News stories from Saturday February 28, 1981

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

Farmers and the unemployed will bear the brunt of about $10 billion in budget cuts decided on Friday by President Reagan and his economic counselors. The new reductions included a $412 million cutback in two types of farm price supports and about $900 million cut in the Labor Department's job and training programs. [New York Times] Birmingham's buses are not running. The 201-bus system was shut down by the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority because local municipalities did not put up $400,000 in operating funds that would have been matched by a federal grant. The authority, facing a $800,000 deficit next September, had announced that the buses would be removed if the local funds were not provided. [New York Times] American involvement in El Salvador is opposed by a group of Democrats in the House, and they are maneuvering to dissuade the administration from sending arms and military advisers. Nevertheless, the Democrats concede they lack the strength to block the administration. The Democratic opposition in the Senate is overwhelmed by a fairly solid Republican majority. The Democrats' position is strikingly different from the situation in December 1975 when a Democratic majority blocked President Ford's proposals to send aid to anti-Communists in Angola. [New York Times] An American naval training team has been assigned to El Salvador, the State Department announced. The six-man team, the first military personnel assigned by the Reagan administration to El Salvador, is being sent to help the Salvadoran navy maintain its patrol boats. [New York Times] West German police and demonstators fought at the site of a proposed nuclear power plant near Hamburg. The police said that about 20,000 anti-nuclear demonstrators encircled the site and that groups of several hundred, armed with gasoline bombs, sticks, stones and slingshots, fought for hours with police units armed with water cannons and tear gas. [New York Times] Argentina's human rights leaders were arrested and their files on over 6,000 missing persons were seized by the national police, according to reports received by the State Department. The arrests reportedly began in Buenos Aires Friday night, with a raid on the offices of the Center for Legal and Social Studies. Eight people were arrested, including Emilio Mignone, the center's president. [New York Times] China announced an economic policy that would combine sharp reductions in government spending with careful monitoring of supply and demand. Its chief economic planner, Deputy Prime Minister Yao Yilin, said that changes allowing farmers to grow what they want to and removing government control over factories would be expanded, but in line with the government's plans. He also urged the development of private businesses in cities, saying that public ownership should be predominant, but not exclusive. [New York Times]