News stories from Thursday July 31, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Data on Billy Carter was made public by the White House. It released seven State Department cables concerning a 1978 trip to Libya by the President's brother and said that their contents were so innocuous that President Carter could not have compromised national security by discussing them with him. The White House also disclosed that the cables had been declassified and released to Jack Anderson, the columnist, 14 months ago under the Freedom of Information Act.
Billy Carter denied he possessed copies of the State Department cables about his links with Libya and, speaking with reporters, insisted that President Carter had not shown such documents to him. A Justice Department investigator said Wednesday that the President's brother had indicated he had access to the cables.
A timetable on the Billy Carter inquiry in the Senate was set by the special panel, which voted to try to complete work by the end of August.
[New York Times] - John Anderson might withdraw from the presidential race if the Democrats nominate someone other than President Carter. After a meeting with Senator Edward Kennedy, Mr. Anderson pledged to reassess his independent candidacy in such a circumstance. The unexpected move appeared to strengthen Mr. Kennedy's attempt to wrest the Democratic nomination from the President. [New York Times]
- Mayor Koch said Mr. Carter would lose in New York state if the presidential election were held now and he predicted a Democratic victory in the state if the party's ticket was headed by Vice President Mondale, Secretary of State Muskie, Senator Henry Jackson or Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. But the Mayor stressed that he continued to support President Carter. [New York Times]
- Uneasy Democratic delegates to the party's convention appear increasingly confused and uncertain about a rule that would guarantee President Carter's renomination on the first ballot. The odds still strongly favor the President, but a random sampling indicates that the situation is fluid. [New York Times]
- Ronald Reagan released income data in a major shift. The Republican presidential candidate disclosed for the first time extensive details about his personal income by making public copies of his 1979 federal tax forms that showed he had an adjusted gross income of $515,878. [New York Times]
- Chrysler lost $536.1 million from April through June in the largest quarterly loss ever suffered by an American auto maker. The loss, which pushed the corporation's deficit for the first half of 1980 to $984.9 million, was a result of plunging car sales and the huge cost of retooling to make smaller, fuel-efficient autos. [New York Times]
- A stern military registration policy was promised by the Director of Selective Service. But the ability of the authorities to identify and prosecute young men who fail to sign up has been questioned. A leading antidraft group asserted there was no effective mechanism to find those who did not register and that the risk for "quiet non-registrants is small." [New York Times]
- Eight alleged terrorists were convicted in Chicago of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and of illegal possession of weapons. The eight were among 11 suspected members of the Puerto Rican terrorist group F.A.L.N. arrested April 4 in Evanston, Ill., with a large cache of weapons. [New York Times]
- Liquid fuel will be produced from coal directly in the world's first commercial-sized plant to demonstrate the process. Half the cost of the $1.4 billion plant, which will be built in West Virginia, will be funded by West Germany and Japan and the other half will be financed by the United States, the Gulf Oil Corporation and West German and Japanese companies. When completed in 1984, the plant will convert 6,000 tons of coal a day into the equivalent of 20,000 barrels of oil. [New York Times]
- Aid for Love Canal homeowners has been pledged by the federal government. It agreed to lend New York state $15 million to allow it to buy the homes of hundreds of residents of the chemically polluted section of Niagara Falls. [New York Times]
- Racial quotas were in effect upheld by a federal appeals court. It rejected a court-ordered 50 percent quota for hiring minority-group members as police officers in New York City, but it ruled that the city must devise new tests that do not discriminate against minority applicants and that, in the interim, one-third of new police officers must be black or Hispanic. [New York Times]
- Iranian firing squads executed 24 men, including 11 more persons implicated in an unsuccessful coup last month against the Islamic regime. [New York Times]
- An emotional demonstration in Tibet by 2,000 supporters of the exiled Dalai Lama has prompted the Chinese authorities to cut short a visit by representatives of the religious leader. The authorities accused the delegation of activities harmful to Tibet's status as part of China. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 935.32 (-0.86, -0.09%)
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* |
| July 30, 1980 | 936.18 | 122.23 | 58.06 |
| July 29, 1980 | 931.91 | 122.40 | 44.84 |
| July 28, 1980 | 925.43 | 121.43 | 35.33 |
| July 25, 1980 | 918.09 | 120.78 | 36.25 |
| July 24, 1980 | 926.11 | 121.79 | 42.42 |
| July 23, 1980 | 928.58 | 121.93 | 45.90 |
| July 22, 1980 | 927.30 | 122.19 | 52.23 |
| July 21, 1980 | 928.67 | 122.51 | 42.74 |
| July 18, 1980 | 923.98 | 122.04 | 58.04 |
| July 17, 1980 | 915.10 | 121.44 | 48.87 |