News stories from Sunday October 31, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Congress will keep foreign aid alive despite its rejection of the Nixon administration's foreign aid bill Friday night, Senator J.W. Fulbright predicted today. Senator Fulbright, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he would support refugee relief and military aid to Israel but not military aid to Greece, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. [New York Times]
- Peking, by advising the United Nations that it prefers to be listed under C for China instead of P for People's Republic, cleared the way for the raising of its flag tomorrow with the flags of the 130 other United Nations members. The flags are arranged in alphabetical order. China's preference was given in a brief cablegram that did not mention when her delegation would arrive. [New York Times]
- Most of the nearly 3,000 Viet Cong prisoners to be released under a recently announced amnesty left various prison camps throughout South Vietnam. Some went to their homes; most were taken into the government's Chieu Hoi, or "Open Arms" program, from which they will be freed in two to three months. The amnesty marked the inauguration of President Nguyen Van Thieu. [New York Times]
- A man with an Irish accent told a news agency in London that "the Kilburn battalion of the IRA" blasted the Post Office Tower in London. The Tower, which was damaged by the early morning blast, is Britain's tallest building. Both Irish Republican Army factions later denied involvement. [New York Times]
- Speaking between sessions of a conference in Washington on corporate accountability, Robert Townsend, the former Avis chairman who wrote "Up the Organization," proposed that Congress select "public directors" for each of the nation's 110 largest corporations. The corporations would allocate $1 million a year each for public interest programs to be run by the public directors. [New York Times]