The Saigon military command reported that North Vietnamese troops, led by tanks, again attacked the embattled provincial capital of Phước Bình this morning in a heavy mortar barrage. It said that radio communication was being maintained with the town, which was being resupplied by high-altitude air drops. Yesterday, the command said South Vietnamese government troops repulsed a ground attack. About 3,000 troops are defending the town. North Vietnamese troops led by tanks, again attacked the embattled provincial capital of Phước Bình this morning during a heavy mortar barrage, the Saigon military command announced. The command, which had few details on the assault, said that radio contact was being maintained with the encircled town, which is being resupplied by high‐altitude air drops. The command said that the Communist forces lobbed about 1,000 rounds of 120‐mm. mortar fire into Phước Bình as they launched their ground attack.
Yesterday, the command said, government defenders beat off a ground attack and knocked out one of the Communists’ T‐54 tanks. During the afternoon 1,000 rounds of assorted heavy‐weapons fire reportedly struck the town. Phước Bình is the first provincial capital to be frontally assaulted by the Communists since the cease‐fire agreement of January, 1973. It is defended by up to 3,000 reconnaissance troops from three regular divisions, montagnard militiamen and several hundred ranger and paratroop reinforcements. With the North Vietnamese closing in on the town, refugees from outlying hamlets were said to be pouring into the sprawling provincial capital, which is situated on a plateau in tea plantation country 75 miles north of Saigon. Several military analysts said the situation looked bleak for the Phước Bình garrison, and there was even speculation that the North Vietnamese were hoping to draw more Government reinforcements into the town before making an all‐out push to capture it. Pilots flying combat support and resupply missions over the town, which nestles in a bend of the Song Be, were reportedly forced by intense antiaircraft fire to stay at 10,000 feet or higher.
A pilot of an old AC‐119 gunship said that the chief of Phước Long Province, Colonel Nguyễn Công Thành, had been personally keeping radio contact with planes dropping flares and bombing Communist positions at night. “If you go away and Phước Bình falls, you will be responsible,” the colonel reportedly shouted to the pilots overhead. Unconfirmed reports said that the province chief had been killed or wounded in a tank attack on the fortified provincial headquarters Saturday. But, according to one South Vietnamese source, the town’s defenders still held the headquarters yesterday as well as a military camp on the southern edge of the town not far from the local stadium. The stadium has been a key drop point for parachuted supplies of ammunition.
The town’s population, consisting largely of mountain tribespeople, is reported to have swelled from 26,000 to 40,000. Most are believed to be crowded at the northern edge of the town near the river. Two Roman Catholic nuns from New Zealand, who had been running an orphanage and dispensary for montagnards, were the only foreigners known to be in Phước Bình. The last French tea planters were believed to have been evacuated four or five days ago. The North Vietnamese, led by tanks, have at least twice thrust into the town from the northwest and the southwest, according to several accounts. They are apparently holding positions in the tea plantations on the fringe of the town and around the airport. The attackers also hold the 2,000‐foot Bà Rá Mountain, lying between the airfield and the river, from which they can shell the town at will. The loss of the mountaain at the beginning of the North Vietnamese attack early last week was a major setback for the defense of Phước Bình.
In another announcement, the military command in Saigon said this morning that Việt Cộng troops fired 15 rockets at the big Phú Lâm radar station on the outskirts of the Chợ Lớn district of Saigon at 1:45 AM today. Six rockets fell outside the radar facility, killing four civilians and wounding six others, the command said. It said no damage was done to the radar station.
Khmer Rouge insurgents launched fresh assaults against a besieged Cambodian government force on the Mekong River two miles east of Phnom Penh in what observers said might be a prelude to an all-out offensive against the capital. They have fired about 36 rockets into Phnom Penh since New Year’s Day, killing or wounding 40 persons. President Lon Nol visited a battlefield and ordered field commanders to fight the rebels “at all costs in order to achieve a military victory.” Reports from the area said the insurgents had fired more than 200 mortar shells and sent waves of ground troops against Government soldiers just south of Arey Khsat, a village on the east bank of the Mekong, where fierce fighting has been reported in the last five days. Intelligence reports said 15,000 to 20,000 rebel troops were believed to be concentrated around Phnom Penh.
