An American shipping company official said that two tugs towing ammunition barges had run the gantlet of insurgent fire along the Mekong River and arrived at the outskirts of Phnom Penh early today. The, vessels were the first supply craft to attempt the dangerous 60‐mile run in more Than a month and carried 4,000 tons of desperately needed ammunition to defenders of the beleaguered capital. The full convoy consists of 20 vessels, according to a United Press International report. The shipping company official said the first tug and barge arrived shortly after dawn and the second was farther down the river, “but it has passed through the danger zone already.”
The small convoy came under heavy fire between the South Vietnamese border and Neak Luong earlier, witnesses said, with one navy patrol boat hit and three sailors wounded. The tugs and their explosive cargoes remained in Neak Luong until 10 PM yesterday and then set out for the last, 15‐mile leg to Phnom Penh protected by Cambodian T‐28 fighters, helicopter gunships and patrol boats. Cambodian rebels have strong positions on both sides of the Mekong River and have cut all major highways out. Neak Luong, 32 miles southeast of Phnom Penh, has been under siege for 10 days but the situation has improved considerably with the arrival of almost 2,000 reinforcements, military sources said.
At least eight ships of the convoy carrying food and supplies to Phnom Penh had to turn back to Neak Luong last night because of heavy fire from insurgent troops, military sources in Phnom Penh reported. The ships came under heavy fire from the banks of the Mekong near Dei Eth, 15 miles east of the capital.
In South Vietnam, mountain tribesmen burning rice stalks to use as fertilizer yesterday accidentally launched a rocket attack on the city of Kon Tum, 260 miles north of Saigon. Winds carried the flames into a tank trap of buried explosives and the resulting accident killed five persons and wounded six.
Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York, said the Soviet Union spends an estimated 60% more than the United States on strategic nuclear missiles and bombers. According to conservative Central Intelligence Agency projections, he said, the Russians are outspending the United States in overall defense by 20%. It is estimated the United States will spend about $84 billion this year on national defense.
The insistence by Congress on linking freer emigration to relaxed trade conditions with the Soviet Union could deprive the United States of exports that could create 400,000 new jobs for American workers a year, the co-chairman of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council said. Donald M. Kendall warned that without a change in congressional mood, the Soviet Union will turn increasingly to Japan, Germany, France and other industrial nations for lucrative trade deals.
Almost 50 years after it had been proposed, the United States ratification of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, officially the “Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare”, a treaty to ban use of poison gases in wartime was confirmed by U.S. President Ford. The U.S. Senate had voted in favor of ratification, 93–0, on December 16, 1974.
Greek riot police backed by armored cars guarded the British Embassy in Athens which has been besieged by student demonstrators since Saturday. The students, mostly Greek Cypriots, are protesting against the alleged pro-Turkish policy of Britain. They have said they will continue their protest outside the embassy indefinitely.
The Portuguese government approved a controversial law to allow only one labor federation in the country. Opponents claim it would be dominated by the Communists. The cabinet sent the law to the Council of State for promulgation. Up to now, the council has approved all cabinet bills without question.
British Government officials met with representatives of the Provisional Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, at a secret location tonight, reviving hopes for another cease‐fire in Northern Ireland. Details of the meeting, near Belfast, were not disclosed. Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, warned afterward that there would be no more such discussions until violence ends in the province. He added: “When violence ceases, my officials will be ready to talk again to members of the Sinn Fein about arrangements to ensure effectively that the cease‐fire does not break down.” Violence last night left three men dead and reduced hopes of peace in the British province, which has seen a steady acceleration of violence since a 25‐day truce ended last Thursday.
The British Government is considering gasoline rationing to save energy. A two‐price system is a possibility. Motorists would get small quantities of rationed gasoline at a relatively low price and be permitted to buy extra at a much higher price. In disclosing that rationing was under consideration, Government officials cautioned that many administrative difficulties were foreseen. They also expressed fears of a black market in ration coupons. Nevertheless, pressures have been increasing for controls. Largely because of the quadrupling of oil prices since the end of 1973, Britain ran a record trade deficit of $12.2‐billion last year. Gasoline rationing would be aimed at improving the balance of payments by cutting imports of petroleum products. It would also assure that some gasoline would remain available to motorists at relatively moderate cost.
