News stories from Saturday January 17, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Among the messages sent to Teheran from Washington was a proposal that, if accepted by Iran, could produce a final agreement on the release of the American hostages, Jody Powell, the White House press secretary said, but he added that there was no "overall response" from the Algerian intermediaries. Instead, Iranian messages sent through the intermediaries to Deputy of State Warren Christopher in Algiers asked for "specific details."
Clarification of the American terms for freeing the hostages was requested in two messages to Washington from Teheran. Executive Affairs Minister Behzad Nabavi indicated that Iran wanted a quick solution to the hostage issue and said his government was looking forward to an immediate reply from the United States. He said that an Algerian plane was standing by to take the hostages out of Iran as soon as an agreement was reached.
[New York Times] - An agreement to drop lawsuits against Iran reportedly was made by representatives of 12 major American banks which sought payment of loans, if Teheran agrees to repay a portion of the debts immediately and to settle the rest later. [New York Times]
- Continued restraint in tax cuts, in government spending and in monetary growth as the only ways to reduce inflation were urged in the Carter administration's final economic report to Congress. "There will be a continuing need for careful and prudent fiscal policies to restrain demand," the departing Council of Economic Advisers said in rejecting the idea, endorsed by President-elect Ronald Reagan, that large individual tax cuts would increase investment, thus bringing about a lower inflation rate. [New York Times]
- The costliest presidential inauguration ceremonies in American history started with a music-and-light show on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with the Army Band and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir participating, and President-elect Ronald Reagan and Mrs. Reagan in attendance. It was the first event in a four-day mostly privately financed observance -- estimated to cost $8 million to $11 million -- that will culminate in the swearing-in. [New York Times]
- Conservative groups were warned by Richard Richards, new chairman of the Republican National Committee, not to exaggerate their role in electing Ronald Reagan as President, or to try to tell him what to do. Mr. Richards, a lawyer from Ogden, Utah, headed Mr. Reagan's Western campaign. [New York Times]
- A curb on the loss of farmlands to developers was urged by Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland and Gus Speth, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality. They released a national study of agricultural lands, undertaken 18 months ago. It said there is an annual loss of more than 3 million acres of farmland to urban developers and urged the Reagan administration and the new Congress to require the assistance of federal agencies in reducing the loss. [New York Times]
- A great amount of paperwork will be done by Americans in filling out government forms in the current fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. The Office of Management and Budget estimated that 1.276 billion hours, the equivalent of 590,000 work-years, will be devoted to paperwork. The figures are contained in the government's first "paperwork budget." [New York Times]
- Several hundred prisoners were freed in the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos soon after he ended the martial law he imposed nearly eight and a half years ago. Those released included 159 people charged with violating national security and public order laws. [New York Times]