News stories from Saturday October 31, 1981

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

29 inmate hostages were released by a band of convicts at a state prison in Graterford, Pa., who had held them and six prison employees captive since late Wednesday. Twenty-four hostages had initially been released following negotiations between prison officials and the captors, who had been foiled in an escape attempt Wednesday. [New York Times] Extension of the Voting Rights Act was essential for some states, Attorney General William French Smith told President Reagan, but he opposes the legislation favored by a broad coalition of civil rights groups. In a report to the President, Mr. French listed five possible positions that the administration could take on extension of the act, widely regarded as the most important civil rights issue facing Congress. Key provisions of the 1965 law will expire next August unless they are extended. [New York Times] The diversion of housing subsidies to low income families from the housing developers who have been the initial beneficiaries of the federal aid has been recommended by the President's Commission on Housing. [New York Times] Libya's intervention in Chad late last year largely depended on the aid provided by Edwin P. Wilson, a former Central Intelligence agent, according to pilots and technicians who recently worked for Mr. Wilson. They said that the Libyan intervention could not have been sustained wiithout his aid, and that he had become an indispensable source of Western manpower and materiel for Libya's military forces. Mr. Wilson, who left federal employment in 1976, is a fugitive living in Tripoli. He was indicted last year by a federal grand jury on charges of illegally shipping explosives to Libya. He was reindicted last month. [New York Times] An end to all strikes in Poland immediately was called for in a resolution passed by Parliament, which acted in response to a request by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Prime Minister. The resolution was backed by the threat of firmer action if it was ignored. Parliament said it would then consider "providing the government with such legal means as are required by the situation." An outright ban against strikes was implicit. [New York Times] Sweden again asked Moscow to explain what a Soviet submarine that ran aground near a Swedish naval base was doing inside Sweden's 12-mile territorial limit. The submarine remained stranded. Sweden described the submarine's intrusion as the most serious violation of its territory since World War II. [New York Times] Israel's total rejection of the Saudi Arabian peace plan for the Middle East was reaffirmed by Ambassador Ephraim Evron at a meeting with Secretary of State Alexander Haig at the State Department, an Israeli spokesman said. The Ambassador officially protested to the United States over its recent statements portaying the Saudi plan as containing some positive approaches toward a Middle East peace settlement. The Israeli spokesman said that Mr. Evron told the Secretary of State that any show of American backing for the Saudi plan would be seen as a weakening of American backing for the Camp David accords, which Saudi Arabia rejected. [New York Times]