News stories from Saturday November 23, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Ford and Leonid Brezhnev, after seven hours of talks at Vladivostok, were reported to have made progress toward a comprehensive, 10-year agreement for curbing offensive nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Kissinger, who participated in all the meetings, told reporters that he expected the talks to end with some form of new instructions to negotiators at Geneva. "The views of the two sides are being brought closer," Mr. Kissinger said. [New York Times]
- President Ford and his top advisers are under intensifying pressure to change their conservative, restrictive anti-inflation policies in the face of deepening recession. The pressures are both economic and political and they are starting to come from within as well as outside the administration. [New York Times]
- Representative Morris Udall of Arizona became the first Democrat to open officially his candidacy for the presidency in 1976. He said that he would participate in the primary in New Hampshire, where he made the announcement, and other primaries. Mr. Udall, who is 52 years old and belongs to the liberal wing of his party, said his major Issues would be what he called the "three E's -- environment, economy, energy." These, he said, would "dominate" his campaign and be the most important issues for the rest of the decade. [New York Times]
- A group of scientists has concluded that a major accident at one of the country's nuclear reactors could kill or make seriously ill more than 120,000 persons, 16 times the casualties estimated in a recent study financed by the Atomic Energy Commission. The new estimate of casualties was contained in the first detailed criticism of an extensive study by the A.E.C., and made public last August, which said that a reactor accident was highly unlikely and that the consequences of such an accident would be less serious than had been suggested in earlier studies by the commission. [New York Times]
- Palestinian hijackers killed a German banker and later released 13 hostages, but threatened the lives of their 27 remaining captives aboard a British airliner unless terrorists held in Cairo were released. Egypt flew five of the terrorists to Tunis in a bid to save the hostages, but made no mention of the eight others whose release had been demanded. [New York Times]
- The Israeli Information Minister, Aharon Yariv, said that Israel was willing to consider granting autonomy in gradual stages to the 700,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank area. He said that eventually this could lead to a federated status for the area in which the relations between the West Bank, Israel and Jordan could finally be determined. He also said, in an interview over the Israeli state radio, that the General Assembly's resolutions on the Palestinians would have no effect on Israel's refusal to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization. [New York Times]
- Abdel Mohsen Abu Maizer, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and a close adviser to its chairman, Yasser Arafat, said that the organization would review its policy of terrorism against Israel now that it had obtained observer's status at the United Nations. He added that "military operations" against Israel could be expected to continue but his organization would put increasing emphasis on political activity to advance its cause. [New York Times]