News stories from Monday April 20, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The economy rallied in the first quarter of 1981, growing at an annual rate of 6.5 percent. This advance in the gross national product, the nation's total output of goods and services, was the biggest quarterly gain since the second quarter of 1978. But the administration cited signs of weakness, stressing that there was still a need for spending and tax cuts. It also reported an easing of the inflation rate. [New York Times]
- Los Angeles ended mandatory busing quietly with the return of more than 7,000 children to their neighborhood schools. But the 18-year-old fight over school desegregation in the nation's second-largest school system is not over, vowed Joseph Duff, local counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The parents of more than 16,000 children elected to continue their participation in the busing program until at least the end of the spring semester. [New York Times]
- A body of a 23-year-old black male was found in the Chattahoochee River southwest of Atlanta. The police identified the victim through fingerprints and an autopsy is planned for tomorrow. [New York Times]
- Rapport between blacks and the police in New Orleans appears to be deteriorating further following the shooting of at least nine blacks in the last six months, officials say. In seven of the cases, the shootings were fatal. None of the officers were injured. [New York Times]
- A Japanese runner won the 85th annual Boston Marathon with the fastest time ever run in the United States: 2 hours 9 minutes 26 seconds. The champion is 24-year-old Toshihiko Seko. His time was one second better than the course record set by Bill Rodgers, the defending champion, who was a strong closing third. Craig Virgin was second. The women's winner was Allison Roe of New Zealand, who outran Patti Catalano of Massachusetts over the last three miles, finishing in 2:26:46, the second fastest women's marathon in history. [New York Times]
- Two terrorists are prime suspects in the shooting of two police officers as they sat in their patrol car in New York City last week. Nationwide alarms were issued for Anthony Laborde and James York, who were members of the Black Liberation Army, after their fingerprints were found on a van abandoned by the gunmen after the shooting. [New York Times]
- An advocate of honesty in government and business has been appointed general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency, administration officials said. He is Stanley Sporkin, who has been in charge of investigations of business irregularities for the last seven years as an official of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is said to be the choice of William Casey, the C.I.A.'s director. [New York Times]
- Much of Beirut was under fire as fighting between Syrian and Christian forces intensified. Beirut's international airport was closed after a runway was shelled. Several people were killed, and hospitals on both sides of the Green Line dividing the city into Moslem and Christian zones reported many people wounded. [New York Times]
- State Department appointments not acted on because of challenges by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, will come up for hearings tomorrow by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Administration officials, who believe that American foreign policy would be endangered, requested no further delay. [New York Times]
- The Navy accepted liability for the sinking of a Japanese merchant ship that went down April 9 in a collision with an American nuclear submarine in the East China Sea. [New York Times]
- Opposition to human rights violations by the United States was endorsed by Secretary of State Alexander Haig. In an address in Washington before the Trilateral Commission, a private group, he said that the United States should oppose all human rights violations "by ally or adversary, friend or foe," but be more critical of "totalitarian" governments than of "authoritarian" ones. Mr. Haig's aides said the administration's human rights policy was still being reviewed. They said the Secretary's speech was authoritiative but was not necessarily the final word. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1015.94 (+10.36, +1.03%)
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* |
| April 16, 1981 | 1005.58 | 134.70 | 52.95 |
| April 15, 1981 | 1001.71 | 134.17 | 56.03 |
| April 14, 1981 | 989.10 | 132.68 | 48.39 |
| April 13, 1981 | 993.16 | 133.15 | 49.85 |
| April 10, 1981 | 1000.27 | 134.51 | 58.12 |
| April 9, 1981 | 998.83 | 133.92 | 59.54 |
| April 8, 1981 | 993.43 | 134.31 | 48.04 |
| April 7, 1981 | 992.89 | 133.91 | 44.54 |
| April 6, 1981 | 994.24 | 133.93 | 43.11 |
| April 3, 1981 | 1007.11 | 135.49 | 48.68 |