News stories from Saturday October 28, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Typhoon Rita, which killed 52 persons in the Philippines and left another 54 missing, bypassed Hong Kong and veered off toward Vietnam. The typhoon's advance winds felled trees in Hong Kong, blocked public transportation in some areas and fanned eight forest fires apparently started by picnickers in parks. [Los Angeles Times]
- Attorney General Griffin Bell and presidential adviser Charles Kirbo are engaged in high-level recruiting for President Carter in preparation for a major administration shakeup after the Nov. 7 elections, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Kirbo would give few details but did say the recruiting was "for sub-cabinet positions," the newspaper said. The shakeup in the upper-middle level of the administration apparently reflects a major shift in Carter's approach to governing, according to the report. Carter's aides have complained that some of Carter's own officials have thwarted the implementation of the President's policies. [Los Angeles Times]
- Gen. of the Army Omar Bradley, 85, was released from the hospital at Ft. Bliss, Tex., after treatment for a minor infection. The nation's only living five-star general had been hospitalized in Washington, D.C., Oct. 16 after he had had to cancel an appointment with President Carter. Bradley, still on active duty after 67 years' service, lives at Ft. Bliss. [Los Angeles Times]
- Congress gave consumers some victories this year, but big business called most of the shots, a Ralph Nader lobbyist charged. Consumers won only when they sought reform that "neither antagonized big business nor aroused anti-bureaucracy fanatics" or unified congressional conservatives, Mark Green, director of Congress Watch, said. Green's group is run by Nader's Public Citizen, Inc. Green said Congress was dominated by big business, anti-government sentiment and Republican unity. [Los Angeles Times]
- Explosions at two Mobil Oil Co. offices near Boston caused extensive damage to the buildings but no one was reported injured. A terrorist group calling itself the Sam Melville-Jonathan Jackson Unit claimed responsibility for placing bombs at the sites and demanded freedom for imprisoned Puerto Rican nationalists. The F.B.I. was investigating the incidents. The same group claimed responsibility for an explosion at a Boston courthouse two years ago that injured 22 persons. [Los Angeles Times]
- Some of the 10 U.S. Navy men picked up by a Russian trawler "are in need of medical attention" and the ship is steaming toward a Soviet port on the tip of Siberia, a State Department spokesman said. The men were among 15 aboard a Navy P-3 Orion that was forced to ditch in the North Pacific on Thursday, and the Russian ship picked up the men shortly after the crash. A Coast Guard cutter is at the site searching for two missing men. Three others were killed in the crash. [Los Angeles Times]
- Nine present or former Cleveland City Council members were indicted on charges of taking bribes from carnival operators who wanted to set up carnivals in the city. A grand jury returned a total of 496 indictments after a year-long investigation into the case. One of those indicted was City Council President George Forbes, leader of an unsuccessful drive to recall the city's controversial mayor, Dennis Kucinich. Forbes and several others admitted accepting money but insisted they gave the money to charities. Also indicted were seven carnival representatives, Forbes' bodyguard and a former city building commissioner. [Los Angeles Times]
- California state Sen. John Briggs, (R-Fullerton), said he is "not surprised" that former President Gerald Ford has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 6, the so-called anti-gay initiative, because there is "a panic bordering on hysteria among politicians to support the hundreds of thousands of homosexuals who militantly oppose" the measure. Ford, the state legislator said, is among a group of politicians clamoring to get the support of homosexuals, and added that the former President's opposition remarks in Fresno did not surprise him. "What is going to be a surprise to those easily intimidated, vote-seeking politicians on election day," Briggs said, "is the overwhelming majority of voters who will be standing with God, morality, parents, children and me for parents' rights and for 'Yes' on Proposition 6." [Los Angeles Times]
- Pope John Paul II met privately with East German Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer. It was the first meeting between any Pope and a high East German official and the second between the new Pope and a top Communist in six days. East Germany does not have official relations with the Vatican, Under Pope Paul V, the Vatican launched a policy of detente with Communist regimes and carried on dialogues with the governments of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia -- but not East Germany, which refused to participate. In his latest key appointment, John Paul II confirmed Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio of Italy to his Curia post as head of the Vatican Congregation for the Bishops, Vatican officials announced. [Los Angeles Times]
- Red Brigades terrorist leader Corrado Alunni, accused of masterminding the kidnap-slaying of former Premier Aldo Moro, was sentenced to seven years and one month in jail by a Milan court for terrorist activities in 1975. He has also been charged in the slayings of Moro and Turin Lawyers Assn. President Fulvio Croce earlier this year and La Stampa newspaper Editor Carlo Casalengo in 1977. The court sentenced five others for terrorist activities. [Los Angeles Times]
- Spanish police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to avert a clash between 1,000 supporters of Basque guerrillas and thousands of Basques staging the first anti-terrorism march in the strife-torn region. Five persons were injured in the hit-and-run clashes between police and guerrilla supporters who threw rocks at police. Police said they arrested five youths carrying firebombs. [Los Angeles Times]
- The presidents of four of black Africa's five "front-line" states meet tomorrow in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in an apparent attempt to mend recently exposed rifts and coordinate efforts to bring down Ian Smith's white minority government in Rhodesia. The states confronting Rhodesia are Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and Angola. The president of Mozambique will not attend the summit. [Los Angeles Times]
- Egyptian prosecutors sought to strip a former deputy premier of his parliamentary immunity so they can question him about allegations that he accepted a $322,000 bribe from the Westinghouse Electric Corp. Attorney General Anwar Abu-Sahli said he had asked the parliament to lift the immunity of Ahmed Sultan Ismail, who was dropped from the cabinet but is still a member of parliament. He is accused of taking the money in return for his influence in winning two contracts for the U.S. firm in 1974. [Los Angeles Times]
- U.S. Rep. Stephen Solarz (D.-N.Y.) said a sniper fired at his limousine while he was visiting Beirut on a two-day fact-finding mission. In addition, Syrian machine-gun and rifle fire broke out 50 yards from the Congressman while he was meeting with leaders of Beirut's Christian faction. Solarz said the sniper's bullets did not hit his car but he was glad its bulletproof windows were not put to the test. A member of the House International Relations Committee, he has already visited Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria and is due in Jordan tomorrow. [Los Angeles Times]
- Because her husband is running for governor of Massachusetts, Bambi Hatch sits home alone at their posh estate armed with a shotgun. The wife of Republican Frank Hatch said her husband's opponent, Democrat Edward King, had done a "really mean" thing by running a television ad featuring pictures of the Hatches' 50-acre estate in Beverly Farms. Now she's afraid of burglars. "What am I going to do?" she asked. "I'm alone and I sit here with my shotgun. I just can't explain how upset I am." [Los Angeles Times]