February 21, 1978

Pittsburg & Midway Coal and UMW reach tentative contract settlement; William P Hobgood directed negotiations and kept them secret from Miller and Marshall; Marshall has reptdly gained private support of at least 2 major coal cos for voluntary return-to-work proposal under an interim natl coal labor contract, with hard issues to be negotiated later; Pres Carter and Vice Pres Mondale attend session of special coal emergency group; AFL-CIO pres George Meany gives approval to temporary Govt seizure of mines and invocation of Taft-Hartley Act's cooling-off period; protests and sabotage continue in many mining areas (M)

Feb 21: Egyptian officials concede their Govt did not specifically tell Cyprus that commandos were on their way by Egyptian mil plane for rescue raid at Larnaca airport; claim transmission of such information might have jeopardized mission; say Cypriot Govt was informed plane was carrying group of people who would help Cypriots in dealing with emergency; Cairo staged raid to find out if gunmen were involved in larger Palestinian terrorist plot against Egyptian journalists who accompanied Pres Sadat to Israel in Nov; has requested extradition of 2 captured terrorists; unidentified hostage says Nicosia security for Egyptians attending African-Asian conf in Cyprus was inadequate map (M)

Smith proposes that he remain as head of transitional govt, with adm pests divided equally between blacks and whites; plan a???fers sharply from that put forward by 3 black groups, who had demanded that 4 parties be equally represented (M)

Israeli Cabinet begins debate over Jewish settlements in occupied Arab lands amid signs of sharp divisions within Israeli Govt; Cabinet session is secret; Begin says subject will be discussed in a regular Cabinet meeting within wk; admits differences among mins; illus of land-clearing for settlement in northern sector of W Bank (M)