1975 Year

Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the South Vietnamese general whose summary execution of a bound prisoner was depicted in a photograph that stunned the world three decades ago, has died. He was 67. Loan died Tuesday night at his home in Burke, a suburb of Washington, after a battle with cancer, said his daughter, Nguyen Anh. The photo of Loan firing a pistol point-blank at the grimacing prisoner's head on Feb. 1, 1968, became a haunting image of the Vietnam War.

Bolstered by a 53% sales increase, Rusty Pelican Restaurants Inc. on Tuesday reported record net income for its fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended July 28. The Irvine-based restaurant chain said that net income for the fourth quarter rose 59% to $1.2 million, from $753,000 a year ago. Revenues jumped to $19.2 million, from $12.6 million during a year earlier. For the year, net income increased 26% to $2.3 million, from $1.8 million the prior year. Revenues were up 47% to $53.

Elderly Americans will get a 2.6% cost-of-living increase in their Social Security benefits in January, the smallest increase in six years, the Social Security Administration said Friday. The increase is the smallest since a 1.3% increase in 1987, which in turn was the smallest since 1975, when Congress ordered Social Security benefits tied to inflation. The increase will average $17 a month, raising the average monthly benefit from $657 to $674.

For the socially minded, the inexhaustibly quotable composer Ned Rorem once defined concerts as "that which surrounds intermission." Well, David Troy Francis' piano recital Sunday afternoon had no intermission and it did have Rorem; confounding for stray socialites, no doubt, but a double blessing for the rest of his attentive audience at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena. The local pianist's compact program was consistently absorbing, whether in lyrical repose or propulsive fury.

Steel Pulse is the latest addition to this year's annual Michelob Street Scene. The popular British reggae band will appear Sept. 7 on the Worldbeat/Reggae Stage, at 7th Avenue and J Street. Of the more than 40 acts scheduled to perform at the two-day event, Steel Pulse is one of the best-known. The group has been touring relentlessly for 15 years, and, although none of its albums could be considered a smash, record sales have been quite respectable.

The Soviet economist and mathematician whose theories had a profound impact on world economic thought--bringing him a Nobel Prize--has died, the official news agency Tass reported. It said Leonid Kantorovich had died Monday at age 75. His international contribution was recognized in his being chosen for the Nobel Economics Prize in 1975, the year that dissident Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pyotr G. Grigorenko, a World War II Soviet general whose political views landed him in a psychiatric ward for five years but then to a new life in the United States, died late Saturday. He was 79. Grigorenko's son, Andrew, said his father died at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan of complications from a stroke suffered three years ago. Pyotr Grigorenko, who Soviet authorities stripped of his military rank and later his Soviet citizenship, had lived in New York since 1977.

On the diving board, Nancy Janik is ageless. Her petite figure and lithesome grace belie her 32 years. Above the water, she throws the same twists and somersaults of competitors a dozen years younger. But her age is only half her battle. Janik has been a diabetic since 14. Her blood-sugar level shoots up and down during meets and practices, causing her body to shake and her head to spin. When her blood-sugar level is too low, she drinks juice.

CITY COUNCIL WILD WEST: Approved a proposal to temporarily close several Downtown streets Monday for a ceremony marking the opening of a new Wells Fargo branch at 4th and Spring streets. A stagecoach and horses will be driven from City Hall down Spring Street to the new building. Spring Street between Temple and 3rd streets will be closed from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and Spring Street between 3rd and 4th streets will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.