Fred C. Ikle, director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, told a House subcommittee a “gray market” could develop allowing countries to obtain nuclear weapons components even if they do not have their own nuclear fuel reactors. He said this could increase the danger of nuclear proliferation through diversion of material from peaceful atomic power projects.
Ten North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries in West Europe agreed to set up an organization to back a new drive to sell more European-made arms to the United States. The United States sells about 10 times as many weapons to its 13 European allies as it buys from them.
Western military analysts believe that for the first time in at least 15 years, no intercontinental ballistic missiles will be seen in this year’s parade through Red Square to mark the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Furthermore, no tanks or other tracked vehicles have been seen in rehearsals for the parade, which is to take place Friday. Anti-aircraft missiles have been included, however, and experts have spotted one new surface‐to‐air missile sysItem they had not known existed. Since Moscow is not city to let such departure from tradition go unnoticed, every Kremlinologist who has heard about the change is coming up with his own theories to explain it. The analysts who stand out on cold nights watching rehearsals have not developed an explanation that satisfies anyone. One theory holds that the Russians, now at a critical juncture in negotiations to limit strategic nuclear arms, want to put on a less warlike face. But some diplomats observe that the Kremlin has never before seemed uncomfortable about its military might, although the military portion of the parade has been dropped altogether from the annual May Day celebration starting in 1969.
A second 1 million kilowatt unit has been switched on at an atomic power plant near Leningrad, making it one of the world’s biggest nuclear power stations. The Soviet Union is already building or planning several other stations with a 4 million kilowatt capacity. The Leningrad plant has a uranium-graphite type reactor using a type of carbon to control the nuclear reaction for greater efficiency and a closed-circuit water cooling system to exclude environmental pollution.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson presented a new economic program for Britain revoking for at least five years the policies that successive governments have endorsed since the end of World War II. Nationalized health care and heavily subsidized housing would yield priority to aid to industry. He said that the objective of the program “is to transform a declining economy into a high output, high earning economy.”
Scotland Yard has assigned an unarmed officer to protect Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Embassy sources said in London. They said authorities took the decision voluntarily after the 17-year-old daughter of the late President escaped unhurt from a bomb blast in front of the home where she was staying in London’s Kensington area. Since the attack, the girl has been staying with friends of the family in the Mayfair district. She is taking an art course at Sotheby’s, the auctioneers.
Irish police urged kidnaped Dutch industrialist Tiede Herrema to jump. from the upper story window of the house where he has been held 16 days but he did not, apparently failing to see foam mattresses stacked below, informed sources said. Reports that abductor Marian Coyle, 19, was heard weeping, indicating the kidnapers were cracking, were denied by police.
A partly successful Paris public transport strike signaled the start of a 48-hour offensive by French trade-unions over pay and unemployment grievances. Only one out of every two buses and subway trains ran in the capital, making thousands of commuters late for work. The unions also called for stoppages in the publicly owned electricity and gas industries, while postal services are expected to be disrupted today.
An appeals court in Athens has dropped high treason charges against former Greek President George Papadopoulos and 16 members of his cabinet for abolishing the Greek monarchy in 1973. The dropped charges were separate from the treason charges in connection with the 1967 military coup on which Papadopoulos and others were convicted in August.
Fourteen professors resigned from the prestigious Greek Archeology Council in protest over government approval for a $550 million industrial complex at Pylos, now a tourist and archeological center. In an open letter to Prime Minister Konstantine Karamanlis, the professors said Pylos would be polluted irreparably and its tourist trade ruined. They said benefits to the local inhabitants from employment opportunities would be less than present advantages.
The United States announced that it was withdrawing from the International Labour Organization. When the departure became effective on November 6, 1977, the ILO lost 25% of its income; the U.S. would rejoin the ILO on February 18, 1980.
President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt, in an address today to a joint meeting of Congress, again urged the United States to adopt a sympathetic attitude toward the Palestinian cause and to temper its support of Israel. With his half‐hour speech interrupted occasionally by applause in the crowded chamber of the House of Representatives, Mr. Sadat warned that Washington’s diplomatic embargo against the Palestinians was “an open invitation to violence, negativism and extremism”. Alluding to Israel, which he did not name specifically, the Egyptian leader said his government expected the United States to play a “more impartial” role in the Middle East and “not to condone expansion or tolerate aggression.” He also said “we expect it to refrain from spurring the arms race in the area,” an implied criticism of the latest $1.5 billion military aid request for Israel by the Administration.
