News stories from Thursday July 24, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Peter Sellers died in a London hospital at the age of 54 one day after being stricken with a massive heart attack. The noted actor entertained audiences with a vast array of comicial characters, voices and accents and at times portrayed different persons in the same film. [New York Times]
- General Motors reported a record loss of $412 million for the second quarter of the year, compared with a record profit of $1.18 billion in the corresponding quarter of 1979. Not since the Depression has General Motors, the nation's largest auto maker, suffered a loss in a quarter in which there was no strike. The corporation's top officials said there were no "near term" prospects of significant profits. [New York Times]
- Rosalynn Carter initiated the plan for Billy Carter to use his ties with Libya to help try to free the American hostages in Iran, according to an individual familiar with the arrangements. The White House acknowledged that the President's wife had telephoned Billy Carter last November to ask him to arrange the meeting later held between White House officials and a Libyan representative, but was unsure whether she or another official had first spoken to her brother-in-law. [New York Times]
- The President pledged full cooperation by him and all members of the White House staff with a panel of five Democrats and four Republicans set up by the Senate to investigate Billy Carter's activities as a paid agent for Libya. The special panel, authorized earlier after hard bipartisan negotiations and approved by the Senate without dissent, will issue at least an interim report to the Senate by Oct. 4.
Strains in the Carter brothers' ties, as well as fierce competition, have often been evident since Jimmy Carter became President. Billy Carter has remained defiantly independent of his prominent brother, loudly and publicly refusing to heed his advice in sometimes outrageous behavior that has been described as typical of a younger, less accomplished sibling seeking to vent resentment.
[New York Times] - Bethlehem Steel admitted bribery, pleading guilty to federal charges that it had made illegal cash payments of more than $400,000 to obtain ship repair business. The charges said that a "secret Swiss fund" to transfer the cash had been used. [New York Times]
- Beatings by Border Patrol agents were charged by a federal grand jury. It issued an indictment accusing three agents of having beaten several illegal aliens and at least one American citizen at a highway checkpoint. [New York Times]
- Organized medicine is more liberal and pragmatic in its philosophy than it was previously, reflecting a slow process caused by social and legal changes and the way health care is now practiced in the United States. Congress approved Medicare in 1965 over strident objections by the American Medical Association, but since then, the new head of the organization said, the group has sought to adapt to both Medicare and Medicaid. [New York Times]
- Political unity in Zimbabwe is fragile because of differences between Prime Minister Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, who founded the black independence movement in Rhodesia and was its undisputed leader until a faction that included Mr. Mugabe broke away in 1963. There is a risk that unless Mr. Nkomo is granted greater power, he might end the partnership and lead an opposition group, which could threaten the country where politics are still heavily tribal. [New York Times]
- A diplomatic defeat for Arab countries in efforts to isolate Israel and the United States was in prospect at an emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly. Western Europe warned that it would not support any resolution dealing with Palestinian Arabs that failed to recognize Israel's right to exist. [New York Times]
- A second prisoner in Israel died after he was force-fed during a hunger strike. The Palestinian prisoner, an Israeli spokesman said, was serving a life sentence for a hand-grenade attack in Gaza in 1971 that killed one Arab and injured eight. [New York Times]
- Eleven priests have vanished in Bolivia since a junta seized power last week, according to a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church. He said that the new regime had failed to respond to an appeal from the Vatican for information about the priests. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 926.11 (-2.47, -0.27%)
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* |
| July 23, 1980 | 928.58 | 121.93 | 45.90 |
| July 22, 1980 | 927.30 | 122.19 | 52.23 |
| July 21, 1980 | 928.67 | 122.51 | 42.74 |
| July 18, 1980 | 923.98 | 122.04 | 58.04 |
| July 17, 1980 | 915.10 | 121.44 | 48.87 |
| July 16, 1980 | 904.44 | 119.63 | 49.13 |
| July 15, 1980 | 901.54 | 119.30 | 60.90 |
| July 14, 1980 | 905.55 | 120.01 | 45.48 |
| July 11, 1980 | 891.13 | 117.84 | 38.31 |
| July 10, 1980 | 885.92 | 116.95 | 43.73 |