News stories from Thursday November 28, 1974

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

Ranking aides of President Ford indicated a shift in his economic perspectives -- that he now believes concern about a recession shares equal priority with the problem of inflation, which he previously called the nation's "public enemy number one." Roy Ash, director of the Office of Management and Budget, noted the new "balance" shown by his latest budget recommendations, which would put total current spending at $302 billion instead of cutting it to $300 billion or below. [New York Times] A New York Times survey shows that other major cities, like New York, are being forced into painful austerities by inflation and recession. Cleveland's mayor has announced a layoff of 1,104 employees after voters rejected his proposed rise in the city income tax from 1 to 1.5 percent. Detroit, reflecting the state of its automobile industry, projects a record high revenue gap. Chicago is doubling the parking fine, closing the city tuberculosis hospital, and trimming its Civil Service. [New York Times] Farmers raising pork and poultry and fattening cattle are reducing production because the supply of feed grain is at one of its lowest levels since World War II and its cost is going up. The effect on consumer prices is showing already in broilers and eggs, with turkeys scheduled to start their rise in the supermarkets by the end of January. Prices to farmers for pork have been declining, sending production down and prices to consumers up. A record number of cattle on the country's ranges could keep prices of unfattened beef down well into 1975. [New York Times] Nelson Rockefeller's 16-year domination of the Republican party in New York will continue from Washington if he is confirmed as Vice President, according to G.O.P. leaders who are friendly and also those who are not so friendly. This post is considered important for his presidential ambitions because it deters other Republican aspirants from seeking support on his home turf. [New York Times] Researchers at the National Cancer Institute have concluded that between 5 and 10 million years ago, a virus infection transferred a group of genes from early relatives of man and monkey directly to cats. Genetic transfers have been known in bacteria but not heretofore in higher animals. The research is believed to have important implications for the study of both evolution and cancer. One theory holds that the underlying cause of all cancers is virus genetic material in the individual's heredity. [New York Times] Secretary General Waldheim said in Cairo at the end of his Middle East talks that unless there was a breakthrough in negotiations, war might break out by next spring or early summer. He said his visit had helped the Syrians and Israelis to delay a showdown. Arab diplomatic sources in Beirut said that President Ford and Leonid Brezhnev had worked out a formula at their Vladivostok meeting to break the deadlock. The Russians would persuade the Palestine Liberation Organization to recognize Israel's right to exist as a state, and the Americans would persuade Israel to negotiate with the P.L.O. The Geneva conference would then be reconvened. [New York Times] Secretary of State Kissinger, exchanging toasts at a Peking banquet, said he had achieved a "better understanding" of the Chinese viewpoint and would take it seriously into account. The assurances may have been intended to allay a feeling in Peking that the United States was taking China for granted in the year since his previous visit. [New York Times] The military junta in Ethiopia elected Gen. Tafari Banti as chairman to succeed Gen. Aman Michael Andom, who died while resisting arrest in a military power struggle Saturday. The announcement did not make clear whether the new chairman would also act as chief of state and civilian cabinet head, as did General Aman. Attention focused on the possibility of expanded fighting in Northern Ethiopia, where ethnic minorities have been waging guerrilla war for 12 years. [New York Times]