News stories from Saturday December 22, 1973

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

The 93d Congress adjourned its first session after abandoning efforts to pass major legislation giving President Nixon sweeping powers to impose gasoline rationing and take other emergency steps to conserve energy. Unless called back into session by the President or Congressional leaders, Congress will not reconvene until Jan. 21. The adjournment was quiet in contrast to the stormy session in which the House, early Saturday morning, killed a modified emergency energy bill that had been stripped of provisions curbing "windfall profits" in the oil industry. [New York Times] Senate Democratic presidential hopefuls are moving toward the right on a number of defense spending issues and taking an increasingly critical view of the administration's policy of detente with Moscow. One Senator said: "Scoop is pulling the Democrats with national ambitions along with him" on national security matters. "Scoop" is Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, who has become a frequent challenger of the administration's foreign policies. [New York Times] American sympathy for Israel has grown, instead of diminishing, following the outbreak of the Middle East war and the subsequent Arab oil embargo against the United States and other countries, according to the Gallup Poll. The poll appears to indicate that the fear of some Jewish leaders that the war and the oil shortage would bring a backlash against Jews has thus far been without foundation. At the same time, a check by correspondents of The New York Times found no significant expression of anti-Jewish sentiment, although there have been efforts by groups and individuals to fan a reaction against American Jews. [New York Times] The Rev. Billy Graham, an old friend and occasional adviser of President Nixon, has accused the President of errors in judgment and of keeping himself in "isolation" in the White House. In an interview in the Jan. 4 issue of Christianity Today, released yesterday, Mr. Graham said that "until there is more proof to the contrary, I have confidence in the President's integrity, but some of his judgments have been wrong and I just don't agree with them." He added: "I think many of his judgments have been very poor, especially in the selection of certain people." [New York Times] The Middle East peace conference ended its first round with a quick agreement on moving "forthwith" toward talks on separating Israeli and Egyptian forces now tangled along a jagged front on both sides of the Suez Canal. There was general satisfaction among the participants about the cordial atmosphere of today's session, which lasted only about 20 minutes. The mood in the closed session was described as much more relaxed and businesslike than in the first meeting Friday, when Israel and Egypt engaged in sharp exchanges. [New York Times] The Japanese cabinet approved what it termed an "austerity" budget for the 1974 fiscal year, calling for the smallest annual increase in spending in four years as part of the government's intense new effort to combat inflation and the oil shortage. Earlier in the day, Premier Kakuei Tanaka left a hospital where he was under treatment for an ear infection to attend a special cabinet meeting and to declare a state of emergency. He ordered a 20% cut in the supply of oil and electricity in major industries, effective Jan. 1. [New York Times] The Palestine Liberation Organization was negotiating with Kuwait to gain custody of the five Palestinian gunmen who killed 31 people at the Rome airport Monday and then flew to Kuwait in a hijacked Lufthansa airliner. Palestinian sources in Beirut said that Ali Yasin, the head of the guerrilla organization's office in Kuwait, flew to Damascus to confer with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, who has asked that the men be turned over to his organization for trial. [New York Times]