News stories from Sunday January 5, 1975

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

Thousands of Americans who are living on fixed incomes or are unemployed cannot afford to pay their heating bills this winter. Distributors of natural gas, oil, electricity and other heating fuels are cutting them off in sharply increased numbers. "I think if it really got cold," a major New York oil distributor said, "you'd see between 20 and 40 percent of our customers unable to meet our credit terms." [New York Times] President Ford named an eight-member commission headed by Vice President Rockefeller to investigate allegations of domestic spying by the Central Intelligence Agency. Ron Nessen, the White House press secretary, said that the eight had been chosen as respected citizens who had no former connection with the C.I.A. The deadline for the commission's report is April 4. [New York Times] Congressional leaders made it clear that President Ford's appointment of a commission to investigate the Central Intelligence Agency would not keep Congress from investigating the matter. Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, the Senate Republican leader, said that he expected congressional inquiries to continue long after the commission's report was completed. He praised the President's choice of members, and said the commission was "truly blue ribbon." Some other members of Congress were not so enthusiastic. Senator William Proxmire, Wisconsin Democrat, said the choice of Vice President Rockefeller as the chairman "leaves something to be desired." [New York Times] A study by the Council on Economic Priorities, a nonprofit public interest organization, has found that the limited scope of competition among drug companies in the sale of seven antibiotics costs consumers at least $180 million a year. The seven drugs are no longer under patent and consequently are available from many different manufacturers. In five of the seven drugs, the most widely sold version of each was the one with the highest price. [New York Times] Overwork among wives with jobs outside the home is being recognized worldwide as a "serious problem," according to a study by the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations based in Geneva. "A more equitable sharing of the burden of housework and the care of children between men and women," is one approach to the problem of the overworked wife, the study said, and such a sharing is one of the "prerequisites of sexual equality." The study was prepared for a meeting of the 125 member nations in Geneva in June, with the hope that its recommendations would become national laws. [New York Times] The Saigon military command reported that North Vietnamese troops, led by tanks, again attacked the embattled provincial capital of Phuoc Binh this morning in a heavy mortar barrage. It said that radio communication was being maintained with the town, which was being resupplied by high-altitude air drops. Yesterday, the command said South Vietnamese government troops repulsed a ground attack. About 3,000 troops are defending the town. [New York Times] Insurgents launched fresh assaults against a besieged Cambodian government force on the Mekong River two miles east of Phnom Penh in what observers said might be a prelude to an all-out offensive against the capital. They have fired about 36 rockets into Phnom Penh since New Year's Day, killing or wounding 40 persons. President Lon Nol visited a battlefield and ordered field commanders to fight the rebels "at all costs in order to achieve a military victory." [New York Times]