News stories from Wednesday December 12, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The ouster of most Iranian diplomats and consular officials was ordered by Washington in retaliation for the detention of 50 American hostages in Teheran. The State Department informed Iranian authorities that, within five days, their embassy staff must be cut from about 60 to 15 and that about 160 Iranians assigned to four consulates must be reduced to 20.
A hoax in Iran was acknowledged by a Foreign Ministry spokesman, who dismissed as false reports in newspapers and on the Teheran radio that Senator Edward Kennedy had written a letter to Ayatollah Khomeini, pledging his support and seeking a meeting. Mr. Kennedy denounced the reports as a "total fabrication."
[New York Times] - Major overcharges for oil products are alleged in a suit that is to be filed soon by the Energy Department. It contends that the Mobil Oil Corporation and the Amerada Hess Corporation overcharged customers by a total of more than $1.1 billion from 1973 to 1976. To date, the department has filed about 160 allegations of violations of federal price regulations totaling $9 billion against the 35 biggest American oil companies. [New York Times]
- Dianne Feinstein remains Mayor of San Francisco as a result of Tuesday's runoff elections, which swept out of office the district attorney, sheriff and four of the five county supervisors. A key factor in her victory appeared to be backing by the city's homosexual community, which has been steadily gaining political power. [New York Times]
- A 120 percent rise in coal miners' dues was approved by the national convention of the United Mine Workers union. The delegates' approval marked another victory for Sam Church, who became the union's president only four weeks ago and who told them before the three-hour roll call vote that the union, once the richest in the nation, had nearly run out of money. [New York Times]
- A change in House G.O.P. leadership is in prospect. Representative John Rhodes, Republican of Arizona, said he did not expect to seek another term as minority leader in the next Congress, but added that he would run for Speaker if his party gained control of the House in next November's elections. Some House Republicans have vowed to oppose his re-election on the ground that he failed to provide aggressive leadership. [New York Times]
- Connecticut's death penalty law was held unconstitutional by a state Superior Court judge. The General Assembly is expected next year to try to rewrite the six-year-old capital punishment statute to make it conform with recent interpretations by the United States Supreme Court. [New York Times]
- Missile deployment in Western Europe was approved by NATO ministers, along with new efforts for talks with Moscow to limit both Soviet and American weapons. The decision to proceed with installation of medium-range nuclear missiles was endorsed after sharp argument and modification of a prepared communique to meet objections by the Dutch, who seek to stress arms control over defense modernization. [New York Times]
- Rhodesia regained legal status under Britain as Lord Soames arrived in Salisbury to assume his duties as Governor and to guide the transition to black majority rule. London announced it was lifting economic sanctions in effect for 14 years. [New York Times]
- Seoul's martial law chief was arrested, along with several other generals, on charges of involvement in the Oct. 26 assassination of President Park Chung Hee. The military leaders were seized after exchanges of gunfire at the home of the South Korean martial law commander in which five persons were said to have been wounded. [New York Times]
- Increased arms spending was pledged by President Carter in an apparent effort to increase Senate support for the arms treaty with Moscow. He proposed an increase over five years in the military budget of 4.5 percent a year and he promised to seek congressional approval of a military budget of $157 billion for the 1981 fiscal year. [ [New York Times]
- Traces of toxic dioxin in men who were exposed to Agent Orange when the defoliant was sprayed in Vietnam have been revealed by laboratory tests for the first time, according to the Veterans Administration. However, a V.A. doctor told a scientific meeting that the amounts detected were so small that it was impossible to place significance on the findings. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 835.67 (+1.97, +0.24%)
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 11, 1979 | 833.70 | 107.49 | 36.16 |
| December 10, 1979 | 833.87 | 107.67 | 32.27 |
| December 7, 1979 | 833.19 | 107.52 | 42.38 |
| December 6, 1979 | 835.07 | 108.00 | 37.51 |
| December 5, 1979 | 828.41 | 107.25 | 39.33 |
| December 4, 1979 | 824.91 | 106.79 | 33.53 |
| December 3, 1979 | 819.62 | 105.83 | 29.03 |
| November 30, 1979 | 822.35 | 106.16 | 30.48 |
| November 29, 1979 | 831.74 | 106.81 | 33.56 |
| November 28, 1979 | 830.46 | 106.77 | 39.69 |