CABLE BRIEFS

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32567, 29 March 1971, Page 15

CABLE BRIEFS

Test for McMahon

The new Australian Government formed by Mr William McMahon less than three weeks ago is facing what could be a critical test. Five members of the Democratic Labour Party, which normally votes with the Government in the Senate, are expected to vote with the Opposition against a Government move to increase the size of the Federal Ministry from 26 to 27.—Canberra, March 28.

Drink kills five

Five people died on a farm near Albacete, Spain, last night, and a sixth is gravely ill, after sharing an alcoholic drink containing strychnine, apparently mistaken for sugar. The strychnine was used on the farm to kill pests. The dead were an elderly married couple, who prepared the drink, and three women aged 26, 31 and 51. —Albacete, March 28.

Man given lung

Britain’s third lung transplant was done in a London hospital yesterday on a man, aged 29, who has been suffering from a rare and progressive lung illness which made him permanently breathless. After the transplant he was breathing well. The transplanted lung came from a youth, aged 17, who had died from cerebral haemorrhage. London, March 28.

Ambassadorial change

Sir Terence Garvey, the British Ambassador to Jugoslavia, has been appointed as the new British High Commissioner to India. He will succeed Sir Morrice James, who will become Britain’s new High Commissioner to Australia. Sir Terence Garvey, who is 55, went to Belgrade in 1968, after having been the first British Ambassador to the Mongolian People’s Republic and Charge d’Affairs in Peking. —London, March 28. Prisoners* protest Seventy political prisoners in Modelo Prison, Barcelona, have begun a hunger strike in protest against alleged police brutality and maltreatment by prison authorities. Lawyers acting for them say that about half the strikers have been put into solitary confinement since the protest began on Friday. The protesters, all in their late teens or early twenties, allege that they were beaten, burned with cigarettes and threatened with death. The Barcelona police have rejected similar charges in the past as untrue and as a Communist plot. Barcelona, March 28.

Goldwyn honoured

President Nixon made a surprise visit to Los Angeles yesterday to present the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award, to the film pioneer, Mr Samuel Goldwyn, for his contribution to American art. Mr Goldwyn, a producer since the days of silent films, retired about two years ago because of ill-health.—Los Angeles, March 28.

Tempered relief

j Rain in the last three weeks has brought relief from drought to the people of Julia Creek, about 1000 miles north-west of Brisbane, but plagues of snakes, grasshopEers, flies and caterpillars ave invaded the outback town.—Brisbane, Mar. 28. Belfast blaze

Fire yesterday destroyed the suburban Belfast public house from which the police say that three British soldiers were lured and shot dead earlier this month. The Squires Hill Tavern had been vacant since March 14, four days after the soldiers died, when it was damaged by jellied gasoline bombs, and boarded up.—Belfast, Mar. 28. New satellite

The Soviet Union has launched the 401st artificial earth satellite in her "Cosmos” series, the Russian news agency, Tass, reports, adding that it carries “scientific equipment for furthering space research.”—Moscow, March 28.

Tito-Saragat accord

Italy and Jugoslavia both view the Middle East situation with concern, and support the United Nations peace mission of Dr Gunnar Jarring as a means of bringing the two sides together, according to a joint communique published in Rome after two days of talks between President Tito and President Saragat and Italian Government leaders. "The two sides agreed that the achievement of a stable political balance in the Middle East was an essential condition for security and peace in the Mediterranean,” the communique said.—Rome, March 28.

Berlin Wall talks East German and West Berlin negotiators have failed to reach agreement on opening the Berlin Wall to West Berliners, for the first time since 1966, during the coming Easter holidays. However, another round of talks will be held in West Berlin later this week.—East Berlin, March 28.