UN chief duped over dikes

President Nixon firmly denied that the US had deliberately bombed dams and dikes in North Vietnam and said that the UN Secretary General, Dr Waldheim, and other “well-intentioned and naive people” were being duped by a world-wide Hanoi propaganda drive. Taking a hard line, President Nixon denounced critics who adopted a “hypocritical double-standard” by denouncing the US bombing of North Vietnam and ignoring Hanoi’s invasion of the South.

Women in media win fight to join club

One more barrier was lowered in Sydney’s clubland when the Journalists’ Club extended full membership to women members of the Australian Journalists’ Association, ending an often heated year-long campaign by women journalists for the same club equality enjoyed by women television workers, women teachers and women public servants. Of the 3025 journalists in NSW 300 are women, earning equal pay with men for the same kind of work.

French subs to guard oil lanes

Concerned about growing Soviet presence in the Indian Ocean, France has begun building the first of four new long-cruising submarines to protect oil supplies through the Indian Ocean, particularly the strategically vital Mozambique Channel between Africa and Madagascar. The diesel-electric submarines will be in the 1200-ton class and will be able to make cruises of about 45 days The country has [been] rapidly increasing fuel needs, with crude oil its top import.