News stories from Thursday November 25, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Convicts at Rahway State Prison in New Jersey rioted after a movie last night, then took the warden and five guards as hostages. Prison spokesman Thomas Durand estimates that 500-600 inmates are located in the sections where the riots occurred, and he stated that police and other corrections officers are standing by.
Inmates shouted for Governor William Cahill, set fires and put up a sign saying "Remember Attica". New Jersey assemblyman George Richardson said that the prisoners feel harassed, racism is a part of prison life, inmates receive poor medical treatment, and the food is bad and not served on time.
[CBS] - A passenger identified as D. B. Cooper hijacked a Northwest Airlines jet from Portland (Ore.) to Seattle, where he was paid $200,000 ransom. Cooper then escaped by parachute somewhere between Seattle and Reno. 36 passengers got off at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. The hijacker had told the crew that there were explosives in his briefcase. Cooper instructed the pilot to fly low over Oregon, and police feel that he jumped from the plane over Oregon or Washington, but they are looking in four states and around the Reno airport. [CBS]
- AFL-CIO president George Meany, 77, was admitted to George Washington University Hospital for coronary observation. Dr. Marvin Pirkes diagnosed a possible spasm of the coronary artery. [CBS]
- President Nixon called for a Taft-Hartley injunction to force striking dockworkers on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts back to work; 45,000 are on strike. The President asked the Justice Department to seek an 80-day back-to-work order. [CBS]
- A Senate report claims that 1 out of 4 elderly persons are living in poverty, and the report recommends increases in Social Security payments. Approximately 4.7 million people over the age of 65 are living on $2,000 or less per year. [CBS]
- Pakistan announced that 1,000 Indians have been killed in five days of fighting along the border. India denied having any troops in East Pakistan and said that seven Indian civilians were killed by Pakistani fire. Pakistan claims that China is ready to join its side in case of war; the Soviet Union is demanding that Pakistan's military regime end the civil war. [CBS]
- Egypt's military chief of staff reported that 12 Arab nations have agreed to a battle plan against Israel. Israel Foreign Minister Abba Eban said that Israel is faced with political blackmail and a military threat.
In Cairo, all automobile lights are dimmed with blue paint. This is the third time since 1967 that the dimout has been required. One reporter noted that if Egypt's war preparations are like its civil defense measures, Israel won't even need six days to win the war next time.
[CBS] - British Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home reported the terms of an agreement with Rhodesia to the House of Commons. He denied charges of selling out to the white minority government of Rhodesia. No timetable has been set up to eventually have black rule in Rhodesia, and Premier Ian Smith said that white Europeans there should not worry about their future. [CBS]
- Sixty to 70 American businessmen are going to the USSR to help Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans increase U.S. trade with the Soviets. [CBS]
- American B-52's hit enemy positions in Cambodia; South Vietnamese troops reached the Mekong River. [CBS]
- A heavy snowstorm in the east dumped 20 inches of snow in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. [CBS]