News stories from Sunday December 10, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A battle with liberal Democrats was won by President Carter when the Democratic Party at its midterm issues conference in Memphis voted to praise his budget plans instead of demanding that he make no reductions in domestic aid programs. The 822 to 521 vote followed Vice President Mondale's promise that the arms budget would be scrutinized as closely as any other. He also reminded the delegates of the administration's increases in domestic spending. [New York Times]
- Mental patients have risen up against psychiatry and traditional mental health care, and some psychiatrists concede that the campaign is having an effect. At least thousands of past and present mental patients in United States, Canada and Europe are participating in what they regard as their liberation movement. [New York Times]
- Murder, other brutality and sexual innuendo are notable for their absence from the 22 new programs that make up the most extensive midseason renovation ever by ABC, CBS and NBC. For the first time since the invasion of westerns on television in the 1950's, the networks are turning away from violence and its alternate, sex. [New York Times]
- Americans are not being protected from the potential health hazards of microwave radiation, a congressional study found, because federal agencies have been lax in setting and enforcing regulations. The study found that while the dangers of high-level exposure to microwaves have been shown, there is much disagreement among scientists over the hazards of low-level exposure from household appliances. [New York Times]
- The surviving leaders of the People's Temple are looking to an uncertain future. Some want to keep the cult together, others think there is no chance of that. Most are bewildered by the killings and suicides at Jonestown, Guyana, that reduced their number from over 1,000 to fewer than 200. [New York Times]
- A man believed to have died in a plane crash in Mexico two years ago may be living. David Graiver, an Argentine banker, was identified as one of three persons killed in the crash of a small chartered jet on a mountainside near Acapulco on Aug. 7, 1976. Soon after the crash -- the body identified as Mr. Graiver's was cremated -- a business acquaintance of the banker said he ran into him at a Florida airport. The alleged meeting is part of the evidence the Manhattan District Attorney's office has gathered to support its contention that Mr. Graiver is alive and a fugitive swindler. [New York Times]
- Opponents of the Shah of Iran marched by the hundreds of thousands in a six-mile procession in Teheran without violence or interference from authorities. Some members of the demonstration acted as marshals, controlling traffic and calming the immense throng at any sign of turbulence. The only sign of government surveillance was a pair of army helicopters flying back and forth over the march. [New York Times]
- A new American drive to overcome obstacles in the stalled Egyptian-Israeli peace talks was begun by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance at a meeting near Cairo with President Anwar Sadat. Mr. Vance and Mr. Sadat did not speak to reporters after the 90-minute session, but an American spokesman said the discussion was "very good, full and constructive." The two will have another meeting tomorrow. [New York Times]
- Further progress in the Soviet-American talks to limit strategic arms has enabled the two sides to plan another meeting soon between Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, according to American officials, who said that the forthcoming session could lead to a meeting between President Carter and Leonid Brezhnev. [New York Times]
- Renewed pledges of peace were made by Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat in their acceptance speeches at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremonies in Oslo. But Prime Minister Begin and President Sadat, who was represented by an aide, used the occasion to define their differences.
Other Nobel awards besides the Peace Prize were presented at ceremonies in Oslo to six laureates from the United States, one from the Soviet Union, one from Britain and one from Switzerland, for achievements in literature, science and economics. Among the Americans were Isaac Bashevis Singer, who writes stories in Yiddish about Eastern European Jews, and Herbert Simon of the Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who won the economics award.
[New York Times] - Nicaragua's expected release of hundreds of political prisoners this week is expected to pave the way for negotiations between the government of Gen. Anastasio Somoza and his opponents on a United States-sponsored plebiscite that will decide whether General Somoza will remain as the country's leader. But a peaceful solution to the power struggle is still not considered certain because the powerful guerrillas, the Sandinist National Liberation Front, have been excluded from recent negotiations. [New York Times]