News stories from Monday June 26, 1978

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

President Carter attacked tax bills before Congress, He denounced legislation that could cut capital gains taxes as offering "tax windfalls for millionaires and two bits for the average American." His statement, at a news conference, reflected administration concern over the outlook for his tax proposals. [New York Times] Limited liability in nuclear accidents was upheld by the Supreme Court. It said that Congress had not violated the constitutional rights of potential victims when it voted in 1957 to limit the damages that a private nuclear power company must pay in the event of a plant disaster. The ruling reversed a lower court decision that a law limiting liability for an accident to $560 million was unconstitutional. [New York Times] Reporters' access to prisons and other government facilities is no greater than that allowed to the general public, the Supreme Court decided. The Justices vacated an injunction that had ordered a California sheriff to allow reporters and film crews to enter a jail and interview inmates. But the narrow 4 to 3 ruling deterred lawyers from drawing broad conclusions. [New York Times] A decline in scientific knowledge and abilities of the nation's 17-year-olds was found in a federally sponsored study. The survey showed that the science scores of 17-year-olds had dropped by 4.7 percent since 1969, while the scores of 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds showed less decline and in some cases improvement. The steady drop among the oldest group was attributed by one scientist to decreasing study in physics and chemistry. [New York Times] President Carter's campaign committee was penalized by the Federal Election Commission, which announced it had assessed civil penalties of $6,200 against the committee and the National Bank of Georgia for illegal use of the bank's airplane in Mr. Carter's election campaign. The White House and the bank denied willful wrongdoing. [New York Times] Eight women became the first to receive diplomas from one of the nation's five service academies. They were among 245 graduating midshipmen at the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, Long Island. The women, along with their fellow midshipmen, received commissions in the Navy or Coast Guard Reserve. [New York Times] President Carter was optimistic on Soviet-American relations. Speaking at a news conference, he said the basic relationship was "stable," that Leonid Brezhnev shared his desire for "better friendship" and that current negotiations were proceeding "in good faith." Mr. Carter said he was very disappointed by Israel's position on occupied territories. [New York Times] The U.S. and Moscow released detainees. Two Russians being held in the United States on espionage charges were turned over to the Soviet Ambassador, and an American businessman being held on charges of currency violation in Moscow was turned over to the American Ambassador. But officials said that the two Soviet citizens, employees of the United Nations Secretariat, must stand trial and that the American, Jay Crawford, is still under investigation. [New York Times] The leader of Southern Yemen was overthrown and executed in a day of heavy fighting. The clashes in Aden, capital of a country that is allied with Moscow, erupted two days after the president of neighboring Yemen was assassinated. The state-run Aden radio said President Salem Robaye Ali had been ousted because he tried to seize complete power.Washington views the Southern Yemenis who killed the country's leader as more doctrinaire in their support of Soviet policies than he was. The United States had been seeking to lessen Southern Yemen's dependence on the Soviet bloc. [New York Times] A bombing at the Versailles Palace wrecked three rooms containing artworks celebrating the Napoleonic era. Three underground groups claimed responsibility for the blast, but the police said they had no firm clues. Most of the main attractions of the palace -- the Hall of Mirrors, the royal apartments, the opera house and the chapel -- were not touched. [New York Times] The chances for direct talks between Egypt and Israel have been considerably diminished by Israel's rejection of Egypt's latest proposals, according to Sayed Marei, the Speaker of Egypt's Parliament. He said in an interview that Egypt would rely instead on "American proposals and mediation" and might seek "other options" to bring pressure on Israel. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 812.28 (-10.74, -1.30%)
S&P Composite: 94.60 (-1.25, -1.30%)
Arms Index: 1.50

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	316	3.99
Declines	1,214	22.92
Unchanged	367	2.34
Total Volume		29.25

* in millions of shares

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*
June 23, 1978	823.02	95.85	28.53
June 22, 1978	827.70	96.24	27.17
June 21, 1978	824.93	96.01	29.11
June 20, 1978	830.04	96.51	27.92
June 19, 1978	838.62	97.49	25.50
June 16, 1978	836.97	97.42	27.70
June 15, 1978	844.25	98.34	29.28
June 14, 1978	854.56	99.48	37.29
June 13, 1978	856.98	99.57	30.76
June 12, 1978	856.72	99.55	29.34