News stories from Monday November 20, 1978

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

The bodies of more than 400 men, women and children belonging to an American cult who committed suicide on the orders of their leader were found by Guyanese troops in a jungle pavilion. The dead surrounded the body of Jim Jones, the charismatic leader who had promised his racially integrated flock a utopia, but instead had given them death. Another approximately 400 cultists were missing. Nearly all the dead had taken poison after the group killed Representative Leo Ryan, who had been investigating the cult, the People's Temple, and four other Americans.Former members of the cult said Jim Jones had operated it as a personal police state, enforcing discipline by beatings and death threats and conducting mass-suicide drills. Prominent Americans, including Rosalynn Carter and Vice President Mondale, were cited by the government of Guyana in a list of references it said had been submitted on behalf of the Rev. Jim Jones. The government also sought to show why it had approved the settlement of the colony by releasing excerpts of reference letters from members of Congress and California state officials. Few paid attention when critics of the People's Temple published a statement by Mr. Jones addressed to "all U.S. Senators and Members of Congress" that warned that the cult was "devoted to the decision that it was better to die than to be harassed from one continent to the next." [New York Times] Charles Diggs was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of defrauding the government by inflating his employees' salaries to pay for his own expenses. Representative Diggs, a Michigan Democrat who is the senior black member of Congress, was overwhelmingly re-elected. [New York Times] Roy Innis was accused by James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, and three other CORE dissidents of having ordered the attempted slaying of a dissident and the beating of another and of having failed to account adequately for CORE funds. Mr. Innis denies the accusations. The four said they had filed suit for a court audit of the organization's books and to oust Mr. Innis. [New York Times] Robert Vesco is involved in a new inquiry. A federal grand jury has opened an investigation on whether there is any substance to an allegation that aides of President Carter discussed halting extradition proceedings against the fugitive financier in exchange for a share of $10 million in stock. But a source cautioned that "It's far too early to draw any conclusions about the case." [New York Times] Furniture fires set by smokers kill at least 500 Americans a year, according to the staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which proposed flammability regulations for upholstered furniture. If approved by the commission, the new regulations would add no more than $10 to the cost of a sofa, according to the staff. Manufacturers put the figure at $100. [New York Times] An Atlantic City casino builder won preliminary state approval to demolish the historic Boardwalk rotunda of the Blenheim Hotel. The Bally Manufacturing Corporation, which hopes to open the city's third casino in July, convinced the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that it would not be economically feasible to incorporate the rotunda in the casino design. [New York Times] A warm Lake Placid fall has accelerated preparations for the 1980 Winter Olympics. Some sites are already complete and other projects are moving back onto schedule following supply problems last year. But the stepped-up effort has meant cost overruns; there have been charges of financial mismanagement and now federal auditors are taking a close look at the $73 million construction budget. [New York Times] The status of China's leader seemed to be questioned in two Peking wall posters that urged a full public inquiry into the suppression and cover-up of a major anti-government demonstration in the capital in 1976. The riot had considerable effect on the career of Hua Kuo-feng, who two days later was named Chairman of the Communist Party and Prime Minister. [New York Times] President Sadat was reported bitter about the lack of moderate Arab support for his peace efforts and fearful of being trapped in a separate peace treaty with Israel. [New York Times] The future of 2,500 Vietnamese refugees brightened a bit. The Malaysian government, which has withdrawn its threat to force the freighter carrying them to leave Malaysian waters, granted U.N. officials permission to interview them. A U.N. official said the aim would be to present the cases of the Vietnamese to countries that might accept them. [New York Times] The vulnerability of land missiles has led the Carter administration to seek a mobile system. A White House science panel has urged adoption of a program involving the deployment of hundreds of missiles on planes that would, in the event of attack, land at airstrips to fire the weapons. The plan, officials said, could cost up to $10 billion or $50 billion. It is being sharply debated among administration officials. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 805.61 (+7.88, +0.99%)
S&P Composite: 95.25 (+0.83, +0.88%)
Arms Index: 0.67

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,120	17.16
Declines	420	4.32
Unchanged	361	2.96
Total Volume		24.44

* 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*
November 17, 1978	797.73	94.42	25.17
November 16, 1978	794.18	93.71	21.34
November 15, 1978	785.60	92.71	26.28
November 14, 1978	785.26	92.49	30.62
November 13, 1978	792.01	93.13	20.96
November 10, 1978	807.09	94.77	16.75
November 9, 1978	803.97	94.42	23.33
November 8, 1978	807.61	94.45	23.56
November 7, 1978	800.07	93.85	25.32
November 6, 1978	814.88	95.19	20.45