News stories from Tuesday October 23, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A major Carter energy victory was achieved in Congress. The House voted final congressional approval of legislation giving the President authority to prepare a standby gasoline rationing plan and put it into effect in the event of a shortage. The bill cleared the House by a vote of 301 to 112. [New York Times]
- Higher sugar price supports lost in a 249 to 158 vote by the House. The chamber rejected an attempt to guarantee sugar growers a minimum price of 16.3 cents a pound. Domestic sugar is now supported by the government at about 15 cents a pound, 2.3 cents above the current world price base. [New York Times]
- A major bias suit was settled after seven years of litigation. Uniroyal Inc. agreed to pay $5.2 million plus pension benefits to hundreds of past and present female employees who had charged the international concern with sex discrimination. The settlement ended the recent prohibition against the company from doing business with the federal government. [New York Times]
- Doubts over tighter credit policies were expressed publicly for the first time by a member of the Carter administration. Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall, who is an economist, said that stricter monetary policies of the Federal Reserve Board could have an adverse impact on investment and employment without dealing with some basic causes of inflation. [New York Times]
- Edward Kennedy is feared by many Republicans as the prospective 1980 Democratic presidential nominee, chiefly because of his expected strength in the Northeast but also because no Republican is close to him in the national polls. [New York Times]
- Presidential TV debates are in peril next year, according to the League of Women Voters, which revived the debates in 1976 after a 16-year hiatus. The league told the Federal Elections Commission that it might be impossible for the league to stage debates in 1980 because the confused state of the government's attempts to regulate them were making prospective sponsors reluctant to pledge funds. [New York Times]
- The ailing Shah of Iran, who was flown secretly to New York from Mexico late Monday for medical tests, was under heavy guard by his security force at a Manhattan hospital. Reports circulated that the deposed monarch was seriously ill.
The illness of the Shah was said to be linked to a blocked bile duct, according to medical sources, who said that the hospital tests sought to determine the cause. Several causes are possible, among them gallstones, tumors and inflammation of the tissues surrounding the duct. The deposed monarch, the sources said, also has jaundice. A possibility, raised by unconfirmed reports circulating among doctors, is that a lymphoma, a form of cancer, was diagnosed in the Shah some years ago and that, despite chemotherapy treatment, the ailment is worsening.
[New York Times] - "Overreaction" to Soviet troops in Cuba was attributed to Washington by Venezuela at the ninth General Assembly of the Organization of American States. Foreign Minister Jose Zambrano said that American military exercises and increased surveillance of Cuba lessened credibility in the Carter administration's judgment. [New York Times]
- The arms treaty narrowly survived a so-called killer amendment that would have asserted the United States' right to match Soviet deployment of large intercontinental missiles. The proposal was defeated by 8 to 7 in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But the close vote and support for the amendment by three moderate Democrats were worrisome for proponents of the pact. [New York Times]
- Trade preferences for China were submitted to Congress for approval by President Carter to implement an accord signed in July. The State Department said it hoped to seek identical trade status "in due course" for the Soviet Union, but officials said that Moscow's refusal to give explicit assurances on emigration threatened to block congressional approval. [New York Times]
- Cuba's noted political prisoner, now freed and in Costa Rica, spent 20 years of isolation, punishment and endurance. The former official, Huberto Matos, told an interviewer, "I am certain they had a plan to annihilate me slowly, so that my death could be achieved without the necessity of giving me the death sentence." [New York Times]
- The conviction of six Czech dissidents was announced by officials in Prague. Vaclav Havel, the playwright, and five other human rights activists were found guilty of "subversion" and given prison sentences ranging up to five years. [New York Times]
- A major war crimes trial in Cologne began in tumult, with chants and screams in the court and clashes between the police and relatives of concentration camp victims trying to force their way into the West German courthouse. Three defendants are accused of having been key organizers of the deportation to Auschwitz of tens of thousands of Jews. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 806.83 (-2.30, -0.28%)
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* |
| October 22, 1979 | 809.13 | 100.71 | 45.24 |
| October 19, 1979 | 814.68 | 101.60 | 42.43 |
| October 18, 1979 | 830.12 | 103.61 | 29.59 |
| October 17, 1979 | 830.72 | 103.39 | 29.66 |
| October 16, 1979 | 829.52 | 103.19 | 33.76 |
| October 15, 1979 | 831.06 | 103.36 | 34.85 |
| October 12, 1979 | 838.99 | 104.49 | 36.39 |
| October 11, 1979 | 844.62 | 105.05 | 47.55 |
| October 10, 1979 | 849.32 | 105.30 | 81.62 |
| October 9, 1979 | 857.59 | 106.63 | 55.57 |