News on this January 12th in 1980 was just as skewed and drama-plagued as any other January day in 1980.
Starting off with word that UN voting on sanctions against Iran had been postponed from the previous night because of hints from Tehran there might be softening on demands for release of the American hostages.
The Hostage drama entered week #11.
In Iran, word of crackdowns on opposition came from Tabriz, where supporters of opposition leader Ayatollah Shariatmadari were rounded up and summarily executed by militia loyal to Ayatollah Khomeni. The end result were riots throughout Tabriz with businesses and banks looted and torched in protest.
Meanwhile, the Soviet excursion into Afghanistan was weighing on people's minds, with the US grain embargo being given support by everyone except Argentina.
Further fallout from Afghanistan came in guise of Canada, who offered the facilities of the former Montreal Olympics site as alternative to Moscow - although the offer wasn't exactly squared with the Montreal Expos who were using the stadium for baseball during the Summer.
In Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was readying for it's first legitimate Majority Rule general elections and relations between Salisbury and Mozambique took a rosy turn as the border re-opened and trade resumed between the two countries, who were only weeks before exchanging raids and artillery fire.
On the Domestic front - The Illinois State Legislature approved financial bailout for the bankrupt Chicago School System, the 3rd largest in the U.S.
And election season was heating up with the Iowa Caucuses poised to go on January 20th and word that Ted Kennedy was behind Jimmy Carter a whopping 25 points - but there was still 8 days to go.
And anything could (and would) happen by then.
And that's what that January 12th looked like in 1980, via Neil Strawser and The CBS World News Roundup.
