Tuesday, May 18, 1971
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Seven
Tuesday, May 18, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven
news brefs
By The Associated Press
I
North Vietnamese score
victory in Laotian action
TESTIMONY WAS COMPLETED yesterday in the trial of
# nine Russian Jews accused of plotting to hijack a Soviet airliner.
The prosecution has asked for sentences ranging from one to
ten years for the defendants. All nine face possible death sentences.
The trial has highlighted the dispute over whether Russian
Jews, some of whom have charged that the Soviet government
has actively sought to suppress Jewish religious observance and
expressions of ethnic identity, should be allowed to emigrate to
Israel.
PRESIDENT NIXON'S family-assistance plan's essential fea-
tures were included in the Social Security- welfare reform bill ap-
proved yesterday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
The plan's major provision, a $2,400 income floor for a family of
four, was approved along with a five per cent increase in Social
Security benefits.
The bill received prompt condemnation from a coalition of groups
concerned with welfare problems who labeled it "worse than the
present system".
A FEDERAL AGENCY, predicting an electric power crisis in
some areas this summer, yesterday announced a nationwide cam-
paign to conserve electricity.
A report issued by the President's Office of Emergency Pre-
paredness indicated that brownouts and blackouts are likely to oc-
cur in some areas as they have during other recent summers.
'At the present time,' the report said, 'the most feasible way to
avoid an emergency power situation this summer is an extensive
conservation program to be exercised by the government, industry
and the public during the critical summer months.'
The President's special assistant for consumer affairs is said
to be heading the program for showing the public how to conserve
electricity. The Secretary of Commerce would direct the effort
aimed at industry.
THE SUPREME COURT yesterday ruled that hit-and-run laws
requiring drivers to give their names and addresses after an acci-
dent are constitutional.
The 5-4 decision rejected the view that such traffic laws are un-
constitutional because they compel drivers involved in accidents to
assist in their own prosecution.
Chief Justice Warren Burger, delivering the opinion in the case of
a California motorist, said 'the mere possibility of incrimination is out-
weighed by "valid state needs" such as studying the causes of auto
accidents.
Justices Black and Brennan attacked Justice Burger's view in
dissenting opinions.
Black said the driver must hand the state an admission when he
identifies himself after an accident. Brennan said it would be hard to
imagine "a more substantial hazard of self-incrimination."
Forest fires continue
This fire which began Friday in northeastern Minnesota's Superior
National Forest had consumed an estimated 10,000 acres by Sunday.
Volunteers and forest service crews from nearby states, with the
aid of local rain, are expected to have the flames under control by
tonight.
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS:
U.S. national deficit
reaches record higLh
WASHINGTON {1P) - The deficit in the U.S. balance of pay-
ments took a sharp and record breaking turn for the worse from
January through March, the government said yesterday.
A yardstick which measures transactions with foreign govern-
ments and foreign central banks showed the first-quarter payments
deficit climbed to a record $5.5 billion.
Another measure of the balance of payments taking into ac-
count all foreign transactions set the first quarter deficit at $3
billion, the second-highest on record.
"Those results are bad," Treasury Secretary John Connally
told a Senate Finance Subcommittee. "Clearly, that level of deficit
is not sustainable."
The sharp rise in the deficit mirrored the causes for the recent
SAIGON (M - North Viet-
namese forces have seized
almost complete control of
the strategic Bolovens P 1 a -
teau in southern Laos for
the first time in the w a r
there, a dispatch from Laos
said yesterday.
Military sources in Vientiane,
the capital, said Laotian troops
were driven out Sunday from
two government-held towns,
in the center of the plateau.
This left only one position in
the plateau still in government
hands. Three North Vietnamese
battalions were reported ad-
vancing against this position, at
Ban Houei Kong also in the
central part of the plateau.
The North Vietnamese have
long held much of Bolovens, in-
cluding the important towns of
Attopeu in the south and Sara-
vane in thenorth.dThey were
seized in April and May last
year.
