News stories from Sunday November 23, 1980

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

Prompt and "severe" cuts in federal spending were demanded by Caspar Weinberger, a senior economic adviser to Ronald Reagan. In addition, there were new indications of disagreement within Mr. Reagan's economic team over how large and fast those reductions should be. Budget officials project federal spending by next October at about $650 billion. Mr. Weinberger wants to cut that by $30 billion. [New York Times] Hundreds of telephone calls have been received by the Las Vegas emergency missing persons bureau from relatives of people who had been staying at the MGM Grand hotel and Casino when it was swept by fire. Five of the 83 bodies recovered remained unidentified. Scores of people are missing. [New York Times] Bernardine Dohrn, the leader of the radical Weather Underground, who went into hiding in 1970 following an indictment on federal and local riot charges in Chicago, has offered to surrender if a plea-bargaining arrangement can be worked out. [New York Times] A Klan faction "bears watching," a Justice Department study said, concluding that federal agencies must cooperate more to combat Ku Klux Klan violence. The faction the department's study drew attention to is the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, headed by Bill Wilkinson, described as the most dangerous of several Klan splinter groups. [New York Times] New York City's first budget surplus since the early 1960's is almost certain at the end of the current fiscal year as a result of higher tax revenues than had been anticipated only a few months ago, city and state officials said. According to some estimates the surplus could be as large at $300 million. Because the revenues are expected to remain steady, a balanced 1981-82 budget, which goes into effect July 1, is also in view, the officials said. [New York Times] Abadan was shelled by Iraqi long-range artillery, and both residential areas and the refinery were struck, and parts of the refinery were set afire, the Teheran radio reported. It said that Iran had turned back an Iraqi attempt to start a major offensive on the southwestern town of Susangird and that many Iraqis had been killed. [New York Times] Soviet armed intervention in Poland is still possible, even though the threat has receded in recent days, according to Western diplomats and analysts in Moscow. In public, Soviet officials and the controlled newspapers are extremely critical of the Polish independent trade union movement, and are sometimes so harsh that they seem to be preparing Soviet opinion for possible military action. [New York Times] Ezer Weizman was expelled from Israel's Herut Party, headed by Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and the government lost its parliamentary majority. Mr. Weizman, the former Defense Minister, is now officially in opposition. Once considered Mr. Begin's heir apparent, he was voted out of the party by a poll of 12 to 1, with two abstentions, because he had voted against the government in a no-confidence test on its economic policies last week. The government survived by a vote of 57 to 54. [New York Times] Earthquakes in Southern Italy killed at least 400 people and injured hundreds of others. Officials said more than 100 people were killed in Balvano, most of them when a church caved in. Officials feared the death toll would rise as rescue teams reached towns in isolated mountainous regions. [New York Times] The human rights policy pursued by President Carter in Latin America is under attack in Washington at the 10th General Assembly of the Organization of American States. Argentina, the subject of a 266-page report to the assembly on human rights violations, has made a strong move to bar any critical statement by the assembly on violations in any member country. [New York Times]