News stories from Friday September 29, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Pope John Paul I died of a heart attack in his sleep during the night, the Vatican announced. He was 65 and had been elected head of the Roman Catholic Church just last month. The Vatican said the pontiff died of an apparent heart attack about 11 p.m. Thursday and his death was discovered when his household staff came to wake him about 5:30 a.m. Friday. [Chicago Tribune]
- As cardinals from all over the world started returning to Rome -- their second such somber trip to the Eternal City in less than two months -- a meeting of the College of Cardinals was set for tomorrow to begin discussions of funeral arrangements and preparations for election of a successor. [Washington Post]
- Thousands of the faithful began filing past the body of John Paul, which lay in state in the Apostle Palace of the Vatican, just hours after he was found dead in bed in his chambers earlier today. Doctors attributed his death, at age 65, to a heart attack, although there was no autopsy and he was not know to have previous health problems.
John Paul's 34-day reign was the shortest since Pope Leo XI ruled for 18 days in 1605. At least 5 other popes are know to have had shorter reigns than Pope John Paul.
[Washington Post] - Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton was acquitted of a felony assault charge, but was convicted on two counts of being an ex-felon in possession of a pistol. He had been accused of pistol-whipping his tailor. An Alameda County (Calif.) Superior Court jury had deliberated for 4½ days before returning its verdicts. [Washington Post]
- The Senate Energy Committee reached tentative agreement on legislation setting aside about 1 million acres of federal land in Alaska for national parks and other land conservation areas. The committee's chairman, Sen. Henry Jackson (D-Wash.), said a final vote on the bill will be Wednesday.
Conservationists and their allies are opposed to the bill and have vowed to work on the Senate floor to bring it in line with the House version. Jackson defends the bill as a balance between conservation and development. House managers of the legislation say the bill lacks necessary environmental safeguards.
[Washington Post] - President Carter and members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a political makeup session at the White House. Caucus members, at least, appeared satisfied with the outcome. They went to the White House to get a "top priority" commitment from Carter to push for Senate approval of the Humphrey-Hawkins full-employment bill before the Senate adjourns next month. [Washington Post]
- Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, spearheading a growing U.S. effort to advance the Camp David accords, appealed to the Palestinian people to "seize this historic opportunity" to win a place in a peaceful Middle East. Vance sought to counter objections from the Palestinians and many Arab governments, and to head off a political drive by an anti-Israeli majority in the U.N. to oppose the Camp David agreements. [Washington Post]
- Prime Minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia, speaking in what he described as his country's gravest hour, delivered a slashing indictment of Anglo-America policy for lack of courage. Speaking to delegates of his Rhodesian Front Party, Smith said that if the Western powers had the "guts and courage" to help the biracial transitional government, "this whole thing would have been over now and the fighting would have dies down." [Washington Post]
- In Milan, Italy, Red Brigades terrorists shot six bullets into the legs of an Alfa Romeo executive, then hung a poster with their red star symbol around his neck. Police said the victim is expected to recover in a couple of months. His shooting was the second Red Brigades strike in two days. [Washington Post]
- The striking railway clerks union bowed to a federal court order enforcing President Carter's back-to-work directive and agreed to end its crippling four-day strike against most of the nation's railroads. Industry officials said the trains would begin to roll as soon as the pickets were withdrawn but cautioned that full service would not be restored for several days. One official said it would take four days. [Washington Post]
- Twelve General Services Administration office supply store managers were indicted on charges of accepting cash, clothing, color television sets, stereos, home appliances, auto equipment, liquor, guns and airline tickets, among other items, from companies that sell office supplies to the G.S.A. The store managers falsely certified documents so that the firms were paid by G.S.A. for supplies that were never delivered, according to the indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Baltimore. [Washington Post]
- Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who has a history of heart trouble, entered a hospital after complaining of fatigue, but he was reported in "satisfactory" condition. [Washington Post]
- Howard Jarvis, co-author of California's property tax relief measure, was struck in the face by a banana cream pie while talking to an editors' meeting in Portland, Ore., about Proposition 13. The young man who threw the pie during the Associated Press managing editors meeting escaped out a fire escape door to one side of the speakers' table.
"Don't worry, folks, it doesn't bother me a damn bit," said Jarvis, 75, to a round of applause after wiping his face and taking off his glasses to resume his talk.
[Washington Post] - The Nicaraguan opposition leaders who traveled to Washington to talk with President Carter have been told that he is too busy to see them, but that the United States will carefully consider a communique they delivered from the Sandinista Liberation Front guerrillas. The communique says that the leftist guerrillas give their "total backing and approval" to a provisional government and eventual democratic elections proposed by the opposition to President Anastasio Somoza. [Washington Post]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 865.82 (+4.51, +0.52%)
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* |
| September 28, 1978 | 861.31 | 101.96 | 24.33 |
| September 27, 1978 | 860.19 | 101.66 | 28.37 |
| September 26, 1978 | 868.16 | 102.62 | 26.33 |
| September 25, 1978 | 862.35 | 101.86 | 20.97 |
| September 22, 1978 | 862.44 | 101.84 | 27.96 |
| September 21, 1978 | 861.14 | 101.90 | 33.65 |
| September 20, 1978 | 857.16 | 101.73 | 35.08 |
| September 19, 1978 | 861.57 | 102.53 | 31.66 |
| September 18, 1978 | 870.15 | 103.21 | 35.83 |
| September 15, 1978 | 878.55 | 104.12 | 37.29 |