News stories from Saturday September 18, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The police in Saigon used tear gas to break up demonstrations by anti-government students and politicians against the upcoming one-man presidential elections. The first day of widespread and sustained protest against President Thieu's candidacy did not appear to attract much support from the people of Saigon. [New York Times]
- Mainland China's almost certain entry in the United Nations will make it even more difficult to say who runs the world body. Whatever Peking's delegates do at the U.N., their ideology, their 700 million constituents and the fact that they have not been there before will be sure to upset existing power patterns and cut into the limited ability of the United States and the Soviet Union to control the United Nations. [New York Times]
- Taking advantage of the current rainy season, Cambodian Army troops have taken the offensive and re-established government control of about half of the country, according to Western sources. American military analysts said that the advance of the troops away from the region around Phnom Penh has been for the most part unopposed. [New York Times]
- Egypt and Israel exchanged rocket fire across the Suez Canal today, according to official communiques, for the first time since the cease-fire went into effect 13 months ago. Israeli military sources said that Egypt had fired on Israeli planes flying over Israeli-held territory, and Egypt reported that Israeli planes had attacked Egyptian ground positions. [New York Times]