News stories from Saturday December 16, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Cleveland's Mayor prepared to lay off from 3,000 to 5,000 city employees following the city's default on $15.5 million in loans. "There's no way that layoffs can be avoided," Mayor Dennis Kucinich said. The default followed the 33-member City Council's rejection of a financial rescue plan proposed by the Mayor. The plan was also opposed by the Cleveland Trust Company, one of the city's creditors and the city's largest bank, which has been one of the Mayor's critics. [New York Times]
- Fraudulent votes in San Francisco's 1975 municipal elections were organized by the Rev. Jim Jones, leader of the People's Temple cult, to help elect politicians friendly to him, according to former temple members who said that busloads of illegal voters had been taken into the city. Among those named by some of Mr. Jones followers as recipients of his political support were Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. [New York Times]
- Peking appears to have made a key concession that ended the impasse with the United States on the Taiwan issue and led to the announcement that the two countries would establish diplomatic relations Jan. 1. Political analysts in Hong Kong believe it was Peking's new willingness to ignore future United States arms sales to Taiwan that made the diplomatic conciliation possible. The United States had insisted on continuing to provide a limited supply of arms to Taiwan, after normalization of diplomatic relations with China.
Conservatives in Congress denounced President Carter's decision to sever the United States defense treaty with Taiwan and moderates attacked him for announcing the China relations decision without consulting Congress. The President's announcement also appeared to complicate prospects for Senate approval of a strategic arms treaty with the Soviet Union.
A realignment of global politics should follow the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, White House officials said. The relationship, they believe, would help move global politics away from a system dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union toward an international order in which there would be several major powers, including China.
[New York Times] - Egypt seems content to remain on the sidelines in the rift between Israel and the United States over the stalemate in negotiations for a peace treaty, confident that the Carter administration will take some new initiative early next year. [New York Times]
- Zambia may be forced to seek assistance from the Soviet Union if events in southern Africa continue to foreshadow war, President Kenneth Kaunda said in an interview on the eve of his fourth five-year term. [New York Times]