News stories from Wednesday December 2, 1970
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- An Army survey shows that over half of all soldiers in Vietnam have used marijuana. The survey reported that 53.2% have smoked it one or more times, and 17% claim to smoke marijuana over 200 times a year; 26 soldiers have died from heroin use this year. The Pentagon is trying to motivate the men to not need drugs, and the V.A. has a program to treat users without punishment. [CBS]
- Viet Cong rockets attacked 20 South Vietnamese towns and bases. South Vietnam launched an offensive against a Communist stronghold in the southern part of the country. [CBS]
- Hong Kong attorney Paul Narkin is suing Lt. William Calley and the United States government for $400 million in damages on behalf of 59 My Lai survivors. Testimony continued today in Calley's trial at Fort Benning. One witness pleaded the fifth amendment on all questions. [CBS]
- A presidential report blamed the Coast Guard for not harboring the Soviet sailor who wanted to defect to the West. The report also questioned the judgment of the State Department. [CBS]
- Warsaw Pact nations discussed strengthening security and developing peaceful cooperation in Europe. [CBS]
- The United Arab Republic said that Israel's sinking of one of its boats violated the cease-fire. [CBS]
- Spanish Basque separatists kidnapped West German consul Eugen Beihl. The kidnappers want 15 political prisoners to be freed. [CBS]
- Greece is establishing heavy penalties for foreign reporters who start false rumors about the government. [CBS]
- The House Rules Committee blocked a vote to create a consumer protection agency. [CBS]
- The Senate Public Works Committee approved William Ruckelshaus to head the Environmental Protection Agency. [CBS]
- The Senate passed a bill requiring supersonic transport flights to take place only over water; the Concorde SST made test flights in Europe. In Wales, farmers were the first to hear a series of sonic booms. Residents say that a sonic boom feels like getting hit in the chest and sounds like a bomb. Transportation Secretary John Volpe insisted that there will be no supersonic flights over land in the U.S. until the sonic boom problems are solved. Britain has received 400 claims of damage due to the SST. The government is concerned about the effects on old buildings. [CBS]
- The Federal Air Pollution Control Board asked that airlines not dump residual fuel into the air. The airlines say they will comply after an economical system is worked out, likely not until 1972 at the earliest. [CBS]
- Humble, Continental and Union oil companies pleaded no contest to failing to install safety valves on their offshore oil rigs; the companies were fined a total of over a half million dollars. Shell Oil Company pleaded innocent and will stand trial. [CBS]
- A spokesman for Shell Oil said that it may take three weeks to snuff the oil fire off the coast of Louisiana. [CBS]
- Wind and tides broke up an oil slick that threatened the Florida Keys, but a new slick is nearing northern Florida in the Atlantic. The U.S. Navy admitted that two of their barges caused the slick. [CBS]
- Pope Paul held a mass in Sydney, Australia, as police dispersed an anti-Catholic demonstration. [CBS]
- Leslie Van Houten's defense attorney Ronald Hughes is missing and may have been stranded by California floods. Charles Manson's murder trial has been delayed as a result. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 802.64 (+8.35, +1.05%)
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* |
| December 1, 1970 | 794.29 | 87.47 | 20.17 |
| November 30, 1970 | 794.09 | 87.20 | 17.70 |
| November 27, 1970 | 781.35 | 85.93 | 10.13 |
| November 25, 1970 | 774.71 | 85.09 | 13.49 |
| November 24, 1970 | 772.73 | 84.78 | 12.56 |
| November 23, 1970 | 767.52 | 84.24 | 12.72 |
| November 20, 1970 | 761.57 | 83.72 | 10.92 |
| November 19, 1970 | 755.82 | 82.91 | 9.28 |
| November 18, 1970 | 754.24 | 82.79 | 9.85 |
| November 17, 1970 | 760.47 | 83.34 | 9.45 |