News stories from Sunday July 5, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Appeals to corporations for money are pouring in from anti-poverty groups, universities, cultural groups and many other nonprofit organizations which fear the cutoff or reduction of federal grants under the Reagan administration. The companies say they cannot in any way make up for the withdrawal of federal money. [New York Times]
- Smuggling of Mexican diesel fuel into Texas is a growing business among organized rings, which are selling the fuel, which is priced at about about 17 cents a gallon in Mexico, at up to $1.30 a gallon. The fuel is generally brought in by trucks whose overflowing tanks caught the attention of United States customs agents. As much as 100 million gallons of diesel fuel has been smuggled in the last year, according to some estimates. [New York Times]
- City employees walked off their jobs in San Jose, Calif., where the the Mayor and the majority of city council members are women, in a strike centering on getting women the same pay as men get for comparable work. About 1,500 librarians, mechanics, janitors, clerical and other workers walked out after nearly eight hours of fruitless bargaining. A union spokesman said both sides were so far apart that it was doubtful that "significant talks will occur in the next few days." [New York Times]
- delivery of Cuban journals to the U.S. has been blocked by the Treasury Department. Officials said that the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 empowers the Treasury Department to withhold delivery of the journals. The order has blocked delivery of 30,000 copies of Cuban publications to residents of the United States. They have been detained in Boston, where they arrived from Cuba by way of Montreal. [New York Times]
- A second night of clashes in Liverpool, England, between black immigrants and the police got "out of control," a police spokesman said. Rioters bombarded the police with stones and gasoline bombs, injuring 100 police officers, looted and set fire to shops and hijacked milk trucks. Community leaders said the rioting resulted from the frustration young people unable to find jobs. [New York Times]
- The army is moving Salvadorans who fled the civil war and had formed a camp 18 miles from the San Salvador, the capital. From 500 to 2,000 people were said to be living in the camp. Soldiers said the army wanted to move the refugees because it was planning a search-and-destroy operation against anti-government forces in the surrounding hills, which are mainly controlled by guerrillas. [New York Times]
- Moscow might not block a meeting of the Polish Communist Party on July 14 that is expected to result in the approval of a wide range of liberal changes in Poland's political and economic systems. This was implied in a joint communique published in Moscow and Warsaw after the Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, returned to Moscow after three days of talks with Polish leaders. The communique spoke of a "businesslike, comradely atmosphere," but left unclear what Moscow intends to do about Poland's push for a more flexible form of Communism. [New York Times]
- Near-final election returns in Israel gave Prime Minister Menachem Begin's Likud bloc a one-seat lead over the Labor alignment headed by by Shimon Peres. Prime Minister Begin was expected to get a call from President Yitzhak Navon to form a new government. [New York Times]
- Peacemaking efforts in Lebanon were adjourned by the special Arab League committee, which expressed "relief" at what it described as the "easing of tension in Beirut and Zahle." But the committee, which has scheduled further meetings in Beirut starting July 25, appeared to be at an impasse over its demand that the Lebanese Christian Phalangists renounce any ties with Israel as a precondition to any political settlement. [New York Times]