BEIRUT 0c tober 28, 1969 Dalles Townsend For the second day in a row - the sound of gunfire ioas heard today in Beirut - also, a number of explosions. Unconfirmed reports further telling of an attempted pre-dawn attack - in the U.S. Embassy; an attack supposedly turned back - by Lebanese security guards. At the same time - fres'lt fighting between Lebanese Army troops and Arab guerillas - near the border with Israel. All in all - a retur,i to the near-civil war conditions - that t · ·evailed for much of last week. But even so - Leba,ao•'• Commander-in-Chief - Major General Emile Gustani - flyi,ag to Cairo. There to attend talks - aimed at appeasing t11e guerillas; while, perhaps, safeguarding Lebanon - agai,ast the threat of Israeli reprisals. speaking of which - Israeli jets attacked guerilla bases in Jordan today. And they also blasted Egyptian targets - in the Suez area. SAIGON In Vietnam, the Saigon government announced plans to release twent y -four Communist prisor1ers of war - as of tomo row. This following by two days a Viet Cong brotulc••I • pledging to free three captured Americans. PARIS In Paris - North Vietnamese diplomats confirmed an earlier report; saying they will divulge to a milita,at u. s. anti-war organization - certain information regardhag Ame-r-ican prisoners of war. The State Department - later voici,ag official displeasure at this sort of arrangement . A spokesman adtli,ag, llo,oe · ver, that "we u,ould welcome haformation - tl,rougl, whatever claannel. " WHITE HOUSE Turnin g to domestic affairs - President Nixon again applied the needle to Capitol Hill. Urging the Democratic- controlled Congress - to st,eed the appro v al of a number of current s Pending bills . Badly needed - said 1, e - s O t la e Administration can draw up a new budget for next year. With tllat - President getting ready for a little politicking. His schedule including an af>f>eara,ace to,siglat at Roanote - in behalf of the Ret>ublica,s ca11didate for Governor of Virginia - Li,awood Holton. Tlae De111ocratic candidate - William Battle. President Nixo11 will also make two at,pearanca1 tomorrow i11 New Jersey - i11 belaalf of tlaat state's Republican gubernatorial ca11didate co11gressma,a - William Caliill. ( SUGGESTED LEAD-IN TO THOMAS TAPE SLUGGED "CONN ELIAN 4 ") And now - another "time out" for Lowell Tlaomas; ref>orting again tonight - from the Great Aust1"alian Desert. Lowell . . • CONNELLAN 4 Good Eve,lin g E v er y body : .:it.~. ~ ••1'h • .e.e. ~,t;o·~.IU Li v ing i n retirmement in New Zealand ts a,. Englishman who I supposed is the world's number 0 ,.e a1'thority on forests. Be's called TII e Ma,a of The Trees. St. Barbe Baker has told me ma,ay times about a" ocea" of •ater u,sder the Salaara in Nortl, Africa a,sd lo 111 some day .,,,,.,. ti, i• is tapped tll e vast Salaara Desert, 111ill be trt1.,.•Jor••d trcto a regio,i so productive it 111ill feed llalf Ille i,alaabi•ta,als of tire eartlr . A,id maybe tle same is true of tlte ,,,.,,,.,. •• Aaslrali•• Due,-t .,1,e,-eJ am at the mo-•t. Out.Ide my .,ludo• ••,.• ol Nar111ielooma cattle statio,. are mulga, sut,t,lejacll ,u,d blood111ood trees from whose bra11clles a flock of many colored Parrots keet, screaming and scolding me 1111tenever I try lo read Alexander Kendrick's sut,erb biograplty of Ed Murra"' tltat 1 brought along. And by the way, don't miss it. As for the future of most of Australia wlliclt lrad beert lllought a waterless desert, my host Eddie Connellan °" d lats CONNELLAN 4 - 2 two sons, expect to turn their million acresrr sn into lusla green fields. They have tapped an inland lake of -water at a depth of from one hundred to two hundred feet. so far tlaey l,ave driven thirty four of these so-called bores, deep 111 ella. Scientists now say