Good evening. US President Ronald Reagan has stopped criticizing Syria in an effort to
persuade President Hafez al-Assad to meet with him to discuss peace in the Middle East.
In the past, the Reagan administration has frequently accused Syria of supporting terrorism
in Lebanon. But despite the release by President Assad of US Airmen Robert Goodman,
White House officials say there are no current moves to bring about a meeting between the two
leaders. The young Navy flier who says he's not a hero arrived home to a hero's welcome.
I would just like to say that I appreciate all the support I received from what I've told in
excess of 60,000 pieces of mail and to me that's awesome and that shows what kind of country this
is. It was a day of portraits for Robert Goodman and his family. At Bethesda Naval Hospital,
doctors found his condition excellent. Then Goodman was off to the White House. Reagan had
tried hard to distance himself from Jackson's mission. Today, congratulations in the White
House Rose Garden for making it work. Reverend Jackson's mission was a personal mission of mercy
and he has earned our gratitude and our admiration. Welcome home. Thank you sir. To an extent,
Jackson's stage managed this ceremony as well, taking over the microphone with a less than subtle
side step. We want to thank Almighty God who heard our sincere and earnest prayers during this hour
of crisis and this hour of opportunity. I would hope that the cycle of pain is now broken and that
this mission of peace will take us to an everlasting peace. He called his mission a breakthrough for
peace in the Middle East, but there's no question it was a breakthrough for the Reverend Jesse Jackson
as well. Howard Saker, Eyewitness News, Washington. Well there's little doubt that Robert Goodman can
count himself lucky on two counts. First, the length of his captivity, one month, and secondly,
his captivity didn't leave deep scars like those being experienced by American Vietnam veterans.
In Massachusetts, three veterans on a weekend pass from the veterans hospital burnt down a
Buddhist shrine because it reminded them of Vietnam. It had been a Buddhist shrine until New Year's
Eve when it was burned down. A man calling himself a Vietnam veteran claimed responsibility and calls
to local newspapers. He said a shrine reminded him of Vietnam. The shrine is called the Mahasiddha
and Nying Mapa Center. It's owned by 20 Buddhists living in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. There is
not one Vietnamese member among them. Today, three veterans were arrested for the burning, Richard
Papano, Donald Taylor, and Roland Voodran, all Vietnam veterans who had been on a weekend pass
from a veterans administration hospital. We're asking that the condition of their relief suit
if they go back to the veterans hospital. This hospital, they are being held on bail, but the
prosecution felt it wise to hold them where they were being treated. They got together and decided
to do something and this just happened to be the focus that was reasonably convenient to them.
Robert Carlson, lawyer for the three accused men, heads a local veterans group. What we're dealing
here with is something that used to be called shell shocked or battle fatigue. We're only now
beginning to be able to get to treat these individuals. Today, two Tibetan Buddhist monks
inspected the damage and members of the sect, all Americans, wondered why their shrine was a target.
I got the idea that it was the architecture first. We had Chinese architecture and it might have
reminded a Vietnam veteran. There have been calls from other Vietnam veterans volunteering to rebuild
the shrine. The government of Tunisia has moved to quell rioting in the country's major cities.
The rioting began on December the 29th after the government withdrew its subsidies on cereal
production. The result, a hefty price rise of bread and other staples. The trouble in Tunis
followed widespread rioting in other parts of the country. During the height of the violence,
a pool of black smoke hung over much of the city from fires started by demonstrators. Some
reports say that at least 25 people died, but there's been no official confirmation on the
number of dead and injured. Scores of cars and buses were overturned and set on fire.
A number of buildings, especially supermarkets, were also badly damaged as the protesters rampaged
through the streets chanting anti-government slogans. Riot police used batons and tear gas
to disperse the crowds. Under the state of emergency, a dust to dawn curfew was imposed
and security forces were told they could shoot anyone who disobeyed orders. Some of the injured
have said to have been taken to hospital with bullet wounds. The disturbances were triggered
by a doubling of bread prices after the ending of government subsidies on cereal. An official
statement blamed the disturbances on what it called irresponsible elements and it appealed
to parents to keep their children off the streets. The following day an uneasy calm
settled over the city and troops and jeeps and armored cars patrolled the streets. The
Prime Minister, Mr. Mohammed Mzali, said the emergency measures would stay in force until
those responsible for the violence had been found. 30 people were injured when about 1500
striking car workers prevented production at a Peugeot plant just outside Paris. The
violence occurred on day two of a stoppage over proposed job cuts. The company, with government
backing, plans to trim about 2000 employees from a workforce of 17,000. It was to be the
second day of violence at the plant where more than 1500 workers are on strike in protest
of the proposed job cuts. They hurled bolts and car parts as workers tried to restart
the assembly line. The strikers claimed shop foremen in the paintworks threw tear gas bombs
and used fire extinguishers to keep them out. Production at the works has been halted for
nearly a month. The government backed plan to make nearly 2000 workers redundant has
split the two main unions. The communist led CGT has accepted a return to work but wants
negotiations with management over the job losses. But the socialist leaning CFDT has
vowed to continue the strike until the lost jobs are reinstated. The action at Pussy is
seen as a test of the government's plan to modernize production at state owned works.
Warfare on the island of Sicily has reached such intensity Italian police are almost powerless
to do anything about it. At the heart of the problem is the flow of money onto the island
from hard drugs. Rival mafia families battling to control the illicit trade have left dozens
of shattered bodies in the capital of Palermo. Police swooped on the suspected mafiosi in
their latest crackdown in Palermo. The eight men arrested are suspected of being involved
in 17 murders and 15 bombings in the area. Among those arrested was Salvatore Ciarracarani,
a Palermo lawyer who's defended several mafia suspects in the past. The gang warfare on
the island has escalated as cash from the illicit drug trade has poured into the country.
