News stories from Wednesday December 31, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The intermediaries in the hostage talks flew home to Algiers to discuss with their leaders the latest American plan to free the 52 Americans in Iran. They will then go on to Teheran for what may be a decisive round of talks. With three weeks remaining in office, Carter administration officials again contended that their reformulation of previous proposals offered Iran a way to resolve the 14-month dispute if Iran wanted to do so. [New York Times]
- Unexpected strength in the economy was reflected in the government index designed to forecast future trends. The index of leading indicators rose 1.2 percent in November -- the sixth consecutive monthly increase. However, President-elect Ronald Reagan said he did not plan any changes in his economic program because, he said, "I don't think that marks a trend." [New York Times]
- Robert Vesco eluded officials in the Bahamas seeking to serve him with a deportation order, according to the Bahamian government. It said that the fugitive American financier and his family had left their home and that their whereabouts was unknown. In Washington, a spokesman for the F.B.I. said that bureau officials believed that Mr. Vesco was still somewhere in the Bahamas. [New York Times]
- There are 226,504,825 Americans, according to the final census count. This is 11.4 percent above the 1970 count of 203,302,031. The Census Bureau, which still must deal with several bitter lawsuits, officially certified the 1980 count only hours before the legal deadline. In the House, 17 seats will shift to the South and West in 1982, and New York will lose 5 of its 39 seats, mostly from New York City. [New York Times]
- Pervasive corruption in Massachusetts was uncovered by a special state commission in a two and a half year investigation. The panel concluded that the venality in the state and local governments in the 1960's and 1970's was "a way of life." The commission also said in a 2,500-page report that bribery, extortion, tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and the laundering of illegal money to disguise its origins had become commonplace. [New York Times]
- The new Connecticut Governor was sworn in at a brief and somber cere-ony a few blocks from the Hartford hospital where Ella Grasso was fighting the cancer that forced her to resign as Governor. The 84th Governor is William O'Neill, who has been the Lieutenant Governor. The 50-year-old Mr. O'Neill is a quarter-century veteran of state and local Democratic politics. [New York Times]
- An advance against cystic fibrosis was reported by medical scientists in Boston. They said they had developed a promising screening test for carriers of the disease, which is the most common lethal ailment inherited by white Americans. Scientists have previously developed a test to detect the presence of the grave disease in patients suffering from it. [New York Times]
- Marshall McLuhan died in his home in Toronto at the age of 69. The communications theorist who taught that "the medium is the message" strove to understand and explain the wide impact of the electronic media. He said that television's impact was not in the information it transmitted but in the tactile and aural experience it offered. [New York Times]
- Terrorism erupted again in Rome, where the authorities reported the fatal shooting of a general in Italy's Carabinieri paramilitary force as he and his wife were returning home from mass. The general was the deputy commander of an anti-terrorism force in northern Italy. [New York Times]
- An explosion in Nairobi, Kenya, killed at least five people and injured 100, some seriously. The blast, which Kenyan officials said might have been caused by a bomb, destroyed the main part of the Norfolk Hotel, a favorite gathering place for thousands of tourists in East Africa. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 963.99 (+1.96, +0.20%)
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 30, 1980 | 962.03 | 135.33 | 39.75 |
| December 29, 1980 | 960.58 | 135.03 | 36.05 |
| December 26, 1980 | 966.38 | 136.57 | 16.13 |
| December 24, 1980 | 963.05 | 135.88 | 29.48 |
| December 23, 1980 | 958.28 | 135.00 | 55.25 |
| December 22, 1980 | 958.79 | 135.78 | 51.96 |
| December 19, 1980 | 937.20 | 133.70 | 50.67 |
| December 18, 1980 | 930.20 | 133.00 | 69.57 |
| December 17, 1980 | 928.50 | 132.89 | 50.81 |
| December 16, 1980 | 918.09 | 130.60 | 41.62 |