News stories from Monday April 12, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Ten thousand North Vietnamese troops are still besieging 10,000 South Vietnamese at Fire Base No. 6; American planes are bombing the area around the base. U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam is now down to 296,500. [CBS]
- A controversial officer has been released from the Army. Lt. Louis Font first asked for his release from the Army in 1970 on the basis of conscientious objection. His appeal was denied because he objected only to the Vietnam war, not all wars. Font then brought charges of substandard housing at Fort Meade, Maryland, against his superiors; the superiors brought charges against Font for disobeying orders. All charges will be dropped when Font's tour of duty ends at midnight tonight.
Font says that his attitude changed as a result of talking to people at Harvard University and because of the My Lai incident. The Army gave Font an honorable discharge but noted that the discharge is due to substandard performance. Font will counsel other soldiers about what he considers to be the unfair system of military justice.
[CBS] - President Nixon announced a $1 million program to help Vietnam veterans find jobs. [CBS]
- Premier Lon Nol of Cambodia returned to his country after spending the last two months in Hawaii for treatment of a stroke. [CBS]
- Egypt rejected Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan's proposal for reopening the Suez Canal. The U.S. government implied that recent shipments of Soviet arms to Egypt may be the result of Israel's slow response to Egypt's peace proposals. [CBS]
- West Pakistan received a pledge of support from Communist China if it is attacked by India. One American evacuee from East Pakistan told reporters of a West Pakistani officer gloating about how things will be after the rebels are defeated; he said that the officer talked of feeding the dead bodies of rebels to dogs, and bragging of having a beautiful East Pakistani mistress after the war. [CBS]
- The Ceylon government claims to have killed 500 leftist rebels. The U.S. State Department is considering Ceylon's request for six helicopters. [CBS]
- North Korea proposed a meeting with South Korea to discuss reunification. The State Department rejected North Korea's demand for U.S. troop withdrawal from South Korea. [CBS]
- The U.S. ping-pong team visited the Great Wall of China and the Technical University in Peking. President Nixon is reportedly considering relaxing trade restrictions on non-strategic goods with Communist China and not opposing their entrance into the United Nations as long as Nationalist China's membership in the U.N. is not threatened. [CBS]
- A government study is underway, seeking a method to make the firing of incompetent civil service workers easier, while finding ways to rehabilitate faltering workers. [CBS]
- Postmaster General Blount stated that air mail delivery will be improved, but rates will increase by summer to 11 cents for air mail and 8 cents for first class mail. [CBS]
- The Civil Aeronautics Board approved airline rate increases up to 6%, to be effective May 7. Eastern Airlines pilots have agreed to fly extra flights for regular pay for the rest of the year in order to stimulate business. [CBS]
- Teamsters union president James Hoffa returned to prison after a five-day furlough to visit his sick wife. [CBS]
- A federal jury acquitted David Poindexter of harboring Angela Davis before her arrest last fall. [CBS]
- The Agriculture Department plans to begin spraying fields to kill fire ants; environmentalists are in court to try to prevent the spraying. Fire ants have spread throughout the southern United States, and the Agriculture Department has a $200 million, 12-year program to wipe out the ants. But the Environmental Defense Fund claims to have evidence that the pesticide to be used against the fire ants may cause shrimp and crabs to die, and catfish and beef cattle may become unfit for eating if that pesticide is used. The states of Florida and South Carolina have pulled out of the program. The Agriculture Department plans to spray fewer acres than last fall, but conservationists hope to halt the spraying entirely. [CBS]
- Shell Oil announced that the fire on its Gulf of Mexico oil rig, which has been burning since December, has been extinguished. [CBS]
- On the tenth anniversary of the first orbiting of Earth by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, 19 Soviet cosmonauts urged increased international cooperation in space. [CBS]
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Dow Jones Industrial Average: 926.64 (+6.25, +0.68%)
Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish. | |||||||||||||||
| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| April 8, 1971 | 920.39 | 102.10 | 17.59 |
| April 7, 1971 | 918.49 | 101.98 | 22.27 |
| April 6, 1971 | 912.73 | 101.51 | 19.99 |
| April 5, 1971 | 905.07 | 100.79 | 16.04 |
| April 2, 1971 | 903.04 | 100.56 | 14.52 |
| April 1, 1971 | 903.88 | 100.39 | 13.47 |
| March 31, 1971 | 904.37 | 100.31 | 17.61 |
| March 30, 1971 | 903.39 | 100.26 | 15.43 |
| March 29, 1971 | 903.48 | 100.03 | 13.65 |
| March 26, 1971 | 903.48 | 99.95 | 15.56 |