A daily pick of news events that happened on this day in history from the pages of  Gulf News dated March 8, 1980.

Mosque rally in Cairo attacks ties with Israel

Egyptian Muslims publicly voiced their opposition to the normalisation of Egyptian-Israeli relations and described the Jews as "enemies of God and his Prophet Mohammed." Several hundred men attended a rally staged by Islamic groups at Cairo's grand mosque of Al Azhar after Friday noon prayers. They' shouted anti-Jewish slogans and urged Muslims throughout the world to liberate Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. They said the mosque, in Arab East Jerusalem, had been "captured by the enemies of Allah." 

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Vote damages US position in Mideast

The Carter administration has admitted publicly for the first time that the gaffe over its attitude to Israeli settlements had harmed the US position in the Middle East. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said the US switch from supporting to opposing a United Nations resolution criticising Jewish settlements in occupied territory had "not been helpful to our position in the Middle East." He said the sudden turnabout had provoked an unfavourable reaction from both Arabs and Israelis.

Indian widow commits sati

Following an outlawed Indian tradition, a 62-year-old widow burned herself alive in her husband's cremation fire. The hundreds of spectators from areas surrounding the town of Rajpur in the state of Rajasthan, where the custom known as sati' was most popular - gathered February 29 to watch Sona Kanwar burn herself on her husband s funeral pyre. Mrs Kanwar climbed atop the pile of wood heaped on her husband's shrouded body, took his head in her lap and struck the match as the crowd chanted, "glory to the faithful wife."

Syrian pull-out from Beirut begins

Syrian peacekeeping troops began handing over positions in parts of Beirut to Lebanese army regulars as part of a planned withdrawal from the Lebanese capital. Security sources said the Lebanese army was in contact with the all-Syrian Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) about security treasures in the capital. They said that Lebanese army soldiers had started manning about a dozen roadblocks in parts of northeast and south Beirut previously held by the Syrians. The move is controversial because Muslim and leftist political groupings had earlier rejected the use of the army to replace the estimated 8,000-strong Syrian force in Beirut.

Charlie Grant thrills big crowd

The two-day, 27-hole Sharjah Wanderers Club championship ended on a thrilling note on the 35-par club course at Sharjah, when 21-year-old Charlie Grant beat Hergenroder in a sudden death playoff. Playing in a twosome. Grant and Hergenroder aggregated gross 117 each for three nine-hole rounds. To break the deadlock, the fight was extended to "sudden death." Both played par golf on the first hole before the young Scot displayed the killing instinct to have the better of the middle-aged American. A sizeable holiday crowd travelled with the two competitors to both the holes and gave a big hand to the winners and the runner-up of the tournament.

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