CABLE ITEMS IN BRIEF

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34042, 5 January 1976, Page 13

CABLE ITEMS IN BRIEF

Auclear blast • A nuclear device in the 200-kiloton to 1-megaton range was detonated deep in the Nevada desert yesterday, shaking buildings in Las Vegas, 115 miles away. It was also felt in Sacramento, California, 300 miles away., The blast, up to 50 times greater than the strength of the A-bombs that ended the Second World War. had been postponed several times, because of windy weather.! It was to have been America’s last nuclear under-’ ground test of 1975.—Pahute Mesa (Nevada). Prison mutiny About 200 inmates of a prison in the southern' Argentine provincial capital of Neuquen have surrendered and released the 18 prison guards they were holding hostage. The authorities say! that the brief mutiny' involved neither injuries nor' rioting. The prisoners are said to have been protesting! .against the authorities’ I failure to enact traditional I New Year clemency! I measures.—Neuquen.

(.lash in Burma Burmese troops have killed 39 Kuomintang (Chinese); troops and captured 43 others and a large amount of arms,' in two battles in the eastern ' state of Shan. The Chinese, force was part of the rem-! nants of the Kuomintang Army that crossed into Burma from China when the Communists won the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The presence of the Chinese, and their occasional attacks against China, have been an embarrassment to the Burmese Government, which has made repeated efforts to stop their activities.—Rangoon. Marathon sermon The Rev. Robert Marshall, of Birmingham, Michigan, set ' a record for non-stop preaching, but stopped 29 minutes short of his 61-hour goal, J saying that he was too “pooped” to go on. Mr Mar- ' shall, minister at the Birm- 1 ingham Unitarian Church for the last 14 years, began his! marathon sermon at one minute past midnight on New Year’s Day. The old record, listed by the “Guinness Book of Records” was 60 hours, and 25 minutes, established 18 months ago by an Irish 'Unitarian minister.—Birmingham. Basque protest Nearly 500 Basque nationalists have locked themselves inside a Bilbao church to support their demand for a total amnesty! for Basque political prisoners. The demonstrators, including prisoners’ families and political detainees released' under the part amnesty decreed by King Juan Carlos in November of last year, say! that they will occupy the! church until mid-day tomor-i row before staging a demon-! startion in the city centre. Armed police are standing guard outside the church, but have made no effort to disperse the protesters. Almost 50 per cent of Spain’s political prisoners have been freed under the King’s amnesty, according to the Government.—Bilbao.

Refugees held Twenty-seven refugee; from Cambodia. Laos, anc Vietnam are being held undei guard at Orly Airport. Paris after being refused entry intc France, according to reliabk sources, who say that they are among 130 refugees frorr the three countries sent tc France from Thailand by tht International Red Cross. They are now expected to be sent to Rome in a day or two, the sources say, adding that some were refused entry because they had no paper; and others because theii documents were suspect — Paris. Belief for Laos Truck-convoys of food stuffs and petroleum pro ducts have arrived in Vien tiane from North Vietnam tc relieve the economic squeeze Laos has been feeling since Thailand closed its border; with that country more than a month ago.—Vientiane. Multiple erash A truck trying to avoid two disabled cars skidded across an ice-covered high way near Syracuse, New York, yesterday, causing a pile-up of more than 50 ve hides. No-one was killed, but 65 people were treated foi injuries, including one mar who lost a leg. The police say that they had to tow away 52 cars. —Syracuse. .Vir oil supply The first oil well in the Kharkov area of the Soviet Ukraine has gone into service with a daily capacity ot 300 tonnes of crude oil. the news agency, Tass, reports The well is the first of a large group of wells due to be bored in the eastern Ukraine during the next five years.— Moscow. Divers* discovery Divers have found a number of archaeological remains, believed to be about 2000 years old. at the bottom of Capri’s Blue Grotto. They include a sft 3in marble statue of a sea god, and an altar. —Capri.

II olres maul hoy A boy, aged two, whose d leg was badly mauled bv ■ r three timber wolves at the »• Worcester Science Ct - c Zoo, Massachusetts, is in a e fair condition after undery going surgery. John Colorio's T *! leg became wedged in a ° three-inch gap between the '* ground and the wolf enciosy uure, and the wolves tried to 11 pull him in.—Worcester, e v Israel devalues s l Israel has devalued its curlr rency by nearly 2 per cent—- ~ to 7.24 Israeli pounds to the United States dollar. The new -rate was decided on by a Ministerial committee prej. sided over by the Minister j.'of Finance (Mr Yehoshua Rabinowitz) to offset the o i worsening halance-of-pav-e ments situation in the coune try. The old rate was 7.10 to s the dollar.—Jerusalem.