News stories from Sunday March 5, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Coal miners voted by more than 2 to 1 against the proposed coal strike settlement, and the union conceded that the proposal had been defeated. A government attempt to get the miners back to work will probably begin tomorrow. Prospects for its success are uncertain if Mr. Carter chooses the theoretically swiftest remedy, a petition to a federal court for an 80-day back-to-work injunction under the Taft-Hartley Act.
President Carter was left with virtually no alternative except the "drastic and unsatisfactory legal action" he promised if the coal contract was not approved. What form that action will take, administration officials said, will be announced Monday after all ballots are in from the coal fields. An alternative to invoking the 80-day back-to-work order of the Taft-Hartley Act, which presidential advisers called the "most likely option," is legislation providing for government seizure of the mines.
[New York Times] - Widespread payoffs and other adverse economic effects are almost certain to follow the coal settlement's rejection, government officials said. Coal supplies of utilities in an 11-state area centered in Ohio are at a level that has made mandatory power cutbacks imminent. Coal-related layoffs could reach "over the three million mark perhaps," according to Charles Schultze, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. [New York Times]
- A secret message was sent by Prime Minister Menachem Begin to President Anwar Sadat through United States diplomatic channels in which he reportedly urged resumption of direct negotiations between their countries. The letter was a response to one sent to Mr. Begin last week by President Sadat. Mr. Begin, however, withheld full details of the correspondence from his cabinet. [New York Times]
- World shipbuilding is at its lowest point in a decade. Cut-throat competition for the trickle of new orders is getting worse as new government-backed shipyards in developing countries have been reducing prices to earn foreign exchange and keep workers employed. Brazil, India and Taiwan, for instance, are building ships for export. [New York Times]
- Third-world demands for relief from the economic burdens of sharply higher oil prices have persuaded the United States to join several other Western countries in offering to write off some of the outstanding official debt of the poorest countries. Authority for the proposed moratorium would come under a provision of a foreign aid bill introduced by the late Senator Hubert Humphrey. [New York Times]
- Tropicana Products would be bought for about $488 million in cash and stock under a tentative agreement with Beatrice Foods. A joint statement from the two companies said that terms called for Beatrice to pay either $32 a share in cash or a still to be determined amount of convertible preferred stock. Tropicana was not seeking the sale, industry sources said, but it had been approached by a number of companies since the last of three unsuccessful takeover deals with the Kellogg Company collapsed in August. [New York Times]
- Prospective heirs can sell their inheritances at auction in London. H. E. Foster & Cranfield has been selling these irrevocable interests in trusts, called reversions, since 1843 and the firm believes its business is unique. A recent sale offered three-quarters of a trust fund receivable on the death of an 81-year-old man, but the reversions may be in real estate, annuities, rents, bonds and insurance policies as well. The maker of the bequest need never know he has a new heir. [New York Times]
- China announced Hua Kuo-feng's reappointment as Prime Minister. Mr. Hua, 59 years old, is chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. His reappointment was decided by the National People's Congress, China's nominal legislature, on the proposal of the party's Central Committee. He had originally been picked as Prime Minister by the late Mao Tse-tung in 1976, but recently his role has seemed circumscribed and somewhat ceremonial. The Congress also chose Marshal Yeh Chien-ying, who is 80, as chairman of its standing committee. [New York Times]
- Death is being discussed in schools by children in all grades. Visiting cemeteries and funeral homes, reading novels and essays about death and even taking turns lying in coffins, they are exploring the subject in ways that allow them to cross the disciplinary boundaries of literature, sociology, religion, history and art. "The study of death is probably the last of the old taboos to fall in the schools," a professional teachers' group said. [New York Times]