News stories from Sunday August 16, 1970
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Army nerve gas currently at sea will be dumped near the Bahamas. A three-judge panel rejected an appeal against the Army, and opponents have abandoned their fight. Defense Secretary Melvin Laird vowed that the Army won't dump nerve gas at sea again. The Navy admits that the gas containers have not been tested below 7,200 feet, but the drop site is 16,000 feet deep. The gas also hasn't been tested for its possible effect on marine life. [CBS]
- The United States has decided that it will ignore Israel's charges of cease-fire violations by the United Arab Republic. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir stated that the U.S. peace plan is not encouraging, and she expects shooting to resume on the Suez Canal before the 90-day truce is over.
Al Fatah leader Yasser Arafat accused the United Arab Republic and Jordan of undermining the Palestinian cause by accepting the cease-fire, and he vowed that guerrillas will keep the cause alive.
[CBS] - Pope Paul denounced the trend toward public nudity. [CBS]
- Communists shelled 7 bases in northern South Vietnam; American B-52s hit the area hard.
U.S. officials are gaining confidence in Vietnam operations.
[CBS] - President Nixon's television advisers say that he should drop the phrase "Let me make this perfectly clear." [CBS]
- Vice President Spiro Agnew stated that the present U.S. economic recession is a myth, and there would be no trouble if Congress would cooperate with President Nixon. [CBS]
- Summer unemployment is up 30% this year for blacks, and is up 13.6% for whites. [CBS]
- Gulfport, Mississippi held memorial services for victims of last year's Hurricane Camille, and the city took up a collection for the victims of Hurricane Celia in Texas. Camille was the worst storm ever to hit the U.S. mainland; rebuilding is in progress but 1,000 people are still in temporary houses. [CBS]