News stories from Monday March 10, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The hostage crisis in Iran deepened as the United Nations commission that went to Teheran hoping to find a way to help free the American captives left in failure after Ayatollah Khomeini backed the militants holding the United States Embassy. The Ayatollah overruled efforts by Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh to force the militants either to yield custody of the captives or to allow the United Nations panel to meet with all of them.
Kurt Waldheim insisted that the United Nations commission of inquiry on Iran was not dead, but that its work had simply been interrupted for an unspecified length of time. The Secretary General said he was convinced that the Iranian government officials with whom he had spoken repeatedly wanted to resolve the problem.
[New York Times] - Washington blamed the Iranian regime for apparent inability to carry out its pledges and said this resulted in the failure of the United Nations commission to see all the American hostages and press its mission of seeking an end of the 128-day crisis. A senior White House official said that an effort had been started to stave off the collapse of the mission, but he added that the possibility of success "has been placed very much in doubt." [New York Times]
- Efforts to free captives in Bogota continued in a fourth negotiating session between representatives of the Colombian government and the guerrillas holding at least 23 people in the Dominican Embassy. The meeting broke up with no public comments. [New York Times]
- Plans to increase federal revenues are now being stressed over spending cuts in the intensive talks between the Carter administration and congressional leaders over balancing the next budget, according to congressional sources. They said that the conferees had developed only about $10 billion in spending cuts in the face of a projected deficit of up to $25 billion and were considering the imposition of an oil import fee that would increase the price of gasoline by 10 cents a gallon. [New York Times]
- George Bush campaigned in Florida in a wide-ranging effort to block a clean sweep by Ronald Reagan in three Republican presidential primaries tomorrow. In the Democratic race, President Carter appeared to be headed for solid victories over Senator Edward Kennedy in the balloting in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. [New York Times]
- Low-level radioactive gas was vented into the atmosphere by technicians at the disabled Three Mile Island nuclear plant and officials said that the release of krypton would pose no threat to public health.
Pipeline breaks menaced the water supply for about 668,000 Virginians around Manassas and Fredericksburg. The spills polluted three northern Virginia rivers with about 220,000 gallons of jet fuel and home heating oil.
[New York Times] - Faults in a key American alert system were reported by sources who have worked on or examined the worldwide computer complex built to warn the White House of an enemy attack or international crisis. They said the system was prone to break down under pressure and that it had failed in at least two critical situations. [New York Times]
- Extended New York City dependence on the Municipal Assistance Corporation was suggested by the agency. It said that it would seek to act as the city's borrowing agent through 1984, two years longer than expected, and that it would also seek an increase in borrowing authority from $8.8 billion to $10 billion. Felix Rohatyn, chairman of the corporation, said the city's prospects of resuming its own borrowing efforts by 1982 had been dimmed by turmoil in the credit markets. [New York Times]
- A leadership accord in Rhodesia was reached after tense negotiations. Robert Mugabe appointed Joshua Nkomo, runner-up in last week's elections, to be Minister of Home Affairs, which could give him authority over the police in the government Mr. Mugabe is to lead. He initially offered Mr. Nkomo the titular post of President, but he preferred a cabinet post with power. [New York Times]
- Major space technology gains by China were reported by American engineers and officials who have recently visited that country. They said that Peking was developing an advanced rocket, making impressive progress in electronics crucial to sophisticated space flight and pursuing plans to launch several communications, weather and possibly other satellites. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 818.94 (-1.62, -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* |
| March 7, 1980 | 820.56 | 106.90 | 50.95 |
| March 6, 1980 | 828.07 | 108.65 | 49.61 |
| March 5, 1980 | 844.88 | 111.13 | 49.25 |
| March 4, 1980 | 856.48 | 112.78 | 44.31 |
| March 3, 1980 | 854.35 | 112.50 | 38.68 |
| February 29, 1980 | 863.14 | 113.66 | 38.80 |
| February 28, 1980 | 854.44 | 112.35 | 40.31 |
| February 27, 1980 | 855.12 | 112.38 | 46.43 |
| February 26, 1980 | 864.25 | 113.98 | 40.04 |
| February 25, 1980 | 859.81 | 113.33 | 39.14 |