News stories from Saturday September 4, 1982

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

Few significant national issues are being raised by candidates seeking election to Congress in November, but the election results appear likely to be more profound than is indicated by the campaigning so far. The outcome of the midterm elections could affect President Reagan's narrow coalition in Congress and indicate the success or failure of his plan to reduce the role of the federal government in the daily life of Americans. [New York Times] An abrupt Pentagon security check disrupted an international optical engineering convention in San Diego recently. The Defense Department blocked the presentation of about 100 technical papers, eliminating about one of every six. The action appears to be the most sweeping effort by the Reagan administration to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive technical data that might be of military value to the Soviet Union or its allies. [New York Times] The necessity to give more aid to poor nations to help them in paying their debts was agreed on by 10 leading industrial democracies, concerned about strains in the international banking system. Treasury Secretary Donald Regan said that the 10 nations, members of the International Monetary Fund, decided at a meeting in Toronto to work towards an increase, still to be determined, in contributions of individual donor nations to the fund. [New York Times] Secret intelligence gathered by Israel during the war in Lebanon will not be shared with the United States until the Reagan administration removes sanctions imposed when Israel invaded Lebanon in June, administration officials said. [New York Times] Egypt welcomed the U.S. peace plan for the Middle East announced on Wednesday by President Reagan and said its "positive aspects" could provide momentum to the peace process. The announcement was made by the cabinet following talks between President Hosni Mubarak and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. [New York Times] Evidence of Cuban arms shipments to El Salvador "has never been solid" with respect to either their magnitude or their timing, Wayne Smith, the former chief of the United States diplomatic mission in Havana, told reporters. His remarks amplified statements he made in an article in Foreign Policy, a journal published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Reagan administration has accused the Cubans of sending arms to El Salvador, giving this as the reason for refusing to negotiate with Cuba. [New York Times]