Egyptian officials feel that President Anwar el‐Sadat, during his 10‐day visit to the U.S., has stated the Arab cause to the American public and politicians in an unadorned yet moderate way and that American-Egyptian relations as a result have become closer and more solid than at any time in the last quarter‐century. Mr. Sadat is believed to have left the country tonight for London feeling that he had won a major round in his long‐range attempt to change American policy in the Middle East from all‐out support for Israel to at least relative “even-handedness” between Israelis and Arabs. Nevertheless, the question remained open whether his visit would have an immediate impact on the issue of war and peace in the Middle East.
Lebanese President Suleiman Franjieh paid warm tribute today to Prime Minister Rashid Karami for what he described as Mr. Karami’s “determined efforts” in restoring law and order after months of conflict and street warfare in Lebanon. The Prime Minister spent eight days and nights at his office in downtown Beirut until he persuaded the warring factions to agree to a genuine cease‐fire. A dozen earlier truces collapsed within hours. President Franjielf s praise for Mr. Karami was made at the first Cabinet session in two weeks. According to an official announcement, the President expressed hope that the Lebanese would put the crisis behind them and resume the traditional Muslim‐Christian cooperation in rebuilding Lebanon. An increasing number of people went to work today. Some shops reopened and the city streets and nearby highways were crowded with vehicles. The Central Bank transferred large sums of money to private banks, which are scheduled to reopen for business tomorrow.
[Ed: Sadly, the agony of Lebanon is far from over. The truce will not hold.]
King Hassan II ordered the 350,000 unarmed Moroccans who have gathered near the border of Spanish Sahara to move into the colony today and claim it. The Moroccan ruler gave the order despite Spain’s warning that it would repel any invasion. He told his subjects to be friendly toward Spanish civilians and soldiers but to continue the march in case of resistance.
The government radio of Bangladesh announced the resignation of Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed, who became President in a coup d’état in August. It said Chief Justice A.M. Sayem would be sworn in as President. His designation was thought to show that the military junta would still be in control but that it sought at least the semblance of a civilian government.
North and South Vietnam have abandoned until 1976 their drive for U.N. membership, twice blocked by U.S. vetoes in the Security Council. Saigon and Hanoi observers requested the postponement, approved by the General Assembly without objection. The United States opposes the admission of the two in retaliation for continued exclusion of South Korea from the world body. The 15-nation Security Council must approve the admission of new countries.
The British government sent troops to Belize. Britain rushed troops, planes and a frigate to this Central American colony today in the face of what officials here described as a possible threat of invasion from neighboring Guatemala. The Guatemalan Government called the move “an act of intimidation.” The frigate HMS Zulu was lying off the southern coast to prevent any incursion by Guatemalan gunboats into the waters of Belize, a long‐disputed territory formerly known as British Honduras. The British Government was reported here to have received word that Guatemala had sent 10 armored troop carriers and an undisclosed number of infantry to the town of Pólvora, in the department of Petén, 15 miles from the border. Belize, a territory smaller than Vermont south of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, is claimed by Guatemala on the ground that it inherited Spanish sovereignty over the area. Britain rejects the claim.
Security agents in Santiago searched today for a Roman Catholic priest and two American nuns accused of giving refuge to Chile’s most wanted left-wing extremists. The military government released an extensive report last night asserting that priests and nuns of various religious orders and nationalities had collaborated to hide and give refuge to the extremists, all members of the underground Revolutionary Left Movement. Sought by security agents were the Rev. Fernando Sales, a Chilean citizen and a membei of the Jesuit order, and two American nuns, Peggy Lepsic and Helen Nelson, Miss Lepsic is a Maryknoll sister, but it was not immediately known to what order Miss Nelson belongs.
