Cable news reported briefly

Press, 17 September 1976, Page 5

Cable news reported briefly

Chose n atch

The Soviet Union has sent at least two Kresta class [guided-missile cruisers, two bomber aircraft, and six spy ships to observe the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s “Teamwork 76” naval exercises. "Teamwork 76,” which began last week in the North-east Atlantic and the North Sea, groups 80,000 men, 275 vessels, 24 submarines and 900 aircraft from I the countries belonging to (the Atlantic alliance. It will include a landing by marines in Norway on September 20. —London. Rival for Rolls Aston Martin, the British (car manufacturer rescued from a financial crisis by (four American millionaires a (year ago, will soon launch a( ! super-sleek four-door La-1 ,gonda. The 5.28-metres-long! (car, which will be unveiled! lat the British Motor Show, next month, will compete ( directly in the £20’,000 range! with the Rolls-Royce Silver! Shadow. The Lagonda, with an entirely new Pininfarinalike design, will be powered by an Aston V 8 engine with automatic transmission. — London. Nurses on strike Relatives of patients have i moved into hospitals throughout Israel today to help look after their kin affected by a strike by about 12.000 nurses, who are treating only emergency cases. They have rejected a : Government , offer of incentive payments to those described as “full-time bedside attendants in contact with patients,” and have demanded pay increases for all nurses. — Tel Aviv.

Vietnam in I.M.F.

Vietnam has been voted into membership in the International Monetary iFund, to which 128 countries belong, over the oppo-; sition of the United States.! The vote to admit the Hanoi: Government was taken at aj ispecial restricted session of'

the I.M.F.’s executive board, the issue being decided by a majority vote. — Washington. Tragic toll The final death toll from [the collapse of a six-storey apartment block in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday has !been officially fixed at 139 i since troops and civilian Ivolunteers cleared away the (rubble. A spokesman for the (Sind provincial government (says that rescue teams, working round the clock since the disaster, recovered 138 bodies and 49 survivors from the debris, but that one of the survivors had since died in hospital. — Karachi. Fatal train crash Five coaches of a goods train were derailed and crashed into a passing passenger train, killing three and injuring at least 47 black commuters, when the passenger train was about to enter the station at the black township of Kwa Mashu, about five miles north of Durban. — Durban. Transkei acquisition The South African Minis- ■ ter of Defence (Mr Piet ' Botha) has formally handed over the South African military base at Umtata to the! future independent Transkei authorities. The Transkei is due to receive independence from Pretoria on October 26 with Umtata as its capital.— (Umtata. ( Prague reshuffle : President Husak of Czechoslovakia has announced the I dismissal of three Ministers :in a Cabinet reshuffle. The (two Deputy Prime Ministers (Mr Jan Gregor and Mr [Frantisek Hamouz) have ‘been shifted to other, undisclosed posts, while the Food and Agriculture Minister (Mr (Bohuslav Vecera) has been (replaced by Mr Josef Nagor. [The reshuffle came a day after the Communist Party [Central Committee had harshly criticised certain economy officials.—Prague.

Magician shaken The fortieth • international magician’s convention in Brighton got off to an explosive start when an illusionist, Howard Peters, took more than the promised three minutes to free himself of his [(seven pairs of handcuffs and ’ leg irons, which were, in turn, chained to a small ( bomb. So, true to his word, ( the bomb, set in a small boat, '(went off, leaving the badly shaken magician to struggle [ ashore. —London. ( Curb on bribery The United States Senate has approved legislation to provide heavy fines and prison terms for representatives of American companies ; who bribe foreign officials. ijThe bill, an outgrowth of ithe Lockheed bribery scans'dais, was passed 86 votes to '(nil, and was sent to Con- ■ gress. — Washington. I ■ Visit postponed Yugoslavia has asked the British Leader of the Conservative Opposition (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) to postpone a visit tentatively ari ranged for mid-October beI cause President Tito is ill. Mrs Thatcher had asked (whether the timing of her 'visit should be altered because of his illness, t- Belgrade. | [ Obituary \ Prince Paul of Yugoslavia | has died in the American hospital in Paris after a short illness, aged 83. The Prince ■served as Regent for Pierre ’ II from 1934 to 1941, when ■ Pierre seized power, suppressed the Regency, and de- ! nounced accords with Germany, Prince Paul went to • Egypt after the coup d’etat. ' then to Kenva and later to 1 South Africa" and finally set- ' tied in Paris in 1948—Paris. i Reporter’s refusal Despite reneated warnings I that he could be fined or im- ■ i prisoned, a Columbia Broadcasting system reporter,

[Daniel Schorr, refused under oath to disclose the source [of a secret intelligence rei port which he leaked to the Left-wing New York newspaper, “Village Voice.” “To betray a source would be to betray myself, my career, and my life,” Mr Schorr calmly told the House of Representatives Ethics Committee. “It is not as simple as saying that I refuse to de it. I cannot do it.” The committee’s chairman, Mr John Flynt, warned Mr Schorr al least eight times that he faced possible contempt of Congress charges for refusing to tell from whom he (received the report on the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies. — Washington. i ‘Claim equal’ Homosexuals are children [of God who have a full and equal claim with all other (persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastora! (concern and care of the 'Episcopal Church. A resolution making this stand on ■'homosexuals for the first Itime in the Protestant denomination of 3 million members was approved on a voice vote by the 912 members of the House of Depu- ' ties in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The lay-clergy ■; branch of the Church’s Bi;cameral Legislative Con- ; vention also includes the House of Bishops, which (must ratify the resolution tc make the action final. Representative Episcopal women ; voiced support for the' ordination of women, a hotly I controversial issue, on which [there may be an authoritative decision this week. — [Minneapolis. ' Communist pledge The Communist Party of ■ Malaya has pledged tc !“bring about the complete victory of the new democra tic revolution of our country” in a message of condolence over the death ol (Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The ■ message to the Chinese ■ Communist Party says: “Ir (order to carry on the cause jieft behind by our esteemec

and beloved great teacher, Mao, the Malaysian Communists are determined to turn grief into strength.” An estimated 3000 Communist guerrillas are operating in jungle areas along the ThaiMalaysia border. The Thai Communist Party, in a similar message of condolence, has pledged to “drive out United States imperialism from Thailand and overi throw the reactionary Government.” — Hong Kong. Strike by Ford men The Ford Motor Company’s production lines in Detroit have been shut down by the third nation-wide strike in the company’s history: 170,000 workers are off the job in a SIOOOM contract dispute. The strike by the United Auto Workers’ Union is the largest industrial j shutdown since Genera]j Motors was closed by its 400,000 blue-collar employ-j ees for 67 days in 1970. Further negotiations have been) postponed until at least next! (Monday, and the U.A.W. ; (president, Mr Leonard) Woodcock, in an interview; on a national television! news programme, said that the strike would have to go, at least three weeks because! of the meenanics of negotiating a settlement and obtaining ratification. — Detroit. Prompt payment A Yugoslav insurance company has decided to pay the equivalent of SNZIS,OOO to the dependants of each of the 107 West Germans killed; in the worst air collision in aviation history. The insur-i ers, Dunav, have reached an' agreement with the Yugoslav company that owned the crashed DC9, Inex-Adria, on! (paying the money without delay. The chartered aircraft! collided with a British Air(ways Trident near Zagreb Hast Friday, and all 176 (people on board the two airlliners died. — Belgrade.