the release of 70 political prisoners. The U.N. General Assembly supports the isolation of South Africa for its apartheid policies. During his visit to the Polish capital, German Chancellor Willy Brandt goes down on his knees in front of a monument to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto, which will become known as the Warschauer Kniefall ("Warsaw Genuflection"). December 12 – A landslide in western Colombia leaves 200 dead. December 15 The USSR's Venera 7 becomes the first spacecraft to land successfully on Venus and transmit data back to Earth. The South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsizes off Korea Strait; 308 people are killed. December 16 – The Ethiopian government declares a state of emergency in the county of Eritrea over the activities of the Eritrean Liberation Front. December 20 – An Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and military aid. December 21 – The Grumman F-14 Tomcat makes its first flight. December 22 The Libyan Revolutionary Council declares that it will nationalize all foreign banks in the country. Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of Treblinka, is sentenced to life imprisonment. December 23 The Bolivian government releases Régis Debray. Law 70-001 is enacted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, amending article 4 of the constitution and making the country a one-party state. December 25 – The ETA releases Eugen Beihl. December 27 – President of India V. V. Giri declares new elections. December 28 – The suspected killers of Pierre Laporte, Jacques and Paul Rose and Francis Sunard, are arrested near Montreal. December 29 – U.S. President Richard Nixon signs into law the Occupational Safety and Health Act. December 30 – In Biscay in the Basque country of Spain, 15,000 go on strike in protest at the Burgos trial death sentences. Francisco Franco commutes the sentences to 30 years in prison. December 31 – Paul McCartney sues in Britain to dissolve The Beatles' legal partnership. Date unknown The first Regional Technical Colleges open in Ireland. Sada Abe, Japanese former prostitute and later actress, disappears. The Sweet Track is discovered in England. It was the world's oldest engineered roadway at the time of its discovery. Alvin Toffler publishes his book Future Shock. Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the Federal collection of contemporary art, is established in Germany. Xerox PARC computer laboratory opens in Palo Alto, California. A multi-business conglomerate, Virgin Group was founded by Richard Branson in