Word: easterlies
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...cease-fire by extending their control in every way possible. They already dominate South Viet Nam's eight northern provinces, including the Central Highlands and several districts in the once secure Mekong Delta (see map). Nearly all of that control is a direct result of the Easter offensive. So far, they have no significant hold on population centers, which may explain their recent thrusts into Quang Ngai province south of Danang, South Viet Nam's second largest city...
...wake of Communist gains in the Easter offensive, South Viet Nam's National Assembly last June reluctantly granted President Nguyen Van Thieu the power to rule by decree for six months. Thieu lost no time in issuing a series of tough decrees that, among other things, increased the income tax rate, set the death penalty for certain crimes, including kidnaping and heroin dealing, subjected some religious groups to the draft, and ordered Saigon's 40 newspapers to deposit 20 million piasters ($46,-512) each as security against government fines or libel suits...
Saigon explains the abolition of hamlet elections as a means of tightening administration and providing more effective services. But, as usual in Viet Nam, the real explanation is more complex. Since the Easter offensive began, a number of hamlet chiefs have made accommodations with the Communists. The new decree will permit Thieu to appoint more loyal replacements. More important, this decree, along with the others, will strengthen his hand for the rough-and-tumble politicking that undoubtedly would follow a cease-fire (the North Vietnamese have repeatedly insisted that any cease-fire agreement must include Thieu's removal). Indeed...
Five months after they managed-with U.S. airpower-to stall the Communists' Easter offensive, they have not yet mounted a successful counteroffensive or recaptured Quang Tri city or any other significant part of the northern province that fell in April and May. They have not reopened Highway 13 between Saigon and An Loc, and the task was finally abandoned altogether last week as the two divisions assigned to it were regrouped in an effort to head off Communist units that are believed to be moving toward Saigon. The North Vietnamese are still staging ambushes on the road between Kontum...
There are only two functioning churches in the whole of China, both of which reopened recently. The Protestant one, opened last Easter Sunday on a street opposite Peking's Tung Tan shopping center, is served by the Reverend Kan and his assistant, a 50-year-old deacon. A white-haired little old Chinese lady plays hymns on an upright honky-tonk piano. The hymns and the service are all in Chinese, even though the congregation is mostly European and only four members are actually Chinese...