News stories from Friday December 22, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- About $2 billion was restored to the social welfare budget by President Carter in response to appeals from the nation's mayors and minority groups that the budget not be cut in the next fiscal year. Mr. Carter restored the funds in a final budget review meeting. [New York Times]
- The slightest rise in consumer prices since midsummer was reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for November. The increase of only one half of 1 percent had a tonic affect on stock prices and the dollar's trading in exchange markets. [New York Times]
- The Rev. Jim Jones and "some person or persons unknown" were charged by a coroner's jury in Guyana with the murder of all except three of the more than 900 members of the People's Temple who died at the Jonestown settlement. No indictments were announced at the end of the five-day hearing, which closed Guyana's official investigation into the deaths, despite a magistrate's rejection of an initial finding of suicide as the cause of the Mr. Jones's death. [New York Times]
- Cleveland's Mayor won approval from the City Council for referendums on two controversial revenue-producing measures to keep the city from going bankrupt. Cleveland residents will vote Feb. 27 on whether the city income tax should be raised 1 ½ cents on the dollar from the current 1 cent rate, and whether the city-owned Municipal Electric Light Plant should be sold. Mayor Dennis Kucinich said that he would campaign "vigorously" for the tax increase, and "vigorously" against the sale of the utility. [New York Times]
- Federal and Illinois officials were undecided over who would have jurisdiction over the case of Robin Oswald, the 17-year-old girl who hijacked a Trans World Airlines jet to hold it as ransom for the release of a prisoner at the federal prison in Marion, Ill. She made an "initial appearance" before a federal magistrate in Benton, Ill., described as a procedural step to determine whether there was cause to hold a suspect. [New York Times]
- All signs pointed to a successful conclusion of the strategic arms limitation talks between the United States and Soviet Union. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said that both sides were "close to the end of the road" in their negotiations for a new agreement limiting each side's long-range bombers and nuclear-armed missiles. A more formal statement is expected after Mr. Vance and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko hold the final session of their talks. [New York Times]
- Fear of war in Somalia has been rekindled by a series of Ethiopian bombing raids on northern Somalian towns and reports of Ethiopian troops assembling across the border. Somalian envoys in Arab and African capitals say that Ethiopia is preparing for an invasion, but Western diplomats in Mogadishu, the Somalian capital, say that the raids were meant only to harass the government for its continued support of ethnic Somali insurgents fighting in the Ogaden, the eastern region of Ethiopia inhabited by Somali nomads. [New York Times]
- Pope John Paul II will go to Mexico in January to attend a meeting of Latin American bishops where long-range policies of the Catholic Church in the southern hemisphere will be set. The issue of human rights will be one of the major topics at the conference, which will be held in Puebla. [New York Times]
- The Shah of Iran was rebuffed by most leading opposition politicians in his attempt to establish a civilian coalition government that would replace the military rule imposed in November. A 71-year-old professor of sociology at Teheran University, Gholam Hussein Sadighi, who was asked nearly a week ago to recruit the coalition, then began a search among respected academicians and technocrats. But according to political observers, Professor Sadighi has a less than even chance of succeeding. [New York Times]
- South Korea announced amnesty for 4,000 prisoners, among them critics of the government. The prisoners who will be freed next week include President Chung Hee Park's chief political rival, Kim Dae Jung, and 106 violators of presidential emergency decrees. The amnesty will coincide with President Park's inauguration Wednesday for his second six-year term. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 808.47 (+13.68, +1.72%)
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* |
| December 21, 1978 | 794.79 | 94.71 | 28.68 |
| December 20, 1978 | 793.66 | 94.68 | 26.52 |
| December 19, 1978 | 789.85 | 94.24 | 25.96 |
| December 18, 1978 | 787.51 | 93.44 | 32.90 |
| December 15, 1978 | 805.35 | 95.33 | 23.64 |
| December 14, 1978 | 812.54 | 96.04 | 20.85 |
| December 13, 1978 | 809.86 | 96.06 | 22.48 |
| December 12, 1978 | 814.97 | 96.59 | 22.21 |
| December 11, 1978 | 817.65 | 97.11 | 21.01 |
| December 8, 1978 | 811.85 | 96.63 | 18.56 |