The Defense Department notified Congress that it intends to sell Turkey $229 million in arms to modernize her armored forces. Members of Congress opposing military aid to Turkey immediately raised questions whether this represented an attempt to thwart a congressional mandate cutting off arms sales to Turkey on February 5. Such a motive was denied by Defense Department officials, but it was apparent that the Administration’s move had reopened the controversial issue of arms sales to Turkey. A group of Senators and Representative has been attempting to block military assistance to Turkey since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on July 20. The Defense Department notification came in a letter sent on January 15 to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stating that the United States planned to sell $230‐million worth of kits to modernize 885 M‐48 tanks in the Turkish forces. A copy of the letter was placed in today’s Congressional Record by Senator John J. Sparkman, Democrat of Alabama, the committee chairman.
About 30 Kurdish students entered the Swedish Embassy in Prague and did not leave until they had obtained assurances that Fadil Rash, leader of the Kurdish students organization in Czechoslovakia, would not be deported. Rash had been detained by police since last Friday, accused of circulating leaflets about the Kurd-Iraqi question. When Rash arrived at the embassy, the students declared they were satisfied and went home.
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt criticized what he called the Soviet Union’s “unfriendly attitude” toward Egypt in an interview with a French newspaper. His main complaint was that Moscow was refusing arms supplies and opposing even a limited military action against Israel. By contrast, he said, Moscow has given Syria what it has refused to Egypt. In an interview with Le Monde, Mr. Sadat said he continued to have full confidence in the step‐by‐step approach of the United States toward a Middle East settlement. But he reiterated his warning that the coming weeks would be crucial. President Sadat said he was “ready to conclude a peace agreement with Israel.” It “would be easy to reach an understanding,” he said, if the Israelis agreed that neither side could impose a solution of the Middle East conflict by force. “In a month, we will know whether we are heading toward a settlement or toward a war which could be tragic for all parties involved.”
A White House spokesman confirmed that the United States is discussing with Oman and Britain the possible limited Air Force use of a base on the island of Masira. Press Secretary Ron Nessen said Britain operates an air base on the island, which is territory of Oman, and the U.S. Air Force would like their permission to use it occasionally or in an emergency.
For the second time in three weeks, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Congress party has been defeated in a by‐election by opposition political parties backing an anticorruption movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan. Congress party leaders were reported stunned by the latest defeat, in a Parliamentary by-election held Sunday in the Jabalpur constituency of Madhya Pradesh State. There a socalled “people’s candidate” won a seat that had been held by the Congress party for more than 50 years, from the days when India’s British rulers had allowed the party to contest elections to a constituent assembly that became the nation’s Parliament.
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Mujibur Rahman, has been authorized by his Awami League party to take “such steps as may be necessary to solve the outstanding problems” of the country. This mandate, voted unanimously by the governing party’s Parliamentary group during a three‐day meeting that ended yesterday, followed the proclamation of a national emergency last month, the Government said at the time that emergency powers were necessary to deal with what it described as a state of lawlessness and internal subversion in Bangladesh.
A crowd of 3,000 people, angry about the mishandling of flood relief by Governor Khlai Chitphithak of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in Thailand, attacked his official residence and burned it to the ground. The Governor was able to escape the city and to flee to Bangkok.
Premier Tateo Miki evoked an image of Watergate today as he exhorted his troubled Liberal‐Democratic party to reform itself. “At the time of the Watergate issue in America,” he told 420 delegates assembled in a public hall here, “I was deeply moved by the scene in the House Judiciary Committee where each member of the committee expessed his or her own heart based upon the spirit of the American Constitution.” “It was this very attitude, I think, that rescued American democracy,” Mr. Miki said. “This attitude and spirit are also needed by us to rescue our party.” He urged the conservative legislators to rise above their deep‐seated factional differences and to be ready for sacrifice, saying that “without sacrifice, you cannot reform anything.” The party’s secretary general, Yasuhiro Nakasone, struck the same somber note, saying that “the year of 1974 was truly the year of ordeal and the year of crisis for our party.” He urged the party to “establish a clean political posture” and to overcome its “lack of flexibility in meeting quickly changing social conditions.”
