News stories from Saturday October 14, 1978

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

The strip of linen many believe was the burial cloth of Jesus Christ was locked away in San Giovanni Cathedral, Turin, Italy, after 45 days on public exhibit and five days of scientific examination. A team of 25 experts, including representatives of the U.S. space exploration program, studied the "Shroud of Turin" in efforts to test the legend of the cloth. Results of the scientific studies are not expected to be published for two years. [Los Angeles Times] A showdown meeting requested by Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.) was delayed by the Senate Ethics Committee, which is investigating Brooke's financial affairs. A motion by Chairman Adlai Stevenson III (D-Ill.) for such a meeting failed on a tie vote, and Stevenson said the matter probably would be taken up again on Monday. Brooke had asked for the meeting after special committee counsel Richard Wertheimer had resigned, charging that aides of Brooke had tried to delay the inquiry by withholding and altering documents. Brooke denied the charges and asked for an open meeting to confront Wertheimer. [Los Angeles Times] Expensive space adventures are neither feasible nor necessary, President Carter said in an interview. He called for a tight-budgeted, aggressive space policy focusing on the practical application of America's space technology, instead of expensive explorations. Carter said that missions to Mars and Venus and new projects to scout comets and asteroids were among the priorities in studying the solar system. [Los Angeles Times] The selling of fluorocarbon gases for most aerosol products was prohibited by an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that goes into effect tomorrow. As of Dec. 15, the manufacture of aerosol spray can products containing fluorocarbons will be prohibited. Fluorocarbons are considered to be a threat to the ozone layer, which shields earth from harmful radiation. [Los Angeles Times] Foreign purchases of U.S. farmland will be monitored under a bill, signed by President Carter, that directs the Secretary of Agriculture to evaluate the effects of foreign investment on American family farms and rural communities. Foreign citizens will be required to report significant holdings or acquisitions of U.S. farmland. Carter said many American farmers had expressed concern that increased foreign investment was driving up U.S. farmland prices. [Los Angeles Times] U.S. contributions to the United Nations -- one-fourth of its budget -- were threatened by a law that took effect last week. When President Carter signed the measure appropriating funds for the State Department, he criticized an amendment striking out $27 million in U.S. payments to international organizations and a stipulation that no U.S. funds be used for technical assistance by the U.N. That provision could prevent the U.N. from accepting the remaining $327 million of the American contribution, and Congress will be asked to rescind it. [Los Angeles Times] Antipollution vessels sprayed detergent on a 10-mile-long slick of oil leaking from a damaged Greek tanker in the Irish Sea, and the British coast guard said if fair weather continues the oil probably could be kept away from resort beaches. The 58,000-ton Christos Bitas listed about eight miles off Wales and about 30 miles from Ireland, where it was towed after rocks ruptured its cargo tanks Thursday night. Two other tankers were being used to pump out the remaining oil while other specially equipped ships worked to contain the slick. [Los Angeles Times] Actress Elizabeth Taylor, 46, will be hospitalized in Richmond, Va., for three or four days while her doctor tries to determine whether her esophagus was punctured when she choked on a chicken bone. "I think she's going to be all right," Dr. Owen Gwathmey said. The incident occurred as Miss Taylor was campaigning for her husband, John Warner, a Republican candidate for Senator from Virginia. [Los Angeles Times] Cleveland's 33-year-old mayor, Dennis Kucinich, was admitted to a hospital with stomach pains. He was listed in good condition in the intensive care ward. There was no word on the cause of his illness. [Los Angeles Times] Thirteen years of servitude to a Southfield, Mich., couple has resulted in a $1.5 million damage award for Betty June Pelletier, a 50-year-old retarded woman. In what was called a "shocking example of human serfdom" by the judge, Miss Pelletier was found to have been subjected to unceasing torture, abuse and humiliation by Dr. Alois Finch and his wife, Kathleen. Collecting the damages may not be possible, for Finch died last year and his widow, who denied the allegation, cannot be found. [Los Angeles Times] Four masked men hijacked a mail truck near Attleboro, Mass., and made off with up to $500,000 worth of gold and jewelry, authorities reported. The truck was found abandoned soon after the hijacking and authorities collected fingerprints from it. The vehicle, which carried registered and unregistered mail also, was headed from Providence, R.I., when two cars stopped in front of it on a freeway ramp and forced the driver to stop. The gunmen forced the driver out of the truck and left him handcuffed to a chain-link fence. [Los Angeles Times] The Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda made a blistering personal attack on U.S. Ambassador Malcolm Toon, accusing him of slandering the Soviet Union in his speeches on an American tour. The paper criticized Toon for remarks he made about racism in Soviet society, microwave bombardment of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and Soviet fear of China. It was the second Soviet denunciation of Toon in two months, since he embarked on the speaking tour to promote American acceptance of a new U.S.-Soviet strategic arms limitation treaty. In Washington, the State Department dismissed the criticism as unwarranted. [Los Angeles Times] One of Japan's leading political figures announced that he will oppose Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda for re-election this fall. Masayoshi Ohira, 68, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said he will be a candidate in the elections beginning Nov. 1 for leadership of the party, and thus Japan's prime ministership. Ohira had strongly backed Fukuda, 73, when he became prime minister two years ago. [Los Angeles Times] A four-day strike that shut down Iran's newspapers ended after the journalists won a government pledge of respect for freedom of the press. The reporters and other newspaper employees had gone on strike to protest attempts at martial law censorship. Their victory came after three days of talks with Premier Jaafar Sharif-Emami. The government issued a statement pledging press freedom and promising that any offenses charged against the press would be settled in court. [Los Angeles Times] Opponents of Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza met with mediators from the United States, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala despite Somoza's new six-month of extension of martial law. The opposition had demanded an end to martial law as a condition of political negotiation, but agreed to enter the talks anyway because Somoza shortened curfew hours and said persons arrested during the recent uprising could be tried in civilian courts. The opposition, which is demanding Somoza's resignation, won another concession last week when the president lifted press censorship rules.The Inter-American Press Assn., ending its 34th general assembly, held in Miami, said the status of press freedom in the Western Hemisphere seems to be improving. However, delegates criticized press restrictions in several countries. They condemned Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza's government for "its repeated violation of human rights, among which is included freedom of the press." [Los Angeles Times] A Rhodesian police raid on a home in a black township near Salisbury killed five people, including a 6-month-old boy, his mother and grandmother. Police said that two of the dead were suspected nationalist guerrillas, but a friend of the stricken family denied this, saying they were only visitors at the house and were unarmed. [Los Angeles Times]