News stories from Sunday January 18, 1970

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

Legislation that would create a semi-public corporation to take over and modernize intercity passenger train service is expected to be announced this week by the administration. The corporation, to be called Railpax, would run trains on a network of routes to be selected by the Secretary of Transportation. Its stock would be owned initially by the railroad industry. [New York Times] The chairmen of American and Trans-Caribbean Airways announced that they had agreed to merge, subject to the approval of the directors of the companies, the Civil Aeronautics Board, President Nixon and their stockholders. American Airlines is the nation's second largest air carrier. Trans-Caribbean is noted for its strength in the pleasure market. [New York Times] The 96-year-old president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, David McKay, died of acute congestion of the heart at his Hotel Utah residence overlooking the church buildings in the center of Salt Lake City. Mr. McKay had headed the Mormon Church since 1951. [New York Times] An Egyptian military installation near Cairo's international airport and an arms depot just across the Nile River from some of the most famous pyramids were among the targets of Israeli air raids during the day. The strikes near Cairo and the University of Halwan were thought to have been conducted as much for psychological reasons as for military ones. [New York Times] Secretary General Thant of the United Nations, looking tired as he stepped from a flight from the Ivory Coast, arrived in Lagos to talk about the relief needs of the Biafran area of Nigeria. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the Nigerian head of state, met Mr. Thant and walked with the Secretary General while he reviewed a military guard of honor. [New York Times] The gathering of some 5,000 Japanese students and young workers in a Tokyo park and a demonstration last week near the site of a proposed international airport marked the beginning of a campaign by the Japanese "new left" to prevent renewal of the U.S.-Japanese security treaty by paralyzing the country in June. [New York Times]