Argentine President Isabel Martinez de Perón said early today that she would not resign or take a leave of absence from the presidency and accused “anti-national forces” of trying to undermine her authority. In a televised statement broadcast at midnight, the hospitalized President of Argentina, beseiged by opposition demands that she resign, called on the armed forces, organized labor, the Roman Catholic Church and all “patriotic forces” to support her. The General Confederation of Labor, which is the backbone of the Peronist political movement of which Mrs. Perón is the titular head, ordered a “mobilization” of unions against any attempt to unseat her.
Angolan blacks began pulling down statues of Portuguese heroes in downtown Luanda in preparation for independence six days away. With time running out, the three rival independence movements have stepped up their struggle for control. Heavy fighting continued around the southern port town of Benguela despite reports of a truce to allow time for a last-minute peace mission by Ugandan President Idi Amin.
Despite White House objections, the Senate Intelligence Committee will make public today a report on the National Security Agency’s interception of international cable traffic, Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho), the chairman, disclosed. By a 7–3 vote the committee voted to release its findings on Project Shamrock, a program by which the NSA obtained copies of the cables.
A 25% increase in funding for the nation’s space program was urged by the House space science subcommittee. In a report to Congress, it said a speeded-up space program should “become an integral part of the overall national policy planning for the future needs of our country.” The report is based on two weeks of hearings last summer held by the subcommittee. “Today the opportunities for space utilization and exploration far exceed our commitment,” the report said. It recommended that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration “assemble and propose” such a program to the President. Committee Chairman Don Fuqua (D-Florida) said the 25% increase envisioned a budget increase for NASA of “in the vicinity of $750 million.” He conceded that getting such an increase would be difficult.
Justice William O. Douglas’ health publicly disrupted Supreme Court proceedings for the first time, forcing a scheduling switch in two cases affecting the armed forces. The incident occurred as the court heard arguments on demands of the military for authority to ban political speakers from its bases and to sentence men to jail without permitting them to be represented by counsel. The right-to-counsel case was scheduled for before the noon recess and the political case for after lunch. But just before the first case was due, Douglas left the bench without explanation. A court spokesman said later he had “felt some discomfort.” A haggard-looking Douglas returned to the bench at 1PM to listen to the re-argument, ordered by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, of the right-to-counsel case.
The head of the U.S. Postal Service police agency testified he “could not conceive” of any repetition of illegal CIA and FBI mail-opening programs. “If I were contacted by the CIA or any other law enforcement agency about opening mail, I would decline to do so,” Chief Postal Inspector C. Neil Benson told a House post office subcommittee. “It would not matter what the circumstances were, even if it was a national security matter, I don’t have the authority under the law to open mail,” Benson said.
The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline is more than 50% completed, according to officials of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the firm responsible for the design, construction and operation of the pipeline. The midway mark — 319.6 miles of pipe — was reached October 26, a week ahead of schedule. Pipeline construction is expected to be finished in late 1976, with pump stations and terminals ready in 1977.
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee approved legislation extending federal pesticide control authority for two years, with an Administration-backed $47.8 million annual funding authorization. The Senate panel, before clearing the bill for floor action, eased reins on Environmental Protection Agency powers. Although the EPA will have to give advance notice to the secretary of agriculture and the Senate and House agriculture committees of plans to order future pesticide bans and other major new regulations, the panel voted to allow the EPA to ignore the advance notice clauses in cases in which speedy pesticide con trol action is needed to avert an imminent danger to either human health or the environment.
A new procedure that would get important new medicines into the hands of medical specialists faster but keep them under government control longer was proposed by Alexander M. Schmidt, food and drug commissioner. The process “might permit earlier appearance in the United States of many drugs, in return for a longer investigational phase controlled by FDA,” Schmidt said in remarks prepared for the Tulane Medical Symposium in New Orleans. Currently, a company which develops a new drug must experiment first with animals and then conduct lengthy human clinical trials. But once approved, the FDA must go through a long court proceeding to remove it from the market.
The president of the American Cancer Society urged that the government enact laws forcing the cigarette industry to produce only low tar and low nicotine cigarettes. Dr. George P. Rosemond, also a professor of surgery at Temple University in Philadelphia, suggested that progressive taxes be levied, based on the levels of tar and nicotine. Rosemond was supported at a news conference during the cancer society’s annual meeting in New York City by Dr. Jesse Steinfeld, former U.S. surgeon general. The median level in cigarettes is 18 milligrams of tar and 1.25 milligrams of nicotine, and 15 to 20 milligrams of carbon monoxide released per cigarette, Steinfeld said. He suggested these could be established as the maximum levels.
