News stories from Thursday October 19, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Giovanni Cardinal Benelli of Florence came within two votes of being elected Pope, but was blocked by a coalition of members of the Catholic Church's central government and conservatives led by Giuseppe Cardinal Siri of Genoa, sources said. Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the former archbishop of Krakow, was elected on the eighth ballot, after it became clear that neither Beneili, Siri, nor any of the 24 other Italian cardinals could collect the required two-thirds-plus-one majority of the 111 cardinals voting In the Sistine Chapel conclave, the sources said.
Poland's Roman Catholic bishops have invited Pope John Paul II to visit his homeland next year, Vatican Radio has announced. If he accepts the invitation, John Paul would be the first Roman Catholic pontiff to visit a Communist-ruled country. Pope Paul VI's plans to visit Poland in 1966 were blocked by the Polish government.
[Chicago Tribune] - The Swiss Chess Federation accused the Soviet delegation of world champion Anatoly Karpov of "breaking the rules" in his final game with challenger Viktor Korchnoi in the Philippines. The federation said it will make an official protest to have the game replayed. Specifically, the federation supported Korchnoi's complaint that the presence of Soviet parapsychologist Vladimir Zoukhar in the fourth row of seats was illegal. [Chicago Tribune]
- A Salem, Oregon, man has been charged with raping his wife. The indictment returned Wednesday by the Marion County grand jury was believed to be the first such case in Oregon. Legislation permitting a wife to prosecute her husband on a rape charge was passed by the 1977 legislature. Previously under Oregon law, cohabitation was a defense against rape. [Chicago Tribune]
- The stock market continued its broad decline, with the Dow Industrials tacking on a loss of 13.26 to close at 846.91. The fall of 50.61 points this week in the D.J.I.A. is the sharpest since it dropped more than 57 points Jan. 7 through Jan. 10, 1974, in the midst of the oil embargo.
The Carter administration's goal of winding up the Geneva trade talks with a comprehensive agreement by Dec. 15 appears unrealistic, officials said. The difficulty of the issues, such as Congress' failure to extend a waiver on taxing foreign subsidized products, has caused the snag, sources said.
[Chicago Tribune] - Rhodesian warplanes struck 90 miles into Zambia to pound a black guerrilla base within earshot of the capital. Guerrilla leader Joshua Nkomo said "we have lost quite a few people." A day earlier Salisbury troops raided guerrilla camps in Mozambique. There was no word whether that raid was still in progress and there was no comment from Mozambique. [Chicago Tribune]
- Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan took advantage of the presence of reporters at a luncheon with President Carter in Washington to air a dispute in the peace treaty being negotiated with Egypt. Dayan told the President that the matter is so serious he doubts it can be resolved by the delegations here. The snag apparently is over an Egyptian demand for a clause in the peace treaty for a review to insure progress in negotiations over the West Bank. [Chicago Tribune]
- Actor Gig Young, 60, who received an Academy Award in 1969 for his part in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" was found shot to death tonight in New York City in what police called a murder-suicide. The body of Young's bride of three weeks, Ruth Schmidt, 31, was found in a bedroom of their apartment, police said. Mrs. Young used the stage name Kim Schmidt. Police said Young apparently had killed her before shooting himself in the head. They said a .38-caliber pistol was in his hand. [Chicago Tribune]
- Congress voted the Democratic and Republican parties a $9 million subsidy by overwhelmingly approving a provision allowing political parties to send out mailings at the 2.7 cent third-class bulk rate for nonprofit organizations rather than the current 8.4 cent third-class bulk rate. The provision was tucked away in a bill dealing with the voting rights of U.S. citizens abroad. Supporters argued that the 2.7 cent rate is already being used for political mailings by many lobbies. The measure awaits President Carter's signature. [Chicago Tribune]
- A teenager who was paralyzed after a dose of cancer-fighting radiation destroyed her spinal cord has been awarded $7.6 million in damages. One authority said it could be the largest single malpractice award in the nation's' history: "They're wonderful people and now have a chance for my life," said Laurie Necochea, now 18, of the San Francisco jury that made the award this week. Her attorney, James Bostwick, said most of the money will go to pay medical bills. [Chicago Tribune]
- Police traced a murder suspect to his parents home in Ypsilanti, Mich., early today, wounded him in a gun battle, then found his mother shot to death inside and his father frozen in a back-porch freezer. A search for more bodies in nearby cornfields and forests was called off when the man's ex-wife and daughter were found safe. [Chicago Tribune]
- A California psychiatrist blames monosodium glutamate, a seasoning common in Chinese food, for the deep depression that came over his wife for two weeks. Dr. Arthur Colman says he thinks other people may be depressed and unhappy because they eat the additive, which is also frequently found in fast food and prepackaged grocery fare. [Chicago Tribune]
- Ramon Mercader, the mysterious Spaniard who assassinated Leon Trotsky in Mexico in 1940, died in Havana Wednesday at the age of 64, family sources said. The sources said his body will be cremated and the ashes flown to the Soviet Union on Sunday, apparently for burial in a place of honor somewhere in Moscow. It has been widely believed that he was acting on behalf of Trotsky's bitter enemy, Josef Stalin, in the assassination. [Chicago Tribune]
- Betty Ford thinks she might have been more persistent. The former First Lady, in excerpts from her memoirs, "The Times of My Life," in Ladies Home Journal, recalled how she talked her husband into giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Martha Graham: "You know, if you bring up a subject long enough with a man, why finally he gets so tired of it, he agrees to anything. There might be a woman on the Supreme Court now if I'd just brought it up more often." [Chicago Tribune]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 846.41 (-13.26, -1.54%)
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 18, 1978 | 859.67 | 100.49 | 32.97 |
| October 17, 1978 | 866.34 | 101.26 | 37.87 |
| October 16, 1978 | 875.17 | 102.61 | 24.60 |
| October 13, 1978 | 897.09 | 104.66 | 21.93 |
| October 12, 1978 | 896.74 | 104.88 | 30.17 |
| October 11, 1978 | 901.42 | 105.39 | 21.74 |
| October 10, 1978 | 891.63 | 104.46 | 25.47 |
| October 9, 1978 | 893.19 | 104.59 | 19.72 |
| October 6, 1978 | 880.02 | 103.52 | 27.39 |
| October 5, 1978 | 876.47 | 103.27 | 27.81 |