News stories from Wednesday February 14, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The American Embassy was attacked in Teheran by armed urban guerrillas who trapped Ambassador William Sullivan and his staff inside for more than two hours. They were freed by forces of Ayatollah Khomeini led by a deputy prime minister of Iran's provisional revolutionary government. Two Iranians were reported killed and two United States Marines were wounded. The assault underscored the problems of Ayatollah Khomeini's forces in trying to restore order. Rival groups waged pitched battles elsewhere in the capital.
Reacting to the attack, officials in Washington said they planned to begin evacuating most of the remaining 7,000 Americans in Iran when the Teheran airport is reopened. That is expected to occur on Saturday.
[New York Times] - An American Ambassador was slain. Adolph Dubs, the envoy to Afghanistan, was fatally shot after being abducted by a group of Afghans described as right-wing Moslem terrorists. It was not certain whether he was killed by his abductors, as they had threatened, or was shot by government security personnel who stormed the hotel in Kabul where he was being held.
A night of crisis for the Carter administration was created by the kidnapping and killing of the American Ambassador in Afghanistan and the assault on the Embassy in Iran. The events came close to postponing President Carter's trip to Mexico. Top leaders worked for many hours in crisis centers around Washington.
[New York Times] - Four of Nelson Rockefeller's children said they believed that on the night their father died of a heart attack "all the people who tried to help acted responsibly." But, in what they termed a final comment on the matter, they did not respond to questions raised by conflicting accounts of the circumstances of his death. [New York Times]
- Clear-channel radio station owners are seeking to defeat threatened government curtailment of their powerful, far-reaching AM broadcast signals. WSM, the long established Nashville station that broadcasts Grand Ole Opry, has taken the lead among the stations in the battle to keep their large night audiences. [New York Times]
- A promising archeological discovery was made in southwest Florida. A deep lake that formed a natural time capsule thousands of years ago has yielded evidence that gives scientists hope they have found one of the most important sites for studies of ancient man, animals and climate in North America. At the site are bones of animals 12,000 years old, many plants, artifacts and a 5,000-year-old burial site. [New York Times]
- The need for prison reform in Tennessee and across the South is increasingly drawing attention amid rising criticism of antiquated penal systems. In one case, a man who was jailed 30 years ago for murder has charged that he was forced to work 10 extra years in a work-release program. In a $600,000 lawsuit, the prisoner has accused his late employer, a noted breeder of walking horses, of not telling him the state had freed him in 1968. [New York Times]
- The need for irrigation water to help feed the world's burgeoning population in the next century will probably result in halting the discharge of major rivers into the seas, according to projections made at the World Climate Conference in Geneva. It was suggested that all runoff from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea might be ended to produce more food. [New York Times]
- President Jose Lopez Portillo warned President Carter bluntly that Mexico demanded to be treated with dignity and respect. He told his American guest that "our peoples want definitive agreements, not circumstantial concessions." [New York Times]
- Two Cuban exiles were convicted of murder in the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean official in the leftist government of Salvador Allende. A third Cuban exile was found guilty of having lied about the 1976 slaying in Washington and having failed to inform the authorities. [New York Times]
- A British labor accord between the government and unions was announced by Prime Minister James Callaghan. He said that the sweeping agreement called for working toward an annual inflation rate of no more than 5 percent within three years, for new negotiating procedures for public service employees and for the maintenance of essential services. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 829.78 (-0.43, -0.05%)
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* |
| February 13, 1979 | 830.21 | 98.93 | 28.47 |
| February 12, 1979 | 824.84 | 98.20 | 20.61 |
| February 9, 1979 | 822.23 | 97.87 | 24.32 |
| February 8, 1979 | 818.87 | 97.65 | 23.36 |
| February 7, 1979 | 816.01 | 97.16 | 28.45 |
| February 6, 1979 | 822.85 | 98.05 | 23.57 |
| February 5, 1979 | 823.98 | 98.09 | 26.49 |
| February 2, 1979 | 834.63 | 99.50 | 25.35 |
| February 1, 1979 | 840.87 | 99.96 | 27.92 |
| January 31, 1979 | 839.22 | 99.93 | 30.33 |