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Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33962, 1 October 1975, Page 17

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Political offence A West German innkeeper has been fined $616 for decorating his bar with swastikas and inviting patrons to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday. A bartender was fined $2lB for helping to organise the party, at an inn, on the North Sea island of Sylt. The two men were convicted on a charge of disregarding a West German law against displaying symbols of a subversive political party.— Niebvell. Inquiries halted American tax revenue officers have suspended investigations into the use of the Bahamas and other foreign countries as tax havens because their agents may have broken the law when gathering information. The Internal Revenue Service Deputy Commissioner (Mr William Williams) said that “potential violations” included a Miami informant’s surreptitious removal, and photo-copying, of materia] in a foreign national’s briefcase while its owner, understood to be a Bahamian, was with a woman at a meeting arranged by the informant.—Washington. Changes in U.K. Britain’s postal service has gone metric, giving weights in grams and kilograms insteads of ounces and pounds, and size limits in centimetres and metres instead of inches and feet. At the same time the Post Office has increased its charges for first and second-class mail by up to 20 per cent, and the prices of telephone calls and telegrams will be raised tomorrow.—London. U.S. deficit The United States Budget deficit for the 1975-76 financial year could reach $90,000 million, instead of the estimated $68,000m. A Congressional committee has been told this by both the Treasury Secretary (Mr William Simon) and the Budget Director (Mr James Lynn), but they added that the figure would depend on tax cuts, oil prices, and economic recovery .— Washington. Castro adamant

The Cuban Prime Minister (Dr Castro) has indicated that he would rather renounce the restoration of normal relations with the United States than give up his support for the independence of Puerto Rico. Dr Castro told hundreds of thousands of cheering Cubans at a mass rally in Havana s Revolution Square that dignity was more important than economic interests, and that Cuba’s principles would never be a matter for negotiations.—Havana. ‘Jews harassed'

Russian Jews have told Radio Israel that the authorities in the Soviet Union have intensified their harassment of those wishing to emigrate. The radio said that five people contacted by telephone in Moscow and Leningrad alleged that they and other Jews wishing to leave for Israel had been either dismissed from their jobs or threatened with dismissal, and that their children were either being refused entry to universities or told to leave. At the same time, more exit visas were being summarily rejected than before, the radio added.—Tel Aviv. Marine occasion The first ship to sail direct from Egypt to Israel since the founding of the Jewish State in 1948 has arrived in the southern port of Ashdod. The Greek liner Stella Solaris, carrying 400 American tourists on a cruise around the world, was greeted by blaring ship sirens, multii coloured banners, and hundreds of flags.—Tel Aviv.