News stories from Sunday December 14, 1975

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

Since the beginning of the court-ordered busing for school desegregation 18 months ago, Boston's public schools have lost at least 17,750 white pupils, nearly a third of the total white enrollment. The departure of white students is expected to be a major factor in the rapidly growing and politically-charged national debate over whether busing is leading to "white flight." [New York Times] According to the latest Defense Department estimates, it will cost $1.3 billion to fix defective wings on the C-5A cargo plane, which has been a symbol of Pentagon "cost overruns." The Air Force also plans to spend an additional $200 million to correct other defects, such as fixing a rear cargo door that has been troublesome since the plane was put into use six years ago. Pentagon estimates of the repair were contained in a General Accounting Office report, made public by Senator William Proxmire, who disclosed the large cost overruns in the cargo plane program in congressional hearings in 1968-69. [New York Times] Some people -- his neighbors and Arthur Miller, the playwright -- doubt that Peter Reilly, who was then 18 years old, killed his mother, Barbara Gibbons, 51, in their home in Canaan, Conn., on Sept 28, 1973. Mr. Reilly was convicted of the murder and sentenced to six to 16 years in prison. A friend of Mr. Miller's asked him to look into the case. A lawyer, whom Mr. Miller asked to represent Mr. Reilly, is seeking to have the verdict overturned and has petitioned for a new trial. The legal process has been slow. Meanwhile, Mr. Miller asked The New York Times to investigate the case. [New York Times] The Soviet Union outlined its new five-year plan, with more modest hopes for economic growth and a return to the traditional reliance on heavy industry. It was apparent that Moscow had scrapped for the rest of this decade its previous efforts to redirect the economy in favor of the long-neglected consumer, but expenditures on agriculture will be increased by nearly one-third over the next five years. [New York Times] A fire swept through a tent camp a few miles from Mecca, the holy city of Islam, two days ago, killing 138 Moslems and injuring 151. The casualties were announced today by the Saudi Interior Ministry, which had kept an official silence at first. The fire was said to have been started by a bottled gas explosion. The camp had sheltered 52,000 people who were among two million Moslem pilgrims reported to have come from all parts of the Islamic world to celebrate a sacred festival. [New York Times] France has agreed to help Egypt establish its own armaments industry, a big step in President Anwar Sadat's efforts to bring his country -- for more than 16 years the Soviet Union's closest ally in the Middle East -- closer to the West. Almost all of Egypt's arms have been Soviet-made. The agreement was announced at the end of talks in Cairo between President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and President Sadat. [New York Times] China, it was announced in Peking and relayed to Hong Kong, has signed a multi-million-dollar contract with Britain's Rolls Royce Company to build the powerful Rolls Spey jet engines that have potential military use. Observers in Hong Kong say China has been unable to produce its own jet engines. The most advanced Chinese fighter planes are said to be of Russian origin, some of which were redesigned by the Chinese. According to reports from Peking, no limitations were put on the engine's use. [New York Times]