Cabled briefs

Press, 18 February 1977, Page 5

Cabled briefs

Curses released n young Fijian nurses, j who have been tending the terminally ill, have spent a week in custody in Sydney waiting for charges of being legal residents to be heard. Ihe two women were placed in a central police station cell they described as “filthy,” then transferred to a dormitory at the suburban Silverwater Women’s Prison, where they said women charged With prostitution, forgery, 6nd stealing were being held. Akanasi (Aggie) Ratu and Matui Apa Doko, were released from Silverwater on Wednesday after an appearance in the special Federal Court. The Crown failed in an application for the 24-vear-old women to be detained for a further seven days, pending a decision on' their future by the Immigration Minister.—Sydney. I Concorde hope President Jimmy Carter 1 has sent the French Presi-! dent (Mr Giscard d’Estaing)) a message saying he hopes: to see the issue of the New; York landing rights for the Franco-British supersonic l Concorde jetliner solved in a friendly way. The New York Port Authority, which is empowered to stop the Concorde from landing at New York’s Kennedy Airport, was scheduled to hand down its decision on February 10, but at the last minute put off the deadline until March 10.— Washington. Drug destroyed The police in northern Mexico have burned a marijuana stockpile valued at about SSOM at American street prices. The local police said the 80 tonnes of the drug destroyed at the town cf Badirahuato, 720 miles north-west of Mexico, had been seized in raids in the last month. The wild, mountainous region produces most of the heroin and marijuana consumed in the United States.—Mexico City. Trouser hitch A bewigged judge has ordered a trousered woman reporter out of his court, declaring that skirts are better suited to the dignity of the administration of ' justice. Miss Gisele Albertine, aged 22, of the Fleet Street News Agency, said the court'clerk at Knightsbridge Crown Court, London, had given her this message from Judge Marcus Anwyl-Davies, aged 53: "The judge said that if you do not wear a skirt, then he does not want you in his court. It goes against what he believes ought to be.”— London. Shipping restraint Japanese shipyards and trading companies have been applying self-restraint in receiving orders from West German shipbuilders, the Japan Shipbuilding Association says. It says the control has been applied since a complaint was lodged by the European Economic Community late last year against Japan’s monopolising of the West German market for small ships.—Tokyo. Gandhi guard Members of the Indian Opposition Janata Party have asked for independent observers to be posted in the constituencies of the Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, and her son, Sanjay, in the run-up to the General Election in March. They want to ensure that. Government machinery is not used for electioneering, they say.—New Delhi. Paper closed A Thai afternoon daily’ newspaper, “Siam Rath,” belonging to a former Prime Minister, Mr Kukrit Pramoj, has been closed for seven days on an order issued by Bangkok’s chief press officer, General Montchai Phankongchuen. General Montchai said the order cited tw’o columns which had satirised, made wrong accusations about the country, and carried false information which could cause panic to the general public and make foreign countries lose faith in the Thai Government. —Bangkok.