News stories from Sunday March 4, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Carter gave new suggestions to Prime Minister Menachem Begin in a last-minute effort to prevent the collapse of the Egyptian-Israeli treaty negotiations. No details of Mr. Carter's recommendations were available. Some Israeli officials described them as "important," and Mr. Begin said that he would promptly seek his cabinet's advice on them. [New York Times]
- Three liberal senators criticized the projected strategic arms treaty with the Soviet Union. They said that the accord did not go far enough toward limiting nuclear arsenals. The treaty "is very difficult, if not impossible, for us to support," Senators George McGovern, Mark Hatfield and William Proxmire said in a letter to President Carter. [New York Times]
- The New Orleans police strike ended as officers returned to work despite their rejection of what the city termed its final contract offer. Mayor Ernest Morial said more than 1,000 of the 1,100 striking officers had returned to work, and that the city would no longer recognize the police union. [New York Times]
- A dispute over vocational rehabilitation funds has brought Florida and the government to a bitter impasse. The issue is an important one in the growing struggle between governors and Congress over whether to consolidate many of the 492 separate categorical aid programs, which state officials say would make them more efficient and easier to administer. Congress has been reluctant to do so. [New York Times]
- Flash floods caused by torrential rains inundated Gulf and Southeast states, killing several persons and trapping others. Highways buckled and trees were uprooted as up to 15 inches of rain fell in some areas of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas. [New York Times]
- Pension benefits are entangled in legal battles involving divorcing spouses and their lawyers as well as the government, industry and feminists. While courts are at present the most visible arena of pension disputes, the question of access to private and government pension funds is expected to be decided ultimately by Congress. [New York Times]
- A new civil rights organization, nationwide and racially mixed, has been proposed by many former members of the Congress of Racial Equality, known as CORE. They are unhappy with the direction CORE has taken under the 11-year leadership of Roy Innis, its executive director. James Farmer, CORE's founder, will help establish the new organization. [New York Times]
- Color photographs of Jupiter showed the planet's four largest moons in their varying hues. Scientists were sure that the moons' coloring was superficial evidence of chemical and physical processes much different from those on any of the planets and moons explored thus far by spacecraft. The moons were photographed by Voyager 1 as it moved in for tomorrow's rendezvous with Jupiter. Voyager 1 is expected to take a close-up of the moons' topography. [New York Times]
- China warned Vietnam that it would attack again if withdrawing Chinese troops are fired on. Deputy Prime Minister Li Xiannian expressed this warning to a Japanese editor in Peking. China emphasized withdrawal in its statements on Vietnam, but Hanoi said that China was reinforcing its troops, that the war was continuing and that it was still in control of Lang Son, despite China's report that it had captured the important town. [New York Times]
- Major cities in southern Uganda fell to Tanzanian forces, placing President Idi Amin in the shakiest position he has been in since he seized power eight years ago. Tanzanian troops were said to be 50 miles south of Kampala, the capital. Many Ugandan exiles in Tanzania were going back home to fight against the Amin regime, and there were reports of rebellion among Uganda's armed forces. [New York Times]