Reports from the combat area said that three government assault boats, operating under cover of heavy air strikes, had ferried about 200 soldiers to reinforce 400 men estimated to be isolated by the rebels. But a government column trying to relieve Arey Khsat by land met strong rebel resistance and was forced to pull back. Ammunition was reported running low and the only way out for the besieged government troops was to swim across the Mekong, the reports said. The besieged troops are part of a 1,000‐man task force that was sent four days ago to clear the Mekong River’s east bank of insurgents who had seized 10 small outposts and a number of villages. The task force recaptured the outposts and four of the villages. But reinforced insurgent troops continued to offer heavy resistance and early today they scored a direct mortar hit on the ammunition depot, blowing up all the ammunition.
U. N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, apparently referring to American disillusionment with the world organization, said there is a danger of reverting to selfishness and narrow nationalism. Waldheim, in an interview published in the current issue of the Yugoslav journal Review of International Affairs, said: “We may make a mistake and abandon this great experiment (the United Nations) as a failure and disappointment, and we may revert to our selfish and narrow nationalisms.
Protestant churchmen in Northern Ireland said they wanted to step aside for the present to allow politicians to negotiate an extension of the Irish Republican Army’s cease-fire agreement. At the same time, Seamus Loughran, northern organizer of the Provisional Sinn Fein — political wing of the Provisional IRA — called on Northern Ireland Secretary Merlyn Rees to meet his party’s delegates for talks on making the ceasefire permanent.
The chill of winter is inside the factory because the heating system was switched off for the year‐end holidays. Shiny metal automobile parts are scattered everywhere, waiting for workers to return and assemble them into Sleek new Aston Martin Cars. But the factory will remain cold and the workers, 500 in all, probably will not come back. Aston Martin Lagonda, Ltd., one of the most renowned names in British motoring, has foundered in financial distress and closed, another victim of the onrushing recession. The company announced a day before the end of the year that production was ending.
Pope Paul VI called on Romans to put aside greed and indifference and give a courteous welcome to Holy Year pilgrims. The Pope, who opened the 1975 Holy Year on Christmas Eve, praised civil authorities for their efforts to give an “orderly, functional” appearance to Rome, where strikes and thefts from tourists are commonplace.
Spain’s army minister, Lieutenant General Francisco Coloma, sternly warned officers against sowing dissent in the armed forces and told military political activists to quit the ranks. Although Coloma failed to elaborate, his speech at a military ceremony in Madrid was an unprecedented revelation of armed forces unrest.
The Jesuit order, in a severe appraisal endorsed by the Vatican, today warned Italy’s Roman Catholic party, the Christian Democrats, that it may suffer landslide losses in forthcoming elections and urged it to purge itself of corruption and profiteering.
As the fortunes of the West German Government coalition of Social Democrats and Free Democrats continue to decline in publicopinion polls, many voices in this introspective political town are asking how long it will hold together.
U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger’s reference to the possible use of force to secure Middle Eastern oil supplies for the Western world has aroused intense interest, anxiety and sharp criticism in Bonn, West Germany. The nervousness is particularly acute in West Germany because she imports 70 per cent of her oil from the Middle East, and has more than 200,000 United States Army and Air Force troops based on her soil. Mr. Kissinger’s remarks, in an interview with Business Week magazine, were circumspect, and concerned the hypothetical question of an Arab oil embargo in a new ArabIsraeli war. He emphasized that the use of force would be considered only in the gravest emergency. “I am not saying that there’s no circumstances where we would not use force,” he said. “But it is one thing to use it in the case of a dispute over price; it’s another where there is some actual strangulation of the industrialized world.”
When reported in Bonn, the remarks provoked angry and worried editorials, news articles, and comments by Government officials. West Germans, even those at the highest levels, are worried about being drawn into an American military adventure in the Middle East and remarks like Mr. Kissinger’s make their fears seem real. Asked about this in an interview in the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel today, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt answered: “I see a certain danger in the fact that, at present, some Americans are inclined to overestimate the role and the capabilities of the Federal Republic. That we could be drawn into conflicts against our will is something new in German political history. Until a generation ago, most of the time we were part of the cause when conflicts arose.”
The International Labor Organization has called on husbands to shoulder a bigger share of the household chores as one way to ease the burden carried by married women who work outside the home.
A bomb police said was planted by Arab terrorists exploded in the trash can next to a stack of egg cartons in Jerusalem, splattering passersby with eggs but causing no serious injuries. Two other explosive devices, one a primed grenade, were found elsewhere in the city and dismantled before they could go off.
