|
|
News stories from Sunday November 25, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- An "urgent meeting" of the Security Council was called by Secretary General Kurt Waldheim of the United Nations to take up the Iranian crisis. He said the dispute could have "disastrous consequences for the entire world." Mr. Waldheim said: "I don't know how the governments will react to this proposal," which, he stressed, was made entirely on his own initiative. It was not yet known when the Council would meet.
Washington strongly backed Secretary General Waldheim's urgent call for a Security Council meeting on the Iranian crisis, expecting approval of a resolution demanding the release of the hostages. [New York Times]
- A Congressman visited the hostages and said that except for "a little cabin fever" they appeared to be healthy. Representative George Hansen, Republican of Idaho, who was on a self-appointed mediation mission in Teheran, was permitted by their captors to speak to the hostages at the American Embassy. He met with Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, the Acting Foreign Minister, and suggested that there might be a congressional investigation of Iran's charges against the Shah. [New York Times]
- The free-abortion controversy, temporarily settled in Congress through a compromise, is continuing in the courts. A federal judge in Brooklyn is expected to rule soon, perhaps tomorrow, on the constitutionality of Congress' nearly total ban on paying for abortions for women on welfare. The Supreme Court is also preparing a decision that could say something about the constitutional issue raised in three appeals in an Illinois case. [New York Times]
- Cancer cases have been reported among woodworkers in model design shops of major Detroit automobile plants and is being investigated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The inquiry was initiated by the Michigan Department of Public Health after a report in the Detroit News that in a 12-year period there were 40 cancer deaths and 25 non-fatal cases among an unspecified number of woodworkers at General Motors and Chrysler. [New York Times]
- A priest who supports the ordination of women has been ordered to leave his activist community near Washington by the Father General of the Society of Jesus. The Rev. William Callahan has been accused of disobeying an order from the Father General, the Rev. Pedro Arrupe, to stop advocating the ordination of women.
Some Mormon women are troubled by a conflict between their church and supporters of the proposed equal rights amendment. One feminist Mormon has been accused of apostasy and will undergo a church trial next month, with a possible sentence of excommunication. The church hierarchy believes that the amendment is a threat to the family -- which for Mormon women is of primary importance. [New York Times]
- A Cuban refugee leader was killed by gunmen in Union City, N.J., and anti-Castro extremists were believed to be responsible. Eulalio Jose Negrin, who had urged moderation among anti-Castro exile groups, was slain by a fusillade from semiautomatic weapons as he stepped into his car. [New York Times]
- Israel ceded a major oilfield to Egypt in the biggest sacrifice it has made in carrying out the peace treaty between the two countries. As the Egyptian flag replaced Israel's at the Alma oilfield in the Gulf of Suez, the Israeli Minister of Energy, Yitzhak Modai, said, "I'm almost sick." The Alma field had provided Israel with 20 percent of its oil needs and had the potential, according to Mr. Modai, of providing all of Israel's energy needs. [New York Times]
- Saudi troops gained control of virtually all of the Grand Mosque in Mecca following a battle with the gunmen who seized it last Tuesday. Part of the mosque's basement was still occupied by the gunmen, according to Saudi officials and diplomatic sources. [New York Times]
|
