News stories from Monday August 28, 1978

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

Robert Shaw, 51, an actor and writer best known for his role as the shark hunter in the movie "Jaws," collapsed by a roadside Sunday in Dublin, Ireland, and died of a heart attack, police say. He had become ill while driving his car near his home outside Tourmakeady, Ireland. He played the Soviet assassin in "From Russia With Love" and the Israeli agent in "Black Sunday." He was a Shakespearean actor before going to Hollywood. [Chicago Tribune] Actor Charles Boyer, 78, committed suicide with an overdose of barbiturates, medical examiners in Phoenix, Ariz., claimed today, The actor died Saturday after being found unconscious at a friend's home. His wife, Patricia, died of cancer 48 hours before him. The French-born actor was buried beside his wife at Inglewood, Cal. Dr. Thomas Jarvis, assistant county medical examiner, revealed a high level of Seconal in Boyer's blood. An investigator for his office said it was three times the lethal amount. [Chicago Tribune] The Postal Service agreed to go back to the bargaining table with disgruntled postal workers, averting a midnight mail strike. The agreement provides for binding arbitration if an accord isn't reached in 15 days. The postal union members earlier this month voted to reject a tentative contract, and Postmaster General William Bolger had insisted he wouldn't reopen negotiations. [Chicago Tribune] Tropical storm Debra thrashed the Texas and Louisiana coasts tonight with winds of 55 miles an hour, funnel clouds and thunderstorms, chasing thousands of people to higher ground and causing the death of an oil rig worker. Debra reached the Gulf of Mexico shoreline halfway between Beaumont, Tex., and Lake Charles, La., with winds just under hurricane strength. About 5,000 residents along the Louisiana coast heeded storm warnings and moved inland. [Chicago Tribune] Only 25 percent of Americans think the government is going in the right direction and 65 percent think it's off the track, pollster Peter Hart told the National Governors Association meeting in Boston. Hart, who polls for Democrats in many states, said the people most bitter are those between age 50 and 64 "who had planned for their retirement and now find their future plucked from their hands." [Chicago Tribune] A Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist who will be among those to investigate the Shroud of Turin said that he doesn't believe the image on the cloth could be duplicated by today's science. If it's a forgery or a fake, said Donald Lynn of JPL, it's "an even bigger miracle than if it is real." The linen shroud on display in Turin, Italy, is believed by many to have been the shroud that wrapped the body of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. [Chicago Tribune] The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has warned 9 million owners of Ford cars and light trucks that their vehicles may have lethal transmission defects. The agency issued a consumer advisory bulletin advising the owners to shut off their engines before leaving their vehicles. The agency is investigating complaints that Ford automatic transmissions have slipped from park into reverse, resulting in deaths and injuries. [Chicago Tribune] The stock market fell sharply in active trading. The selloff was prompted by another boost in interest rates from the Federal Reserve Board as a measure to counteract inflation and aid the dollar. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 10.65 points lower at 884.88 for its biggest drop in two months.The Federal Reserve Board tried to give the dollar another boost today. It tightened credit another notch while making it more attractive for U.S. banks to borrow dollars held overseas. But a Chicago banker called the moves "more psychological than anything else." [Chicago Tribune] Cadillac said it is mailing ashtray heat shields to about 390,000 owners of 1977 and 1978 models because at least a dozen people have been slightly burned in small fires in their ashtrays. The firm will mail the small metal shields directly to owners because they are easy to install, but owners may have dealers do it free if they wish, Cadillac said. [Chicago Tribune] Medical researchers in Los Angeles said that some people are able to produce their own pain killers after being given a sugar solution known as a placebo. Doctors at the University of California-San Francisco say their research shows about one-third of all patients can combat pain by unconsciously ordering the brain to produce endorphin, a chemical similar to morphine. Up to now, the placebo effect has been written off as a purely psychological reaction. [Chicago Tribune] President Carter is prepared to suggest "a limited American presence" on the West Bank of the Jordan River and in the Gaza Strip as part of a Middle East peace settlement, according to informed officials. Carter is ready to make that suggestion at the Israeli-Egyptian summit meeting that opens next week at Camp David in the Maryland mountains, these officials said. If adopted, such a plan would represent the first time in the 30 years since