Has America learned the energy lesson of 1973? LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Giant chrome and steel cars, polished high to glint proudly in the sun, once glided along America's superhighways, guzzling gasoline as if there was no tomorrow, ferrying Americans to and from their over-heated, over-air-conditioned homes. They were built without regard for the environment or economic efficiency, and their era came to a crashing halt when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to use oil as a weapon after the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur war. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 - actually a cut in supplies - plunged a nation where the car was king into despair and self-doubt. Americans found they could no longer afford to consume cheap gasoline with carefree abandon and gobble up finite natural resources.

Chronology of 1973 Arab oil embargo. LONDON (Reuters, Oct. 14, 1998) - Following is a chronology of the events surrounding the Arab oil embargo that began on Oct. 17, 1973.

Sept. 15-16 - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) designates six Persian Gulf countries to negotiate collectively with Western oil companies over prices.

Oct. 6 - Egypt and Syria attack Israel on Yom Kippur, starting the fourth Arab-Israeli war. 

Oct. 8-10 - OPEC negotiations with oil  companies to revise the 1971 Tehran price agreement fail.

Oct. 16 - Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar unilaterally raise posted prices  by 17 percent to $3.65 a barrel and announce production cuts.

Oct. 17 - OPEC oil ministers agree to use oil as a weapon to punish the West for its support of  Israel in the Arab-Israeli war. They recommend an embargo against unfriendly states and mandate a cut in exports. 

Oct. 19-20 - Saudi Arabia, Libya and other Arab states proclaim an embargo on oil exports to the United States.

Oct. 23-28 - The Arab oil embargo is extended to the Netherlands. Nov. 5 - Arab producers announce a 25 percent output cut. A further five percent cut is threatened.

Nov. 23 - The Arab embargo is extended to Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa.

Nov. 27 - U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act authorizing price, production, allocation and marketing controls.

Dec. 9 - Arab oil ministers agree a further five percent cut for non-friendly countries for January 1974.

Dec. 22-24 - The OPEC Gulf six raise posted prices from $5.12 a barrel to $11.65. Prices have quadrupled from $2.90 in September.

Dec. 25 - Arab oil ministers cancel the five percent output cut for January. The Saudi oil minister promises a 10 percent OPEC production rise.

Jan. 7-9, 1974 - OPEC decides to freeze prices until April 1.

Feb. 11 - U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger unveils the Project Independence plan to make U.S. energy independent.

Feb. 12-14 - Progress in Arab-Israeli disengagement brings discussion of oil strategy among the heads of state of Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Mar. 17 - Arab oil ministers, with the exception of Libya, announce the end of the embargo against the United States.

June 13 - The International Monetary Fund establishes its oil facility -- a special fund for loans to nations whose balance of payments is hit by rising oil prices.

Nov. 15 - The International Energy Agency is formed in Paris within the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

April 9, 1975 - The OECD's 24 members establish a $25billion lending facility to provide assistance to industrial nations hurt by high oil prices.

Scientists hold memorial before 1918 flu exhumation. August 19, 1998. Scientists held a memorial service in an Arctic cemetery Wednesday before starting work to exhume six frozen corpses in the hope of tracing a deadly 1918 flu virus that swept the world like a mediaeval plague. "We wanted to remember and honor these young men who died so tragically," said Kirsty Duncan, leading a team of Canadian, American, British and Norwegian scientists on Spitzbergen, a Norwegian island 800 miles from the North Pole. The scientists, who will wear space suits to protect against what they say is a minimal chance of reviving the virus, hope to start digging on Friday to find the corpses of the Norwegian coal miners. The 1918 virus, called ``Spanish flu'' even though it probably originated in the United States, killed between 20 and 40 million people -- more than all the battles of World War I. Samples from the lungs of the corpses will yield frozen fragments of the viruses which will be sent to laboratories in Canada, the U.S., Britain and Norway to explore the possibility of developing vaccines against future viruses of such a virulent strain.

U.S. FEDERAL GUIDELINES ISSUED ON CLINICAL OBESITY

On June 17, the U. S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), in cooperation with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), released the first federal guidelines on identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults. This results in a major shift from Metropolitan Life Tables that have informed Americans for decades whether they should consider themselves overweight. The new guidelines lower the threshold levels between what is considered appropriate weight and what should be considered weights at increased risk of cardiovascular and other chronic conditions, and of
premature death.