Cable news in brief

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33520, 29 April 1974, Page 13

Cable news in brief

Ban lifted... Engineering workers in Britain have ended their 13- ■ day overtime ban, their union ■ leaders having accepted a new pay offer. The Amalgamated Union of Engineering ; Workers has accepted a pack- ■ age giving increases of up [to £3.50 a week to its 2.5 million members.—London, April 28. ... and one imposed [ The Bangladesh Government has imposed an indefinite ban on public meetings and processions in jthe capital and nearby indusI trial and commercial towns. The Dacca District Administration says that the measure is “a pre-emptive lone, against a possible [breach of the peace.” The I move comes two days after the Prime Minister (Sheikh iMujibur Rahman) ordered I military action to maintain, law and order in the country, 1 ■ and to curb gun-running and 'smuggling.—Dacca, April 28. ■ .Veic Russian railway j The General Secretary of ■ the Soviet Union Communist! Party (Mr Brezhnev) yester- i ■ day hade farewell to the first; I group of young Russian! ivolunteers to leave for work! lon a new, 2000-mile railway through the Soviet Far East.) The Baikal-Amur line, which will run roughly parallel to; the final eastern stretch of the Trans-Siberian railway, but several hundred miles to the north, is an important project of the country’s fiveyear plan, 1976-80. The group of 600 youths — volunteers from the Komsomol, or Com-I munist Youth League, which left yesterday, will be followed by thousands more as! local housing and working facilities are created in the; wild, far-eastern Taiga. The! new railway line will pass ■ through regions rich in [timber, ores, coal, gas, and [oil where industrial centres' will be established, in what Jis now a wilderness, in the next 15 years.—Moscow, April 28. \s4ls castle

A Moorish castle in ruins near Granada, Spain, realised 35,000 pesetas ($415) at an auction yesterday. Bidding began at 500 pesetas ($6), the reserve price set by the Ministry of Finance, which sold the castle and its surrounding wall at Loia. The purchaser’s identity was not disclosed. —Granada, April 28.

Freighter aground The Greek-registered [freighter Spalmoatori Engineer is reported to be aground on a coral reef off the east coast of Zanzibar., The Dar-es-Salaam “Daily; (News" says that the 6354-[ ■ ton vessel struck the reef in| (high winds on Wednesday,; and that her master, Captain! 11: Tsichillis, thinks that she, [is likely to break up before! [any salvage attempt can be| made. He and his crew of 13, mainly Greeks, took to the, I life-boats and reached al [coastal village on Zanzibar; yesterday. — Dar-es-Salaam, [ April 28. Moscow-Paris accord I France has signed a copyi right agreement with the; ■ Soviet Union and is the first 'West European country to [do so. Mr Jean-Louis Tour-! nier, director-general of the French Association of Authors, Composers and Musical Publishers. who signed the accord with the ; Soviet Union copyright agency, is quoted by Tass as [saying that it would promote [the interests of cultural workers in the two countries, [and contribute to broader ■ international copyright co--operation.—Moscow, April 28.

Tax on obesity? The Australian Government has been urged to consider imposing h< avv tax penalties on fat people as “potential burdens on the communitx ” (The Government has been t<>]d that it should give tax [concessions for fitness, and [should legislate for reduced ■ insurance premiums for [ people who have lost weight. .[The “tax-on-fatties” plan was [outlined to senior Govem[ment officials by the director of physical education at Mel[bourne University. Dr A XX'. Willee, at a three-day conIference in Canberra on [leisure. —Canberra, April 28. Quiet, please . .. A Cockney street trader, summonsed for causing an [obstruction, told a London magistrate yesterday: "I have a terrible hangover, and if you could tap your hammer instead of banging [it, 1 would much appreciate it, sir." In a whisper, the Magistrate (Mr St John Hamsworth), fined him £lo.—London, April 28. Bhutto jor Pekin" Ihe Pakistan Prime Minister (Mr Bhutto) will visit m Peking on May 11, at the in vitation of tne Chin<*s< Prime Minister (Chou Inlai).—lslamabad, April 28