News stories from Sunday December 19, 1982

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

In concluding their work on a bill to keep government agencies operating Monday, a House-Senate conference quickly put together a series of compromises. Under threat of a presidential veto, the conferees voted to eliminate all money aimed at creating jobs and alleviating the nation's 10.8 percent unemployment rate. The conference also agreed to eliminate the money to build MX missiles, as the Democratic House did last week. It did appropriate $2.5 billion for research and development of the weapon. [New York Times] The gasoline tax-rise bill was revived in the Senate, after it broke the filibuster that had forced its withdrawal from consideration Thursday. The cloture vote 89 to 5, 29 more than were necessary to limit debate. [New York Times] The omnibus spending bill in Congress will renew the government's spending authority, which lapsed at 12:01 A.M. Saturday, and also will have many amendments containing special provisions for constituents of the members of Congress. One such special provision would provide $243,000 for a fish hatchery at Ennis, Mont., another would widen the navigation opening at the Franklin Ferry Bridge in Jefferson County, Ala., which is being struck by boats going through a narrow opening. [New York Times] Americans are smuggling cars made in Mexico to take advantage of the favorable exchange rate the plunging Mexican peso provides and prices that do not reflect mandatory safety restrictions. If the buyer deceives customs officials, he can save up to half the price of a new car. [New York Times] "Early-decision" college enrollments are reflecting unusual wariness of prospective students who hesitate to commit themselves to expensive institutions during the recession. That was the consensus of 30 admissions officers after responses were sent to applicants seeking admission to their first-choice college. [New York Times] Israel removed a major obstacle that has prevented discussions with Lebanon on the withdrawal of Israeli forces by forgoing its stipulation that meetings be held in Jerusalem. Israeli officials said they hoped the talks could begin in the next few days. Israel said its concession had been made after Lebanon agreed to a negotiating framework that was reported to include talks on normalization of Israeli-Lebanese trade and tourism relations. [New York Times] Lebanon is ready to start talks with Israel immediately, the government said after Israel announced that it would no longer insist that the talks be held in part in Jerusalem. Foreign Minister Elie Salem said that the United States must be a partner in the discussions. [New York Times] Four bombs exploded at South Africa's only nuclear power station, which is under construction on the Atlantic coast just north of Cape Town. The underground African National Congress took responsibility for the attack. South African security police said that damage to the Koeberg power station was being assessed and that there was no danger from radioactivity. [New York Times] Poland formally announced that, as promised, martial law would be "suspended" on Dec. 31, a little more than a year after it was imposed. The Council of State, the collective presidency, cited legislation passed Saturday by Parliament empowering the government to suspend -- or reimpose -- martial law. [New York Times] West Germany's Social Democrats won an unexpected victory in elections to the state legislature in Hamburg in the first test of opinion since the formation of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's 11-week-old coalition government. The victory was regarded in Bonn as an enormous boost for the Social Democratic Party as it prepares for a tough national election campaign against Chancellor Kohl's Christian Democrats. [New York Times]