- - - - C A PITOL H I L · t t he top of the news tonight - tax reform. The House approving today - the most sweeping new tax package 1n modern histor y . assing it on to the Senate - where f inal approval was likewise assured. As it stands now - the product of a weekend HollSe-Senate conference ~ ) committe e - the new tax bil~tl:afp tax reductions to practically everyone. It also provides for a fifteen per cent increase -in Social Security benefits - while closing a number of tax loopholes. Next question: Will the President approve it - or will h e veto it? P. nd the answer to that - we'll JIii have to - e . r , ~ ~ - !a 1 tA ~ HELSINJCI toast t oda y - at Helsinki. U.S. and Ru sian ~~- negotiators - salutingAsuccJSSfu~ completion of the first 4 ' a : . : ; Strategic Arms Limitations Talks, /nnounc1ng plans for a full-scale parley - - , t the same time, to begin April S1xteenA1n Vienna. Russia's Valdimir Semenov - pledging to "strive towards a mutually acceptable agreement." Gerard Smith, for the U.S., adding that the time has come - to devote "our resources and talents more to solving the problems of modern society." Looking ahead, the Vienna meeting is expected to give first priority - to discuss.ions dealing with MIRT multi- warhead missles - also, sophisticated anti-missile defense systems. As for results though - officials admit it will probably take years. NRA TR k NG In Vietnam - a country that has already endured much - still another tragedy today. A tragedy - touching the hearts x~~~~ o f millions.--. a crippled Air Vietnam passenger plane~ ~ - - -- :Is:'4;:d--- attempting t; a•e a crash-lfllldlng at Nha Trang. ~ I' ~ f a n a : ; - t runway - plow# through a nearby shantytown area) end6" up in a kindergarten school - where A A it finally exploded in a mass of flame. Police later reporting - ~erhaps as many as a hundred- and-twenty-five dead. These said to include the plane's sixty or so passengers - also, an estimated twenty-five ~ · · · ~ residents - also, forty-to-fifty little children.- °tiey ~e not sure yet exactly-- how many. In any eveif/t; ,'f, ./k -te;orst al g!q airplane accident - in Vietnamese history. " WAR FOLLOW NHA TR A W Elsewhere in Vietnam - the war continues) boday a- a double treat for the men of America I s 11 B13 ~ Red One 11 Division. To begin with - a repor~the full division may soon be headed home. And tll 11 ■ a visit from wi!f_ ) Bob Hope - 11logll! his sixth annual Christmas show,• ~ surprise guest: Astronaut Neil Ar111Strong - the first man to set foot on the moon; who observed that his most anxious moment on the f light of pollo-Bleven - was "when the door of the washroom jammed." UNITiD NATIONS At the United Nations - with regard to the Middle East - an expression of hope today. U.N. Secretary General U Thant predicting Big Four agreement on a new Mideast peace plan - hopefully, by ~ next month. An agreement that should be sufficient - said he - to permit a resumption of U.N. mediation efforts between the Arabs and Israelis. lothing concrete as yet - U Thant admitted. He Just "had a fee 1 ing" - said he. ... RABAT FOLLOW UNITED N A TIONS Meanwhile, that Arab summit conference went into its second day - at Rabat, Morocco. Today's session supposedly aimed at achieving - an all-Arab, all-inclusive military, political and diplomatic policy. A lofty goal - though hardly likely 1n view of past performances. Nevertheless, Arab guerilla leader Kamal Nasr taking advantage of the setting - to level another attack at the U .s. ~ I ? ( American "vested interests" - are fully / ,, ~ J ~ l ~ A supporting Jsrael. i w Z : L ~ "I don't believe there is any difference ,i, between the Israelt government t II and the American governmen. TEL VI.V F'OL L OW R A B T fie'!el'■ • 1i!d1 • frg111 'fel A:vi,:, wt era Israeli Premier Golda Meir - summoned her Cabinet into emergency session today. urpose - said she: To discuss "American pressure on Israel"~ aimed at forcing a withdrawal "from occupied Arab territories." Nalila• Metz: ~ding that this has caused - a serious "deterioration of relations between the two countried' ~ ~ development: - in its military command; Israel ordering a shake-up today including the appointment of General Ariel Sharon - as new commander of the southl'n front against Egypt. The' forty-one-year-old Sharon - ~enerally considered the Israeli equivalent of America's u At Mp tt General Blood and QQ a a on. !LT~L AYJ.Y Now the latest: Israel turning down flat toniFht-- the three main pr visions of that new American peace plan. Reason--seid Tel Aviv--"because inherently they damage the chances for oeace." LOND NDE . Y - - --- At Londonderry in the North of Ireland--Bernadette Devlin was found ~uilty as charged today. Her sentence promptly set at six mon hs in jeil--for inciting to riot durin~ Catholic and Protestant clashes last August; which means that she could face expulsion--from the ~ ~ .,_.,, ~:-::a:::o:oe: ~, ~ -h Jo~ish Hou~e of ; o ~ o w e v e x - ' appe" 1 ~ •~~he start o f ~ ter~- ■:~• She wae cheered by..;;> supporters as she walked from the courtroom. WASHINGTON A related item - fr ocn Wa»h1ngton. The u .S. State Department announced today - a resumption of diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania; one of seven Moslem nations that broke with the U.S. - 1n the midst of that Nineteen-Sixty-Seven Arab-Israeli war. end AQW the flii■ t · w take wp ag1 in wbera; •e ortgJ:nally 1ett ..aa. As for the others - lgypt, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Algeria ad Yemen - we are ready to resume relations with them whenever they want - said a State Department spokesman. He )o/' added, however, that the outlook at the moment - is not - - - - -- · ·· - · -·-----· · ·· especially optimistic. LONDON '1'1e question - a perennial favorite: What one book would you most like to have - if you were marooned on a desert island? Today's answer - f rom Britain's Field Marshal Lord Montgomery; who picks as his f irst choice a book called - "The History of Warfare." Author - you guessed it: Monty hims~lf. However, the famed general said he would use his book - ~ m t i l , ~ ' not as a war primer but rather a personal guide;~ A a of pondering the age-old question - of "how to~~ people from flghting. 11 Britain's greatest living war hero- another disciple of "peace on earth, good will to man." MISTLETOE ~London ~ta business report t&di&!J telling of record Christmas sales this year - with one notable and ~ perhaps surprising exc~ption. Britisfi,f51Tfcials citing a sharp drop-off - in ~he import and sale of mistletoe; aRCl- this seen by some- . as another sign of the changing morals of British society. Case 1n point -.a discouraged mistletoe dealer who was hqard to remark: "These days - who needs ant' excuse '\,)O~ft ~s-P-0 .. t---, for kissing! 11 W~~ r ~ ,; .. LEBANON h H ' ~ From Lebanon, Ohio A the story ,et1&y of a wedding - &11, novel, to say the least. Seventy-year-old Lee Amburgy, a widower, taking as his bride - seventy-one-year-old Mrs. Floyd Amburgy, the widow of the groOQ.1 1 s late brother and thus his former sister-in-law. Those in attendance including the couple's twenty-three chiJ.dren - twelve of his and eleven of hers; also, a goodly number of their grandchildren - now numbering lf(jty-f1 ve, 1n all. Indeed, the ceremony was actually performed by the Reverend lash Amburgy - bride's son, the groom's nephew. And that's th/way "keep it in the family" - . . in Lebanon, Ohio. the they