Philippine President Ferdinand E Marcos said in an interview he would return his country to parliamentary government immediately if the people vote against his martial law regime in a national plebiscite February 27. Meanwhile, former Senator Lorenzo M. Tanada in the first open defiance of the regime called for a boycott of the referendum and demanded an end to martial law.
Rhodesian security forces have killed at least 20 guerrillas since a cease-fire was announced on December 11, an official Salisbury communique said. It was issued as Prime Minister Ian Smith briefed his parliamentary caucus on the political situation in the country resulting from talks between representatives of the white government and the African National Council. Speculation on progress toward a lasting cease-fire was prompted by the last-minute cancellation of a visit to Rhodesia by South African Information Minister Connie Mulder.
Ugandan President Idi Amin has told Queen Elizabeth he is coming to Britain in August to give advice to its liberation movements, according to Radio Uganda monitored here. In a message to the Queen, he said he was advising her of his visit now. “so that you may have ample time to help you arrange all that is required for my comfortable stay in your country.” President Amin, who said he would be arriving August 4, added that he would like to visit all parts of the British Isles. “Your majesty, it is ardently hoped and expected that you will, through various agencies, arrange for me so that I can see and visit Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,” the message said. “I should like to use that chance to talk to these people, who are struggling for selfdetermination and independence from your political and economic system,” he said.
[Ed: This murderous ass clown needed to see the Tower of London. From the Inside.]
President Ford rejected a request from Al Ullman, new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, that he postpone his plan to impose an additional $1-a-barrel fee on imported oil starting February 1. He thus set the stage for an immediate confrontation over his program to force reduced use of petroleum products by making them more expensive.
Amplifying President Ford’s news conference promise to veto any legislation requiring gasoline rationing, his spokesman said he was prepared to veto mandatory rationing for any petroleum product.
The Treasury estimated it would have to borrow a record $28 billion in the first half of 1975 to finance the budget deficit. The figure was based on President Ford’s program and could rise or fall with congressional action. Some officials have expressed fear that borrowing would start interest rates up again, creating a new setback for the homebuilding industry.
The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that public school pupils cannot be suspended without notice of the charges, an explanation of evidence against them and a chance to give their side of the story. Associate Justice Byron White said for the majority that young people do not shed their rights at the schoolhouse door, while Lewis Powell, dissenting, called injury from short suspensions too insubstantial to justify court action.
House Democrats swept three Southern committee chairmen from their posts in the biggest setback to the seniority system in Congress in more than 50 years. Henry Reuss of Wisconsin replaced Wright Patman of Texas as head of the Banking and Currency Committee; Thomas Foley of Washington succeeded W. R. Poage of Texas at Agriculture; and Melvin Price of Illinois took over from Edward Hebert of Louisiana on the Armed Services Committee. Wayne Hays of Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee, withstood a challenge from Frank Thompson of New Jersey after lively campaigning.
“Right-to-life” groups staged demonstrations, “mourning” the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision declaring abortions legal for women in the first six months of pregnancy. Pro-abortion groups, in turn, staged counter-demonstrations celebrating the decision. A National Walk for Life was staged in Washington, where 25,000 people called for a constitutional amendment banning abortion. In Boston, a Walk for Freedom was conducted by supporters of Bill Baird, a leader among those who have urged freedom of choice for women who want an abortion. Elsewhere, right-to-life marchers attended a service on the steps of the Texas Capitol in Austin, Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin held a special mass in Cincinnati and 14 feminist and civil rights groups demonstrated in New Orleans.
A nuclear power plant technician killed in a car crash four months ago was pushed from the road by another vehicle, her union charged. The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union also alleged that someone might have deliberately tried to contaminate the technician, Karen Silkwood, 28, with plutonium. Silkwood was killed November 13 as she was driving to a meeting with a newspaper reporter and a union official to show them evidence allegedly documenting safety hazards at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant in Crescent, Oklahoma. State police said she fell asleep at the wheel The union, however, said three more experts had found the police report incorrect.
