News stories from Sunday December 4, 1977

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

President Carter is confident that he has established a solid foundation for substantial progress at home and abroad in 1978. He is in a philosophic mood as this year ends, but surprised by the complexities of foreign and domestic affairs, and disappointed by the opposition to many of his domestic programs. In an interview, he discussed Congress, the press, the influence of religion on history, the element of luck in politics, his decline in the popularity polls, and why even his most loyal supporters seem puzzled and upset by his leadership. [New York Times] Giving favored employment treatment to members of minority groups has brought about a confrontation that is shaping up in the federal courts. The issue is potentially much broader than the Bakke dispute over admissions to professional schools. A white worker in Louisiana has persuaded two federal courts that on-the-job training in his factory, aimed at increasing job opportunities for blacks, was unconstitutional. The case is almost certainly on its way to the Supreme Court and, believing that the federal affirmative-action programs might be at stake, the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are seeking to intervene. [New York Times] Steel executives report a significant increase in orders in the last month on a broad range of products -- especially for the energy industry -- but they differ on whether the industry's slump is near an end. The most important change in the domestic industry is the pullback from the American market by foreign producers. "They're not even in there now," said Henry Holiday, Armco's president, "they're not quoting prices." Customers who had been buying foreign steel are now turning to domestic producers. [New York Times] Despite poor crop prices of the last year, the sales of the nation's largest farm cooperative, Farmland Industries, rose to just above $3 billion, $100 million more than last year. But savings, which would be called profits if the co-op were a profit-making concern, fell to $80 million from $111 million last year, But this was all right with the co-op's members, who will get about half of the $80 million. Had the savings and refunds been larger, most of the member-owners would have thought they reflected too low a price for their crops and too high a price for the goods they bought. [New York Times] Complaints from Harvard students have persuaded the university to take steps to improve its undergraduate teaching. The university has agreed to make evaluation of faculty members' teaching ability a criterion in granting tenure, and the faculty will soon take up recommendations made by a student-faculty committee that called for increased attention to undergraduate programs. Harvard's efforts reflect a growing concern of many major universities: that while faculty quality is high, its senior members are preoccupied with research and have little contact with undergraduates. [New York Times] A hijacked Malaysian airliner crashed in southern Malaysia and apparently all the 100 people aboard were killed, officials of the Malaysian Airline system said, Rescue workers found no survivors according to the police. Officials said the pilot had radioed that the plane had been seized by terrorists of the Japanese Red Army. The plane's crew had seven members, and all but 20 of the 93 passengers were Malaysians. They included Agriculture Minister Ali Ahmad. [New York Times] The united Arab front that was to have been erected against Egypt was broken when Iraq walked out of the anti-Egyptian Arab meeting in Tripoli. Baghdad refused to sign an accord that was intended to isolate Egypt in retaliation for President Anwar Sadat's peace overtures to Israel. Iraq was believed to have sought rejection of any negotiated peace settlement. An conference spokesman said, however, that the meeting had "achieved great success and reached important results." [New York Times] British soldiers landed in Bermuda to help provide support for local policemen who have clashed with rioting youths since two black men were hanged for murder Friday. The Foreign Office in London sent them at the request of the Bermuda government. There are 260 troops, 60 from Belize, formerly British Honduras, and the rest from Britain. [New York Times]