News stories from Wednesday December 26, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A "misconception" among Iranians was cited by three American clergymen, who said that those they had met believed that Americans were ready to rise up against President Carter and demand that the deposed Shah be extradited. The clerics, who had visited American hostages in their embassy in Teheran, drafted a letter to Ayatollah Khomeini, trying to persuade him that the American people insisted on release of the captives. [New York Times]
- The number of American hostages in Teheran remained an issue. The State Department said it still believed that 50 Americans were being held and called on Iran to explain why four clergymen were shown only 43. [New York Times]
- The closing down of any reactor whose operators cannot evacuate everybody living within a 30-mile radius of the reactor has been suggested in a draft report by a special panel established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to investigate the accident at Three Mile Island. The report also calls for a halt in the construction of new reactors until sweeping changes have been made in how the government regulates nuclear plants. [New York Times]
- A ban on admitting homosexual aliens, decreed by Congress 27 years ago, must be enforced, according to Justice Department lawyers, even though the head of the Public Health Service says that homosexuality is no longer considered a "mental disease or defect." A department official acknowledged that there might be difficulties in enforcing the statute because the health service will no longer examine aliens for indications of homosexuality. [New York Times]
- An acute shortage of rental housing affordable by most tenants requires immediate congressional action, according to a report by the General Accounting Office. The congressional investigative agency said that the 26 million families who depend on rental housing face hardships primarily because units that are being lost to condominium conversion and abandonment are not being replaced by private builders. [New York Times]
- Security measures for diplomats in New York City are under intensive view by American authorities. The in review was spurred by recent bombing attacks on the Cuban and Soviet missions to the United Nations. A high American official said the review, involving talks with the F.B.I. and the police, would result in a "new approach" toward security. [New York Times]
- Soviet intervention in Afghanistan is rising sharply, according to Washington, which said that a military airlift had been under way round the clock. The Carter administration is increasingly concerned over mounting signs of a direct Soviet combat role in Afghanistan's civil war. Officials said that the number of Moscow's troops in Afghanistan had quadrupled from 1,500 to 6,000 and that increasing numbers of Soviet troops were moving toward the Afghanistan border. [New York Times]
- Rhodesian rebel commanders returned to Salisbury and a tumultuous welcome by tens of thousands of blacks. After seven years as the government's most wanted men, the top military leaders of the Patriotic Front guerrillas were brought home from Mozambique and Zambia aboard a British-chartered airliner. A cease-fire is to take effect at midnight Friday. [New York Times]
- Right-wing Israeli militants heckled Prime Minister Begin, who tried to give a speech in the occupied West Bank in support of continued Jewish settlement in the Arab territories. The Israeli leader had to halt after about 10 minutes because of the angry hecklers, who object to provisions of the peace treaty with Egypt. [New York Times]
|
Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 838.14 (-1.02, -0.12%)
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 24, 1979 | 839.16 | 107.66 | 19.15 |
| December 21, 1979 | 838.91 | 107.59 | 36.16 |
| December 20, 1979 | 843.34 | 108.26 | 40.39 |
| December 19, 1979 | 838.91 | 108.20 | 41.79 |
| December 18, 1979 | 838.65 | 108.30 | 43.30 |
| December 17, 1979 | 844.62 | 109.33 | 43.83 |
| December 14, 1979 | 842.75 | 108.92 | 41.82 |
| December 13, 1979 | 836.09 | 107.67 | 36.70 |
| December 12, 1979 | 835.67 | 107.52 | 34.66 |
| December 11, 1979 | 833.70 | 107.49 | 36.16 |