The World - News from Nov. 29, 1988

Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu reaffirmed his plan to destroy thousands of villages and resettle inhabitants in new towns, adding that some villages have already been transformed, the state news agency Agerpres reported. Speaking at the start of a three-day Communist Party Central Committee meeting in Bucharest, Ceausescu also ruled out the possibility of political pluralism. Ceausescu’s agricultural project has come under international criticism, particularly from its Warsaw Pact ally and neighbor Hungary, which believes it is aimed at eradicating the culture of the Hungarian minority in Romania.