CABLE ITEMS IN BRIEF

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32945, 17 June 1972, Page 15

CABLE ITEMS IN BRIEF

Airline concessions Reduced rates to attract young people and honeymooners are planned by Air France, which has announced that there will be a 50 per cent reduction for newlyweds flying from Paris to Nice or Corsica, and 60 to 70 per cent reductions for young people flying across the Atlantic and to the Far East. —Paris, June 16. Tragedy afloat A Chinese member of the crew died, and four others were injured in an explosion aboard the 19,061-ton British freighter Cheshire off eastern Japan yesterday. The Japanese Maritime Safety Agency reports that the explosion occurred while welding was being done aboard the ship. The - damage was slight.— Yokohama, June 16.

Mission to Niue A mission representing the United Nations Special Committee of 24, dealing with decolonisation, left New York today to visit Papua-New Guinea and the New Zealandadministered Pacific Island of Niue. The mission, the first to be sent to the Pacific by the committee, will seek firsthand information on conditions generally, and attempt to ascertain the aspirations of the people of both territories, in accordance with General Assembly resolutions of December, 1971. The mission is led by the chairman 24 (Mr Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania). The other memof the Special Committee of bers are Mr Frank Owen Abdulah, of Trinidad and Tobago, and Mrs Brita Skottennan, of Sweden.—New York, June 16.

Costly claret An American wine merchant, Mr Peter Morrell, bought a bottle of wine in London yesterday to give to his friends for dinner—at a cost of nearly SNZ9OO. Mr Morrell had flown from New York specially to bid at an auction sale for the rare doublemagnum of Chateau Laflte, 1865. The wine fvhich was originally bought more than 100 years ago for the winecellars of the fifth Earl of Rosebery, a Liberal Prime Minister, was knocked down to Mr Morrell for £4lO at Christie’s.—London, June 16. i Unwelcome intruder • The deliberations of a Lon- i don High Court judge and • jury came to an abrupt end < yesterday, when a rat poked | its nose into the courtroom. : Mr Justice Rigg adjourned the hearing of an arson case after a member of the all- , male jury called his attention to the fact that a rat had appeared behind the jurybox. An usher inspected the hole between a basement and the temporary courtroom, and vermin control experts ' were called in. “The judge had to adjourn,” quipped an official. “We’re only allowed • to have 12 people on a jury.” The hearing, resumed 45 1 minutes later, after the rat- < hole had been blocked off. ’ —London, June 16. .

Seabed study Russian scientists have investigated underwater volcanoes in the Mediterranean with a remote-controlled “crab” described by the news agency, Tass, as similar to the Lunokhod, the vehicle that has explored the Moon’s surface on orders from the Earth. Tass says that the “crab” was controlled by using an electric cable.— Moscow, June 16. Cyprus extension The Security Council has approved a further six-month extension of the United Nations peace-keeping force in Cyprus, until December 15. All 15 members of the council except China, which abstained, voted for the

extension. The United Nations Secretary-General (Dr Kurt Waldheim), who has just returned from talks in Cyprus, Turkey and Greece, told the Council that the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean island was “anything but encouraging—in fact, it is deeply worrying.” — New York, June 16. Price of taste A United States Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the $41,753 damages awarded to Charles Mobbs, of Mandeville, Los Angeles, Mr Mobbs sued the * Hammond Bottling Company because he lost his sense of taste after drinking one of the firm’s soft drinks.—New Orleans, June 16.

Homosexual rally ■ A rally for homosexuals - will be held in Greenwich i Village, New York, on SunI day, Father’s Day, to com- ; memorate “Gay Pride Week.” . The organisers saw that it , will include a kissing booth, J dancing, and fortune-telling, , to be followed by a march ’ through about 50 Manhattan ; streets to a “love-i»” at Central Park. The week, spon- ’ sored by the Gay Activist Alliance, commemorates a raid, in 1969, on a bar in Greenwich Village which gave rise to a series of protests in 1 which male and female homo--1 sexuals demonstrated against 1 alleged harassment by the 1 police.—New York, June 16. Better liquor move Officials in New Delhi have reduced the price of “country liquor”—a fermentation of rice, flowers and sugar—by half, to five rupees (64c) a bottle, in an attempt to curb sales of illegal liquor, which has killed 200 peasants this year. To make up for lost revenue, a 5 per cetnt extra duty will be put or whisky and other imported drinks. — New Delhi, June 16.