News stories from Tuesday May 23, 1978

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

A unified border control policy is being seriously considered by the Carter administration, according to sources familiar with the plan. They said that the proposals called for transfer of much of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from the Justice Department, combining it with the Customs Service to create a single, unified agency. Also being considered are greatly expanded powers for the Director of the F.B.I. in a reorganization of law enforcement agencies. [New York Times] Claiming "absolute" presidential immunity in national security decisions, the Carter administration told a federal appeals court that former President Nixon and his chief aides should not be liable for civil damages as a result of wiretapping government officials and newsmen. [New York Times] Voting 8 to 1, Justices of the Supreme Court ruled that juries testing obscene magazines and films against "community standards" may not consider the possible reactions of children, but should weigh the views of "sensitive" adults and the special interests of "deviant sexual groups" in reaching a decision. [New York Times] David Berkowitz will be sentenced on June 12 for the "Son of Sam" murders no matter how he behaves in court or what his next psychiatric test shows, state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Corso said. Legal authorities said the examination had no relevance to the defendant's fitness to be sentenced, and thus would not be subject to a legal challenge. [New York Times] French forces will leave Zaire as soon as their assignment of rescuing French civilians from the southern battle zone of Shaba Province is completed, President Valery Giscard d'Estaing announced. He mentioned no time limit. France has said that 70 of its nationals are still missing in the wake of 11 days of fighting after an invasion by Katangan exiles from neighboring Angola. [New York Times] Because of congressional restraints, the United States is unable to provide aid to anti-government forces led by Jonas Savimbi in Angola, President Carter told a group of senators. Participants at the closed meeting said Mr. Carter left the impression he supports repeal of the restraints on aid to the rebels, who are fighting 20,000 Cubans stationed in Angola. [New York Times] Unease over a lack of disarmament commitments by the Soviet Union and the United States was expressed privately by diplomats as the United Nations General Assembly opened a special session on arms control. Neither Leonid Brezhnev nor President Carter is scheduled to take part. Diplomats said this had discouraged smaller countries hoping to press for a halt in the arms race. [New York Times] South Africa's blacks resent "pass" laws more than any other aspect of apartheid. More than 400,000 blacks were arrested last year for being "illegally present" in white areas without a pass and for related violations. Perhaps half were jailed and more than 50,000 were banished to impoverished tribal areas reserved for blacks. [New York Times] China wants a peace treaty with Japan, according to Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was quoted by Japanese sources. They said the White House adviser had relayed the word to Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda while briefing him after a three-day visit to Peking. [New York Times] The conflict over plane sales to the Mideast has left deep scars in Washington. Eight days after the Senate upheld President Carter's plan to sell advanced jets to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the so-called Israeli lobby, the Israeli government and key members of Congress remain deeply troubled by the fight and are weighing their political losses. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 845.29 (-10.13, -1.18%)
S&P Composite: 98.05 (-1.04, -1.05%)
Arms Index: 1.09

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	497	9.06
Declines	1,003	19.86
Unchanged	425	4.31
Total Volume		33.23

* in millions of shares

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*
May 22, 1978	855.42	99.09	28.68
May 19, 1978	846.85	98.12	34.36
May 18, 1978	850.92	98.62	42.27
May 17, 1978	858.37	99.60	45.49
May 16, 1978	854.30	99.35	48.17
May 15, 1978	846.76	98.76	33.93
May 12, 1978	840.70	98.07	46.60
May 11, 1978	834.20	97.20	36.64
May 10, 1978	822.16	95.92	33.33
May 9, 1978	822.07	95.90	30.86