News stories from Sunday January 10, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- All 17 of A.T.& T.'s directors approved the divestiture plan that led to the settlement of the government's antitrust suit last week. They quickly approved, in advance of its presentation to the Justice Department, a plan that was outlined to them Dec. 16 by A.T.& T.'s chairman, Charles Brown, who explained the company's objective in settling the suit: the divesting of the 22 Bell System companies that provide most of the nation's local telephone service in return for a free hand at competing in data processing, computer communications, equipment sales and other previously prohibited but lucrative fields. [New York Times]
- Much of the country froze during the worst cold spell this winter. Snowstorms and icy winds swept from Oregon to North Carolina, killing eight people. Chicago and several other areas in the Middle West reported the lowest temperatures on record. Thousands of people in Chicago and suburban Washington were without electricity. Below-freezing temperatures in the New York area are expected to continue through Tuesday, and to drop even lower in some areas. Zero to minus 10-degree temperatures were forecast for some places in North Jersey tomorrow. [New York Times]
- Evidence examined by microscopes will now play an important part as the murder trial of Wayne Williams in Atlanta enters its third week. A large part of the prosecutor's efforts to convict Mr. Williams of murdering two young men will depend on chemical tests and the molecular makeup of fibers and hairs. [New York Times]
- Mexicans are protesting the canceling by the Reagan administration of the temporary immigrant visas of tens of thousands of Mexicans living in the United States. The uproar is threatening the first storm in relations with Mexico since President Reagan took office. Mexico has recalled its Ambassador to Washington for consultations on the issue. [New York Times]
- Who the unemployed are is answered in masses of data collected monthly and analyzed at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington. The bureau has found that unemployment continues to strike most harshly at workers in the construction and automotive industries and in industries dependent on them. [New York Times]
- The makeup of standby draft boards is more diversified than in the Vietnam era, according to the Selective Service System. More women, blacks and people of Hispanic origin are sitting on the boards, which were established over the last few months. Their makeup is intended to reflect the racial and ethnic composition of the areas under their jurisdiction, a spokesman for the system said. Selective Service officials in the New York area said that representation of minority groups and women on the boards was considerably higher than in the 1960's. [New York Times]
- The torture of suspected guerrillas in El Salvador was witnessed by two United States military advisers, according to 21-year-old man who claimed to be a former Salvadoran soldier. The Americans, he said, attended but did not participate in two "training sessions" at which the torture of two suspected guerrillas took place, but they made no effort to stop it. [New York Times]
- A cutoff of vital parts of a pipeline that will carry Soviet natural gas to Western Europe is being sought in West Europe and Japan by the Reagan administration, diplomatic sources said. The request, which follows a United States decision to ban such shipments by the General Electric Company, is seen as the first major test of Western Europe's willingness to support the economic sanctions President Reagan imposed on the Soviet Union after the declaration of martial law in Poland. [New York Times]
- A warm welcome in Moscow was received by Foreign Minister Jozef Czyrek of Poland. It is the first visit by a high Polish official to the Soviet Union since martial law was declared in Poland nearly a month ago. Soviet television showed Mr. Czyrek being embraced by the Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, perhaps to indicate that Soviet-Polish relations were continuing as usual. [New York Times]
- The U.S. will press its allies for agreement on a framework for sanctions against Moscow if the situation in Poland is not "remedied in the immediate future," Secretary of State Alexander Haig said on the eve of a NATO meeting in Brussels. [New York Times]