News stories from Sunday June 7, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Reagan tax plan will be rejected by the Democratic House, Speaker Tip O'Neill predicted. "Right now we have the votes," Mr. O'Neill said. "Can he take them away from us? We'll see." Mr. O'Neill's prediction of defeat of the three-year tax relief plan was disputed by the administration. [New York Times]
- The Legal Services Corporation, which distributes federal funds for legal aid for the poor, should not be abolished, according to a New York lawyers' group that plans to distribute a 100-page brief in the agency's defense to every member of Congress. [New York Times]
- Opposition to the MX missile has accelerated since the Mormon Church last month publicly opposed deployment of the defense system in the Great Basin of Utah and Nevada. The church's position and a dramatic shift in public opinion against the plan complicate the choices facing President Reagan, who is expected to make a final decision on the missile's deployment in August or September. [New York Times]
- A plan for an ethics panel was rejected by delegates at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters's 22nd convention. The proposal for an ethical practices committee was offered by a group of about 150 dissidents, who consider Roy Williams, the new general president who has been indicted on federal charges of bribery and conspiracy, unfit for office. [New York Times]
- With Haitians being deported again by the federal government, security has been tightened at the Immigration and Naturalization Service Krome Avenue Detention Center in Miami. Haitians who arrived illegally on planes after Feb. 23 have been ordered confined to the facility, in a reversal of an earlier policy that allowed agencies to resettle them pending their claims for political asylum. [New York Times]
- Acid precipitation is killing fish and disrupting the life chain in more than 200 lakes in the western Adirondacks, the largest park preserve outside Alaska. [New York Times]
- Hundreds were feared dead in India after a train carrying 500 people fell off a bridge and into the Bagmati River during a storm in the northeastern state of Bihar. Bihar's Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra, called the wreck "the biggest and worst in living memory" in India. [New York Times]
- President Jose Lopez Portillo of Mexico arrived in Washington for two days of talks with President Reagan aimed at reaching some accord over their differences over Central America. The two leaders also hope to broaden cooperation on trade and migration problems. [New York Times]
- Reports of anti-Semitism in Argentina are at the center of a controversy in which some supporters of the Reagan administration's human rights policy have disputed charges made by an Argentinian newspaper publisher who was imprisoned by the country's rightist government. The journalist, Jacob Timerman, who is Jewish, has also come under attack from some Jews, who accuse him of exaggerating Argentina's anti-Semitism. [New York Times]
- In Poland, amid a sense that a crisis may be nearing once again, the Communist Party Central Committee has scheduled a meeting to discuss the country's situation. According to the Associated Press, a West German televison network reported that the Soviet Party's Central Committee sent an "ultimatum" to the Polish Central Committee to get the situation in hand and that that message was the principle reason for the meeting. [New York Times]
- In an effort to end the bloodletting in Lebanon, an emergency Arab League committee met with heavily armed factions at the presidential Palace at Baabda. Although there seemed to be insurmountable obstacles, Bashir Gemayel, the commander of the Maronite militias, sounded an optimistic note when he said: "This meeting has given us a fresh opportunity to deal with the Lebanese crisis. We went to present our point of view." [New York Times]
- Relations between France and Spain, which have been bad lately, may be affected significantly by a ruling of a French court in favor of extraditing a Spanish Basque accused of assassinations for the separatist organization, E.T.A. French courts have on 17 occasions refused Spanish demands for the extradition of suspects belonging to the militant group, and granted them asylum instead. [New York Times]