News stories from Saturday April 14, 1979

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Flash floods forced 5,000 people from their homes in Mississippi and Alabama as heavy spring rains also overflowed rivers and streams in the Southeast. At least nine people died. [New York Times] "Police lawlessness" in Philadelphia sometimes reaches "homicidal violence," according to a bipartisan Pennsylvania state House subcommittee on crime and corrections, and the United States Civil Rights Commission will open hearings this week on charges of police brutality in the city. Philadelphia is one of two cities whose police departments will be investigated by the commission. Philadelphia was chosen because of the many complaints the panel had received about violations of civil rights. Houston's police department will be investigated next. [New York Times] Rent control is making inroads across the nation, particularly in the West. Many young activists have taken up the cause, and some have forged political coalitions from three groups -- racial minorities, the elderly and young adults from the baby-boom generation. Meanwhile, rent control is leading more and more to the conversion of rental apartments to condominiums, which is inevitable, landlords say, if they are not permitted what they believe to be fair rents. [New York Times] Idi Amin's troops hardly resisted troops sent by Uganda's new President, Yusufu Lule, into what he described as unliberated areas of eastern and northern Uganda. The Uganda radio said that 200 soldiers of former President Amin had surrendered, and the Ministry of Defense appealed to other troops of the Amin regime to hand in their weapons. The government ordered Ugandans not to seek revenge by taking the law into their hands. [New York Times] China is withdrawing the friendliness it has shown to foreigners in recent months. It seems that Peking believes that foreign influence may make the Chinese less subservient. The Chinese are being warned by the government not to fraternize with foreigners, express an interest in Western democracy, or become dependent on foreign technology. Diplomats in Peking say that their Chinese friends have stopped making social engagements. Western students in Peking can no longer have Chinese roommates at school. [New York Times] A Chinese delegation flew to Vietnam to attempt to settle issues in the wake of the border war. The delegation is fresh proof, Deputy Foreign Minister Han Nianlong said on arrival, of the Chinese government's hopes for a negotiated settlement of the dispute. The talks are expected to be turbulent and prolonged. [New York Times] Saudi Arabia's oil production will be much less in the next decade than the United States, one of its best customers, had expected, a Senate subcommittee report said, adding urgency to the calls for revised American energy policies. The staff of the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy estimated that Saudi Arabia's peak production would be only 12 million barrels a day by 1987. A few years ago American estimates forecast a daily production of 20 million barrels by 1980. The country's current production is 9.5 million barrels a day. The Saudi government strongly objected to the report, oil industry officials said. [New York Times]