El Al Airlines resumed operations after a nine-day shutdown prompted by a labor dispute with runway workers. The 617 workers agreed to return to their jobs with a promise of negotiations on their demands for more manpower and a salary increase.
Egyptian authorities announced that 120 persons have been arrested for instigating anti-government riots in Cairo last week. Police sources said 30 members of the outlawed Communist Party were included in the total and that others were being sought. Four prisoners were identified as journalists who had been jailed during 1973 student riots and who were later released by order of President Anwar Sadat. Last week’s riots followed the postponement of Soviet Communist Party chief Leonid L Brezhnev’s planned visit to Egypt.
Hundreds of Lebanese soldiers and police stormed the old quarter of the northern city of Tripoli in pursuit of armed fugitives who have been holed up there for weeks, police said. One security man and a civilian were killed in the ensuing firefight. Several of the outlaws were arrested.
In a major shift in policy, the Ethiopian government has recognized for the first time the guerrilla movement fighting for the independence of Ethiopia’s northern province of Eritrea and announced that it will open negotiations with its leaders for a “peaceful solution” to the 13-year-old conflict.
Quake-ravaged areas of northern Pakistan were rocked by another earth tremor of fairly severe intensity, government officials said. No loss of life or damage to property was immediately reported from the latest tremor. Officials also said that army helicopters, which briefly resumed ferrying relief supplies into the hardest-hit quake area, had to suspend operations because of gusty winds. Latest casualty estimates had 5,300 dead and 17,000 injured.
The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, was struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing 12 people. The ship struck a support on the mile-long bridge at about 9:00 pm, bringing down a 240-foot-long (73 m) section on top of it, and sank. Three vehicles on the bridge plunged into the River Derwent below.
The leaders of the three military groups fighting for the independence of Angola- Jonas Savimbi of UNITA, Agostinho Neto of MPLA, and Holden Roberto of FNLA- signed the Mombasa Agreement in Kenya’s capital, under the sponsorship of President Jomo Kenyatta, pledging to work together to negotiate with Portugal. The united front lasted only a few months, after the United States allied with UNITA and the Soviet Union assisted the MPLA.
President Ford named an eight-member commission headed by Vice President Rockefeller to investigate allegations of domestic spying by the Central Intelligence Agency. Ron Nessen, the White House press secretary, said that the eight had been chosen as respected citizens who had no former connection with the C.I.A. The deadline for the commission’s report is April 4.
Congressional leaders made it clear that President Ford’s appointment of a commission to investigate the Central Intelligence Agency would not keep Congress from investigating the matter. Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, the Senate Republican leader, said that he expected congressional inquiries to continue long after the commission’s report was completed. He praised the President’s choice of members, and said the commission was “truly blue ribbon.” Some other members of Congress were not so enthusiastic. Senator William Proxmire, Wisconsin Democrat, said the choice of Vice President Rockefeller as the chairman “leaves something to be desired.”
The chief prosecutor in the Watergate trial has told TIME magazine he doesn’t think former President Richard M. Nixon knew in advance of the Watergate break-in. TIME added that the prosecutor, James F. Neal, had stated flatly that Mr. Nixon did not authorize the bugging. In support of his opinion, Neal noted that tapes disclosed that Mr. Nixon had shown. “some surprise” when told of the break-in. Neal, who resigned last week after the trial, said Mr. Nixon was at least indirectly responsible for the actions of his aides. “Watergate goes back to the nature of the big man,” Neal said.
The Boston School Committee plans to go into federal court to request that law enforcement officials ensure the safety of students at the racially troubled South Boston High School complex, which is scheduled to reopen Wednesday. The four schools, which include South Boston High and Roxbury High, have been closed since December 11, when an 18-year-old white youth was stabbed. Mayor Kevin H. White and police officials have recommended that the four schools remain closed because of the risk of violence.
Thousands of Americans who are living on fixed incomes or are unemployed cannot afford to pay their heating bills this winter. Distributors of natural gas, oil, electricity and other heating fuels are cutting them off in sharply increased numbers. “I think if it really got cold,” a major New York oil distributor said, “you’d see between 20 and 40 percent of our customers unable to meet our credit terms.”
The basic cause of poverty in the nation, according to a new study by the education-action arm of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, is the powerlessness of people over their political and economic institutions. The study, which will be published in the early part of February by the Roman Catholic Campaign for Human Development, says more than half of all Americans are “essentially dependent upon social institutions over which they have no control. The report said the richest 10% of the US. population receives the same total income as the bottom 50% and the top 1% “receives more income than the bottom 20%.
