News stories from Saturday December 30, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The White House announced today that President Nixon had ordered a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam above the 20th parallel, and that Henry Kissinger would resume negotiations for a Vietnam cease-fire with Le Duc Tho in Paris on Jan. 8. It was not clear whether the impetus for the new round of negotiations had come from Hanoi or from Washington. [New York Times]
- After a night of anguish and agony in the murk of the Florida Everglades, nearly half of the 177 persons aboard an Eastern airlines jumbo jet from New York were rescued after the plane crashed on its approach to Miami International Airport. The L-1011 Tri-Star shattered on impact. Ninety-seven persons were presumed dead, an airline spokesman said. [New York Times]
- President Nixon has offered to put a labor union representative at a high level in all federal government departments, according to a well informed White House official. The offer, said to be unparalleled in labor history, was made to members of the National Productivity Commission, including George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, and Frank Fitzsimmons, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, at a White House meeting last week. [New York Times]
- A number of whooping cranes have failed to return to their wintering grounds in Texas, according to officials of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service. The are unable to account for the decline, which worries them because the birds, near extinction several decades ago, had been making a comeback under government protection. [New York Times]
- Syria shelled Israeli settlements in occupied territory today, and Israeli planes retaliated with their second attack in four days, bombing an army camp north of Damascus. Damascus radio said the shelling, near the cease-fire line where heavy fighting flared last month, was a reprisal for an air raid Wednesday by Israel. [New York Times]