News stories from Thursday November 27, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The hostages have been handed over to the Iranian government, and the Moslem militants who seized the Americans a year ago no longer have anything to do with them, according to a spokesman for the militants. The State Department said it had no information regarding the transfer, but a spokesman said: "We hope that it's true." [New York Times]
- Paul Laxalt seems to be a major figure in the incoming Reagan administration. The junior Senator from Nevada has resisted all suggestions that he formally join the administration. But Mr. Laxalt, who guards his independence, will probably be the new President's closest confidant. [New York Times]
- A reversal of an Abscam ruling will be sought, according to a federal prosecutor. He said he would ask the Justice Department to begin an appeal against a judge's dismissal of the convictions of two Philadelphia councilmen on the ground that the government had "stretched" federal statutes and "entrapped" the defendants. [New York Times]
- Moderating winds helped firefighters, enabling them to use helicopters and air tankers in efforts to control devastating brush fires that have scorched 70,000 acres in southern California and destroyed or damaged more than 400 homes. [New York Times]
- L. Patrick Gray may not be tried on a charge of authorizing F.B.I. agents to break into homes without search warrants in 1972 and 1973 when he was Acting Director of the bureau. Deputy Attorney General Charles Renfrew said that the government was likely to drop the criminal conspiracy charge. Two of Mr. Gray's top aides in the bureau have been convicted of violating citizens' constitutional rights. [New York Times]
- New negotiations for an arms treaty were urged by Senator Charles Percy in a long meeting in Moscow with the Soviet Defense Minister. Mr. Percy, who is expected to be the next chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that President-elect Ronald Reagan is "not eager for a new arms race." [New York Times]
- Soviet-bloc denunciations over Poland were issued by East Germany and Czechoslovakia as Warsaw and the independent union group in the capital set negotiations on union demands. The government's decision to discuss the demands, which concern law enforcement, eased the crisis, but the capital's biggest factory complex halted production and workers elsewhere remained on a "strike alert." [New York Times]
- A new Soviet spacecraft was launched with three astronauts aboard and Moscow said that all of the systems on the Soyuz ship were functioning normally. It also said that the completely redesigned vehicle would link up with an oribiting space laboratory. [New York Times]
- Italy's leaders faced rising criticism by those who say they have been slow and inefficient in aiding the victims of last Sunday's earthquake. The Interior Minister resigned after the President implicitly criticized him, but the government refused to accept the resignation. Meanwhile, a general predicted that the death toll was far higher than generally believed. [New York Times]
- A Chinese radical stood mute in court and refused to answer charges that he took part in persecuting several of Peking's leaders during the Cultural Revolution. The presiding judge warned the defendant, Zhang Chun-giao, that if he did not confess and the evidence against him was proved, he could be convicted. [New York Times]
- Volatile toxic wastes were found illegally stored in a rusting warehouse near Newark International Airport and fewer than 100 yards from the New Jersey Turnpike, according to officials in Newark. They reported the discovery of nearly 300 barrels of highly poisonous, carcinogenic and slightly radioactive chemicals. [New York Times]