News stories from Monday February 19, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Carter's foreign policy has been denounced by prospective Republican presidential candidates in speeches made across the country in recent days, repeating the theme that he invites trouble abroad with weak and vacillating leadership. [New York Times]
- George Meany criticized Mr. Carter's handling of domestic and foreign affairs, weakening a possible truce between organized labor and the President. At a news conference in Florida, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. chiseled away at Mr. Carter with quips and wisecracks after a meeting of the labor federation's executive council in Bal Harbour. A member of the executive council said there was now a "complete break" between Mr. Meany and the President. [New York Times]
- Home TV recorders are challenged in a suit being tried in Los Angeles. Two movie companies want to prevent Japan's Sony Corporation from selling in the United States its Betamax home recorder of television programs. The outcome is expected to set a precedent affecting, besides Sony, all other manufacturers that sell the recording machines. [New York Times]
- A snowstorm snarled traffic on the East Coast when it struck with unexpected intensity. Thirteen inches of snow covered New York City, and up to 20 inches fell on other areas, including New Jersey. It made ground and air transportation almost impossible, caused many traffic accidents and some deaths. National Guardsmen were called out in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware to rescue people stranded in the storm. Washington, covered with 23 inches of snow, was virtually shut down. In Baltimore, 150 people were arrested for looting. [New York Times]
- Blacks and women are competing fiercely over jobs and public funds that have been earmarked for the disadvantaged or members of minority groups. The battle will not end unless two conditions are met, Representative Parren Mitchell, a Maryland Democrat who is black, said. These are an enormous increase in the financing of programs for the disadvantaged and separate legislation for women in many areas. [New York Times]
- China's invasion of Vietnam seems to have halted. Intelligence reports suggested that China may be preparing to withdraw, and some analysts said that the withdrawal might already have started. Sources agreed that the advance had halted six miles inside Vietnam, the Chinese having felt that they achieved their objective.
The Soviet Union blamed the West for China's invasion of Vietnam. The newspaper Izvestia said the timing of the attack soon after Deputy Prime Minister Teng Hsiao-ping's visit to the United States had placed America in "an ambiguous and politically vulnerable position."
Italy's Communists rebuked Peking for the attack on Vietnam, and were joined by most Eastern European nations. Enrico Berlinguer, the party leader in Italy, said in a statement on the front page of L'Unita, the party newspaper, that the invasion "raised disturbing questions about the general direction" of Chinese policies.
[New York Times] - America's relations with Taiwan face new difficulties in Congress. The administration's problems in getting approval of the new American relationship with Taiwan have been intensified by China's attack on Vietnam, senior officials said. An official said that because the fighting in Vietnam seems to have lessened, there was more concern at staff meetings about the administration's crucial tests in Congress this week in defense of the new China policy than there was about a wider Asian war. [New York Times]
- Iran's armed forces are paralyzed by dissent and growing indiscipline. Soldiers and junior officers are now vetoing the appointment of commanders and many are demanding the removal of all generals, and of the recently named army chief of staff, Gen. Vali Zhararti, who is accused of collaboration with Savak, the Shah's former secret police.
Leftists in Iran were accused by Ayatollah Khomeini of "evil objectives" and warned that he would deal as harshly with them as he had with the Shah's supporters. He ordered the government's militia to report to police and army bases "and assist them in establishing law and order and crushing the bandits".
[New York Times] - The Bangladesh Nationalist Party won a two-thirds majority in the first parliamentary elections since the country was put under martial law four years ago. The party's leader, President Ziaur Rahman, told reporters that he would lift martial law within a week after the opening of Parliament next month. [New York Times]