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News stories from Sunday February 19, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- With the coal negotiations stalled, the White House announced that President Carter would begin "immediately" to seek congressional support for what was described by one government official as a "two-step" process to bring about an end to the miners' strike. The announcement followed a meeting at the White House of the President's special coal emergency study group, but it seemed that Mr. Carter might not be committed to a single course of action. [New York Times]
- Bert Lance's alleged involvement in the struggle for control of the $2.2 billion Financial General Bankshares Inc., a holding company for about 15 banks, raises some important questions. One is whether Mr. Lance, who resigned as Director of the Office Management and Budget in a controversy over his banking practices before he became a federal official, plans to return to Washington and banking through a leadership role in Financial General. A more important issue is the politically sensitive question of whether bank regulators should have the authority to prevent individuals from acquiring control of a bank. That authority would be granted under legislation now being considered in Congress. [New York Times]
- Auto dealers are saying that a spring thaw will go a long way toward reversing the slow sales of 1978 model cars, which are 8 percent under a year ago. Sales were the No. 1 topic as more than 10,000 car dealers gathered in San Francisco for the annual convention of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Many dealers believe that sales will not be much more than the 11.2 million units sold last year. [New York Times]
- Lack of skilled management and labor are slowing down the instant industrial development programs that were begun in recent years in oil-rich Middle East capitals. American and Arab managers associated with the projects say that an inability to absorb the technology that comes with imported industrial goods, plus bottlenecks at the ports, on the roads and in telecommunications are escalating the costs of the development effort. [New York Times]
- Courses on ethics are proliferating in universities and professional schools, and are no longer confined to departments of theology and philosophy. At least half of the country's 116 medical schools, or about triple the number of five years ago, offer instruction in medical ethics. A similar trend is evident in law, engineering, public policy and other professional schools. [New York Times]
- Egyptian commandos flew to Cyprus and attacked a jetliner at Larnaca Airport near Nicosia in an attempt to free 15 hostages held by two Arab guerrillas. The guerrillas were said to have surrendered and the hostages were freed, but 15 Egyptians were reported to have died. The raid set off an angry exchange between Cyprus and Egypt.
Egypt contended that it had notified Cyprus beforehand that its commandos were going to try to free the hostages, and it asked that the men be sent home. It also requested that the two gunmen captured in the attack be handed over to Cairo for trial. [New York Times]
- If a Palestinian homeland or "entity" is formed on the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip, it will represent the fulfillment of what seems to be a deeply held aspiration on the part of the 1,150,000 inhabitants of the two non-contiguous territories. They remain divided between supporters and opponents of Jordan's King Hussein, and their active resistance to Israeli occupation has diminished in recent years. But they cling stubbornly to the vision of what one of them calls "true self-determination." [New York Times]
- Yugoslavia and France are attempting to break the deadlock that has developed in the final weeks of the European security conference in Belgrade. The talks, called to monitor the 1975 Helsinki agreements on East-West cooperation, hit a snag over what kind of concluding document should be adopted. [New York Times]
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