News stories from Saturday August 21, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The devaluation of the Mexican peso has caused economic chaos in border cities of the United States and Mexico. Residents of Matamoros, Mexico, accustomed to shopping in the United States, have had their purchasing power in Brownsville, Tex., cut by nearly two-thirds. The loss of Mexican customers in Texas and California has hurt merchants so much that Gov. Jerry Brown of California has appealed to President Reagan for economic disaster aid for San Diego and Imperial Counties. [New York Times]
- Delicate ultralight aircraft are flying over coastlines and farmers' fields across the country. The small, inexpensive flying machines, made of tubes, wires and fabric and driven by a small gasoline engine, have become the fastest growing segment of the aircraft industry, which has experienced a decline in sales of the conventional, small private plane. Safety of the new aircraft has caused concern among federal authorities. [New York Times]
- 397 P.L.O. guerrillas left Lebanon by ship for Cyprus, beginning a two-week withdrawal that will scatter the forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization throughout the Arab world. The departure of the first evacuees was accompanied by machine-gun volleys fired into the air by their comrades. At the same time, 1,000 more guerrillas bound for Tunisia were preparing for an evacuation by sea. [New York Times]
- Fear that major military actions may occur over the next few weeks before the evacuation of west Beirut is completed is one of the concerns among foreign diplomats and Arab and Palestinian officials. "The danger potential of the next few weeks cannot be underestimated," a Western diplomat said. [New York Times]
- Withdrawal raises a key question: whether the P.L.O. has been weakened. Many officials feel that the dispersal of the guerrillas to a number of Arab nations has hurt the organization, but not enough to prevent the guerrillas from continuing to put pressure on Israel. [New York Times]
- Israel's "primary objective" in its invasion of Lebanon is being achieved with the evacuation, the Israeli military command said. But it was silent on its plans and options for the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces from other areas of Lebanon, including the Bekaa Valley, where the two armies face each other in considerable strength. [New York Times]
- U.S. policy on the Soviet Union was discussed at an all-day meeting held by Secretary of State George Shultz, experts on Soviet affairs and senior Reagan administration officials. With the crisis in west Beirut apparently ending, Mr. Shultz has decided it was time to pay more attention to other international issues, his aides said. [New York Times]
- A Paris policeman was killed when a bomb attached to an American diplomat's car to defuse blew up near the Eiffel Tower. Two other policemen who were helping to defuse the bomb were wounded. [New York Times]
- A new coalition government for Italy appears to be close. with an announcement by the Prime Minister-designate, Giovanni Spadolini, that he would form a five-party coalition pledged to economic restraint and institutional change. [New York Times]