News stories from Saturday February 4, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Carter and Anwar Sadat began talking at Camp David, with Mr. Carter trying to convince Egypt's President that the United States would use its influence to press for a fair Middle East settlement while insisting that compromises had to come from Egypt as well as Israel. Mr. Sadat has indicated that he would like the United States to put sufficient pressure on Israel to break the impasse in its negotiations with Egypt. Mr. Carter, an aide said, intended to make sure that Mr. Sadat understood that the United States wanted to be a mediator -- not the "arbiter" as Mr. Sadat urged on his arrival in Washington Friday. [New York Times]
- Haiti had secret ties to Daniel Flood while the Congressman from Pennsylvania was sponsoring foreign aid legislation in Congress, according to letters written by Mr. Flood, a Democrat, and statements from a former Haitian government official, Lucien Rigaud. Mr. Rigaud, formerly the authorized delegate of President Jean Claude Duvalier, and who is now out of political favor, said that Mr. Flood had initiated the negotiations that established his relationship with Haiti through Stephen Elko, the Congressman's former administrative aide. Mr. Elko recently was sentenced to a federal prison term for taking kickbacks in connection with obtaining federal funds for a now-defunct chain of California trade schools. [New York Times]
- The broadest investigation since 1948 has been opened by the Justice Department into possible antitrust practices in the entertainment industry. The department is examining charges of monopolistic practices and illicit dealings in the distribution of movies. Officials say the inquiry reflects concerns over what the government regards as a growing consolidation of power by a few companies. [New York Times]
- A babysitter formerly employed by Calvin Klein, the fashion designer, was arrested and charged with the kidnapping of his 11-year-old daughter for $100,000 ransom. Arrested with the woman, Christine Ransay, 23, were her half-brother, Dominic Ransay, and Cecil Wiggins, a neighbor. Marci Klein was held captive for nearly ten hours in the East 97th Street apartment of Miss Ransay until her father paid the ransom, the police said. All but $100 of the ransom was recovered. [New York Times]
- Flu vaccinations for 21 million high-risk persons are being planned by federal officials. High-risk people are those for whom flu would be particularly dangerous because of age or chronic illness. There are about 42 million Americans classified as high-risk. Previous immunization efforts seldom reached more than 8 million. [New York Times]
- Cuban pilots in Ethiopia may be carrying out air strikes in Soviet-built planes against targets in Somalia, according to intelligence reports, administration officials in Washington said. The rapid buildup and unexpected dimensions of the Soviet-Cuban involvement in Ethiopia appear to have erased whatever differences there were within the Carter administration on its Ethiopian policy. [New York Times]
- French leftists are pitted against rightists along rigid ideological lines that have rarely been so apparent in Western Europe in recent years. Few people doubt that if the left is victorious in the two-round elections in March, an attempt will be made to change France's social and economic structure radically. The Socialists and Communists are, however, battling each other for the leadership of the left. The right is hardly more united, with Jacques Chirac and his neo-Gaullists criticizing President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and his centrist coalition. [New York Times]