News stories from Saturday May 9, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Support for the Reagan budget cuts is coming from important organizations in the public officials' lobby, which has tried to get more federal funds for local governments and agencies in the federal system, even though the cuts will result in less public services at all levels of government. Where the President has not won support among lobby members he has muted the opposition, and his plan to give the states greater discretion in the use of federal funds has renewed a divisive struggle between the states and the cities. [New York Times]
- America's allies are dismayed over the Reagan administration's budget cuts that would reduce or terminate American participation in a variety of international scientific and technological programs. The cutbacks raised such an angry reaction abroad that the administration has given signs of relenting. Congress may attempt to restore at least some of the programs. One of the programs at stake is the International Solar Polar Mission. [New York Times]
- Whether France moves to the left, away from the center-right coalition that has governed it for 23 years, will be decided tomorrow when voters re-elect President Valery Giscard d'Estaing or elect his challenger, the Socialist leader, Francois Mitterrand. If Mr. Mitterrand is elected, France will have its first Socialist government in the history of the Fifth Republic. [New York Times]
- El Salvador announced the arrests of six Salvadoran soldiers as suspects in the slaying three American nuns and a lay relgious worker last December. The announcement came from the Defense Minister, Col. Jose Guillermo Garcia, who declined to name the suspects or reveal their branch of the armed services. [New York Times]
- The Soviet Union is showing signs of "spiritual exhaustion," and faces "an extremely gloomy future," and this may make it a more dangerous adversary, Secretary of State Alexander Haig said in a commencement address at Syracuse University. Continuing the Reagan administration's attacks on the Soviet Union, Mr. Haig for the first time drew attention to Soviet Union's weaknesses as well as its strength. [New York Times]
- Moscow favors a "broad dialogue" with the West, but is ready to respond to any Western military challenge, Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, said in a speech in Kiev, observing the 36th anniversary of the allied victory over Germany. He said the Soviet Union was being subjected to slander and threats. [New York Times]
- Talks to prevent a wider conflict in Lebanon between Syria and Israel were begun in Damascus by the special American envoy to the Middle East, Philip Habib. A key issue is Israel's demand that the Syrians remove antiaircraft missiles installed in the Bekaa Valley after Israeli planes downed two Syrian helicopters. Soon after Mr. Habib's arrival, the Damascus radio broadcast a militant defense of Syria's role in Lebanon. [New York Times]