News stories from Saturday March 24, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Some snags developed in the treaty negotiations between Israel and Egypt only two days before the treaty is to be signed, and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance decided to fly to New York for a meeting with Prime Minister Menachem Begin to help work out the unresolved issues. What American officials described as "loose ends" could not be settled in Washington by Secretary Vance and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, but they said that there was no crisis and that they expected the treaty signing to take place Monday as scheduled. [New York Times]
- President Carter promised to deal firmly with inflation including requiring regular reports from companies in industries with particularly high price increases. In remarks at a town meeting, the President said that he was disturbed by the 1.2 percent increase in consumer prices and disappointed that many businesses seemed not to be committed to the voluntary wage and price guidelines. [New York Times]
- Disarmament will be the No. 1 issue in the 1980's among American religious groups, taking the place occupied in the 1960's and early 1970's by civil rights and the antiwar movement. The new movement is becoming a major preoccupation for Protestants, Catholics and Jews. [New York Times]
- Huey Newton's murder trial ended in a hung jury, with the members divided 10 to 2 for acquittal. The Black Panther leader stood accused in Oakland, Calif., of having murdered a 17-year-old prostitute on an Oakland street corner in 1974. Judge Carl Anderson of Superior Court declared a mistrial after the jurors deliberated for 21 hours and failed to reach a verdict on four ballots. [New York Times]
- Five persons may have been murdered through their suspected connection to the $5.8 million robbery of the Lufthansa cargo building at Kennedy International airport last December, authorities said. The five are all believed to be linked to the so-called Robert's Lounge group of minor organized crime figures headed by a former convict named Robert Burke, a key suspect in the Lufthansa case. [New York Times]
- Thousands of Laotian civilian officials and military officers have been in detention since the Communists seized power in 1975, according to Souvanna Phouma, the former Prime Minister, who is now adviser to the Communist government. He said 10,000 to 15,000 people who served under him are being held in remote northern regions. He said the prisoners had lived "too high above their means," and they now "must get close to the reality of our country." [New York Times]
- China's improved relations with Hong Kong have been marked by an 11-day visit to China by Hong Kong's Governor, Sir Murray Maclehose. It is the first official trip to China by the colony's leading official since the Communists came to power in 1949. China does not recognize the British rule of Hong Kong, but its new leaders have sought to make maximum use of the colony in their drive for economic modernization. [New York Times]
- Shahpur Bakhtiar issued a message from his hiding place denouncing the revolutionary forces of Ayatollah Khomeini, saying that they had brought "repression, chaos, and a ruined economy" to Iran. The former Prime Minister, ousted by the Ayatollah, sent a tape-recorded message to the French news agency in Teheran. He said he would not vote for the Islamic republic in the referendum scheduled at the end of this month. [New York Times]