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News stories from Thursday January 1, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- An investigation by New York Times reporters of theories of conspiracy in the 1968 assassination of the Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader, has found puzzling gaps and inconsistencies in the evidence thus far made public by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice and other agencies. Justice Department lawyers sought twice to induce the convicted killer, James Earl Ray, to tell a federal grand jury what he knows. Mr. Ray, who has privately maintained that he had been an unwitting part of a larger plot against Dr. King's life, has refused. [New York Times]
- A few months ago, Gov. George Wallace of Alabama appeared headed for his strongest run yet as a presidential candidate, aided by the new Democratic primary rules assuring his share of convention delegates, but doubts have arisen. His health is a major issue, and rivals in the early Southern primaries include the fast-rising former Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia in Florida and former Gov. Terry Sanford of North Carolina in that state, where Mr. Carter is also in the running. [New York Times]
- Construction of new apartment units plummeted in 1975 to the lowest level since 1959, and federal housing specialists as well as builders expect only a modest upturn in 1976. They say higher costs for land, construction, financing and operating have priced many low and middle-income Americans out of single-home ownership and confront them with having to pay larger proportions of their income for rental housing. Many builders say no resurgence in apartment construction is likely without rent increases of 10 to 25 percent. [New York Times]
- Peking published two new poems by Chairman Mao Tse-tung and an editorial defending the results of the Cultural Revolution. It was an apparent attempt by the aging Chinese leader to insure that his revolutionary policies are not overtaken by the drive for economic reform. One of the poems, composed in 1965, mocked Soviet "goulash Communism" and thus put Mr. Mao's personal stamp on continued criticism of Moscow. The editorial included a quotation from Chairman Mao that seems to criticize the emphasis on current economic policy. [New York Times]
- One of Spain's most militant Roman Catholic priests led a parade of 500 people around Barcelona's main prison to demand amnesty, with the highly unusual help of the police. What would probably have been a scene of violence and repression a few months ago began and ended in harmony with the demonstrators applauding the police. It was the latest illustration of the change in Spain since the death of Franco, although none of the laws and institutions he devised have been modified. [New York Times]
- A Lebanese jetliner flying from Beirut to Dubai and Oman crashed in the Saudi Arabian desert, killing all 82 persons aboard, according to Middle East Airlines. Sources in the Beirut airport control tower believed that bad weather had contributed to the crash of the Boeing 707. The airline said that most passengers were Lebanese or Egyptians, with six Greeks, four Britons, two French nationals, a Norwegian and a Cypriot. [New York Times]
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