News stories from Tuesday July 25, 1978

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

The first baby known to have been conceived in a laboratory -- a five-pound, 12-ounce girl -- was born in England to a 31-year-old Bristol woman. The baby, who appeared normal, was delivered by Caesarian section eight and a half months after an egg cell taken from the mother was fertilized with sperm taken from her husband and then implanted in her uterus.Freezing and storing embryos, a routine procedure with livestock, could give an infertile woman a "whole family" from a single harvest of egg cells, according to experts in England who used the procedure to produce the first laboratory conception. [New York Times] A $50,000 murder contract to secure the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been reported by a St. Louis man who says he received -- and rejected -- the offer from two intermediaries, reportedly acting on behalf of a group of businessmen, a year or so before the civil rights leader was shot to death in 1968. The unsubstantiated claim has aroused interest partly because the man's brother-in-law had been in jail with James Earl Ray, later convicted of the murder. [New York Times] Striking postal workers in New Jersey and California returned to work in large numbers, according to the Postal Service, which said it would continue dismissing those who failed to report to work. But many local union leaders continued to demand a rejection of the tentative contract agreement, and New York postal workers are scheduled to take a strike vote Monday. [New York Times] Miners' union dissidents failed to get an immediate response to their demands for a special recall election to remove Arnold Miller from the presidency for "malfeasance." Mr. Miller's removal had top priority at a meeting of the United Mine Workers union's 24-man executive board in Denver. [New York Times] President Carter's plan for a new Border Management Service has again been delayed by opposition from unions, fears among Hispanic groups and complaints of a heavy work load from Congress. [New York Times] The White House abruptly canceled the scheduled appearance of Margaret Costanza, a presidential aide, on ABC's "Good Morning America" television program. Miss Costanza, who was recently removed from a large White House office to smaller quarters in the basement, was going to discuss her "new duties," the program's producer said. [New York Times] Aid for New York City won final passage in the House of Representatives, which voted 244 to 157 for a compromise bill to provide $1.65 billion in federal loan guarantees. Senate approval is expected tomorrow. City officials were seeking to persuade President Carter to go to New York to sign the bill. [New York Times] The arms embargo against Turkey would be repealed under a vote by the Senate, which also sought to link any future American military aid to that country to progress on a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus problem. The vote on the conditional lifting of the embargo was 57 to 42. It came on an amendment to the $2.9 billion international security assistance bill. The amendment was proposed by Senator George McGovern. [New York Times] President Tito warned non-aligned nations against letting their disputes develop into East-West power struggles by calling in foreign forces, especially in Africa. The Yugoslav leader named no countries, but his speech at the opening session of the conference of non-aligned nations was interpreted as aimed against Soviet-backed Cuban intervention in Africa. [New York Times] Soviet weapons advances were listed in a report sponsored by the Defense Nuclear Agency, which said that Moscow had attained or was moving toward superiority in 10 of 13 nuclear forces and weapons systems. Pentagon officials said the report did not reflect Defense Department views. [New York Times] Egypt dismissed Israel's offer to discuss the sovereignty of the West Bank of the Jordan and the Gaza Strip after five years as "nothing new" and said it looked to the United States to soften the Israeli stand. Amid what Cairo regards as continued intransigence of the Israeli government, President Anwar Sadat called a special meeting of Egypt's National Security Council tomorrow. [New York Times] Bolivian coups are not always as peaceful as last week's takeover by Gen. Juan Pereda Asbun, but they are almost routine. Indeed, since 1825, Bolivia has averaged a change in government every two years, usually by revolution. With such a turbulent political history, Bolivia has grown philosophical about coups. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 839.57 (+7.97, +0.96%)
S&P Composite: 98.44 (+0.72, +0.74%)
Arms Index: 0.50

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	909	16.92
Declines	517	4.78
Unchanged	436	3.70
Total Volume		25.40

* in millions of shares

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 24, 1978	831.60	97.72	23.27
July 21, 1978	833.42	97.75	26.07
July 20, 1978	838.62	98.03	33.34
July 19, 1978	840.70	98.12	30.85
July 18, 1978	829.00	96.87	22.86
July 17, 1978	839.05	97.78	29.18
July 14, 1978	839.83	97.58	28.37
July 13, 1978	824.76	96.25	23.62
July 12, 1978	824.93	96.24	26.64
July 11, 1978	821.29	95.93	27.47