News stories from Saturday June 20, 1981

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

The Pope returned to the hospital in Rome where he was taken after being shot in St. Peter's Square on May 13. A persistent mild fever caused his readmission to Gemelli Hospital, which he left on June 3 to continue recuperation at the Vatican. [New York Times] "Meaningful" contract talks were sought by the president of the air traffic controllers union as a Monday strike deadline approached. Talks continued in Washington, with Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis intervening on behalf of the administration. Before the talks resumed, Robert Poli, president of the union that represents 15,000 of the 17,000 federal employees who directly guide the nation's air traffic, said a walkout could be avoided if the union leadership felt progress was being made and if an agreement seemed near. The union turned down a government proposal that the government valued at $40 million a year in benefits. It wants instead a package whose estimated yearly cost would be $770 million. [New York Times] Enforcement of environmental laws in alleged hazardous waste violation cases is being limited by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. The agency has instructed its regional offices to stop initiating waste cleanup orders, which they were authorized to do under last November's new and tougher hazardous waste control regulations. The instructions were contained in an unpublicized May 28 advisory. [New York Times] Retreat from third world pledges by the United States will seriously injure its economic and political interests, according to Robert McNamara, who will retire at the end of this month as president of the World Bank, which has been instrumental in carrying out those commitments. He expressed concern in an interview that Congress was "on the verge of repudiating" commitments made by the Carter administration and endorsed by the Reagan administration, including $658.3 million toward a general increase for the World Bank. [New York Times] A final vote for Parliament in France tomorrow is expected to confirm the solid control of the fovernment by the new President, Francois Mitterrand and his Socialist Party, which gave the right its first defeat in 25 years. The Socialists are expected to win about 270 seats in the 491-seat Assembly, the dominant branch in the two-house Parliament. The Communists are likely to get be-tween 40 and 45 seats. The conservative Gaullists and the party of former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing should win a combined 160-180 seats. [New York Times] Iran began impeachment proceedings against President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr. As Parliament met in Teheran to debate Mr. Bani-Sadr's fitness to remain in office, 19 people were reported killed in street fighting between rival political factions in the capital. [New York Times]