Israel was born that Americans would be placed virtually on the front lines in heavily populated Middle East zones. [Chicago Tribune] Pope John Paul reappointed French Cardinal Jean Villot as secretary of state, the Vatican's equivalent of prime minister, and also reappointed the heads of the nine Sacred Congregations, the main departments of the Vatican Curia. The moves were seen as a demonstration of the new Pope's dedication to the policies of his predecessor, Pope Paul VI.Pope John Paul I, born Albino Luciani, invites affection. He is warm and friendly, intimates say -- a humble man with simple tastes, but of great intelligence. He also is thought to be a man who believes that the interests of the church come before the interests of an individual. He is deemed unlikely to break new ground in such issues as birth control, abortion, divorce, priestly celibacy, and women priests. [Chicago Tribune] Challenger Viktor Korchnoi, trailing 4 games to 1 in the world chess championship match, postponed the 18th game and went into seclusion in the Philippines. Korchnoi, 47, scheduled a press conference Wednesday. Spokesmen for the world champion, Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union, were unavailable for comment in Baguio City, the mountain resort 125 miles northwest of Manila where the match is being played. [Chicago Tribune] Lebanese Foreign Minister Fuad Butros went to Syria for talks with Syrian President Hafez Assad on ways of ending clashes between Lebanese Christians and Syrian troops in Lebanon. Earlier in the day, Israel warned it would intervene to prevent a "massacre" of the Christians, but Assad said Syria won't "run away from Israel if they attack us." [Chicago Tribune] A British author, Anthony Pearson, contends in a new book ("Conspiracy of Silence -- The Attack on the U.S.S. Liberty") that U.S. military chiefs ordered an air strike on the Israeli naval base at Haifa in June, 1967, following the Israeli attack on the U.S. spy ship U.S.S. Liberty. But, he says, President Lyndon Johnson countermanded the order, and Israel apologized for the mistake. Pearson also asserts the U.S. feared an Israeli missile strike against Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus, and was prepared to knock out all Israeli missile sites "to prevent the Soviets having to do it and avoid confrontation." [Chicago Tribune] Nicaragua's National Guard announced it uncovered "a conspiracy by elements of the army and civilians" to overthrow President Anastasio Somoza and arrests have been made. A high guard source said 12 officers and 73 guardsmen were seized and more arrests were anticipated. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill authorizing the president to leave the country, a spokesman for Somoza's ruling Nationalist Liberal Party said. [Chicago Tribune] Disapproving British Roman Catholics prevented a London bookmaking firm cashing in on the election of Albino Cardinal Luciani as Pope. Ladbroke's, one of the country's largest betting companies, ran into sharp criticism when it became the only leading British bookmaker to accept bets on the outcome of the election and stopped taking bets. It had offered odds of 33 to 1 on Luciani being elected. [Chicago Tribune] President Antonio Ramalho Eanes formally appointed Alfredo Nobre da Costa, 55, as Portugal's fifth prime minister since the 1974 revolution. Nobre da Costa, an independent, and his 15-man, nonparty cabinet are to be sworn in Tuesday. [Chicago Tribune] Billy Carter's commercial cavalcade came to Denver over the weekend. This time, the First Brother promoted a local furniture store's 80th anniversary celebration. When asked how much the furniture firm was paying him for his appearance, Billy replied, "None of your damned business." He reportedly will earn $500,000 this year from public appearances and endorsements, His brother, President Carter, has an annual salary of $200,000 while at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. [Chicago Tribune] Former President Nixon has his eye on the future. "I want to live in the next century," he said in an interview in the San Jose Mercury News. "I'll only be 87 years old. I have a fairly long lifetime on my mother's side. My grandmother lived to be 94. My great-grandmother lived to be 96." Nixon also said he's planning a book on the future of the West. "The Communists look forward for a century, but we Americans have no sense of history. We think in terms of about five years," he said. "What I want to do is take readers onto the mountain and look down the road to the end of the century." [Chicago Tribune]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 884.88 (-10.65, -1.19%)
S&P Composite: 103.96 (-0.94, -0.90%)
Arms Index: 0.74

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	514	11.15
Declines	1,060	16.91
Unchanged	354	3.70
Total Volume		31.76

* 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 25, 1978	895.53	104.90	36.19
August 24, 1978	897.35	105.08	38.50
August 23, 1978	897.00	104.91	39.63
August 22, 1978	892.41	104.31	29.62
August 21, 1978	888.95	103.89	29.44
August 18, 1978	896.83	104.73	34.66
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