News stories from Sunday April 4, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The A.T.& T. antitrust settlement with the government has been followed by a deep sense of uneasiness across the country. A poll commissioned by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company found that consumers were concerned that the divestiture of the company's many subsidiaries called for under the settlement and the passage of proposed legislation in Congress to change the accord could hurt phone service and bring about increased rates. [New York Times]
- A storm that whirled up 86 tornadoes, a blizzard in the Middle West and 16 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevadas sped east. Tornadoes wrecked homes and businesses in dozens of areas in a triangle bounded by Texas, Pennsylvania and Georgia. At least 46 persons died. [New York Times]
- Municipalities may be so vulnerable to antitrust action following a Supreme Court decision that their ability to govern might be undermined, city officials across the country fear. The Court ruled Jan. 13 that cities, even those with the broadest "home rule" authority, are not immune to antitrust suits unless they are acting under the specific approval of state government. Alan Beals, executive director of National League of Cities, said the decision has had an "earth-shaking" effect and has brought about an "explosion of litigation." The league has scheduled a special conference in Dallas on April 30 to plan a strategy for municipal defense. [New York Times]
- Three Argentine marines were killed in a battle Saturday with a small contingent of British marines at Port Grytviken in the South Georgia Islands, which are in the Falkland group, the Argentine government announced. Diplomats said that 12 to 20 British marines fought an unknown number of Argentines in the brief fighting. None of the British were killed, the official Argentine report said. [New York Times]
- Britons are angry and humiliated over Argentina's seizure of the Falkland Islands, creating a a major political crisis for the three-year old government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Conservative and opposition spokesmen have been unrelenting in their criticism of the government's failure to anticipate the takeover and in their calls for the resignation of Defense Minister John Nott and, not so severely, of Lord Carrington, the Foreign Secretary. [New York Times]
- Britain will fight to regain the Falkland Islands from Argentina if diplomatic efforts fail, Defense Secretary John Nott said in a television interview. The U.S. will use its influence to avert a military clash and obtain a diplomatic way out of the British-Argentine confrontation over Argentina's seizure of the Falklands, Reagan administration officials said. But they were not sure that a solution could be found in time. At the request of Argentina, the issue will be raised tomorrow at the Organization of American States in Washington. [New York Times]
- Salvadorans voted against violence in the March 28 constitutional assembly elections, San Salvador's acting Archbishop, Arturo Rivera Damas, said in his Palm Sunday sermon. And he obliquely criticized the rightist parties for trying to form a majority coalition that would exclude the Christian Democrats, the party that received the most votes. [New York Times]
- Sudden reconcilation with Egypt among the Arab nations of the Persian Gulf is not expected to follow Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula, despite their eagerness to have Egypt resume its traditional central role in the Arab world. Because of lingering bitterness over Egypt's participation in the Camp David peace accords, Arab leaders say that "normalization" with Cairo will be very slow and may take years. [New York Times]