News stories from Saturday August 16, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Senator Kennedy will campaign for President Carter, but how vigorously, he indicated in an interview, will apparently depend on how enthusiastically Mr. Carter embraces some of Mr. Kennedy's social and economic causes. He expressed no enthusiasm for Mr. Carter, but he said, "The best opportunity to defeat Reagan is with Carter." Mr. Kennedy's lack of enthusiasm for the Carter-Mondale ticket was particularly evident when he said that although he intended to be "active" in the campaign, working not only for the President but also for his colleagues in Congress, he also had "a lot of work to to do" in Congress. [New York Times]
- Ronald Reagan responded to his critics at the Democratic convention, saying that he would not be forced into a detailed debate on the criticism of him by President Carter and other speakers. He said at a news conference in Los Angeles that the Democrats would be unsuccessful in "an effort to portray me as a combination of Ebenezer Scrooge and the mad bomber." Mr. Reagan's running mate, George Bush, was also present at the conference, where Mr. Reagan expressed optimism about Mr. Bush's nine-day trip to Japan and China. [New York Times]
- Ultraconservative evangelical Christians are forming a growing new political force that is affecting elections and government at federal, state and local levels. Forgoing a long-held belief that political activism is incompatible with their faith, hundreds of thousands of evangelicals have registered to vote in a drive to support conservative candidates, most of them Republicans. The evangelical faction aided in the nomination of Ronald Reagan and the shaping of a Republican platform to their liking. In several states, most notably Alaska, the faction has taken over state and local party offices and have nominated their own people. [New York Times]
- Two planes were hijacked to Cuba within 30 minutes of each other, the third hijackings of the day and the fifth and sixth of the week. The Federal Aviation Administration said a Republic Airlines DC-9 was seized on its way from Miami to Orlando, Fla., and less than a half hour later a Delta Air Lines jet flying from Puerto Rico to Miami was also taken over. Earlier in the day, an Eastern Airlines jet was hijacked to Havana. It returned to Miami. [New York Times]
- An ABC division is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which wants to determine whether its business practices involving television entertainment violated a 1977 federal law that placed strict record-keeping standards on corporations. Subpoenaed network documents show that that tens of millions of dollars have been paid by ABC to two prominent Hollywood producers, Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, without requiring them to account in detail for the money. [New York Times]
- A major shipyard strike in Poland has been settled, but the strikers, whose walkout paralyzed the port of Gdansk, said they would occupy the Lenin shipyard there until Monday to support tens of thousands of other workers still on strike. The shipyard workers received a settlement that included a $50-a-month wage increase, a promise that they would receive normal pay for the three days they had been off the job and a written pledge that there would be no reprisals. [New York Times]
- The worst violence in India in 11 years has spread from the northern city of Moradabad, where 130 people have died in conflicts between Moslems and Hindus, to other cities. New arson attacks, sniper fire and stabbings were reported in Moradabad, where rioting broke out Wednesday after a rumor spread through a congregation of Moslems that the police had permitted pigs to roam near their mosque. [New York Times]