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News stories from Monday February 18, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The American hostages must be freed by Iran within a specific time or the United Nations commission of inquiry will abandon its mission, officials at the United Nations said. This was decided after six and a half hours of talks among Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, Secretary of State Vance and two members of the panel. A deadline for the panel's work has been set, apparently as a safeguard against any failure of President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr to persuade the militants to surrender the American Embassy.
An emergency meeting in Teheran was held by militants occupying the American Embassy and the son of Ayatollah Khomeini as diplomatic sources said Iran had accepted an international inquiry aimed at solving the crisis over the American hostages. [New York Times]
- Canada's Liberals won handily in general elections and were assured a majority government. The Liberals, led by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, swept out of power Prime Minister Joe Clark's Progressive Conservatives, who had been in office only six months. The voters opposed them mainly because of Mr. Clark's proposals for sharp and immediate increases in energy prices. [New York Times]
- A new military strike force will begin operating March 1 under an order issued by Defense Secretary Harold Brown, but it will take several years to make the Rapid Deployment Force fully capable of moving swiftly into remote regions such as the Persian Gulf. The force would be made up of land, sea and air units chosen to deal with a specific emergency. [New York Times]
- Rainstorms struck southern California for the sixth day, carving away hillsides and leaving thousands homeless at a Navy base north of Los Angeles. The death toll rose to at least 24, 18 of them in California. Mudslides and high water have caused many millions of dollars in damage.
Vermont's ski country has been saved by the season's first major snowstorm. It arrived just in time for the Washington's Birthday weekend, traditionally the ski industry's busiest time. The storm's four-to-eight-inch accumulations will not erase the industry's almost certain economic losses, but they were enough to send people rushing to the slopes. [New York Times]
- Farmers lobbied with restraint for higher price supports and more farm-distilled alcohol for use in gasohol. The small size and lowered voices of the American Agriculture Movement members, who arrived in Washington in pickup trucks and sedans, contrasted with last year's rally when hundreds of angry farmers converged on the capital in tractors, tying up traffic and damaging the Mall. [New York Times]
- Hundreds replaced striking firemen as Chicago recorded its first fire fatality, a mother of four, since the start of a five-day walkout. The strikers defied back-to-work court orders and $40,000-a-day fines, and Mayor Jane Byrne said she would never again negotiate with the firemen's union. [New York Times]
- A united front against Indira Gandhi was urged by the splintered political groups opposing the Indian Prime Minister. They protested her dissolution of nine state governments as autocratic and called for a common challenge to her candidates in the coming elections in the large states. [New York Times]
- Improved Western coordination in reaction to the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan will be sought by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who will leave tomorrow on a brief trip to West Germany, Italy, France and Britain. Officials said that he would seek to resolve complaints by the allies that they were not adequately consulted in advance of major Washington actions.
Moscow is ready to resume arms talks with the West despite discord over the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko said in a speech. [New York Times]
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