News stories from Sunday December 16, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Iran claimed a victory with the Shah's departure from the United States for Panama. The "victory" was claimed by Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh in an American television interview. He was often imprecise and it was not clear whether he was speaking for Ayatollah Khomeini. But the overall effect of his remarks was to give encouragement to the Carter administration in its hopes that a peaceful solution to the crisis over the hostages in Iran might be near.
There was no word from Iran's leader, who will decide whether the Shah's departure for Panama will be result in trial of the hostages. Ayatollah Khomeini was silent, and remarks from Foreign Minister Ghotbzadeh were confusing, but a statement from the hostages' captors said "We declare that, in order to reveal the treacherous plots of the criminal United States and for its punishment, the hostages will be tried."
The administration played its last card in its attempt to find another refuge for the Shah when it asked Panama's leader whether he would honor an offer last spring to give him asylum. Hamilton Jordan, the White House chief of staff, was assigned to fly to Panama to win agreement from Gen. Omar Torrijos.
[New York Times] - Iran's economy has been badly shaken since the revolution last winter. Iran's central bank estimates that the economy has contracted by 12 percent overall. This would be catastrophic in a Western industrialized nation, but if Iran stems its losses in production and jobs this year, many Iranians will regard it as a triumph. Businessmen and diplomats, however, believe further losses are ahead. [New York Times]
- Oil prices were raised sharply by Libya and Indonesia. Libya, a major supplier to the United States, increased the price of its light oil by $4 a barrel, to $30, retroactive to Nov. 1, its oil minister, Ezzedin Ali Mabruk, announced in Caracas, where members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were gathering for a meeting starting Monday. Indonesia announced a price increase to $25.50 a barrel, a $2 raise, effective today. [New York Times]
- Reassessment of auto regulations is being made by the Carter administration to help the industry in the most unstable time in its history. Changes under consideration affect nearly every major aspect of government regulation in the last 15 years. [New York Times]
- A revolutionary theory predicts that all matter will eventually disappear. The hypothesis has caused widespread excitement among physicists, and large-scale experiments are being planned to test it. If the disintegration is observed, it would be a monumental discovery, supporting one or another of the "grand unification" theories that interrelate all the basic forces of nature, apart from gravity. [New York Times]
- Senator Edward Kennedy believes that President Carter has taken the lead for the Democratic presidential nomination and will probably remain ahead until the Iranian crisis ends and the campaign again focuses on economic issues. He believes that a shift in public attention must come by late winter or early spring if he is to overtake Mr. Carter. [New York Times]
- Low tar levels in cigarettes have been found for the first time in more than half the cigarette brands being sold in the nation, the Federal Trade Commission reported. [New York Times]
- Immunity for former President Nixon and three of his top aides from damages in three wiretapping cases has been urged on the Supreme Court by the Carter administration. The Justice Department, acting as attorney for the defendants, has asked the Court to reverse an appeals court opinion that rejected the immunity argument last July and ordered the cases returned to the trial court for determination of damages. The Justice Department said the appeals court decision was unprecedented and "threatens serious interference with the President's conduct of office." [New York Times]
- The Long Island Railroad was back in service one day ahead of schedule. Trainmen who were on strike went back to work under a presidential order and got the trains running earlier than had been expected. [New York Times]
- A delay in the Senate vote on arms treaty pact is sought by 19 Senators. They have sent a letter to President Carter asking him to consider delaying a vote until after next year's presidential election. [New York Times]
- Park Chung Hee's confessed slayer testified in a military court that he had acted alone in planning the killing of South Korea's President, denying any collusion with Gen. Chung Seung Hwa, the former army chief of staff, who became martial law commander following President Park's death. The statement by Kim Jae Kyu implicitly challenged the action of a Park loyalist who arrested General Chung last week and charged him with being an accomplice in the assassination. [New York Times]