Gulf News Report Published: December 09, 2007, 23:20
A daily pick of news events that happened in history from the page of Gulf News dated December 10, 1978.
Sigh of relief as Asian games open
Reluctant hosts Thailand launched the Asian Games with all the pomp and pageantry befitting the continent's greatest sporting extravaganza - guns boomed, fireworks popped and paratroopers floated into the stadium.
More than 3,000 athletes from 26 countries breathed a sigh of relief at the games starting at all-the run-up to the eighth Asiad had been plagued by a political row over Israel's participation and a desperate lack of funds.
UN tells Israel to stop interfering
The UN Security Council has called on Israel to stop interfering with the operations of the UN interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
In a statement also directed at the Lebanese Christian militia units in southern Lebanon, the council demanded the removal of obstacles to the full deployment of the 6,000 UN force. UNIFIL was set up last March to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops which attacked Palestinian bases in southern Lebanon.
Hoss condemns private militia
Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Al-Hoss condemned the country's private militias following a clash in which two soldiers died and the Saudi Ambassador was wounded.
Ambassador Ali Al-Shaer was slightly wounded by shrapnel in his right leg when his helicopter was machine-gunned by right-wing militiamen near Jounieh, 16 kms (10 miles) north of Beirut. The pilot made a forced landing, but the helicopter was later destroyed by the militiamen.
US evacuates families from Teheran
The United States, in a surprise move, flew military aircraft to Iran to evacuate most of the families of its military and civilian workers still there.
A Pentagon official said five C-141 transport jets were being used to fly 662 military dependents out of Teheran because of the difficulty bringing them out by commercial airliners.
