News stories from Sunday February 8, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Washington officials could not support the charge by Secretary of State Alexander Haig that the Soviet Union trains, equips and provides funds for international terrorists. Officials with access to intelligence reports said they had little evidence to substantiate Mr. Haig's statement. [New York Times]
- Plans for disaster aid for California are being stepped up by federal, state and local agencies in anticipation of the catastrophic earthquake many scientists say is inevitable. A report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that the nation is "essentially unprepared" for such an earthquake, which would be the worst natural disaster in the nation's history, exceeded in deaths and injuries only by the Civil War. [New York Times]
- Stiffer crime-control measures were proposed by Chief Justice Warren Burger, who said that crime has created a "reign of terror" in American cities in a speech at the American Bar Association convention in Houston. In outlining what he described as a "damage control program," the Chief Justice called for "swift arrest, prompt trial and certain penalty, and, at some point, finality of judgment." He said that a prisoner should have only one chance to appeal his conviction up through the judicial system. [New York Times]
- New evidence backs Edward Korry in his assertions that he was not involved in White House efforts in 1970 to induce a military coup that would prevent Dr. Salvador Allende from becoming the President of Chile. Dr. Allende, who went on to be elected President, was later killed in a military uprising. Central Intelligence Agency documents show that Mr. Korry, Washington's Ambassador to Chile from 1967 to 1971, was frozen out of preparations for the planned coup and, though he had opposed Dr. Allende's candidacy, warned the White House that it would be risking another "Bay of Pigs" if it attempted to block his election.
Mr. Korry has maintained for six years that he did not participate in the 1970 plot and says his employment prospects were damaged by a report by columnist Jack Anderson linking him with the 1970 coup attempt. He was also bitter toward The New York Times for what he said was its unfair reporting of his role in Chile.
[New York Times] - Custody of Cynthia Dwyer will be given by Iran to the Swiss Embassy in Teheran, and she might leave Iran tomorrow, the State Department reported. Mrs. Dwyer was found guilty of espionage by an Iranian revolutionary court today and ordered to leave the country. According to her family in Amherst, N.Y., near Buffalo, Mrs. Dwyer went to Iran as a freelance journalist last April to write about the revolution. [New York Times]
- Poland's leading opposition group will be investigated, the government said. The official announcement of an "inquiry" into the Committee for Social Self-Defense, an ally of the independent labor union Solidarity, appeared to indicate a crackdown. Meanwhile, talks between Solidarity leaders and a government delegation aimed at averting a general strike Monday in the southwestern town of Jelenia Gora were recessed at the delegation's request. It said it wished to consult authorities in Warsaw. [New York Times]
- Iran's power struggle is fiercer since the American hostages were released and the future course of the Iranian revolution appears in doubt. The factional quarreling between the orthodox clergy of the Islamic Republican Party and the more modern liberals supporting President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr grew so vindictive last week that Ayatollah Khomeini intervened, warning them that they might "destroy the country." [New York Times]
- Plans for a pay television service that would transmit cultural programs over the Public Broadcasting Service's satellite and made available to local stations by cable subscription or multi-point distribution service, were announced by Lawrence Grossman, president of PBS. [New York Times]