Watergate figure E. Howard Hunt Jr. said he never had any communications with the Central Intelligence Agency about domestic spying or surveillance of American citizens. Hunt was a longtime CIA employee who left the agency in 1970 and became a member of President Richard M. Nixon’s White House staff. He is living in Miami after serving a federal prison term for his part in organizing the June, 1972, Watergate break-in. The accusation that Hunt had passed information back to the CIA was made earlier in the week by Charles W. Colson, former White House counsel, who is serving a prison term for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg.
The railroad industry reached tentative agreement on a long-standing dispute with the Sheet Metal Workers Union, averting threatened strikes against five railroads set for Friday. The settlement came after tentative agreements reached earlier in the day between the industry and three other unions on new contracts raising wages and benefits 40% over three years. Details of the sheet metal agreement were not disclosed. Resolution of the sheet metal dispute was expected to clear the way for resolving the 1975 contract negotiations between the industry and 17 unions representing 560,000 railway workers.
Peter Holmes, director of the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, asked top school officials in 26 states for assistance in identifying and ending suspected language discrimination against more than 1 million minority children. Holmes said he had “strong indication that Indian, Spanish-American and Asian-American children were illegally being denied bilingual education in 333 school districts across the nation. The districts were in all cases not properly instructing the children in English, their “second” language. Included in the 26 states were California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.
The New Hampshire Legislature passed a bill today that would set up a special run-off election to resolve the state’s disputed election for the United States Senate.
A massive study sponsored by the National Heart and Lung Institute has found that the drugs clofibrate and niacin, widely used to protect persons who have survived a heart attack from having a second one, are useless. The two drugs lower the concentration of cholesterol and other fatty substances in the blood. The study did not answer the related question of the drugs’ effect on persons with high cholesterol who have had no heart attacks.
The U.S. Interior Department awarded a $237 million contract to a New York firm to build a demonstration plant to convert high-sulfur coal into clean synthetic fuels for utilities. Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton said the project could create a new synthetic fuel industry. Under the contract, the Coalcon Co. will design, construct and operate a plant to Convert 2,800 tons of coal a day into 22 million cubic feet of pipeline quality gas and 3,900 barrels of liquid fuel — enough fuel to power a generating plant capable of supplying the daily energy needs for a city of about 90,000 persons, a government spokesman said.
A University of California anthropologist said at least two previously unknown archaeological sites were destroyed during a motorcycle race from Barstow to Las Vegas last November. Dr. Sylvia Broadbent, chairman of the anthropology department at UC Riverside, said many of the 3,000 participants in the race strayed from the course charted by the Bureau of Land Management.
A virulent strain of influenza, hitting especially hard at retired persons in the Tampa Bay area, was linked today to at least 29 deaths.
Landsat 2, the second in a series of American satellites designed to photograph images around the world, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:56 am. Nine days earlier, ERTS-1 (launched on July 23, 1972) was renamed Landsat 1 while in orbit above the Earth. Landsat 2 was removed from service on February 25, 1982.
Aston Villa will face Norwich City in the English Soccer Football League Cup Final after the former defeat Chester City 3–2 on the night and 5–4 on aggregate while the latter defeat Manchester United 1–0 on the night and 3–2 on aggregate in the second leg of their semi final ties. Brian Little, for Villa, and Colin Suggett, for Norwich, are the winning goal scorers.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 652.61 (+10.71, +1.67%)
Born:
Josh Earnest, White House press secretary under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Shean Donovan, Canadian NHL right wing (San Jose Sharks, Colorado Avalanche, Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators), in Timmins, Ontario, Canada.
David Výborný, Czech National Team and NHL right wing and left wing (Olympics, bronze medal, 2006; Columbus Blue Jackets), in Jihlava, Czechoslovakia.
Felipe Giaffone, Brazilian racing driver, in São Paulo, Brazil.
James Murray, British actor (“Cucumber”, “Medici: Masters of Florence”), in Manchester, England, United Kingdom.
Died:
Klaas Voskuil, 79, Dutch journalist.
History Diaries 