News stories from Saturday March 6, 1982

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

Budget compromises are foreseen by White House officials. Despite President Reagan's denunciations of "the so-called alternatives" to his proposals, the officials say privately that the administration's acceptance of some tax increases and cuts in its proposed increase in military spending are virtually inevitable. [New York Times] A higher budget deficit than originally projected was indicated by David Stockman, the budget director. He informed Congress that he had re-estimated the deficit for the fiscal year 1983 at $96.4 billion, almost $5 billion more than previously forecast. [New York Times] A marked change in students' aims and values is occurring on college campuses because of sharply rising costs and a tightening job market. The last decade has witnessed a major shift from liberal arts courses to narrow, career-oriented studies likely to assure bigger incomes. Also, growing numbers of students have become politically conservative. [New York Times] Ten people died of suffocation when a fire in one room of the Westchase Hilton hotel in Houston sent thick smoke billowing through the 16-month-old high-rise structure. A top Fire Department official said that a hotel employee had repeatedly cut off the building's fire alarm signal because he did not know what it was and, possibly, because it annoyed him. [New York Times] Clifford Case died of lung cancer at the age of 77. The former Senator of New Jersey, a liberal Republican, championed a wide range of social and civil rights causes in more than three decades in Congress. [New York Times] Ayn Rand died at her home at the age of 77. The writer and philosopher, who espoused unfettered capitalism, became widely known for such novels as "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged." [New York Times] Secret U.S. efforts involving Iran were reported by Western intelligence officials and other sources. They said the United States was clandestinely aiding Iranian paramilitary and political exile groups and beaming radio propaganda into Iran to counter growing Soviet influence there, but they insisted that no efforts were being made to destabilize the regime. [New York Times] A Cairo military tribunal sentenced to death five of the 24 Islamic fundamentalists accused of involvement in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Seventeen defendants received prison terms ranging from one year to life at hard labor, and two were acquitted of direct involvement in the Oct. 6 assassination. [New York Times] A move to prop up sagging oil prices has apparently been agreed on by members of OPEC. The oil producers decided to cut production limits by more than one million barrels a day in informal talks in Doha, Qatar, and will meet in Vienna on March 19 to ratify the strategy. [New York Times] U.S.-Mexican ministerial talks were held in New York on the civil war in El Salvador. The conferees, Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, disagreed over the issue of Nicaraguan arms shipments to the leftist insurgents in El Salvador, and Mr. Haig termed Mexico's peace proposals "inadequate." [New York Times] The young Nicaraguan who has been described by El Salvador as a rebel leader and by Mexico as a student will probably be allowed to leave El Salvador, the national police chief said. The 19-year-old Nicaraguan has been described by Secretary of State Alexander Haig as a "military man" whose presence in El Salvador is proof of Nicaraguan intervention in the Salvadoran civil war. [New York Times]