News stories from Sunday June 4, 1978

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Gerald Ford said a decision on seeking the Republican presidential nomination would depend on his assessment of President Carter's performance over the next year or 18 months. He told a town meeting in Temple, Tex., where he had been invited to speak by the Chamber of Commerce, that he was growing deeply disturbed over many of the administration's policies. [New York Times] Richard Nixon will get a rousing welcome when he goes to Hyden, Ky., July 2 to attend dedication ceremonies for a $2.6 million recreation center named in his honor. Hyden, a town of 500 in the Appalachian Mountains, is prospering. County Judge-Executive C. Allen Muncy said, "This is a good opportunity for people to show a different image. We're going to put on a real welcome." [New York Times] Richard Obenshain won the Republican nomination for the Senate against two centrists at a statewide convention in Richmond attended by 9,721 delegates and alternates. He is known for his conservative views. His chances of election in November against a Democratic organization whose power is eroding were regarded as fair. He is the former state Republican chairman in Virginia. [New York Times] Charges that the F.B.I. is attempting to dismiss an agent because he questioned the conduct of the bureau's Indianapolis field office are being reviewed by Attorney General Griffin Bell. When Charles Egger pressed his superiors in the F.B.I. to broaden a gambling investigation in Indianapolis last year, he alleges, it triggered an interoffice feud, anonymous threats to his life and a shot at his window. [New York Times] Senator Clifford Case said he could support the sale of warplanes to Egypt, moving closer to Jeffrey Bell, his conservative challenger for the Senate nomination in New Jersey's primary on Tuesday. Mr. Case, a liberal and a strong supporter of Israel, is seeking a fifth term. [New York Times] A major debate was begun by Israel's cabinet on questions asked by the government of the United States concerning the future of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The questions, aimed at finding a way to resume the stalled Egyptian-Israeli peace talks, deal basically with the future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the five-year period of civil autonomy proposed by to Egypt by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. [New York Times] Evidence linking Cuba to the Katangan rebels' invasion of Zaire came from prisoners, diplomatic channels and neighboring African countries, according to Defense Secretary Harold Brown. Though there were indications that Cubans had accompanied the Katangans "very close to the border," Mr. Brown said in a television interview, there is no convincing evidence that Cubans actually accompanied the Katangans into Zaire. [New York Times] Chemical warfare readiness is being expanded by the United States to counter what the Defense Department describes as vast Soviet superiority. In 1969, the Nixon administration reduced what was then a large arsenal of chemical weapons. [New York Times] Ninety years after slavery was abolished in Brazil, whose population of 115 million is at least one-third black, most blacks appear to he at the bottom of society socially and economically. Evidence suggests that Brazilians exercise a benign racism that results in illegal discrimination against blacks, especially in the job market. [New York Times] Belisario Betancourt, candidate of Colombia's Conservative Party, took an early lead over his liberal opponent, Julio Turbay Ayala, in the election for the presidency of South America's largest democracy. [New York Times] China's Foreign Minister, Huang Hua, on a visit to Zaire for talks on possible aid, went to Kolwezi, accompanied by President Mobutu Sese Seko, the Zairian government press agency said. On his arrival in Zaire, the Chinese official sharply criticized Soviet and Cuban involvement in Africa, His visit to Kolwezi was regarded in Zaire's capital as a significant gesture of support for President Mobutu's anti-Soviet policy. [New York Times]