11 news for February, July 1985
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Annual figures: the pound fell to about 16 to the dollar in 1985 against 6.5 in 1984, with retail inflation of about 70 per cent (Hanf, citing Abou Rjaily and Labaki); de Clerck and Malsagne put the 1985 devaluation at 150 per cent. Hanf notes that rumours of large PLO deposits briefly strengthened the pound in early 1985.
\_this day in full the books also date it 9 January 1985 \_on this day
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Traboulsi dates Israel's exit from Sidon to 17 February 1985. Fisk describes Christians and Muslims briefly celebrating together when Lebanese troops arrived.
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Prime Minister Rashid Karami travelled with Gemayel. Hanf records kidnappings of Christians and counter-kidnappings after several thousand Islamists from Beirut rallied in Sidon next day for an Islamic republic while the army stood aside.
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A passenger died on the runway, flung there by the jets' blast, because the hijacker, Fisk writes, made the Larnaca plane take off with its doors open.
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Syria sent ceasefire 'observers' to West Beirut in 1985, its first presence there since 1982: June according to Picard, August according to Hanf.
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Hanf counts fifty tanks for Amal, thirty for the army's Sixth Brigade and none for the PSP; Picard mentions T-54 tanks.