Christmas Tidings

Messages of Hope for Hostages: Newspapers, radio and television stations on Christmas released morale-boosting messages to eight Americans held hostage in Lebanon, including two marking a fifth Christmas in captivity. But there was no way to be sure whether Terry Anderson and Thomas Sutherland, kidnaped in 1985, or any of the other American captives who are believed held by Shiite Moslem extremists were allowed to hear or read the messages. “Despite having no valid reason for believing that you might celebrate this season as a free man, my faith prompts me to pray very hard for a Christmas miracle,” Anderson’s sister, Peggy Say, wrote. The English text of her letter was published by the newspaper An-Nahar along with an Arabic translation. The conservative Al-Anwar, the pro-Syrian Ash-Sharq and the Moslem Al-Liwa published the Arabic translation of the letter, and radio and television stations broadcast the message in English.