Cable briefs

Press, 18 September 1976, Page 7

Cable briefs

Hunt for aircraft

Search teams are being sent to a mountainous area east of Manila where a missing light aircraft carrying six senior diplomats from the United States, West Germany, and Japan; may have come down. Phi-; lair sources have said. The; search is being directed to] an area south-east of the] town of Antipolo, some] 40km from Manila after at tentative fixing made by a homing device on a search aircraft. — Manila. Typhoon toll 141 Typhoon Fran, which hit Japan last week-end, has left 141 people dead and 25 others missing and caused at least SI4OOM worth of damage, Government officials have said. — Tokyo. Japan rejects plea Japan has strongly rejected a European plea to cut its shipbuilding capacity in the face of a shipping recession, the Association of West European Shipbuilders has said. More European shipbuilding yards may be forced to close. — Rome. Move to aid pound In a move to restore overseas confidence in the British pound, the Bank of England has called for additional special deposits from the nation’s commercial banks. The move will effectively curb the growth of the money supply and reduce domestic borrowing, an economic indicator watched closely by Britain’s foreign creditors, including the International Monetary Fund. — London. Russian plea The Russian Nobel Peace prizewinner, Andrei Sakharov, and lead! Soviet Jewish dissidents have appealed to President Ford and the Democratic Presidential candidate, Mr Jimmy Carter, to ensure United States backing for human rights in the U.S.S.R. and throughout the world. In an open letter to Mr Ford and his election rival, Dr Sakharov said f e task of upholding political and civil rights was iseparable from that of guaranteeing international security. — Moscow. Israeli peace offer

The Prime Minister of Israel (Mr Yitzhak Rabin), in a Jewish New Year message, has offered peace negotiations with all Israel’s Arab neighbours. Mr Rabin said the coming year would find Israel ready as always to negotiate a final over-all peace treaty or separate agreements ending the state of war. He hoped the yearold interim agreement with Egypt would prove a first small step. — Jerusalem. Aust, buys Grummans The Australian Government is expected to purchase six second-hand Grumman tracker aircraft from the United States to boost the Australian Navy’s air arm, according to Government sources. No details of the proposed purchase price were available, but the sources said the Government had been offered a good deal on the Grummans, twinengined coastal surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft. — Canberra. Record spending The United States defence budget for the 1978 fiscal year will be the biggest ever, probably higher than $120,000M, the Defence Secretary (Mr Donald Rumsfeld) has forecast. The amount will depend on the result of

Soviet-American talks to conclude a second agreement on limiting strategic nuclear weapons. — Washington.

12 hurt in fight

Twelve people have been! injured when the police! fought with demonstrators ] who had trapped a prominent French newspaper owner in an office in Paris. Fighting began when police intervened to disperse angry members of the Communistled Syndicate du Livre who for two hours prevented Mr Emilien Amaury, proprietor of the tabloid, “Parisien Libere,” from leaving a meeting in the working-class tenth arrondissement (district) of Paris. Mr Amaury earned the wrath of the Syndicate du Livre in 1975 when he announced plans to cut the number of editions of “Parisien Libere” and make '*oo workers redundant. — Paris. U.S. tax cuts |

The United States Congress has given final approval to a compromise $15,700M tax bill which extends income tax reductions for all Americans, relieves inheritance taxes, and raises taxes on the, rich. President Ford is expected to sign the measure into law despite his objections to a controversial provision for stiff tax penalties on American corporations which co-operate with the Arab economic boycott of Israel. — Washington.

U.S. meat move An additional two bills aimed at closing the Puerto Rican loophole in the Meat Import Act have been introduced in the United States Congress. The latest legislation would ensure that all foreign meats entering the United States from foreign trade zones will be included in the voluntary quota system. Australian meat producers have been accused of attempting to circumvent the 1964 act by means of processing in Puerto Rico. — Washington. Durable beef

Scientists in Australia have developed a method of producing beef still edible 'after four months’ without refrigeration. A spokesman for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s meat research laboratory in Queensland said it had found that by pumping cuts of beef with saturated brine containing curing agents, it produced beef that was still edible after four months at 37deg. C. In addition to the cuts being pumped full of brine, they are sealed in a plastic vacuum pack so that the meat is covered by a thin layer of brine, — Canberra. Bomb near ship A bomb has exploded underwater next to a Soviet container ship and anti-Com-munist Cubans have claimed responsibility for the blast, the United States Coast Guard has reporteu. A spokesman said no injuries or damage W'ere caused by the attack against the 530-ft-long Ivan Shepetkob, berthed at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. — New York. Tragic crash A father of four was under heavy sedation yesterday after finding his wife and three daughters lying dead in the crumpled wreckage of their family car. Mr Joe Mazzaferrq, aged 39, of Yarroweyah, near Shepparton, in north-eastern Victoria, had been travelling a few kilometres behind his wife in another car when he came across the wreckage. His eight-year-old son, Frank, was taken to the Austin Hospital, Melbourne, but died soon after arrival. — Melbourne.