News stories from Friday August 18, 1978

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

James Earl Ray testified for a final day before the House Assassinations Committee. Former London police inspector Alexander Eist, who guarded Ray after his capture near London in 1968 and who now runs a pub in Cambridge, England, claims Ray confessed to Dr. Martin Luther King's murder while under his guard. Ray continues claims that he was duped into the murder by a mystery man named 'Raoul'.Representative Samuel Devin read Eist's testimony and noted that the committee had just received the information and hasn't yet accepted it as totally true or credible. Ray's attorney Mark Lane stated that the information provided by Eist is unreliable, and Lane mentioned that Eiast was investigated by Scotland Yard. Eist reported his conversation with Ray to the FBI office in London prior to giving testimony to the House committee. In an interview, Eist said there was no doubt in his mind that Ray had killed King, was proud of it, and had acted alone. Testimony was also heard today from Texas commodity dealer Dean Cowden, who admitted that he formerly lied in making statements that Ray was at a Memphis gas station during the time of King's shooting. [CBS] In an important victory for President Carter, the long-stalled natural gas pricing bill has been approved by a majority of House-Senate energy conferees and cleared for final congressional action. The multibillion-dollar compromise to end federal price controls on newly discovered natural gas by 1985 was finally nailed down after President Carter met this evening with two Republican Senators and two Democratic House members. [Washington Post] In energy news, President Carter announced a breakthrough on an energy plan, nearly 18 months after sending it to Congress. Carter announced that a House-Senate conference committee had reached agreement on natural gas pricing. The President's persuasion of Representatives Charles Rangel and James Corman and Senators James McClure and Pete Domenici to sign the legislation was an important factor in its passage; Senator Henry Jackson thinks the devaluation of the dollar had an effect on the compromise.Texaco reported the discovery of another natural gas deposit off the New Jersey shore. Standard Oil of Ohio has agreed to install pollution equipment at its power plant in Los Angeles in order that state authorities will allow a supertanker port to be built near the Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor. The port would be used for delivery of oil from Alaska. A tanker explosion occurred in the area in 1976. [CBS] In a step immediately endorsed by the White House, the Federal Reserve Board boosted the discount rate from 7¼ to 7¾ percent in an effort to bolster the sagging dollar and help counter domestic inflation. The administration's prompt expression of approval signifies President Carter's willingness to risk a dampening of the domestic economy for international and anti-inflation reasons. [Washington Post] The Carter administration has found a way to supply Iran with some very expensive armed frigates without violating the President's self-imposed ceiling on overseas arms sales. The method: let European countries build the costly ships, and then the United States will supply the less expensive weapons to make them effective.Rep. Paul Findley (R-Illinois), who disclosed the ploy today, called it "an enormous loss in shipbuilding jobs for the United States" with no gain in actual control of armaments. [Washington Post] Backers of a constitutional amendment that would give District of Columbia residents the right to select their Senators and Representatives began their final push to win passage of the bill, visiting uncommitted Senators and calling on President Carter and Vice President Mondale for help. Both supporters and opponents predicted that the bill's fate would be decided by a handful of still undecided Senators in Tuesday's scheduled vote. [Washington Post] Striking police and firemen in Memphis voted to approve a two-year contract and end one of the most bitter labor disputes in the city's history. Mayor Wyeth Chandler announced he was disappointed with the contract, but approved it. Most of the 1,100 policemen and 1,400 fireman are expected to be back on duty tomorrow. The curfew that had been in effect for a week was lifted. [Washington Post] The Department of Energy said that Exxon Co. USA, the nation's largest oil company, may have violated federal pricing regulations in three separate instances totaling more than $40 million. The department contended that Exxon overcharged $1.5 million for regular gasoline from September through December 1974, after reducing the octane of the gasoline. [Washington Post] Controversy engulfed the House Assassinations Committee over the reliability of a former British police officer who says James Earl Ray told him in 1968 that he had killed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The officer in question, Anthony Eist, had been "dismissed in disgrace" from Scotland Yard for corruption, perjury and robbery, according to Mark Lane, Ray's counsel. [Washington Post] A Georgia board which licenses doctors has authorized an investigation of Dr. Peter Bourne, the White House aide who resigned after a questionable drug prescription. [Washington Post] Former President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat will make a two-day private visit to Australia next month, government sources said. It will be Nixon's second trip overseas since he resigned as president in August 1974 at the height of the Watergate scandal. He visited China in February 1976. [Washington Post] Two Croatian gunmen who held six persons hostage in the West German consulate in Chicago for ten hours were charged with assaulting and imprisoning foreign officials and guests of the United States. [Washington Post] An apparent movement by white parents to have their children exempted from school busing by claiming they are part American Indian -- and the Louisville school system's acceptance of such claims without proof -- has been denounced by the head of the Kentucky Human Rights Commission. [Washington Post] The dismissal of a suit brought on behalf of a baby girl that argued the child should not have been born was upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court. The court ruled "there is no legal right not to be born", in dismissing the suit that charged that a doctor's negligence in performing a sterilization operation allowed the patient to father a child. The suit alleged that the physician "improperly" performed a vasectomy, resulting in the girl's conception and a "wrongful life". [Washington Post] Prime Minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia said his biracial government had made no final decision on an Anglo-U.S. proposal for a meeting with leaders of black nationalist guerrillas fighting to seize power in the country. [Washington Post]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 896.83 (-3.29, -0.37%)
S&P Composite: 104.73 (-0.35, -0.33%)
Arms Index: 0.90

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	730	15.57
Declines	774	14.79
Unchanged	387	4.39
Total Volume		34.75

* 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*
August 17, 1978	900.12	105.08	45.27
August 16, 1978	894.58	104.65	36.13
August 15, 1978	887.13	103.85	29.78
August 14, 1978	888.17	103.97	32.32
August 11, 1978	890.85	103.96	33.55
August 10, 1978	885.48	103.66	39.75
August 9, 1978	891.63	104.50	48.79
August 8, 1978	889.21	104.01	34.30
August 7, 1978	885.05	103.55	33.35
August 4, 1978	888.43	103.92	37.92