News stories from Sunday August 3, 1980

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

Indignation mounted in Iran over charges that Iranians had been mistreated by authorities in the United States. Nearly 200 Iranians were arrested July 27 during clashes in Washington between supporters and opponents of Ayatollah Khomeini. The Ayatollah charged that the Iranians had been chained and tortured by federal officials. The Iranian Foreign Ministry instructed its representative at the United Nations to visit more than 20 women who are among the jailed demonstrators. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan went to Mississippi, making his first political foray since he received the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit last month. In a speech at a county fair he affirmed his belief in states' rights. His advisers believe Mr. Reagan can defeat President Carter in such Deep South states as Mississippi and Louisiana, which Gerald Ford narrowly lost in 1976. [New York Times] The "Anderson difference" is evident in the area of wealth. When Ronald Reagan released his federal income tax returns last week, he confirmed that John Anderson, the independent candidate for President, is the "poorest" of the three major contenders. He has a net worth of $300,000 to $500,000, while President Carter is worth $893,000 and Mr. Reagan in 1976 was worth $1.4 million. [New York Times] The Senate inquiry into Billy Carter and his relationship with the Libyan government poses problems for the intelligence community, which believes that some sources may have already been compromised. One member of the special committee conducting the investigation believes that the need to protect intelligence sources is more important than the Carter affair. [New York Times] President Carter would lose an "open" convention of the Democratic Party, Mayor Koch asserted. In such a case -- with the delegates free to vote for a candidate other than the one to whom they were pledged during the primaries the mayor said he would support Vice President Mondale. He emphasized that he still favored President Carter as the party nominee. [New York Times] Expansion of the national parks to include urban recreation areas for city dwellers unable to travel to such "natural" parks as Yosemite or Yellowstone, has called into question the values of the National Park Service and strained its resources. The Gateway National Recreation area, in Brooklyn and Queens, is one of the congressionally mandated additions made to the park service in the mid-1970's. [New York Times] States are reducing public services in anticipation of losing federal revenue sharing funds next fall when the eight-year-old program for the states ends. In states such as Minnesota and Arkansas, which have sufficient revenues to absorb the difference, there is expected to be little trauma. However, the loss has caused alarm in states such as New York and Michigan. [New York Times] The trial of six Klansmen and Nazis charged with the first-degree murder of five Communist demonstrators during a "death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro last fall is scheduled to get underway tomorrow. Defense lawyers will argue that the killings were in self-defense and were provoked, at least in part, by a federal agent and a local police informer. [New York Times] Early elections in Israel next spring have not been advocated by him, Prime Minister Menachem Begin said, denying a statement made by Deputy Prime Minister Simcha Ehrlich. Mr. Ehrlich said that the two had decided that the government should seize the initiative rather than risk no-confidence votes called by the opposition party and defections by fringe alliances. [New York Times] The explosion in Bologna, Italy, was almost certainly caused by a bomb, the police have said. As the death toll from the Saturday morning blast in the city's central train station reached 84, with 160 people hospitalized for injuries, Italians expressed their outrage at what might be the worse terrorist act in the nation's history. [New York Times] The autonomy talks are in limbo, according to an Egyptian official, until Israel responds to President Anwar Sadat's protest over its formal annexation of East Jerusalem. Egypt says the law is an unacceptable obstacle to peace negotiations. Some diplomatic sources said the breakdown was a sign that the momentum created by the Camp David accords had run its course. [New York Times]