News stories from Sunday May 27, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Celebrating the peace treaty between their countries, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel exchanged brief visits, meeting in El Arish, the Sinai capital recently returned to Egypt, then flying over Tel Aviv and Cairo and returning to Beersheba in Israel for more talks. The Israel-to-Egypt flight was to symbolize the opening of a new air corridor that eventually will allow direct routes between the nations. [New York Times]
- Investigation of the crash of a jetliner in Chicago has shown that the fracture of a bolt led to the loss of an engine and its housing on the American Airlines DC-10. The National Transportation Safety Board said the bolt fracture was caused by metal fatigue. The board recommended immediate inspection of similar bolts on all other McDonnell Douglas DC-10's. [New York Times]
- Texas gulps more gas than any other state in the union, and the causes of its profligate consumption are tied to the state's history, geography, values and civic policy. Texas leads the big 10 states in per capita gas consumption, while New York is the most frugal gas user in the group. [New York Times]
- Veterans exposed to Agent Orange suspect a number of illnesses have been caused by that herbicide or one of the others the U.S. used for defoliation in the Vietnam War. Some 500 veterans have filed Agent Orange claims with the Veteran's Administration, but none has been classified as a victim of the chemical. Officially, Agent Orange poisoning does not exist. [New York Times]
- Thurgood Marshall attacked the Supreme Court for offering "insufficient protection to constitutional rights" in two recent cases. The Justice displayed sarcasm, bitterness and pique towards his colleagues as he spoke at the annual meeting of the Second Judicial Circuit, criticizing two Supreme Court decisions involving libel laws and jailed defendants. [New York Times]
- Links with a drug ring operative have been assembled by federal and state investigators looking into the case of a Houston fireman and his companion who were charged with landing their airplane in Colombia illegally a month ago. Sources say evidence links the two men with an alleged operative of a major south Florida drug smuggling ring. [New York Times]
- The purchase of two sports teams and The Forum arena in Inglewood, Calif., has taken place in what could be the single largest financial transaction in the history of professional sports. Sources say the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and the arena have been purchased by a California real estate executive for about $68 million, in contracts believed to have been signed last week. [New York Times]
- Profits from Atlantic City gambling at Resorts International are huge, and other companies, hoping to cash in on the bonanza, are building casinos all along the city's Boardwalk. The boom is only beginning, but the price of progress for the city's old and poor is already high. There is an acute shortage of housing, and muggings and prostitution have increased. [New York Times]
- Most gas stations were closed in the New York metropolitan area, and in many city neighborhoods nearly all filling stations were shut because of the gasoline shortage. Officials expressed concern that returning holiday motorists may face longer gasoline lines than before and pay higher prices. [New York Times]
- The U.S. refugee program lacks funds, and the State Department is engaged in a desperate financial juggling act, trying to transport and resettle thousands of refugees from Indochina and the Soviet Union while it awaits more money from Congress. [New York Times]
- Fear of Soviet aggression in the Arabian Peninsula was voiced by the Sultan of Oman, who appealed to the United States to take "a strong policy position" against the Soviet Union's adventures in the area. The Sultan suggested linking the U.S. arms limitation treaty with the Russians to a Soviet pledge of good behavior in the Middle East and Africa. [New York Times]
- Fear haunts Iran's Jewish community, but there is no evidence that the Islamic revolution has spurred official or unofficial vendettas against Jews. The recent execution by the revolutionary court of a wealthy Jewish businessman has made Jews apprehensive. [New York Times]