News stories from Saturday July 22, 1978

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

Three guards were killed and three others injured in rioting by about 600 inmates at Pontiac State Penitentiary in Pontiac, Ill. The rioting was ended by police officers who attacked with tear gas. [New York Times] Affirmative action programs will be stressed in a Washington lobbying campaign led by the N.A.A.C.P., according to the organization's executive director. Leaders of the civil rights group said that they would request a meeting with President Carter to discuss what they believe has been an erosion of civil rights accomplishments. They will also seek a White House conference on affirmative action. [New York Times] The role of informers has troubled law enforcement officials, judges, congressional committees and civil liberties groups for years. The F.B.I.'s director, William Webster, said he believes informers are the "most effective tool in law enforcement today." But in recent weeks the reliance on informers has become an issue of unusual concern because of a series of events that have focused attention on the problems that they sometimes cause. [New York Times] President Anwar Sadat said in a speech in Cairo that Prime Minister Menachem Begin was "the only obstacle" to peace in the Middle East. Mr. Sadat sharply criticized the Israeli leader for what he called his "greediness for land" and said that Egypt was ready to give Israel peace, recognition and guarantees, but not Arab land or sovereignty over Arab land. His speech, on the eve of the anniversary of the 1952 revolution that deposed King Farouk, dealt mostly with domestic politics. Mr. Sadat announced that he had decided to propose abolition of the ruling Arab Socialist Union and to form his own party. [New York Times] Indira Gandhi was formally charged by the Indian government with conspiracy and criminal misconduct for allegedly coercing businessmen into aiding her campaign for re-election as Prime Minister. Five of her supporters were included in the charges by the Central Bureau of Investigation. A spokesman for Prime Minister Morarji Desai, whose party won the elections, ousting Mrs. Gandhi, said she would not be arrested, "although the law provides for it." [New York Times] Rhodesian guerrillas killed 30 black civilians two weeks ago, and 106 guerillas were killed by security forces in follow-up operations, according to an announcement from military headquarters in Salisbury. The slain civilians were all said to be supporters of the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, one of the principal figures in Rhodesia's multi-racial transitional government. There was no explanation for the delay in disclosing the deaths. [New York Times]