Committee’s special counsel, John M. Doar, posing a second possible conflict, told the panel at a meeting this morning that it should take the White House no more than “a day or two” to comply with a committee request for some 700 pages of documents and 17 tape recordings. Mr. Ziegler declined to say whether the White House would voluntarily turn over the material.
The government made new plans to help solve long gasoline lines and shutdowns of some stations in the Northeast. The Federal Energy Office plans to allocate more gasoline to some states to deal with problems. Other FEO sources say that price hikes are upcoming. The Federal Energy Office last night ordered increased gasoline supplies totaling 326 million gallons for February in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Most of the states had previously been assigned additions to their supplies, but South Carolina was added to the list and all others received further increases.
The government reported that the cost of living climbed almost 1% last month. Consumer prices are 9.5% higher than they were one year ago. Led by surges in prices for food and fuel, the Government’s Consumer Price Index jumped by 1 percent in January after adjustment for normal seasonal changes in some prices. This was the biggest monthly increase in the last 25 years, except for the 1.9 percent rise that came last August after the brief price freeze of early summer.
Dismayed by the Republican loss of his old House seat in Michigan, Vice President Ford has shed his “Mr. Nice” image and has come out swinging against those he calls “labor outsiders.” The “new” Ford, his voice booming and his arms swinging, was unveiled Wednesday night at a rally in Cincinnati for Willis D. Gradison Jr., the Republican candidate in an upcoming special election for a House seat vacated by William J. Keating, a Republican who resigned to become president of The Cincinnati Inquirer. Mr. Gradison’s Democratic opponent is Thomas A. Luken, a former Mayor of Cincinnati. Blaming “labor outsiders” for Republican losses of House elections in Michigan and Pennsylvania, the Vice President asked, “Do you want a bunch of outsiders telling you who to send to Congress?” “Hell, no!” the audience chorused. “Well, they’re moving in here!” Mr. Ford shouted.
Alabama Governor George C. Wallace announced today that he would seek a third term. He is expected to win easily in the May 7 Democratic primary. Mr. Wallace declined to say whether he would run for President again in 1976, but today’s announcement may have been the first formal step in that direction. The Governor told reporters and several hundred supporters who had driven from all over the state, “I have no specific plans, but as Governor of Alabama I’m sure I’ll be in a position to make certain that the people I spoke for in 1972 will be represented in the councils of both major parties in 1976.” He paused, then added, “Not necessarily by me.”
A laser rifle simulator system has been invented for the Navy. Without firing an actual bullet, a trainee gets instant knowledge as to whether his shot was a hit or miss. Albert H. Marshall of Maitland and George A. Siragusa of Winter Park, Florida, were granted Patent 3,792,535 this week. The equipment, consisting of transmitter, receiver and indicator, can be attached to an M‐16 rifle without adding noticeable bulk or weight to the weapon. On the rifle barrel are mounted a laser beam transmitter and a receiver and hit indicator. A reflector on the target redirects the laser beam back to the receiver. When the rifle is correctly aimed as the trigger is pulled, the marksman gets an immediate visual or audible report of his success.
U.S. Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) Barbara Allen became the first female in the U.S. to be designated as a naval aviator, receiving her wings pin at ceremonies at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.
Mary Decker, a 95‐pound, 15‐year‐old half‐miler, helped chauvinistic fans forget victories by New Zealanders in the prestigious men’s one- and three-mile runs last night at the Amateur Athletic Union indoor championships. Miss Decker received written permission from her teachers in California to compete in the women’s 880‐yard run at Madison Square Garden. She has braces, a few acne pimples and wears pigtails. She also set a meet record of 2 minutes 7.1 seconds. Last week she set the world indoor mark of 2:02.4. Last night she survived the experienced Abby Hoffman’s closing rush. Miss Hoffman, of Toronto, drew even on the final turn, but was put away in the stretch.
The City of Los Angeles, a former Olympic Games host, threw its hat into the arena yesterday to challenge Moscow for the right to stage the 1980 summer games. The announcement of the decision was made by Philip O. Krum, the president of the United States Olympic Committee, during a luncheon honoring Lord Michael Killanin of Ireland, the head of the International Olympic Committee. Los Angeles and Moscow, defeated by Montreal for the right to stage the 1976 games, are the only cities announced as bidding for the 1980 games. Lake Placid, New York, which was the host to the 1932 winter games, also announced that it was a candidate for the winter events in 1980. Other candidates are Vancouver, British Columbia, and Chamonix, France.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 855.99 (+9.15, +1.08%).
Born:
James Blunt, English singer with three number 1 best-selling albums; in Tidworth, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom.
Aaron Gavey, Canadian NHL centre (Tampa Bay Lightning, Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Toronto Maple Leafs, Might Ducks of Anaheim), in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Mathias Johansson, Swedish National Team and NHL centre (Olympics, 2002; Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins), in Oskarshamn, Sweden.
Died:
Samuel Byck, 44, American attempted hijacker and assassin of Richard Nixon.
Adlai Rust, 81, former Chief Executive Officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 1954 to 1970
History Diaries 