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News stories from Sunday December 23, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- There was no indication in Teheran that the American hostages, starting their eighth week of captivity, would be released soon. Except for the invitation to three American clergymen to conduct Christmas services for the hostages, there have been no other concessions to ease the hostages' ordeal. It appears that Iran is waiting for concessions from the United States.
A sharp attack on President Carter's call for sanctions against Iran came from one of the three clergymen invited to pay a Christmas visit to the hostages. The Rev. Dr. William Sloane Coffin, speaking from the pulpit of Riverside Church in Manhattan, said the sanction proposal was "highly reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson's bombing of North Vietnam." He said that "it puts iron up the spines on the other side" and that "we must approach with grave skepticism the increasing cry for national unity." Dr. Coffin declared that "we must never cease asking what is the virtue of unity if it is unity in folly." [New York Times]
- Lagging demand for Western coal has undercut earlier predictions of a boom for the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains states. Production of the West's relatively clean-burning, low-sulfur coal has been a disappointment, at least as measured by industry and government projections, while mining companies have invested millions in capital that is now idle. [New York Times]
- A rabies outbreak in Houston may be of epidemic proportions, some health officials believe. An emergency has been declared in the first rabies outbreak in a major city in 20 years. Three rabid cats and dogs have been found since the first rabid animal, a cat, was sequestered in November. Eight persons are known to have been exposed to the disease, but no one has died. [New York Times]
- Darryl Zanuck died of pneumonia Saturday in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 77 years old. The former production chief of Twentieth Century-Fox began his career as a Hollywood producer at the age of 25. In 1928, he was responsible for the use of dialogue in the first full-length movie, the "Jazz Singer," starring Al Jolson. [New York Times]
- The First Amendment is being invoked by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in seeking approval from the town of New Castle in Westchester County (New York) to conduct what it says will be retreats, religious education and worship services at the 98-acre estate the church bought last April. Opponents of the church's use of the estate say it will be a "boot camp" for recruits, threatening personal freedom, family life, schools and property values. [New York Times]
- Economic sanctions against Rhodesia were lifted by the five so-called front-line nations that had supported the Patriotic Front's guerrilla war against the Salisbury government, Tanzania's Foreign Ministry announced. The sanctions were removed by Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Angola. Their action came after the Security Council ended the embargo, which began in 1965. The United States removed its sanctions last week.
Rhodesian peace forces began occupying military bases in first phase of a cease-fire monitoring exercise that the British commander of the 1,300-man Commonwealth group acknowledged held many dangers for the men involved. Meanwhile, blacks across the country demonstrated in support of the Patriotic Front guerrillas. [New York Times]
- Congress is influencing foreign policy in diverse ways. This sharing of foreign policy with the White House has been marked by relative caution at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, but Congress seems certain to maintain a permanent role in foreign affairs, said Douglas Bennett, administrator of the Agency for International Development. [New York Times]
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