News stories from Sunday March 21, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- All available U.S. aircraft are supporting South Vietnamese forces in Laos against heavy enemy attacks; U.S. planes also bombed missile sites in North Vietnam. North Vietnamese units chased some South Vietnamese forces up to the South Vietnam border in Laos. U.S. units inside South Vietnam along with the South Vietnamese command post at Ham Nghi are under attack.
Senator George Aiken said that South Vietnam's poor performance in the Laos operation may have eased North Vietnam's fears of being invaded. Senator Mike Mansfield stated that the Laos operation may have drawn more North Vietnamese forces close to South Vietnam without providing additional time for U.S. withdrawal.
[CBS] - More than 500 American Jews were arrested during a sit-in near the Soviet embassy in Washington, where they were protesting the treatment of Soviet Jews. The Jewish Defense League is demanding that President Nixon pressure the USSR to allow Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel. [CBS]
- One hundred people are believed to have been killed by a landslide in New Guinea. A slight earthquake was the possible cause of an overflow in a lake in Peru last week; 259 people were killed in the landslide which resulted. [CBS]
- Thousands of skiers and tourists are isolated by avalanches in the Italian Alps. Four people have been killed and seven are missing. [CBS]
- The Gaullist party claimed victory in municipal elections in France after getting 50% of the vote while the Communists got 19%. [CBS]
- Britain sent 300 sailors to Northern Ireland and promised to send 1,000 more. [CBS]
- Nuclear waste is scheduled be buried in a salt mine below Lyons, Kansas. Opposition to the plan is coming from outside of Lyons; the townspeople welcome the project. The Kansas Sierra Club said that it is opposing the project in order to force the Atomic Energy Commission to establish safety plans. The A.E.C. conducted some studies and concluded that the risks are negligible, but opponents claim that the commission is going about this project in the same manner as others where safety proved to be less than expected. [CBS]
- The jury had some testimony reread during today's deliberations in Lt. William Calley's trial. [CBS]