News stories from Sunday July 8, 1973

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

112 members of the U.S. Peace Corps are being held captive in Uganda. They were on their way to Zaire when President Idi Amin ordered their plane to land. Amin intends to keep the Americans under arrest until he is assured that they are not mercenaries. In DC, the State Department is working to free the Peace Corps volunteers; the State Department is in constant contact with Uganda's capital city. The detention comes after Amin's Fourth of July telegram to President Nixon, taunting him about Watergate. U.S. relations have hit a new low with Amin's government. The Peace Corps volunteers are reportedly in good health and spirits. [NBC] Senator Edward Gurney stated that he supports President Nixon's decision not to testify before the Senate Watergate committee. As a member of the committee, Gurney believes that the President's papers pertaining to Watergate should be made available, however. The President said that they will not be. [NBC] A poll taken by the Washington Post shows that 57% believe President Nixon was involved in the Watergate cover-up, but only 16% believe that impeachment is necessary. [NBC] Former Attorney General John Mitchell will be the next witness at the Watergate hearings when testimony resumes on Tuesday. [NBC] A review of the charges against former Attorney General John Mitchell as he faces the Senate Watergate committee: James McCord testified that Mitchell authorized the break-in; Alfred Baldwin's testimony also charged Mitchell. Jeb Magruder stated that Mitchell discussed Watergate at three separate meetings and gave final approval of the break-in plans. Robert Reisner said that Mitchell put wiretap logs in a file intended for John Dean. Finally, Dean accused Mitchell of having knowledge of the cover-up and the CIA's potential involvement. Now John Mitchell gets his turn to speak about Watergate. [NBC] Former Teamsters boss James Hoffa plans to file a suit to lift the restrictions which bar him from union activities. Hoffa is biding his time until he is able to be active in union business again.In 1957, a Senate committee began to probe into criminal activities in labor unions, and Robert Kennedy brought Hoffa to trial on charges of jury tampering and mail fraud when Kennedy became Attorney General. Hoffa served five years of his 13-year sentence before being granted a commutation by President Nixon if Hoffa agreed to refrain from union activities until 1980. Hoffa's lawyers are seeking a ruling on the constitutionality of forbidding him from holding union office. Hoffa intends to win back the presidency of his union local in 1974 if his lawsuit is successful. Current local president David Johnson said that he's willing to retire if Hoffa takes his place, but Johnson does not believe that Hoffa's hand-picked successor as Teamsters president, Frank Fitzsimmons, will step down in favor of Hoffa. Hoffa says that he expects to be Teamsters president in 1976. [NBC] France has ordered all ships to keep 60 miles from Mururoa atoll in the south Pacific beginning Wednesday. A nuclear blast will be set off there. New Zealand will protest by sending a ship with a cabinet member on board into the danger zone. [NBC] There is controversy over radioactive waste in America. Atomic energy foes say that nuclear waste is improperly stored and therefore endangers lives; water supplies may be threatened. Professor George Kennedy claims that entire water basins will be rendered useless in the near future because of radiation leaks. The Atomic Energy Commission believes that its storage procedures are careful and effective, but critics say that a nuclear disaster is inevitable. [NBC] Government troops in Cambodia reopened a highway to the capital city of Phnom Penh with U.S. air support. Senator Edward Brooke called for an immediate end to U.S. bombing in Cambodia. [NBC] The administration is considering reducing gas prices as part of Phase IV economic controls. Other petroleum products are also being considered in the rollback. [NBC] Congress resumes tomorrow and will discuss the trans-Alaskan pipeline. Senators Mondale and Bayh want all action on the pipeline to be halted for now. [NBC]