News stories from Saturday October 7, 1978

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

President Carter's popularity rating, which rose 17 percentage points after the Camp David summit meeting on the Mideast, dropped in the latest Gallup Poll but remained 11 points higher than immediately before the summit talks. The latest survey found 50% of the public approving of the President's performance in office, 37% disapproving and 13% undecided. In the period before the summit talks, 39% expressed approval, 36% disapproval and 25% was undecided. [Los Angeles Times] A gunman who had held 10 persons hostage at a New York dress shop fatally shot himself when his last hostage, the store's cashier, escaped. Police said her break for freedom had sent the gunman into panic. Two hours earlier the unidentified gunman, about 30 years old, had freed the other hostages -- eight store employees and a policeman who had entered the store when the attempted holdup began. [Los Angeles Times] Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, his feelings clearly bruised by President Carter's veto of the $10.1 billion public works bill, told a news conference in Washington that he wanted to "debunk any suggestion that this Congress is spendthrift." The West Virginia Democrat cited cuts in the President's proposed budget deficit, support for airline deregulation and a moderate approach toward tax cuts as examples of congressional willingness to control spending and to fight inflation. In his veto, Carter described the public works bill as "pork barrel" and inflationary. [Los Angeles Times] Hypocrisy charges were leveled against 20 House conservatives, who were accused of complaining about government spending while supporting federal subsidies for businesses. Congress Watch, a Ralph Nader lobbying group, released a study of how the lawmakers had voted on nine "corporate welfare programs" before Congress this year. Among those singled out as "winners of the hypocrisy poll" were G.O.P. Leader John Rhodes of Arizona, Rep. John Rousselot (R-Calif.) and Rep. Don Clausen (R-Calif.). [Los Angeles Times] A series of explosions in a metal alloys plant in Benton Harbor, Mich., killed at least two persons and injured about 15 others. Patrolman Kim Fowler said it appeared that a huge metals furnace had exploded, risen into the air and fallen into an area where 50 persons were working at the Michigan Standards Alloys, Inc. plant. Hospital spokesmen said some of the injured suffered third-degree burns "from head to toe." Benton Harbor is a town of 17,000 in southwestern Michigan on the shore of Lake Michigan. [Los Angeles Times] The Senate has voted to establish a $200 million fund to compensate the victims of oil spills. The money, which would be raised by a 3-cent-a-barrel fee levied on crude oil arriving at U.S. refineries, would also pay for the cleanup of oil and hazardous substances dumped from ocean-going tankers, offshore oil rigs or oil refineries. Oil tankers or ships carrying hazardous substances would be liable for up to $500,000 damages for each spill and oil refinery owners would be responsible for damages of up to $50 million. [Los Angeles Times] Presidential assistant Hamilton Jordan has been dropped from the "Green Book," Washington's social "Who's Who," because he is separated from his wife. "Even if there had been no separation, the board of governors would have cast a bad eye on him anyhow," publisher Jean Murray said. Jordan made headlines when he was accused of spitting a drink at a young woman in a bar and of making lewd comments to the wife of the Egyptian ambassador at a dinner party. He had denied the stories. The "Green Book" is a social list of White House executives, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, ambassadors and the city's social elite. It gets its name from its kelly green cover. [Los Angeles Times] Retired CIA official John Paisley might have been shot when in the water or on another vessel in Chesapeake Bay -- but not aboard his own boat -- Maryland state police said. Capt. Paul Rappaport, head of the team investigating the bizarre death, said there was no evidence that his boat was the crime scene. Paisley's body, weighted with diving belts and shot in the head, was discovered floating in the Bay last week. Paisley, 55, may have been a piracy victim, Rappaport said, as authorities continued to be baffled as to whether Paisley was murdered or committed suicide. [Los Angeles Times] In a room filled with Hollywood stars, most of the eyes were on former First Lady Betty Ford, making her first public appearance since she had a facelift Sept. 14. "I'm 60 years old and I wanted a new face to go with my beautiful new life," she had said then. The cosmetic surgery removed puffiness and wrinkles from around the eyes and erased wrinkles from her neck. Accompanied by her son Steve, she attended a testimonial dinner for dancer Fred Astaire, given by the American National Theater and Academy after a performance of the musical "Annie" at the Schubert Theater in Los Angeles. [Los Angeles Times] Roman Catholic cardinals retreated to villas in the Alban hills overlooking Rome for a weekend of quiet bargaining over possible successors to the late Pope John Paul I. Vatican sources said the relaxed atmosphere of the holiday villas permitted the kind of open lobbying for favorite candidates that is considered bad form in the staid Vatican conference halls or in the conclave chambers where the cardinals will be sealed next Saturday. [Los Angeles Times] Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho), soon to take over as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, took the lead in declaring support for the strategic arms limitation treaty being negotiated with Russia. In a report on the negotiations Church said the emerging pact would decidedly be in the best interest of the United States. The next SALT session between Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko will be Oct. 22-23, according to the State Department. [Los Angeles Times] Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor has filed a $1.6 million lawsuit alleging that a cosmetics firm and an advertising agency used her name and image to promote a line of cosmetics without her knowledge. Miss Gabor filed the Superior Court suit against Cosmetic Venture, Inc., and Super Market Media, saying that the cosmetics firm issued a bulk mailing of a pamphlet containing a picture of her face and her endorsement of the product line without her permission. [Los Angeles Times] A scientist has suggested that up to 80% of the planets Jupiter and Mars may be composed of a metallic form of hydrogen. Robert Hawke of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory said the conclusion was reached after tests duplicated -- apparently for the first time on earth -- conditions in the cores of the two planets. The tests indicated the planets' cores are huge, rotating conductors and help explain how Jupiter maintains its powerful magnetic field, Hawke said. [Los Angeles Times] Iran's public services were hit by dozens of wildcat pay strikes, but a show of military force appeared to have averted threatened street demonstrations. Troops in trucks and armored personnel carriers were stationed at key points in Teheran, including the two main universities. Strikes shut down the national Iranian airline, several government ministries, hospitals and halted mail service. [Los Angeles Times] A Johannesburg newspaper said South African Prime Minister P. W. Botha has new proposals in response to a U.N. plan for the independence of Namibia (South-West Africa). The Afrikaans paper Beeld said Botha's proposals "could bring a dramatic change in the present deadlock over independence for the territory," but did not give details on his plan. The proposals could have "far reaching influence" on this week's scheduled visit to South Africa by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and four other Western foreign ministers, the paper said. [Los Angeles Times] East Germany paraded some of its heaviest army equipment through East Berlin in a show of military might that immediately drew a protest from West Berlin. A spokesman for the U.S., British and French administrations in the western sectors of the divided city said it was well known that all such East German military displays were illegal. The three, who share responsibility for Berlin with the Soviet Union, maintain that postwar Allied agreements banning German military from the former German capital are still valid. The Russians and East Germans reject that view. [Los Angeles Times] Air mail being sent to Israel will not be accepted by U.S. post offices and will be returned to senders because of a postal strike in that country, the U.S. Postal Service said. The embargo was made at the request of the Israeli government. Union spokesmen in Israel said mail delivery would be stopped for at least three days. [Los Angeles Times] India's Defense Minister Jagivan Ram charged that the United States threatened to sell Pakistan F-5E fighter planes if India ordered a new bomber, and then went ahead with the sale before India reached a decision. India announced Friday that it would buy the Anglo-French Jaguar, a deep-penetration strike aircraft as well as Harrier vertical-takeoff planes for use on India's aircraft carrier Vikrant. In Washington, the United States denied that a sale of F-5Es to Pakistan was made or is planned. [Los Angeles Times]