News stories from Saturday December 18, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Prosecutions may result from the Justice Department's investigation into Korean influence buying in Washington, sources close to the inquiry said. They said valuable information had been obtained from Kim Sang Keun, the South Korean Embassy official who defected three weeks ago. The investigators are now trying to corroborate Mr. Kim's testimony and this may lead to specific prosecutions. [New York Times]
- The business community's support of the Carter administration's business programs will be sought by Michael Blumenthal, the Secretary of the Treasury-designate, partly by advocating policies that business approves and also by explaining why the new administration may be forced to do some things that businessmen will not like. Mr. Blumenthal explained his views in an interview. [New York Times]
- Every major ski resort west of Michigan has everything except snow. Because there has been little or no snow, the big resorts in the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada have only limited skiing or are not operating. The winter tourism industry is losing millions of dollars a day, and the economies of some states may be threatened. Senator Floyd Haskell of Colorado said he had asked President Ford to declare the state's winter recreation region a financial disaster area. [New York Times]
- Whether the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency will also serve as the primary source of intelligence at the White House is "a matter under study," President-elect Carter said at a news conference in Plains, Ga. He announced the appointment of Gov. Cecil Andrus of Idaho, an old friend, as Secretary of the Interior, and expressed frustration with his unsuccessful search for women willing to serve in his cabinet. [New York Times]
- The Carter administration's policies toward the Middle East and the North-South economic conference will not be influenced by Saudi Arabia's decision to hold down its oil prices, President-elect Carter said at a news conference in Plains, Ga. He seemed to reject the Saudi effort to offer the price restraint in exchange for cooperation by the United States in the Arab-Israeli negotiations and the North-South conference. [New York Times]
- Policy recommendations have been prepared for President-elect Carter by a high-level private commission that urges him to break new ground in relations with Latin America. The Commission on United States-Latin American Relations, which includes seven persons closely associated with Mr. Carter, proposes early completion of a new Panama Canal treaty; a new diplomatic dialogue with Cuba; a stronger emphasis on human rights issues; restriction of arms sales and an economic policy directed principally to the poor. [New York Times]
- Israel, seeking to lessen its military dependence on the United States, has informed the Ford administration that it would like to use part of its American aid to build up its own weapons production, especially tanks. State Department officials believe that Israel wants a larger share of its arms production to become less vulnerable to pressure from the United States to make political concessions to the Arabs. [New York Times]