News stories from Saturday September 5, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Former agents are operating a series of interlocking businesses in Washington that transfer advanced technology and sensitive military equipment to foreign governments, especially in the Middle East. They were closely associated at the C.I.A. with Edwin P. Wilson, a former C.I.A. agent who has been charged with illegally shipping explosives to Libya and who is now a fugitive. [New York Times]
- A colony of rare moths in Colorado has come under the protection of the World Wildlife Fund. It is the last known colony of the prairie sphinx moth (Euproserpinus wiesti), which was thought to be extinct until rediscovered in Colorado in 1979 by a group of students. The biggest problem is protecting the moths from collectors. Adult specimens are sold for as much as $750 in the United States and about double that abroad. [New York Times]
- Nearly 100,000 Soviet troops are participating in military exercises that began Friday in the Baltic region near Poland, the Soviet press agency Tass announced. The announcement followed a charge by officials in Washington that Moscow was withholding information about the number of troops, in violation of international accord. [New York Times]
- Lech Walesa gave a rousing speech at the opening of the first national convention of the trade union Solidarity in Gdansk, urging that it remain united and strong so that Poland will be "the way we have dreamed." He said the struggle was far from over. The warm reaction among the 900 delegates indicated that he will be confirmed in office as the union leader in an election at the end of this month. [New York Times]
- A bomb explosion in Teheran killed Iran's revolutionary prosecutor general, Hojatolislam Ali Qoddousi. He was the fourth senior government official to be killed in a week. [New York Times]
- Iran's rule by Islamic clergymen appears to be being held together by the fervent allegiance to Ayatollah Khomeini among deeply religious Iranians. The current series of assassinations indicates a period of deepening turmoil, especially if the 81-year-old Ayatollah should die. Many observers believe that it was the possibility of his death that led to the clergy's ruthless drive to take over the principal offices of government. [New York Times]
- Egypt's Coptic Pope was deposed by President Anwar Sadat, who in an address before a special session of Parliament denounced religious factionalism. Near the end of a three-hour speech he announced that he was canceling a 1971 decree that installed Pope Shenuda III as the spiritual leader of Egypt's six million Copts and that he would replace him with a committee of five bishops. He also attacked Egypt's militant Moslem Brotherhood, and said that some Islamic associations would be "dissolved" because they "indulged in activities that threaten national unity." [New York Times]
- Stronger strategic ties with Israel that might include an American military presence in Israel and the sharing of American spy satellite data will be explored by President Reagan in talks this week in Washington with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, American and Israeli officials said. [New York Times]