News stories from Wednesday January 21, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The 52 freed hostages began to readapt at an American Air Force hospital in West Germany with medical examinations, telephone talks with their families, haircuts and sleep. [New York Times]
- "Acts of barbarism" were carried out against the American hostages by their Iranian captors, a visibly shaken Jimmy Carter said after a 50-minute meeting with the freed Americans in Wiesbaden, West Germany. The former President gave no details, but a senior aide who accompanied him said that several of the Americans had been subjected to "mock firing squads" as well as to other physical and mental torture.
Gross physical and mental abuses by their captors were reported by the freed Americans. They told their families of beatings, months in solitary confinement and constant fear of death. Some said they were not allowed to talk or read and were forbidden fresh air, exercise, outside news, mail and showers.
[New York Times] - A review of the accords with Iran that led to the release of the Americans will require at least several days, the Reagan administration announced. It said it was reserving judgment on the complex financial arrangements that the Carter administration negotiated in its final hours.
The U.S.-Iran accords were upheld in a preliminary ruling by a federal judge in Washington as the Justice Department filed papers in courts around the country defending the legality of the agreements. But lawyers for companies with contract claims against Iran began preparations to challenge parts of the accords in court.
[New York Times] - Iranian leaders clashed over the handling of the hostage dispute. The President charged that he had not been kept informed of the final negotiations and the Prime Minister charged that the President had not sought to participate in them. [New York Times]
- A swearing-in session for the new White House staff was held by President Reagan on his first full day in office. He also sought the dismissal of hundreds of Carter administration holdovers and, in his first cabinet meeting, exhorted the members to help him cut the federal budget. Earlier, Mr. Reagan remarked, "We have a new kind of loyalty now. Our loyalty must be only to this nation and the people we represent." [New York Times]
- Alexander Haig was confirmed as Secretary of State by a vote of 93 to 6 in the Senate. However, a group of conservative Republican Senators pledged to oppose some of his prospective appointees, and both Democratic and Republican Senators warned that they would guard their independence and exert pressure on the Reagan administration when necessary. [New York Times]
- A divorce is set for Edward Kennedy and Joan, the Senator's wife for 22 years. The two, who have lived apart much of the last two years, said they would dissolve their marriage "as friends" and with the "understanding" of their three children. [New York Times]
- The ousting of ex-Nazis was spurred by a 7-to-2 ruling of the Supreme Court. The Court revoked the citizenship of a former guard at a Nazi concentration camp who concealed his past when he entered the United States as a refugee after World War II. Government lawyers said the decision would help the Justice Department's efforts to deport hundreds of former Nazis. [New York Times]
- Patronage was curbed in Chicago under a consent decree. Richard M. Daley, the State's Attorney of Cook County and the son of former Mayor Richard J. Daley, whose Democratic machine thrived on patronage, has agreed to refrain from political hirings for all but a small percentage of his staff in the new office he won in the November elections. [New York Times]
- New rules on human research subjects have been completed by the federal government and appear generally to meet the complaints of social scientists that the former regulations to protect the subjects unnecessarily hampered their work. Researchers have said that the previous rules, in effect since 1974, required them to carry out mountains of paperwork on studies involving little or no risk. [New York Times]
- Labor unrest increased again in Poland as six hours of talks between the leaders of the independent trade union and the government ended with no progress on the union's demands for an immediate five-day work week and other issues. Union leaders announced that a series of warning strikes lasting up to four hours would take place tomorrow in at least four cities. [New York Times]
- South Africa muzzled black reporters in banning the Post, which is the largest-circulation black newspaper in the country. The government said it had closed the English-language tabloid for security reasons. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 946.25 (-4.43, -0.47%)
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* |
| January 20, 1981 | 950.68 | 131.65 | 41.74 |
| January 19, 1981 | 970.99 | 134.37 | 36.64 |
| January 16, 1981 | 973.29 | 134.77 | 43.26 |
| January 15, 1981 | 969.97 | 134.22 | 39.63 |
| January 14, 1981 | 966.47 | 133.47 | 41.39 |
| January 13, 1981 | 965.10 | 133.29 | 40.89 |
| January 12, 1981 | 968.77 | 133.52 | 48.75 |
| January 9, 1981 | 968.69 | 133.48 | 50.18 |
| January 8, 1981 | 965.70 | 133.06 | 55.35 |
| January 7, 1981 | 980.89 | 135.08 | 92.88 |