The ensuing war over profits has left dozens of people dead and there are signs that the
vendetta is getting more vicious. Most of the money has gone into the building sector
but Italian police have discovered a fantastic sub-economy that employs bank workers, accountants,
builders and even marketing men. Banking sources say there's so much cash around that the banks
have opened dozens of new branches and credit has virtually disappeared. The government
has attempted to crack down on the families but so far results have been disappointing.
Magistrates have been imposing heavy sentences on those found guilty but the anti-mafia laws
passed on the mainland have been fairly ineffective. Nowadays the number of people who are calorie
conscious poses a problem for the fast food chains. An average fast food meal has a calorie
content of one thousand so in the United States the major fast food restaurants are experimenting
with low calorie offerings such as low fat burgers, high fiber buns, fruit juice and
salads. There are 424 calories in the average quarter pound burger. Add fries and a cola
and you've got a thousand calories. Fast food calories didn't bother the big spenders in
the population, the baby boom generation when they were in their teens or twenties. But
now there's 30 plus drinking Perrier, cooking with Cuisinart and jogging before breakfast.
Millions of people with new tastes for new foods. Doug Shealy used to own a chain of
health clubs and a chain of Wendy's hamburger franchises in Tennessee. Every time I'd walk
in to a health club that I was affiliated with one of the members or the guests would
grab me and say Doug how many calories are in your hamburgers? Shealy's answer, Delikes,
the first low calorie fast food chain. Low fat burgers, lower calorie, higher fiber buns,
like cheese and sauces and a salad bar all served in a restaurant that looks more like
a Fern Bar than a french fry palace. This is as good as pure calories, don't want to
go there when you cannot get as big. Here. I like the fish and the chicken that's on
my diet. We're definitely not a weight watchers concept and we're definitely not a health
food concept. We want to be, to the fast food industry, what the light beers were to their
industry. There'll be 50 new Delikes next year but they're not alone. I need a fry
please. Frozen fast food is making a comeback too. Last year Lean Cuisine started a cold
war in the frozen food cases of America and doubled Stouffer's share of the business.
This year Americans will spend $500 million on frozen dinners. Sales are up 24%. Swanson's
La Menu is just the latest in a long list of upscale dinners designed to make frozen
food okay again for the kind of young, affluent, urban worker who might otherwise eat out.
Meanwhile the fast food giants aren't ignoring all of this. Burger King now has salad bars
and pita sandwiches across the country. McDonald's is testing salads and fruit in 14 states and
in a Minnesota shopping mall testing a store called McSnack that doesn't even sell hamburgers.
But while the adults are crowding around the salad bar it's still too soon to announce
the death of the hamburger. There's a whole new generation coming along that wants fast
food just the way it was. The harsh winter in the United States is taking its toll of
wildlife particularly deer and elk in Utah and three other states. Wildlife officials
estimate more than 100,000 animals are in extreme stress and using body fat to survive.
Utah has declared a wildlife emergency and is appealing to the public for money to fund
emergency feeding. Starving deer in Utah are feeding on discarded Christmas trees in a
desperate search for food. Deer and elk herds in four western states have been driven out
of the high country by record snows. Utah wildlife officials say more than 100,000 animals
are in distress, weakened, using up body fat just to survive. This animal got stuck in
a fence and had to be helped out. Others were not so lucky. The state declared a wildlife
emergency today and appealed for donations of food and money. The response was quick.
It's not a solution to the problem at all. It's just helping the crisis right now and
if we don't help then the deer are going to die. These are wild animals but they are
so hungry some will eat out of a person's hand. Others showed up at the back door of
a cafe in Echo, Utah this morning looking for a handout. Even plastic flowers in a cemetery
look tempting. Ranchers have been putting out hay and high protein feed for the animals.
The deer and elk will make midnight raids on stored feed if they don't. They eat just
about everything. The only thing they won't eat is those raw potatoes. I've been here
for 20 years and they've never been down like this in the past. Wildlife groups are leading
the emergency food drive but companies are helping too. A rifle manufacturing plant is
building feeders. A brewing company in Colorado has donated $10,000 worth of high protein
barley. It's the second shipment this year. Wildlife officials fear the deer and elk could
become dependent on the free handouts but the prospect of a big game kill in the immediate
future has convinced officials the wildlife need a helping hand now. Finally let's take
a look at today's trading on Australian stock exchanges and share prices overcame news of
a rise in American interest rates to resume their upswing. In moderate trading the rise
is outstripped falls by four to three. Interest returned to the mining sector but another
fall in world bullion prices caused small losses among gold stocks. The all-ordinaries
index rose 3.2 to close at 783.5. The metals and minerals index rose 5.1 to close at 565.
Top five stocks were CRA up 12 cents to $6.12. Renison Gold up 10 cents to $4.10. CSR up
10 cents to $4.32. Peter Kurtz up 10 cents to $2.10 and New Zealand Forest up 10 cents
to $4.70. This information was supplied by the Brisbane Stock Exchange and that ends
tonight's bulletin of world news. I'll check the weather outlook for Friday after this
break. The weather forecast for some overseas capitals but first Brisbane the overnight
lows should be 20 degrees with an expected high tomorrow of 28. The city can expect showers
with moderate southeasterly winds. Overseas London will be clear in 6, Dublin clear in
5, Jakarta rain in 31, Manila clear in 28 and Wellington cloudy in 19. That's eyewitness
world news this Thursday the 5th of January. There'll be more eyewitness reports from
seven o'clock in the morning in Good Morning Australia. I'm Dennis McWilliam. Good night.