News stories from Sunday January 19, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The push for President Ford's economic program intensified with three administration officials making appearances on television interview programs to urge prompt congressional approval. "I most certainly am," Treasury Secretary William Simon replied when asked whether he was ready to fight for Mr. Ford's proposals. The other officials interviewed were the Secretary of the Interior, Rogers C. B. Morton, and Frank Zarb, head of the Federal Energy Administration. [New York Times]
- Fewer policemen are being bribed now by illegal bookmakers because impractical federal gambling laws are not being enforced, a study of the nation's sports-betting industry indicates. In New York City, for example, where anti-gambling squads have been reduced by 50 percent in the last five years, the milder arrest tactics are melting much of the corruptive "ice" formerly paid to the local police. A number of things has brought about this apparent reduction of police corruption. [New York Times]
- China published a new state Constitution that enshrines the basic precepts of Mao Tse-tung, chairman of the National Committee of China's Communist party, who did not attend the meetings in Peking at which the Constitution was finally approved. As was expected, the Constitution abolishes the post of head of state, which has been vacant since it was formally stripped from the disgraced Liu Shao-chi more than six years ago during the Cultural Revolution. The functions of the head of state have been assigned to the National People's Congress, the legislative body that adopted the Constitution on Friday at the conclusion of its first session in a decade. The document describes the Congress as "the highest organ of state power" but emphasizes that it is "under the leadership of the Communist party." [New York Times]
- A huge convoy of ships loaded with American-provided food, fuel and ammunition for isolated Phnom Penh waited at the South Vietnamese border to cross into Cambodia and try to break through the insurgent blockade of the Mekong River. The convoy of about 30 commercial vessels, arranged by the United States, was said to be waiting for Cambodian gunboats to escort it 71 miles up the Mekong. [New York Times]
- Eight people were wounded at Orly airport in Paris when an attack by pro-Palestinian terrorists on an El Al airliner was foiled by the police. The plane took off safely for Tel Aviv. In the airport the terrorists tossed grenades and exchanged gunfire with the police. After the gunfire exchange, the two gunmen took refuge in a washroom with several hostages. [New York Times]