News stories from Friday November 24, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Nearly twice as many People's Temple members died in their jungle commune than had been initially reported by the Guyanese government, United States officials said." It now appears that there be may be as many as 780 bodies, American aides in Guyana said in a terse statement that left many questions unanswered.
The State Department gave two explanations for the sharp rise in the estimate of the number of dead People's Temple members: The United States Graves Registration unit had given priority not to counting but to identifying bodies and preparing them for shipment home; other American Army personnel flown to Guyana were concerned mainly with cooperating with the Guyanese search for survivors, especially when it seemed that scores might have escaped from Jonesville, the site of the temple's commune.
[New York Times] - Major revisions in the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration are being made by Labor Secretary Ray Marshall. He is said to believe that mismanagement, inefficiency and indifference threaten the long-term credibility of the government's public jobs program. [New York Times]
- A joint promotion of credit cards in New York state next year will be made by Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company and the Republican National Committee. The Republicans will get a finder's fee of $2.50 for every new Visa card issued under the promotion, which will be directed initially to about 600,000 registered Republicans. [New York Times]
- The Justice Department will send a top official on a good-will tour among Mexican-Americans in the Southwest to allay their fears that the administration is insensitive to their civil liberties. Benjamin Civiletti, the Deputy Attorney General, has been assigned to provide reassurances of good faith and to bring about an understanding of the limits of federal jurisdiction. [New York Times]
- Republicans in Mississippi who recently won congressional seats traditionally held by Democrats owe their victories to organization, persistence and luck. The state's first Republican Senator since Reconstruction was elected this November, and Republicans gained a smashing upset victory in a House race. [New York Times]
- Dr. Carolyn Payton's resignation as the director of the Peace Corps was accepted by President Carter. Mr. Carter said there were "unresolvable differences of policy" between Dr. Payton and Sam Brown, head of Action, the umbrella agency that includes the Peace Corps. [New York Times]
- Israel's acceptance of the draft Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty text was insufficient by itself to permit conclusion of negotiations because it did not meet Egypt's insistence on some timetable for Palestinian autonomy on the West Bank of the Jordan and in the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said in an interview in Washington. He differed with Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan of Israel, who had said that there was no longer need for further negotiations. [New York Times]
- The Carter administration approved a request by France to sell an American-designed nuclear power plant to China. But approval was granted on the condition that France obtain assurances from Peking that the plant would be used for peaceful purposes. [New York Times]
- A Peking poster praised two senior Communist leaders purged by Mao Tse-tung nearly 20 years ago and heaped scorn on two former heads of China's security apparatus who were close to Chairman Mao. [New York Times]
- Bolivia's army toppled the four-month-old government of Gen. Juan Pereda Asbun in a bloodless coup and promised prompt elections "to return the people to their rights and liberties." [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 810.12 (+3.12, +0.39%)
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* |
| November 22, 1978 | 807.00 | 95.48 | 20.01 |
| November 21, 1978 | 804.05 | 95.01 | 20.76 |
| November 20, 1978 | 805.61 | 95.25 | 24.44 |
| November 17, 1978 | 797.73 | 94.42 | 25.17 |
| November 16, 1978 | 794.18 | 93.71 | 21.34 |
| November 15, 1978 | 785.60 | 92.71 | 26.28 |
| November 14, 1978 | 785.26 | 92.49 | 30.62 |
| November 13, 1978 | 792.01 | 93.13 | 20.96 |
| November 10, 1978 | 807.09 | 94.77 | 16.75 |
| November 9, 1978 | 803.97 | 94.42 | 23.33 |