Cable news in brief

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33110, 28 December 1972, Page 9

Cable news in brief

Attack on Peronist Three men firing machineguns wounded a leading supporter of the former Argentine President, General Juan Peron, in a Buenos Aires street yesterday. The gunmen, riding in a van, fired more than 60 bullets at the car in which Mr Luis Sarafin Guerrero, joint secretary of the powerful Metal Workers’ Union, was a passenger. Mr Guerrero was only slightly wounded by a bullet fragment, and later returned to work at his union’s headquarters. His chauffeur received a bullet in the leg, but his condition is not serious. —Buenos Aires, Dec. 27. Escape to freedom A young East German electrician caught Communist border guards napping in pre-dawn fog today, and rammed his speeding car through three border barriers on the Berlin-Hof autobahn to escape into West Germany. Not realising that he had already crossed the border, the! refugee, aged 18, kept his foot on the accelerator and shattered another autobahn crossing-gate manned by Bavarian border policemen, who gave chase. When they caught up with the electricati, his first question was “Am ’ in West Germany?” Assured that he was, the refugee gave j a sigh of relief.—Hof, Dec. I 27.

Floods in Malaysia Floods hit Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, last night for the first time this year, forcing several hundred people to leave their homes. A tributary of the River Klang burst its banks, cutting off the main exits to the two universities, and leaving many motorists stranded in four feet of water. In northeast Malaysia, fresh flooding has cut the main coastal highway to the north, isolating the state of Kelantan, bordering Thailand. — Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 27. British hope Five days without fresh outbreaks have given British agricultural authorities hope that they have halted the spread of the mysterious swine .vesicular disease in the Midlands. In two weeks, more than 3500 pigs were slaughtered in 11 outbreaks of the disease, which was new to Britain.—London, December 27. Snails in demand Snail-hun'ting has been banned for three years from! January 1 by the cantonal! government of Valais, in north-west Switzerland. The| authorities say that snails are! being hunted for gourmets I almost to the point of extinc-i tion.—Sion, Switzerland, Dec.' 27.

I Hero's funeral The body of Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari. aged 94, the man Gandhi called his con-science-keeper, was cremated yesterday after a hero’s funeral. The police estimate that 800,000 people lined the twomile route from the Rajaji Hall, Madras, to the Krishnampet cremation grounds, where the former independdence fighter’s sandalwood pyre was lit 24 hours after he had died The death of the man known throughout India as Rajaji ended the era of Gandhian nationalists who converted India in the 1940 s from a British colony to the; world’s largest democracy.—; Madras, Dec. 27. JFest Java ’quake More than 500 houses were! damaged last week when a! strong earthquake rocked the! West Java district of Rancak-' along, but there have been' no reports of casualties. The! Antara news agency reports that about 4200 have been! taken to safety.—Djakarta, [ ! December 27. Coals to Newcastle I Italy, the world’s largest | wine-producing country, exported more than 111 million gallons to France in the first nine months of this year, an [increase of 56 per cent on the same period last year.— Rome, Dec. 27.