News stories from Saturday May 17, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Iran attempted to delay the sanctions against it that were to be considered by Western European governments if there was no "decisive progress" toward the release of the American hostages in Iran. President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr urged the foreign ministers of the nine Common Market countries, who are meeting in Naples, to withhold the sanctions and give the newly elected Iranian Parliament time to release the hostages when it convenes later this month, diplomatic sources said. [New York Times]
- The Coast Guard took further steps to block refugee boats attempting to go to Cuba or to elude customs stations on their return. It established a 200-mile patrol zone from the tip of the Florida Keys to Miami, and stationed two 210-foot cutters in international waters off the mouth of the Cuban port of Martel. The patrol boats are supplemented by helicopters and airplanes equipped with radar and searchlights. [New York Times]
- Energy demand declined in the United States last year, the first time that the demand had not increased in a non-recession year in more than 25 years. Department of Energy figures show that consumption slipped a small fraction of 1 percent, causing specialists to speculate on whether the nation may now be moving into a period of little or no growth in energy demand. [New York Times]
- Evacuation of 710 more families from the Love Canal area in Niagara Falls, N.Y., where toxic chemicals have been buried, is being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Danger from the buried wastes previously forced the removal of 239 families in the canal area. The federal agency's deputy administrator, Barbara Blum, said that the decision to increase the removals, to be announced this week, would be based on a review by geneticists of a finding of chromosome damage in 11 of 36 Love Canal residents who had been tested by the agency.
Immediate further removal of families from the Love Canal area was demanded by residents as the reports that some of them had been afflicted with chromosome damage spread through the neighborhood.
[New York Times] - Fraudulent investment schemes of the "pyramid" type are spreading across the country, operating under such names as "The Business List Concept" and "The Circle of Gold." Law enforcement officials say the rackets have not flourished so much since the Depression. One of the two most popular pyramids promises a $16,000 return on an initial investment of $1,000; the other, a return of $204,800 on $100. "Pyramid parties" are popular in California, where hundreds of people have been arrested or summoned to court for participating in the schemes. [New York Times]
- The nation's pension system is threatened by inflation even as it eats away at the incomes of the millions of Americans who draw pension checks. Pension experts say that unless inflation ends, pension funds in future decades will not provide an adequate income for their beneficiaries. "People are going to have to set their sights on a lower retirement standard," one expert said, "or pay very high bills to support the elderly." "The pension system in this country is a phony promise," said another. [New York Times]
- Student unrest in South Korea, the most serious in 20 years, has brought about repressive measures. The government announced that it was closing all universities, banning political gatherings, prohibiting labor strikes, imposing rigorous press censorship and extending martial law to all the nation. Today riot policemen broke up a gathering of student leaders from all over the country who were coordinating the demands for an end to martial law and for a change to more democratic government. [New York Times]