News stories from Tuesday March 31, 1970
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- In the first-ever hijacking of a Japanese plane, 15 students commandeered a plane to North Korea. The hijackers are Red Army members who used bombs, swords and guns. Twenty-three passengers were released during a fuel stop but others are still aboard. Communist MiG fighters drove the hijacked plane away from North Korea, which then landed at Seoul, South Korea. [CBS]
- President Nixon will reportedly announce a schedule for American troop withdrawals from Vietnam in two weeks. Elsewhere in Indochina, Laotian forces recaptured the Sam Thong supply base from the Communists. [CBS]
- West Germany's ambassador to Guatemala was kidnapped. [CBS]
- The Supreme Court upheld banning defendants from courtrooms and binding and gagging unruly defendants. [CBS]
- The debate concerning Supreme Court nominee G. Harrold Carswell resumed in the Senate. Carswell gained three votes, but lost one. A CBS poll of Senators shows 38 for and 38 against recommittal of the nomination to the Judiciary Committee; seven are leaning for, four against. If recommittal fails, 42 Senators are for Carswell and 37 are against his confirmation; 12 Senators remain uncommitted. [CBS]
- A federal grand jury indicted Rep. John Dowdy for conspiracy, perjury and bribery for plotting to block the Justice Department's investigation of the Monarch Construction Company. Dowdy denies the charges. [CBS]
- The government made postal workers an offer, but New York City mailmen may strike again. The Teamster contract expires tonight but there is no immediate threat of a strike. [CBS]
- The Maryland legislature passed the nation's most liberal abortion bill, making abortion solely a doctor-patient issue. [CBS]
- Chevron Oil's Gulf of Mexico oil well leak has been plugged, but a grand jury is investigating Interior Secretary Walter Hickel's charges of widespread law violations by Chevron. [CBS]
- Earthquakes in Turkey killed 1,000 and have left 90,000 homeless; fire, not the quake itself, was responsible for many of the casualties. The city of Gediz is in ruins. [CBS]
- The State Department released a report on Americans who have been arrested in foreign countries for drug-related offenses. 142 Americans were in foreign jails on drug charges in 1969; there are 404 in 1970. Most are 16-30 years old. The report warns of severe penalties and the lack of U.S. influence in drug cases. [CBS]
- Army Lt. James Duffy's conviction was reduced from murder to involuntary manslaughter of a Vietnamese prisoner. Duffy was given 6 months in prison and a $1,500 fine. [CBS]
- The first American satellite, "Explorer 1", which was the oldest man-made object in space, has died after making 58,000 orbits. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 785.57 (+0.92, +0.12%)
Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish. | |||||||||||||||
| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| March 30, 1970 | 784.65 | 89.63 | 9.60 |
| March 26, 1970 | 791.05 | 89.92 | 11.35 |
| March 25, 1970 | 790.13 | 89.77 | 17.50 |
| March 24, 1970 | 773.76 | 87.98 | 8.84 |
| March 23, 1970 | 763.60 | 86.99 | 7.33 |
| March 20, 1970 | 763.66 | 87.06 | 7.91 |
| March 19, 1970 | 764.98 | 87.42 | 8.93 |
| March 18, 1970 | 767.95 | 87.54 | 9.79 |
| March 17, 1970 | 767.42 | 87.29 | 9.09 |
| March 16, 1970 | 765.05 | 86.91 | 8.91 |