Public school teachers in Columbus, Ohio, approved a strike after voting overwhelmingly against the board of. education’s final contract offer. A spokesman for the Columbus Education Association, which claims to represent 78% of the teachers, said picket lines would go up at 6 a.m. today. About 100,000 students attend the 270 schools. About 3,000 of the city’s 5,000 teachers rejected the board’s offer of a 4% salary increase. Federal mediator Joseph Santa-Emma characterized the parties’ positions as being “miles and miles apart.”
Law enforcement officers exchanged gunfire with militant Menominee Indians occupying a religious estate near Gresham, Wis, breaking a cease-fire agreed to earlier in the day. The Shawano County district attorney’s office said shooting from the site was sporadic and officers surrounding the area returned fire three times. There were no reports of injuries. The shooting occurred after negotiations failed to take place as scheduled between the Indians and the representatives of the Alexian Brothers, a Chicago-based Roman Catholic order that owns the 16-acre estate and the 64-room mansion once used as a novitiate.
Black community leaders in Port Arthur, Texas, plan to hold their third protest march in a week today because city officials have rejected demands for the dismissal of Police Chief James Newsom and the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a black misdemeanor suspect. City manager George Dibrell has told the black leaders that the city would take any appropriate legal action after a grand jury made its report on the incident. Police said Clifford Coleman, 22, was shot near the police station December 29 as he tried to flee after his arrest for disorderly conduct.
A study by the Council on Economic Priorities, a nonprofit public interest organization, has found that the limited scope of competition among drug companies in the sale of seven antibiotics costs consumers at least $180 million a year. The seven drugs are no longer under patent and consequently are available from many different manufacturers. In five of the seven drugs, the most widely sold version of each was the one with the highest price.
An excise tax on crude oil and natural gas is the keystone of an energy program worked out by the Ford Administration, Time magazine reported. The magazine said the excise tax would increase the price of gasoline about five cents per gallon and is expected to cut daily oil consumption by 750,000 to 800,000 gallons within a year. The article said the general energy program, of which the excise tax is a part, was worked. out by the President and his economic advisors during their meetings in Vail, Colo. The excise tax proposal, it offered as expected, would have to be approved by Congress before it could be implemented.
Whooping cranes will have full custody of their wintering grounds on Matagorda Island near Corpus Christi, Texas, the Air Force announced. An Air Force spokesman in Washington said the bombing range on the island will be abandoned. A year ago, the Air Force agreed to halt practice bombing there during the wintering season of the near-extinct whooping cranes, and now the big birds will have exclusive possession of the island all year. The Interior Department wants to make at least part of the island a wildlife refuge.
Overwork among wives with jobs outside the home is being recognized worldwide as a “serious problem,” according to a study by the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations based in Geneva. “A more equitable sharing of the burden of housework and the care of children between men and women,” is one approach to the problem of the overworked wife, the study said, and such a sharing is one of the “prerequisites of sexual equality.” The study was prepared for a meeting of the 125 member nations in Geneva in June, with the hope that its recommendations would become national laws.
The next steps in exploring Mars, after the two Viking landing attempts next year, should be orbiting of an observation craft around the Martian poles and several small “hard-landing” probes, leading scientists have advised the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“The Wiz,” a musical adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with an African-American cast, opened on Broadway. It would go on to win two Tony Awards and run for 1,672 performances.
Houston Astros pitcher Don Wilson is found dead of monoxide poisoning in his garage in Houston, a suicide victim at age 29. The Astros will retire his #40.
Born:
Bradley Cooper, American actor (“Alias”, “American Sniper”); in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Warrick Dunn, NFL running back (Pro Bowl, 1997, 2000, 2005; Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons; in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Mike Grier, NHL right wing (first African-American NHL player to be born and trained in the United States; Edmonton Oilers, Washington Capitols, Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks), in Detroit, Michigan.
Kylie Bax, New Zealand model, in Thames, New Zealand.
Died:
Don Wilson, 29, American MLB pitcher for the Houston Astros (1966–1974; 2 no-hitters, 1967, 1969; MLB All Star 1971), suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Gottlob Berger, 79, convicted German SS General and Nazi war criminal who spent six years at Spandau prison.
Rudolf Demme, 80, German Panzer division general who spent ten years in a Soviet prison.
History Diaries 