News stories from Sunday December 7, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Moscow has completed preparations for a possible military intervention in Poland, the White House said and again urged Soviet leaders not to intervene. However, administration officials said that they still had no evidence that a decision had been made in Moscow to send Soviet troops into Poland. President Carter summoned the National Security Council to discuss the Soviet military actions. [New York Times]
- Sweeping changes in the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies have been proposed by the Reagan transition team, according to the President-elect's advisers. A preliminary report on the C.I.A. is said to include increased emphasis on covert operations abroad and to recommend greater attention to counter-intelligence to combat what is viewed as a growing threat of Soviet espionage and international terrorism. [New York Times]
- Amnesty for illegal aliens but penalties for employers who hire others in the future have been recommended by a federal commission on immigration policy. The panel did not adopt a staff proposal that work permits be issued to all Americans. [New York Times]
- Boston's bankrupt transit system, shut down Friday night under a court order, resumed operation after the state legislature approved a compromise $41 million financing and reform plan. But the system's troubles appeared to be far from over. [New York Times]
- The Tennessee Valley Authority's chairman and one of its directors is charged by House committee with misrepresenting essential information and withholding staff findings about a "superior" alternative to the controversial Columbia Dam project the authority is building on the Duck River in central Tennessee. A report by a subcommitee of the House Government Operations Committee concluded that the dam "is not in the public interest." [New York Times]
- The convict accused of fatally shooting Dr. Michael Halberstam, a nationally known cardiologist, in the physician's Washington home Friday night, is a professional thief who operated from a $1 million base in Great Falls, Va., guarded by automatic cameras, hidden listening devices and burglar alarms. The suspect is Bernard Welch, an escapee from a New York prison. [New York Times]
- El Salvador's most liberal member of its civilian-military junta, Col. Adolfo Majano, has been forced to resign. A junta member said, "There will be many changes in the government in next few days." Army officers voted 300 to 4 to eject Colonel Majano, who said he wanted to make it clear that he was being forced out. [New York Times]
- Soviet weapons technology is "a bit behind us in some areas, but it is "moving fast in every other area," an American defense official said. In its effort to overtake the American lead in sophisticated equipment, begun five years ago, Soviet technology has steadily improved, the Pentagon said. [New York Times]
- Portugal's President was leading his main challenger in the second presidential election since 1974 and a decisive victory seemed certain. Returns from half the country's precincts gave the incumbent, Gen. Antonio Eanes, more than 55 percent of the popular vote. His main opponent, Gen. Antonio Carneiro, rightist candidate of the governing Democratic Alliance, had about 41 percent. [New York Times]
- Israel is placing further restrictions on foreign journalists in the West Bank to prevent them from giving firsthand accounts of clashes between Arab demonstrators and Israeli soldiers. The tougher action followed the broadcasting in Israel, Europe and the United States of pictures taken by a foreign television crew of troops firing on a demonstration last month. [New York Times]