News stories from Sunday February 9, 1975

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

In a discussion of the nation's economy in a television interview, George Meany, the 80-year-old president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said, "we're past the recession stage, we're going into a depression," and that the nation's unemployment rate may reach 10 percent by July. He said that measures must be taken "like you take when you are fighting a war." One measure he proposed would cut home mortgage interest rates to 6 percent to revive the home-building industry. Mr. Meany also said that Arthur Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, was "a national disaster." [New York Times] A survey by the congressional Joint Economic Committee has found that higher tax payments exceeded all other price increases in the 1974 consumer budget and that they had a greater impact on low-income and middle-income taxpayers than on the wealthy. [New York Times] Richard Helms, former Director of Central Intelligence, told a closed hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January that there was "no doubt" that in 1970, the Nixon administration wanted President Salvador Allende of Chile overthrown. His testimony was made public today. Mr. Helms said that the overthrow of Dr. Allende, a Marxist, "became a thing that they were interested in having done." His testimony contradicted sworn and public statements made by many former officials of the State Department and other government agencies, who had insisted that the United States scrupulously adhered to a policy of nonintervention in Chile. [New York Times] Secretary of State Kissinger has gone on an exploratory mission to the Middle East that he hopes will lead to an interim agreement next month between Israel and Egypt. In an interview today with the Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, Mr. Kissinger said that this trip "will not yield results" and that he wanted to find out what were the "real convictions of the chief protagonists." He will then return to Washington to formulate the American view and go again to the Middle East to conclude the negotiations. The second trip is being tentatively planned for early next month. [New York Times] The battle for control of the Mekong River in Cambodia is becoming the battle for the survival of the country's capital, Phnom Penh. Cambodian insurgents, who have laid mines in the river for the first time and installed heavy guns along its banks, have sunk 19 supply vessels in the last 10 days. This has effectively halted traffic on the river, which is the major supply line to the capital. However, the government of Marshal Lon Nol is showing no signs of panic. [New York Times] The I.R.A. Provisionals announced an open-ended renewal of their cease-fire in Northern Ireland and Britain with the statement that "hostilities against Crown forces" would be suspended at 6 P.M. today while discussions proceeded between representatives of the Republican movement and the British on ways to achieve an effective new truce. The announcement was made as Northern Ireland appeared to be entering another particularly bloody phase. Among other incidents, two Roman Catholics were shot dead in Belfast as they left an evening mass. [New York Times]