News stories from Saturday October 26, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Ford has agreed to meet with Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, on Nov. 23 and 24 in the Vladivostok area of the Soviet Far East. The announcement came at the end of three days of talks between Mr. Brezhnev and Secretary of State Kissinger in Moscow on the limitation of strategic offensive weapons. [New York Times]
- Secretary Caspar Weinberger of the Health, Education and Welfare Department will offer President Ford a $21.6 billion "cash transfer" plan to replace the nation's major welfare programs. The plan would terminate such programs as food stamps and Aid to Families with Dependent Children and, in exchange, would give a jobless family of four $3,600 a year. [New York Times]
- Henry Ruth became the third special Watergate prosecutor as he was officially sworn in to succeed Leon Jaworski, who resigned to resume private law practice in Texas. In brief remarks after the ceremony in the United States Court of Claims, Mr. Ruth pledged the independence of his office. Attorney General William Saxbe was at the ceremony. [New York Times]
- President Ford, in his first interview after 10 weeks in office, talked of "tougher measures" if necessary to reduce American dependence on Arab oil; of wage and price controls in the event of a "very major international crisis," and of how it feels to be President. "I love it," he said, "It's sort of got my adrenalin going again." [New York Times]
- Five bombs exploded in Manhattan, causing considerable property damage but no injuries. One bomb exploded in an auto in the financial district, two exploded in Rockefeller Center and two exploded on Park Avenue north of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. A group calling itself F.A.L.M., described as a Puerto Rican nationalist group, said it had set the bombs. [New York Times]
- College students from middle-income families are beginning to get increased scholarship help because of new policies that in some cases reverse the decade-old theory of basing monetary help on need instead of academic promise. The new move has been hailed by many as a much-needed response to the pressure imposed by inflation on middle-income students. [New York Times]
- Arab heads of state, at the start of the Arab summit conference at Rabat, Morocco, are making last-minute efforts to keep King Hussein of Jordan from breaking away from the conference. The three-day meeting opened with an attack on American policies in the Middle East and an appeal to King Hussein and the Palestinian Liberation Organization to bury their differences. [New York Times]
- Japanese sources have revealed that a secret agreement permitting the United States to bring nuclear arms temporarily into Japan was concluded without a Japanese text so that it could be denied in that nuclear-sensitive nation. The agreement, subject of a continuing controversy in Tokyo, was negotiated in 1960 by Japan's foreign minister and the American ambassador at the time, Douglas MacArthur II. [New York Times]
- Four armed prisoners, including a Palestinian hijacker, raided the chapel of Scheveningen penitentiary during mass and took 22 hostages, the police at the Hague reported. The four demanded that they be put in touch with an ambassador or consul of an Arab country. The hijacker, Adnan Ahmed Nuri, also demanded that a colleague from an earlier hijacking, Sami Houssin Tamimah, be released and allowed to join the prisoners at the penitentiary chapel. Mr. Tamimah is under postoperative care. [New York Times]
- Anguished scenes are unfolding in northern and eastern India, with children eating grass, leaves and even rats to stay alive. Hunger is spreading in five Indian states as a result of spring and summer droughts, isolated floods and a spiraling population. Government bungling, hoarding and black-marketeering have also contributed to severe scarcities. [New York Times]
- The United States has taken a leading role toward the establishment of an international food reserve, moving in advance of the World Food Conference in Rome, where a stockpile plan is expected to be the central issue. Critics had expressed fears that the United States delegation would go to the conference next month, to be held under United Nations sponsorship, without a positive position, and that this might undermine the meeting. [New York Times]