News stories from Saturday May 24, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The immediate release of the hostages in Iran was ordered by the International Court of Justice, the world's highest legal authority. The court, which is based in The Hague, also directed Iran not to subject any of the hostages to a trial and ruled that Iran must make reparations. The decision was delhrered by Sir Humphrey Waldock of Britain.
Most of the hostages were not removed from Teheran following the unsuccessful rescue attempt last month and those that were removed are being returned to Teheran because their dispersal would have raised serious security and logistical problems, administration officials said.
[New York Times] - Japan joined the Olympics boycott while the United States and the Soviet Union each claimed victory in their tug-of-war over the international participation in the games as the deadline for joining the summer games passed. Scores of nations were in and out of the lineups, but most of the Western European countries and some other major United States allies were expected to send teams to Moscow in July. [New York Times]
- The staggering costs of the eruption of the Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington were being estimated by government officials. According to unofficial estimates, at least 32 persons were killed and 88 were missing. [New York Times]
- Occupation of the Seabrook site in New Hampshire by 1,500 anti-nuclear demonstrators was prevented by state police and National Guardsmen. Equipped with plywood shields, bolt-cutters, ropes and chains, the protesters, who had trained themselves for the occupation attempt, quickly cut down sections of chain link fence surrounding the site, but were turned back by the relatively restrained tactics of the police. [New York Times]
- Love Canal residents will not be paid the cost of having to move from the contaminated area into motels and other quarters until federal funds are deposited with the state, New York officials said. "We won't pay out a penny for temporary relocation," said Michael Cuddy, New York state's deputy coordinating director for the Love Canal emergency. [New York Times]
- Women military academy graduates, the first ever, are confident that their integration into the once all-male institutions is complete but uncertain about their future as military leaders. Many of them are marrying their classmates, which may be as big an obstacle to their military careers as the ban on women in combat. [New York Times]
- An end to martial law in South Korea was demanded by 30,000 demonstrators in Kwangju, a provincial capital, in defiance of a government warning that the rebellion must end. Students and troops exchanged gunfire in the suburbs, and thousands of troops surrounded the city. [New York Times]