News stories from Thursday February 15, 1973

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Cuba and the U.S. signed an anti-hijacking agreement. Secretary of State Rogers signed the agreement and Czech charge d'affaires Jaroslav Zantovsky signed for Cuba. A Swiss embassy official represented the U.S. in a similar ceremony in Havana. Rogers stated that the agreement doesn't affect the right of asylum for Cuban refugees. Rogers also talked about the Vietnam war and said that he absolutely opposes amnesty for draft dodgers. [CBS] Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines all announced plans to give aid to North Vietnam. [CBS] President Nixon defended his Vietnam policy to the media during a White House photograph session with General Andrew Goodpasture. Nixon said that the U.S. will now turn more attention to Europe. At a Pentagon luncheon the President toasted peace. Admiral Thomas Moorer said that Nixon is proud of the POWs. [CBS] American warplanes bombed Communist positions in Laos and Cambodia; a cease-fire agreement is expected to be reached soon in Laos. [CBS] At a news conference in the Philippines, ex-POW Col. Robinson Risner was asked about antiwar statements he was said to have made while a prisoner. Risner replied that he has always supported the President and his country, adding that POWs were not even aware of the antiwar movement. The Pentagon does not plan to bring charges against any former POWs for anything they said or did while in captivity.Forty more POWs arrived at Travis AFB in California. Wives say that their husbands want most to hear about their families, and don't want to talk about their captivity. Civilian former prisoners of war who went to Saigon after being released have returned to the United States. Richard Waldhaus first went to Saigon to find his girlfriend. After meeting with her, Waldhaus returned to the U.S. alone. Meanwhile in South Vietnam, more Communist POWs were released. Communist POWs at first refused to cross the river to North Vietnam in boats flying the South Vietnam flag; a Viet Cong member of the Joint Military Commission convinced them to do so. The POWs shed their South Vietnam prisoner-of-war clothes and unfurled North Vietnam banners. North Vietnamese soldiers and nurses greeted them on the other side of the river, where the POWs were given new clothes and cigarettes. [CBS] South Vietnamese guards prevented guests from attending a cocktail party at the headquarters of the Communist military commission. Two North Vietnamese members of the Joint Military Commission were roughed up by civilians in Hue. South Vietnam refuses to sign an order for a crackdown on cease-fire violations. Both South Vietnam and North Vietnam are bickering about the prisoners of war exchange. [CBS] Henry Kissinger left Hong Kong, where he was resting after his visit to Hanoi. He flew to Peking today and talked with Premier Chou En-lai. [CBS] Israel skirmished with an Egyptian plane and exchanged fire with Syria along the Golan Heights. [CBS] Sweden, Finland and Portugal devalued their currencies today. The price of gold was up, the dollar was steady. [CBS] Wholesale prices were up 1.3% overall in January, mainly due to higher food prices. [CBS] The Cost of Living Council approved a ceiling on turkey production to help keep turkey prices up. [CBS] President Nixon called for a drastic revision of farm policy, telling Congress that he wants a wide range of environmental protection bills passed this year and also wants an end to all farm subsidies. Farm organizations had no immediate comment. [CBS] President Nixon is issuing new welfare guidelines that will cut spending by about two-thirds. Health, Education & Welfare Secretary Caspar Weinberger says that the changes are designed to deal with welfare abuses. [CBS] The Environmental Protection Agency ordered the recall of cars which fail to meet anti-pollution standards. EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus ordered General Motors to recall and modify several Chevrolet station wagons. [CBS] A grand jury refused to indict reporter Les Whitten and two Indians on charges of possessing documents that were stolen from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Whitten, a leg man for columnist Jack Anderson, says he was invited by Indian Hank Adams to be present while the Indians returned the documents to the BIA.The House Foreign Affairs Committee room was found to be bugged. Committee chairman Thomas Morgan said that a bug was found after Secretary of State Rogers testified to the committee on Monday. The FBI says that the device is a very sophisticated piece of equipment. Most committee hearings, such as the Rogers hearing, are open and not secret anyway. [CBS] Comedian Wally Cox, 48, was found dead today in his California home. [CBS] In Santa Cruz, California, 25-year-old Herbert Mullin was charged with the fatal shootings of six people in the past three weeks. [CBS] Experts examining orange soil from the moon which was found by Apollo 17 astronauts say that the soil is 3½ billion years old. [CBS] The hospital ship "Sanctuary" has both male and female crew members as a new Navy experiment. Now two crew members want to get married. The Navy has no objections, but the sailors must go to different ships if they marry. [CBS] The Nixon administration favors aid to North Vietnam on the grounds that it would mean American observers in North Vietnam. The administration feels that aid would channel enemy activity into reconstruction, but skeptics feel that U.S. financial aid would only help North Vietnam fight better faster. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 973.13 (-6.78, -0.69%)
S&P Composite: 114.45 (-0.65, -0.56%)
Arms Index: 1.20

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	475	3.66
Declines	937	8.66
Unchanged	351	1.62
Total Volume		13.94

* in millions of shares

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*
February 14, 1973	979.91	115.10	16.52
February 13, 1973	996.76	116.78	25.32
February 12, 1973	991.57	116.06	16.13
February 9, 1973	979.46	114.68	19.26
February 8, 1973	967.19	113.16	18.44
February 7, 1973	968.32	113.66	17.96
February 6, 1973	979.91	114.45	15.72
February 5, 1973	978.40	114.23	14.58
February 2, 1973	980.81	114.35	17.47
February 1, 1973	985.78	114.76	20.67