News stories from Sunday January 20, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Removal of the Olympic Games from Moscow or their postponement or cancellation was proposed by President Carter if the Soviet Union does not remove its troops from Afghanistan within a month. He suggested in a television interview that athletes boycott the Games and participate in alternative games elsewhere if the International Olympic Committee did not agree to removing the Games from Moscow.
An American Olympic official said that his group regarded President Carter's proposal that the summer Games be moved from Moscow as a decision to act through "proper channels." Robert Kane, president of the United States Olympic Committee, also said that the committee would convene its own executive board next weekend in Colorado Springs to discuss the situation, and that the committee would poll 10,000 potential American Olympians on their views and would try to enlist the support of other Olympic committees for shifting the Moscow Games.
[New York Times] - Afghan refugees in Pakistan were told by Foreign Minister Huang Hua of China that Peking was on their side and would do everything it could to relieve their suffering. He is in Pakistan to discuss ways to counter the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. [New York Times]
- Ayatollah Khomeini made a gesture of conciliation to the Sunni Moslems in the Iran's ethnic border region where he faces a boycott in the coming presidential election. The Ayatollah said he was prepared to examine an amendment to the Islamic Constitution that would allow orthodox Sunnis to have their own courts and tribunals in regions where they predominate over the members of the Shiite sect. [New York Times]
- A major foreign policy failure in dealing with the Soviet Union was charged to President Carter by Senator Edward Kennedy, who suggested in a television interview that Mr. Carter's reversal of policy last fall over the Soviet combat brigade in Cuba might have influenced Moscow's decision to intervene in Afghanistan. This was one of the Senator's most pointed attacks on President Carter in recent weeks. Mr. Kennedy cast Mr. Carter as the favorite in the Iowa caucuses but insisted that he would not drop out of the race if Mr. Carter won. [New York Times]
- The Iowa caucuses are costing presidential candidates of both parties a total of more than $2.8 million, at least 10 times as much as the candidates spent on the nation's earliest delegation selection process four years ago. Candidates have poured money into Iowa in unprecedented amounts. Senator Edward Kennedy and John Connally are expected to spend $480,000 each in Iowa. [New York Times]
- Dallas voters assured minorities of three seats on the 11-member City Council. In the election, which had been delayed nearly 10 months because of Justice Department demands for redistricting, voters chose a council expected to be more independent than previous councils, which have been dominated by the city's business and real-estate interests. Three of the eight seats that were contested will be filled in a runoff election Feb. 2. [New York Times]
- Mobilization of fundamentalists into a national political force this year is the aim of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a television preacher and one of the militant leaders of the "electronic church" whose programs are seen by 47 million Americans each week. [New York Times]
- President Tito's left leg was amputated to prevent the spread of gangrene that "jeopardized" his life. His physicians said he "bore the operation well." The amputation followed an unsuccessful operation to relieve a blockage. [New York Times]
- A 13-year-old boxer died, the fourth death resulting from injuries received in the ring in less than two months. Harland Hoosier of Beauty, Ky., died of brain contusions Friday in Huntington, W. Va. The 71-pound boxer had been hospitialized for six days after having won all three of his matches in an amateur tournament on Jan. 10, 11 and 12 in Lenore, W. Va. He did not wear protective headgear in the ring. [New York Times]