News stories from Thursday May 14, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Pope's condition remained critical on the day after he was gravely wounded by an assassin's bullets and underwent five hours of abdominal surgery. The director of surgery at Gemelli Hospital in Rome said that the vital signs of Pope John Paul II were "satisfactory, but the prognosis remains guarded." His doctors said he was expected to be hospitalized for at least a month. [New York Times]
- The accused assailant of the Pope underwent more than 12 hours of questioning by the police in Rome. The chief of the antiterrorist squad described the prisoner, Mehmet Ali Agca, as "cold, lucid and well trained to shoot." Officials in Ankara said they had uncovered links between the 23-year-old Turk and extreme right-wingers. But the Italian authorities were uncertain who had trained him, who had helped him to escape from prison in Turkey and who had paid for his extensive wanderings through Europe. [New York Times]
- The Vatican administration functioned almost normally despite concern over the Pope. There was a sense of urgency but no panic as ecclesiastics from overseas met with Vatican prelates, committees held long-scheduled meetings on church matters and documents were sent back and forth in the maze of agencies in the Roman Curia. A deliberate normality also seemed to pervade Rome as the residents sought refuge from the horror of the shooting in routine behavior. [New York Times]
- Fewer trims in Social Security benefits than those proposed by the Reagan administration were envisioned by House and Senate conferees as they split their differences and adopted a $695.5 billion budget with a $37.6 billion deficit. The approved package fell short of accommodating the $6.5 billion in Social Security reductions that the administration called for Monday, but the conferees disagreed on the amount. [New York Times]
- A shift in the spending priorities proposed in the administration's budget was made by a House subcommittee as it allocated an additional $1.5 billion for programs that aid the poor. A second House subcommittee made this change possible by cutting almost the same amount from the Medicare program, which provides health care for all elderly Americans. [New York Times]
- Another military budget victory for the Reagan administration was recorded as the Senate approved a $136.5 billion authorization by a vote of 92 to 1. The only dissenter was Mark Hatfield, Republican of Oregon. [New York Times]
- Costly farm subsidies were approved by the House and Senate agriculture committees. The legislation would cost the taxpayers billions of dollars more in the next four years than the aid programs espoused by the administration and both chambers. [New York Times]
- Michael Reagan used his father's name in seeking Air Force contracts for a defense contractor in California, but there were conflicting accounts over who had first brought up the President's name. The President's son said he would resign from the company involved in the controversy. [New York Times]
- A fugitive Soviet spy may have sold more data about a clandestine C.I.A. satellite to Soviet agents since his escape. A former convict said he had met with Christopher Boyce, who escaped from a federal prison 18 months ago, and that, since then, he had delivered a package from Mr. Boyce to a man in Lima, Peru. [New York Times]
- A complaint by Vietnamese fishermen that they had been threatened and intimidated for months by white shrimpers and Ku Klux Klan members prompted a federal judge in Texas to issue an injunction against such treatment. The ruling came just before the opening of the commercial shrimping season in Galveston Bay. [New York Times]
- The overflowing Boonton Reservoir in Morris County, N.J., has lost 1.8 billion gallons of water to the sea in only three days. The loss on Wednesday alone was nearly triple the 315 million gallons consumed that day in all 94 North Jersey municipalities that are under state-mandated water rationing. [New York Times]
- A Syrian missile hit an Israeli plane and shot down the pilotless reconnaissance craft over eastern Lebanon. As a result, Philip Habib, Washington's special envoy, hurriedly returned to Jerusalem from Damascus, where he had conferred with Syria's leaders for three hours. [New York Times]
- Pessimism over the U.S. peace mission in the Middle East was rising in Washington. Secretary of State Alexander Haig said that even though he had not given up hope, "time is running out" on the effort to avert a Syrian-Israeli clash in Lebanon. American officials said that Syria was continuing to move more missiles and other equipment into Lebanon. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 973.07 (+5.31, +0.55%)
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* |
| May 13, 1981 | 967.76 | 130.55 | 42.59 |
| May 12, 1981 | 970.82 | 130.72 | 40.34 |
| May 11, 1981 | 963.44 | 129.71 | 37.63 |
| May 8, 1981 | 976.40 | 131.66 | 41.85 |
| May 7, 1981 | 978.39 | 131.67 | 42.59 |
| May 6, 1981 | 973.34 | 130.78 | 47.10 |
| May 5, 1981 | 972.44 | 130.32 | 48.99 |
| May 4, 1981 | 979.11 | 130.67 | 40.66 |
| May 1, 1981 | 995.59 | 132.72 | 48.35 |
| April 30, 1981 | 997.75 | 132.81 | 47.96 |