Voters in various parts of the country indicated a preference for curbs on government spending by rejecting most bond proposals in Tuesday’s elections, sometimes apparently in reaction to New York City’s financial crisis. They rejected $5.87 billion of the $6.33 billion in proposals, with Ohio’s turndown of $4.5 billion in proposals accounting for most of the amount.
Democrats won most of the major contests in Tuesday’s state and local elections, with Republicans showing a bit more strength than they did a year ago and incumbents running well in most areas. Democrats won governorships in Kentucky and Mississippi and mayoral races in Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Gary, Indiana. No discernible national pattern emerged, and few politicians saw any augury for 1976.
Supporters and opponents of the equal-rights amendments proposed to the New York and New Jersey state constitutions agreed that it was women, not men, who defeated them in both states. They also agreed that the stunning defeat was a psychological blow to the women’s movement and to public figures such as Representative Bella Abzug who are identified with it. Opponents in both states announced drives to repeal their ratification of the federal equal rights amendment.
In a surprise move, Robert Sarnoff resigned effective December 31 as chairman and a director of the RCA Corporation. The company said he had indicated he would “pursue other interests of a personal nature.” The board promptly named Anthony Conrad, president and chief operating officer, to become chief executive officer immediately, leaving the chairmanship vacant, at least for now.
The 66-year-old National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is in grave financial trouble, barely meeting payrolls and failing to meet increasing legal expenses. Officials insist there is no danger of its closing but inside sources say that a deficit of nearly $250,000 is reaching a point that could imperil its vital programs.
Governor Carey of New York formally asked the Federal Reserve Bank for a 90-day loan of $576 million to avert “imminent default” in four state agencies over the next three months. He said the agencies had been shut out of the credit markets because of the “contagion” of New York City’s fiscal crisis.
Mayor Beame said at the National Press Club in Washington that President Ford’s rejection of federal help for New York reflected a philosophy that had triggered hatred, disunity and confusion by portraying the city as a pariah. He pleaded for federal loan guarantees as the key to the city’s fiscal salvation.
Travis Walton, a 22-year-old logger, was working in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest with six co-workers near Snowflake, Arizona, when he suddenly disappeared. Walton was found five days later and said that he had been abducted by extraterrestrials. His book, The Walton Experience (1978), would become the basis for a film, Fire in the Sky (1993).
The Sex Pistols gave their first public concert and introduced “punk rock” to the United Kingdom. Singer John Lydon, billed as Johnny Rotten, was backed by Glen Matlock, Steve Jones and Paul Cook in a performance at the St. Martin’s School of Art. In turn, The Pistols were influenced by the music of an American group, the New York Dolls.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 836.27 (+6.14, +0.74%)
Born:
Lisa Scott-Lee, Welsh pop singer (Steps — “5, 6, 7, 8”; “Heartbeat/Tragedy”), in St Asaph, Wales, United Kingdom.
Jamie Madrox [Spaniolo], American horrorcore rapper (“Twizted”), in Detroit, Michigan.
Keala Settle, American stage and screen actress and singer (“Hands on a Hardbody”; “The Greatest Showman”), in Laie, Hawaii.
Died:
Annette Kellerman, 89, Australian swimmer and actress.
Edward Lawrie Tatum, 65, American geneticist, Nobel Prize winner 1958, of heart failure.
Agustín Tosco, 45, Argentine union leader and rebel against the Peron government, died of bacterial encephalitis while registered under a false name at a hospital in Buenos Aires. Tosco had been ill for months but, because he was in hiding, had not sought treatment.
Lionel Trilling, 70, American literary critic and author (1969 Poses Award, The Liberal Imagination).
Lieutenant General Beqir Balluku, 58, former Minister of Defense of Albania, was executed by firing squad along with Major General Petrit Dume, 55, the former Chief of Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces, and Lieutenant General Hito Çako, 52, the former chief of the Albanian Army political directorate. All three had been removed from office in 1974 and convicted of attempting a coup d’état against Albania’s Communist First Secretary, Enver Hoxha.
History Diaries 