News stories from Thursday December 13, 1979

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

An Iranian-sponsored inquiry by an "international team" to study what was termed Washington's "aggressor policies" in Iran was formally approved by Ayatollah Khomeini. His Foreign Minister has described the inquiry as "a grand jury" that would serve as a prelude to spy trials of at least some of the 50 American hostages held in Teheran. [New York Times] Washington gave a guarded welcome to an apparent decision by Iran to allow foreign observers to check on the condition of American hostages. [New York Times] A White House victory over Congress was provided by the Supreme Court, which ordered a lower court to dismiss a challenge by 24 members of Congress to President Carter's unilateral termination of the defense treaty with Taiwan. [New York Times] Oil price increases of up to one-third were set by four producers -- Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar -- according to industry and administration officials. Analysts said that the decision, made in advance of a meeting next week of oil exporting nations, would apparently result in an immediate increase of less than 2 cents a gallon in the domestic price of oil products. [New York Times] An increase in military spending proposed by President Carter appeared to have improved prospects of Senate approval of the arms limitation treaty with Moscow. But the proposal also brought some expressions of skepticism about the depth of the administration's commitment to increase the military budget in future years. [New York Times] Women's groups and President Carter met at the White House to discuss the proposed equal rights amendment. During the visit by representatives of about two dozen national women's organizations, a small group of members of the National Organization for Women protested outside. The White House had rescinded its invitation to NOW after its board assailed administration policies last weekend. [New York Times] Allegations against a Representative, Charles Wilson, Democrat of California, have been reviewed by the House Ethics Committee, which reported there was "reason to believe" that he had padded his payroll, converted campaign funds to his own use, accepted improper cash gifts and committed perjury. He denied any wrongdoing. [New York Times] A higher-education aid program was criticized by a federal study, which said that 55 percent of payments made by the government to college students in the 1978-79 academic year were too large or too small. [New York Times] Professional boxing was halted in New York state by the state Athletic Commission because of the death of the boxer Willie Classen five days after he had been knocked out in a bout. The agency said the suspension would be in force until it could put new safety procedures into effect. [New York Times] Canada's government lost a key vote in the House of Commons and the country faced new elections in February. Voting 139 to 133, the chamber defeated the six-and-a-half-month-old Progressive Conservative Government led by Prime Minister Joe Clark over its policies of high energy prices and budget austerity and for its failure to cut taxes and stimulate the economy. [New York Times] The detention of seven Korean generals holding key posts in the Seoul area by forces of a hard-line general was reported by sources in the South Korean capital. They said that two generals had been injured. South Korea's senior officers were apparently caught up in a power struggle. [New York Times] Japanese imports of Iranian oil are to be re-examined under an order issued by Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira, who also asked importing companies to refrain from increasing orders from Iran above the level held before the Iranian-American crisis. [New York Times] Britain's authority in Rhodesia was asserted by Lord Soames, the new colonial Governor. He made clear that Salisbury must halt military raids into neighboring countries, stop executions and review the cases of about 70 blacks in detention with a view to releasing most if not all of them. [New York Times] The Vatican weighed heresy charges against one of Europe's most respected Roman Catholic theologians, the Rev. Edward Schillebeeckx of the Netherlands. He appeared before a panel of four Vatican officials to defend himself. The secret hearing has prompted public protests by Catholics in Europe and the United States. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 836.09 (+0.42, +0.05%)
S&P Composite: 107.67 (+0.15, +0.14%)
Arms Index: 0.64

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	708	18.53
Declines	785	13.07
Unchanged	430	5.09
Total Volume		36.69

* 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*
December 12, 1979	835.67	107.52	34.66
December 11, 1979	833.70	107.49	36.16
December 10, 1979	833.87	107.67	32.27
December 7, 1979	833.19	107.52	42.38
December 6, 1979	835.07	108.00	37.51
December 5, 1979	828.41	107.25	39.33
December 4, 1979	824.91	106.79	33.53
December 3, 1979	819.62	105.83	29.03
November 30, 1979	822.35	106.16	30.48
November 29, 1979	831.74	106.81	33.56