News stories from Sunday August 5, 1973

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

Arab terrorists struck again in Athens, Greece, killing many. Two Americans were caught in the massacre and several others were wounded when two men in the airport started throwing hand grenades and shooting machine guns, firing indiscriminately. The terrorists seized hostages but later surrendered to police.The Americans who were killed are Jeannie Salandis and Albert Kersen. Eyewitnesses say that the two gunmen and their female accomplices apparently intended to board a plane to Israel, but panicked when a Greek guard tried to check their hand luggage. Their original plan is unknown. In Beirut, Palestinian spokesmen denied knowledge of the airport attack. [NBC] U.S. planes continued bombing Communist troops near Phnom Penh. The bombing will be halted on August 15, and reaction to the loss of U.S. air support in Cambodia is speculative. Secretary of State William Rogers stated that government troops will withdraw from exposed positions. The U.S. will speed up its delivery of planes to Cambodia, but Cambodia has no pilots to fly the planes. Cambodian pilots are too small and the Cambodian air force is too poorly equipped to take up where the U.S. bombers leave off. [NBC] The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold important public hearings on the falsification of bombing reports. The committee will hear how military reports of air strikes by medium and small fighter-bombers were falsified. One source says that the falsification seems more blatant than the secret B-52 strikes in 1969 and '70 over Cambodia. The committee will also probe secret U.S. ground operations in Cambodia. It will hear testimony by American pilots who, acting on orders, deliberately hit enemy field hospitals. Pentagon officials insist that any such order would violate American policy.Dissension exists over the hearings. Some senators feel the aim is to embarrass the military and the Nixon administration. [NBC] The General Accounting Office reported that, over the past two years, the Pentagon spent $46 million more than it admitted spending on public relations. [NBC] President Nixon's top economic adviser George Shultz stated that the freeze on beef will be maintained until September 12 as planned. [NBC] To counteract expected beef price rises in September, President Nixon placed an embargo on the export of soybeans to build up the domestic supply for cattle feed here. Lower feed and cattle prices were expected to result from the surplus. In many foreign countries, the soybean embargo has had the opposite effect. In France, when soybean imports stopped, beef and pork production slowed. European meat prices will soar even higher without soybeans. Soybeans could become an economic weapon for the U.S. in trade deals with Europe. [NBC] More slaughterhouses and meat packing companies are planning to close. Beef production is currently down to 50% of its normal level. [NBC] Skylab astronauts Alan Bean, Jack Lousma and Owen Garriott continued with their work in space. No firm decision has yet been made regarding a rescue mission to Skylab. The astronauts will examine the problems aboard Skylab, and mission control remains hopeful for a full length, successful mission. [NBC] Two battalions of National Guardsmen have left the Oklahoma state prison at McAlester. Some guards remain but the governor stated that no more violence is expected. State officials must decide on how to rebuild the destroyed buildings and keep similar riots from occurring again.Prisoners remained united against the prison system. One inmate said that after years of boredom the prisoners felt they had nothing to lose in destroying the prison. The state prison is overcrowded, understaffed and forgotten by the taxpayers. Prison newspaper editor George Clark said that violence inside the prison is enormous. A shortage of guards is the chief problem, as the more violent prisoners prey on the others. It will take $20 million to rebuild the prison, and no money will be left for reform programs. [NBC] Senate Watergate hearings resume Monday with former acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray on the stand. Former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst will follow Gray. Kleindienst will claim that he told President Nixon about the Watergate cover-up for the first time in April '73. [NBC] The Klamath Indians are a small tribe in Oregon. The federal government wants to buy the Klamath Indian Forest and make the Indians rich. But the Indians are afraid they will lose more important things if they take the money. Ten years ago, other members of the tribe sold off part of their land for $43,000 a share. Some have noticed that money hasn't brought happiness. Mrs. Modesto Jiminez says that money has caused alcoholism in many Indians. Money is not a blessing but rather the downfall of the Klamath Indians. [NBC] Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo is allegedly using city police to spy on his political enemies. The Philadelphia Enquirer and the Philadelphia Bulletin both reported the story. Rizzo denied it. [NBC] Tennessee police are searching for an ex-convict who shot and killed three people yesterday and critically wounded his ex-wife. Alvin Seagroves was released from prison just one week ago over the objections of the district attorney and the parole officer. [NBC] The body of an old man was found in the debris of a hotel that collapsed Friday in New York City, becoming the only known casualty so far of the Broadway Central Hotel. [NBC]