that this under-tlae-deaert-sea of ,oater or lake is not affected by tlte arid climate of A•stralia. TIiey believe that this water comes from tlae glaciers a,ad ti• •o•,e ta ins of tlr e great isl a,ad of Ne 111 c.,,,. ea, a dis ta,sc e of ta,elve ltundred to fifteen hu,sdred miles to tlte Nortlt. N•• GMi11ea always has all the year rou.11d lteavy tropical rain•. So you can see that tltis may mea11 tllat tl,e big empty conti11e,at of A us tralia before too long •ill be i111iabited by millio11s of people. Solong .. • • • • (StJQGISTED POLLOW TO THOMAS TAPE SLUGGED "COIIILLAI 4") Thank you, Lowell. ~ck to the news .•• yOUNGSTOW Showdown at Youngstown. Some fifty carloads of T e amster union members - attempting to break through a picket line manned l,y a hundred-and-forty independent steelhaulers. In the resulting confusion - one person shot to death - two others wo11nded - and several more injured by fl y ing bricks and bottles . The battle raging fo'r laalf-an-laou'r • till pol ice 11s ing tear gas finally b'roke it up. CAPE KENNEDY On the space front - America's Apollo-Twelve spacecraft successfully completed a mock countdown at Caf>e Kennedy. Last major test - before the start of a real c O 1111 t do ,. n l a t er on . A m er i c a 's s e c on d m o on - land i ,a g ex I> e ti itioll • scheduled for blast-off November Fourteenth. WASHINGTON Ret erse side - an announcement in Washingto,a _ extending for another three years America's "inner st,ace" program. This - an ext,loration of the ocean def>tllB - officially titled the U.S. Deep Sea Drilling Project. One tlaat laas alread disclosed tire presence of great oil deposits - deep beneath the sea. One that will yield eventually - aoe laope- the secrets of the .,. earth's evolution doaon tlarougla tlle ages. HOUSE The cost of hospital care in this country - a prime example of runaway inflation• With the figure expected to reach an a er age of a Hundred Dollars a day by Nine tee,. - Sevnty -Tltree - an increase of some Thirty Bucks over tlae prese11t. This ace ording to Dr. George Grala am of tlae American Hospital Association - in testimony before a House committee. Els erohe re in Was II ington - the nation's tor, la eal tll officer, Dr. Ro -;, er Egeberg, observing that a compulsory national heal th insurance program - now seems i,aevitabl e. BONN At Bonn, We t Germany - Chancellor Willy Brandt today deli ered hi fir t major policy statement to a packed Bundestag. The ne, leader - Pledg . ng a two-pronged afJfJroacla to foreign affairs; an approach ainied at achieving "coordination with the We t - understanding with the East. He also pledged a ,ium.ber of domestic reform - among them: A lowering of th e o ting age - from t wen t y - on e to et g h teen •; and a cutback i11 the age of eligibility for fJi,blic office - from twent3 1 -five to twenty-one. Brandt calling this a reflection of the net regime's determination - "to instill more democracy" in Wes, Germany. PARIS A s tor y re m in is c en t of "The A r a bi an N · h t " ig s - comes today fron1 Paris; where Prince Karim _ the Aga Khan _ was married in a Moslem ceremony - to the former Lady Sarall Crichton -Stuart. The setting - the island St. Louis in Ille Seine Ri11er near the Cathedral of Notre Dame - where tlle Prince mai11tai,aa ; a Ji e-story mansion. The guest-list numbering eigllt liu,adred - the so-called "beautiful people" including Britain's . . . Princess Margaret - also, Henry Ford tlle Second. For the ceremony itself - a total of five imams - or /roly men. A fragance of incense filling tlie air - as tlie co11fll• Pledged in Arabic their undying love and devotion. Wlie,a tlley were finally, officially wed - a shower of pearls t,utead of rice. Ard then, of course - a cllampagne reception.