In taking the two t o w n s,
Pak Song and Ban Houei Sai,
Hanoi's forces have in effect
completed occupation of the
plateau.
The immediate result is to
give the North Vietnamese con-
trol of most of Highway 23 and
possibly another supply route
southward into Cambodia.
Laotian troops used to raid
the Ho Chi Minh trail from the
eastern edge of the plateau, but
they were driven off earlier this
year.
Bolovans Plateau dominates
the Laos panhandle and control
of it provides access to many
of the roads in southern Laos
and river tributaries.
The eastern side of the pla-
teau overlooks the Ho Chi Minh
trail, Hanoi's major supply route
to its forces in Cambodia and
South Vietnam.
New voters
eligibe in'72
WASHINGTON OP) - M o r e
than 25 million young people
will be eligible to vote for presi-
dent for the first time in the
1972 election, the Census Bur-
eau said Sunday.
The under-25 vote will make
up 18 per cent of the total elec-
torate, the bureau said.
About 11 million of the new
voters will be enfranchised for
the first time because of a law
passed last year which lowered
the voting age to 18 for all fed-
eral elections.
The other 14 million includes
those who will be reaching 21,
but were unable to vote in 1968,
and those who will be 24 but
failed to reach the 21 year-old
cutoff in the 1968 election.
Youths rumble through streets
of Bedford-Stuyvesant section
NEW YORK (A) - An esti- injured, including Deputy Chief disorders were brought under
mated 500 youths rumbled Inspector Jack Angrist, 49, hit control.
through the streets in the Bed- in the back of the head with a Crowds took to the streets
ford-Stuyvesant section of bottle, after a Bedford-Stuyvesant res-
Brooklyn for several hours yes- Mayor John V. Lindsay visited ident was shot to death by a
terday afternoon, some attack- the troubled area in early eve- policeman,
ing motorists, terrorizing a pub- ning. While his presence in the
lie school staff, stoning stores past has sometimes cooled slum According to the police ver-
and stealing. tempers, this time the m a y o r sion, the dead man, Rudy
Massive police reinforcements was booed by about 100 b y - Simms, slashed another man
eventually checked the o u t - standers and his car pounded with a switchblade during a
break, which was carried on by by fists. fight, then turned on Patrolman
youths in bands 10 to 20 strong. Bedford-Stuyvesant was sat- Paul Bliss who came to the aid
Total damage was described urated with some 300 to 400 po- of the knife victim. A s i n g 1 e
as relatively minor. lice, including the riot trained shot from Bliss' revolver caught
Several persons were reported tactical patrol force, before the Simms in the heart.
international monetary crisis in
which the dollar eroded in value
in relation to other currencies in
Europe.
Two main reasons have been
given for the dollar crisis, the
continuing high U.S. balance-
of-payments deficit and a rapid
flow of dollars to Europe where
interest rates are higher.
"Both balances reflected a
large increase in outflows of
dollars through transactions for
which data are not available,"
the Commerce Department said.
"In part, those outflows were
probably short term funds at-
tracted by higher interest rates
abroad than were obtainable in
the United States," the depart-
ment added.
Short-term interest rates
plummeted in the United States
when the Nixon administration
launched t h e economy on an
eapansionary course
TRANSCI
MEDIT
Jyst like your dream, timeless...
Reflecting a heritage of love as
young as the dawn. . .as old as
time, in hand- crafted 18 Karat
gold.
Jacob On$
ANN ARBOR
as 1
Ma
M
Transcendental
nique which allc
improve his life.
INTR
Angell Hall
8:00 P.M.
ENDENTAL
CATI
aught by
If
harishi
faheshl
Yogi .
meditation is a natural spontaneous tech-
ws each individual to expand his mind and
ODUCTORY LECTURE
Aud. D
Wednesday, May 19
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