back in the days - 08/05/1978

Four decades ago,

the original Star Wars movie was released in theaters, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States, the Trans-Alaska pipeline pumped its first barrels of oil, the cold war was was still going on and much more...

Take a brief look 40 years ago.

• The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, promises on the Constitution Day maximum political liberties modeled on Western democracies and free parliamentary elections for mid-1979.
  
  
• According to a report in the British daily The Times, since June 29 at least four, but probably eleven, Soviet merchant ships have landed in Norwegian territorial waters in violation of international law.
  
  
• Kenya and Venezuela demand the exclusion of Vietnam and Cuba from the Non-Aligned Union, as both countries are virtually allies of the Soviet Union.