News stories from Sunday January 9, 1977

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

Consumer confidence in the economy, which had been depressed most of 1976, rose strongly in December, according to the Conference Board, which based its opinion on the high level of store sales in December. The consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 in December (1969-70=100), up 11 points since October. The buying plans index rose to 122.6, up 23 points since October, the board said. [New York Times] A repeal of the percentage depletion tax break for minerals producers and other steps to encourage the recycling and conservation of natural resources were recommended to Congress by the National Commission on Supplies and Shortages. The proposals followed a two-year study by the commission. One of the proposals would make mandatory deposits on beverage bottles and cans to encourage recycling of the containers. [New York Times] Kenneth Axelson, who recently completed a one-year term as New York City's Deputy Mayor for Finance, is expected to be appointed the Carter administration's Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. The choice was said to have been made final by Michael Blumenthal, Secretary-designate of the Treasury. Mr. Axelson was a key figure in New York City's fiscal reforms. He has returned to his job as senior vice president and director of finance of the J.C. Penney Company. [New York Times] Detroit automobile makers believe that they finally have car imports under control. Independent auto industry analysts and car importers generally agree with Detroit that sales of foreign cars have reached a plateau. "But it is a high plateau," an industry analyst said. [New York Times] The Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings, 32 to 14, at the Super Bowl in Pasadena. The Minnesota Vikings, Red Smith says, played dead. It was the fourth time the Vikings had played for the championship of professional football and missed. The Raiders gained more ground than any previous winner, and the Vikings offered less resistance than any earlier loser. Only twice did they create the illusion of competition. The game was the sorriest mismatch of all Super Bowls. [New York Times] The body of Natalie Sinatra, the 82-year-old mother of Frank Sinatra, was found with the wreckage of a private jet that crashed on Mount San Gorgonio near Palm Springs, Calif. The plane, on the way to Las Vegas, had struck a cliff minutes after takeoff. [New York Times] Oil tanker losses and oil spillages set records last year well before the wreck of the Argo Merchant off Nantucket last month, according to the Tanker Advisory Center, an oil industry organization based in New York City. In the first nine months of last year, the center reported, 13 tankers were declared total losses, exceeding tanker losses for all of 1975, which was the "all-time record." More oil than ever before was also spilled in the seas in the first nine months of 1975. [New York Times] Canada's sharp cut in oil exports -- made in a domestic conservation effort -- has seriously affected supplies in states along the northern tier, Minnesota for example. In 1973, 1.1 million barrels of Canadian oil were shipped each day to supply refineries from Seattle to Buffalo. On Jan. 1 this year the shipments totaled only 305,000 barrels a day. The northern tier states are seeking alternatives. [New York Times] A Palestinian nationalist suspected of having planned the attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich was arrested in Paris by French intelligence agents. He is known as Abu Daoud, a member of the Revolutionary Council of Al Fatah, the strongest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization. The arrest was made after France received an international arrest order from Interpol, the international police agency, made at the request of the West German government. [New York Times] A more active role in Rhodesia for the United States to help bring about a shift from a white minority to a black majority government has been recommended in a Senate staff study. The first steps suggested are for the United States to remove its diplomatic boycott of Prime Minister Ian Smith's government and, with the Rhodesian government's approval, to dispatch an official United States mission to Salisbury. [New York Times] Despite many signs of liberation by Brazil's military government, few Brazilians would see the regime as anything other than a military dictatorship with a parliamentary façade. "There's been a growth in oratorical activity -- that's all," a well-known Brazilian sociologist said. [New York Times]