News stories from Sunday October 18, 1981

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

Scaled-down budget cuts have been agreed to by the Reagan administration, White House officials said. The agreement with congressional leaders to seek $5 billion to $6 billion in new cuts for fiscal 1982 rather than the $13 billion the adminstration had proposed came as President Reagan acknowledged that the United States was in a slight recession. [New York Times] Strategy to combat federal cuts in social service programs was planned by a coalition of labor, social and political organizations who met in Detroit. The organizations voted to stage a week of major demonstrations around the country beginning April 26. Delegates pledged to press the President to recind the cuts. [New York Times] The Reagan administration's policies for foreign and military matters still lack clear direction and there is no disciplined system for decision-making, administration officials, legislators and foreign diplomats have said during recent interviews. They said his aim of ending the recent pattern of administrations speaking with conflicting voices on foreign and military policy had not been realized. [New York Times] A warming of the earth's climate, which may be caused by carbon dioxide pollution and which could be dangerous, has been reported by scientists at Columbia University. While the new findings cannot be directly linked to the carbon dioxide theory, the scientists said the data were important because the warming that was discovered has occured at the very places on the earth where, according to the theory, the effect should be most pronounced. [New York Times] The Presidents of the U.S. and France were among those who took part in a dazzling bicentennial weekend in Yorktown, Va. President Reagan and French President, Francois Mitterrand were among those who celebrated the 1781 victory of American and French troops over the British, which effectively ended the American Revolution. [New York Times] The marriage practices of Americans have changed significantly in the last decade, a Census Bureau report showed. In the 1970's, more Americans lived together without marrying, married later in life and divorced than in previous decades. The major development, the report said, was the trend toward staying single and the increase of divorce, which doubled between 1970 and 1980. [New York Times] The Polish Communist leader was dismissed and replaced by his Prime Minister, the Central Committee reported. Stanislaw Kania, who gained power at the height of the labor unrest last year, resigned and Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski was named his successor. General Jaruzelski is said to share Mr. Kania's moderate approach, so no abrupt attempt to reverse recent liberalizing changes in the country's political life was expected, but the leadership change came as the Central Committee called for a tougher line against "anti-socialists." [New York Times] Greece's standing government fell as the opposition Panhellenic Socialists won a major victory in parliamentary elections. The victory of the Socialists, led by Andreas Papandreou, over the government headed by Prime Minister George Rallis, brought to an end 35 years of pro-Western, conservative rule in Greece. The Socialist's success could mean radical changes in Greece's foreign policy since the party has opposed the country's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Common Market as well as the presence of American bases in Greece. [New York Times] The U.S.presence in Egypt illustrates both the significance as well as the precariousness of its position in Cairo. The mushrooming size of the American diplomatic staff, which is the largest in the world after London, as well as the layers of security that surround the embassy, serves as a reminder of the American government's fate in Teheran. [New York Times] The arrests in Egypt of religious militants who the government said had been planning assassinations was announced by officials in Cairo. Although the announcement did not name the group it said that 230 members of a specific "terrorist religious group" had been taken into custody. [New York Times] Moshe Dayan was buried in Nahalal, Israel, the Galilee settlement of his childhood in a simple funeral. Government leaders and foreign dignitaries as well as thousands of ordinary citizens mourned the death of the Israeli military man and statesman, who died on Oct. 16 of a heart attack. [New York Times]