News stories from Sunday November 3, 1974

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

The House of Representatives will probably be dramatically changed in its political makeup following Tuesday's post-Watergate, mid-inflation elections. A survey by the New York Times indicates that the Republicans, bearing the opprobrium of corruption and economic tribulation, will lose no fewer than 25 and perhaps as many as 45 seats to the Democrats. The final Gallup poll on the election finds that 55 percent of the electorate prefers Democrats. [New York Times] Negotiations to end the threat of a national coal strike next week reached a new impasse last night in Washington. Arnold Miller, president of the United Mine Workers, said he was ordering home his 38-member bargaining council. He said the talks were stopped because the negotiators for the Bituminous Coal Operators Association refused to respond to the union's wage and benefit proposals. [New York Times] Senator William Fulbright made a gloomy assessment of world conditions in what was expected to be his last major statement before leaving the Senate in January, where he has been chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. In a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., Mr. Fulbright said, "Democracy itself is threatened." Unless the Middle East "time bomb" is defused, he said, the world will see "a new war, a new oil embargo, and possibly consequences therefrom ranging from another great depression to Armageddon itself." [New York Times] A two-year study of the federal revenue-sharing program has concluded that, despite some shortcomings, the $30.2 billion program should be renewed as soon as possible and on a long-term basis. The program, under which state and local governments share in federal revenues, was established in 1972 and is due to expire on Dec. 31, 1976. [New York Times] Secretary of State Kissinger announced that he would visit Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Israel next week to explore "the possible next steps toward a Middle East peace." He arrived in Bucharest, Rumania, today from Iran and had a four-hour meeting with President Nicolae Ceausescu at which the Middle East was discussed. [New York Times] Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, foresees a high probability of war in the Middle East within six months and has predicted that, if war comes, it will start with an Israeli assault against Syria. He made the statement to a correspondent of Time magazine last week at Rabat during the Arab summit meeting, which recognized the Arafat group as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, King Hussein of Jordan told of a reconciliation between himself and Mr. Arafat at the summit meeting. [New York Times]