News stories from Sunday March 14, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A commitment to the needs of blacks must be reaffirmed by Republicans by making it plain that their party supports short-term government aid to blacks in need, as well as their long-term advancement, party leaders agreed at a policy meeting in Easton, Md. Nearly 100 cabinet officers, senators, representatives and other statewide elected Republican officials attended the fifth annual Tidewater Conference. The meetings have had an important role in devloping Republican policy on various issues. [New York Times]
- The worst floods since 1913 forced thousands of Midwesterners to flee their homes. Melting snow brought some rivers to nine feet above flood stage. At least five tornadoes struck western and northern Texas. [New York Times]
- Formerly secret documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that Justice Department lawyers concluded in 1977 that although the nation's intelligence agencies had engaged in electronic surveillance that might have violated "fundamental constitutional rights" of American citizens, federal prosecution was neither practical or advisable. [New York Times]
- Opposition to the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union is bringing together the previously scattered efforts of political, religious and civic groups around the country. The movement gained momentum and political legitimacy last week when 150 members of Congress sponsored a resolution calling on the superpowers to "pursue a a complete halt to the nuclear weapons race." [New York Times]
- Reports on toxic waste disposal that industrial companies have been required to give the Environmental Protection Agency each year have been suspended by the agency, which proposes instead to take an annual survey of 10 percent of the companies. E.P.A. officials said that dropping the annual report would not affect enforcement of the law and that it would bring about a more efficient accumulation of information. [New York Times]
- U.S. ties with Cuba and Nicaragua could be normalized as a result of ideas and proposals made by Secretary of State Alexander Haig at a meeting in New York with Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda of Mexico, Mr. Castaneda told reporters following the meeting, his second with Mr. Haig in a week. He said the proposals could lead to a "series of agreements" for normalizing relations. Mr. Haig, in a separate news conference, was less specific than Mr. Castaneda but said that the meeting had been "extremely helpful." [New York Times]
- Egypt's President has put off his visit to Israel because of Prime Minister Menachem Begin's insistence that he also visit Jerusalem, according to a Kuwaiti newspaper. President Hosni Mubarak had wanted to visit Israel before the final Israeli withdrawal from Sinai on April 25, but the cabinet warned him he was not welcome if he avoided Jerusalem. "It is not protocol for a state to impose on a visiting chief of state the program of his visit," Mr. Mubarak said. [New York Times]
- Conservatives appeared to be ahead of President Francois Mitterand's coaliion in elections in France to choose delegates for local councils. With a quarter of all results in, computer forecasts by the French government-controlled TV network show the opposition aliance of conservative parties winning 51.5 percent of the vote. [New York Times]
- China's rising birth rate has led to a warning that the Chinese must adhere to the strict family planning measures set by the government. The warning, published on the first page of an official newspaper, followed an order last week to urban couples to have no more than one child. [New York Times]
- The gold rabbit treasure was found in England nearly three years after it was buried by a writer named Kit Williams, who wrote and illustrated a fable that led thousands of people in Britain and abroad to hunt for the treasure, a five-inch gold pendant. The rabbit was found by a design engineer in a park in Ampthill, a Bedfordshire village 35 miles northwest of London. The seekers had to break a code whose key element was "one of six to eight," a cryptic reference to Katharine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII's six wives. [New York Times]