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News stories from Sunday February 4, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A constitutional amendment limiting federal spending was proposed by Republican leaders, who said that they hoped congressional action on it would divert support from a movement for a constitutional convention among state legislatures. The Republicans, at a meeting on issues in Easton, Md., also called for "indexing the tax system," so that taxpayers would not have to pay a higher proportion of taxes if their incomes increased only enough to keep up with inflation. [New York Times]
- A plant that crossbreeds with corn has been found in Mexico, and it might be the means of producing a perennial variety of corn that would need no replanting, with revolutionary implications for agriculture. [New York Times]
- High rates of marital breakups were among the consequences of a federally sponsored experiment that tested a guaranteed minimum income program. For three years, the government gave 4,800 people a guaranteed minimum income. The test cost $60 million and was conducted in Seattle and Denver. Another major finding was that people getting stipends worked somewhat less than they would without them. The results are widely considered to have doomed the minimum-income concept, also known as the negative income tax. [New York Times]
- A fight over desegregation policy at the University of North Carolina will continue on Monday when the black chancellors of the five traditionally black schools in the 16-unit university system arrive in Washington to urge federal officials to keep hands off the state's plan for meeting federal standards for "enhancement" of the role of black schools. [New York Times]
- Vietnam veterans are angrily challenging the administration's policies toward them. They accuse the administration of neglecting the health, employment, education and psychological needs of Vietnam troops while favoring veterans of other wars. [New York Times]
- New York City will get more help from the Carter administration, which has moved to channel $20 million to $35 million to help close the city's budget deficit next year. The funds would be available through unilateral federal actions that would not require congressional approval. [New York Times]
- Conciliatory moves in Iran were made by the government of Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar and the Islamic movement led by Ayatollah Khomeini, and there were reports of secret contacts between the two sides. Teheran's military governor, with the consent of the Prime Minister, extended the permission for peaceful marches and demonstrations by followers of the Ayatollah that was granted when he returned to Iran last Thursday.
Foreign contracts signed by the Shah face cutbacks by Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar's government, Iran's Economics and Finance Minister said. The critical review promised by a Bakhtiar aide would be similar to one proposed by Ayatollah Khomeini if the Islamic government he favors takes over. "This is one of the points on which the Ayatollah is right," said the minister, Rostam Pirasteh. [New York Times]
- Teng Hsiao-ping spent his last day in the United States in Seattle, where he visited the Boeing aircraft plant that assembles the 747 jumbo jets. Meanwhile, another Deputy Prime Minister of China was visiting the McDonnell Douglas aircraft plant near Los Angeles. Mr. Teng will return home tomorrow. [New York Times]
- China and Vietnam have reinforced their border guards with army troops and are reported to have positioned tanks and fighter planes within striking distance. [New York Times]
- Afghan resistance leaders in Pakistan have begun a campaign to unify the scattered armed opposition to the pro-Soviet government in Kabul, in the hope that the present regional fighting can be turned into a full-scale rebellion. An umbrella organization that unites elements of the anti-government movement has begun to operate out of Peshawar, Pakistan. [New York Times]
- An administration commitment to sell the most up-to-date jet fighter planes to Taiwan will be sought by several Senators as part of the price for congressional support for ending the mutual defense treaty with Taiwan. [New York Times]
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