CABLED BRIEFS

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 7

CABLED BRIEFS

L.S.E. protest

Jeering students have prevented Greater London ’officials from serving a court writ ordering the abandonment of a 16-day-old sit-in at the London School of Economics. The students. 600 of them, are barricaded inside in protest against Government plans to increase tuition fees by up to 313 per cent.—London. Reporter defects A Czechoslovak news agencv correspondent who worked in Bonn for six years has defected to Britain, saying he spied in West Germany for his country’s military intelligence. the London "Daily Telegraph" newspaper has reported. The defector, Svetozar Simko, aged 36. has given Western counterintelligence the names of many Communist agents and described their functions inside and outside the Czechoslovak Embassy in Bonn, the report says, there was no immediate confirmation from British official sources.— London. I ictim 1703

A prominent Ulster businessman. Peter Hill, the 45-year-old owner of a large furniture firm, has become the 1703rd person to die in sectarian warfare in Ulster since fighting erupted in 1969. He is the seventeenth to die this year. He was shot outside his home, from a car.—Londonderry. Envoy arrives

The United States special envoy, Mr Clark Clifford, has arrived in Nicosia to begin’ talks with the President of Cyprus (Archbishop Makar-’ ios) about settling the! dispuie between the Greek’ and Turkish Cypriot com-' munities. He has’already had! high-level discussions in, Greece and Turkey.—Nicosia.i If hitlani s’ snub

The Leader of the Australian Opposition (Mr Gough Whitlam) and his wife. Margaret, have refused an invitation to dine with the Queen at Government House. Canberra, during the Queen's Australian visit. They refused to accept an invitation from Sir John Kerr, the GovernorGeneral. who dismissed Mr Whitlam’s Government in 1975.—Canberra. Militarv day

The Soviet Union has celebrated Army and Navy Day with warnings to aggressors and an assurance to the Soviet people of the Red Army’s strength. The Soviet Union claims to have cut arms spending in 1977 to 822.900 M, compared with 523.400 M last year.— Moscow.

Hefty settlement ■ A big American catering company has agreed to pay the singer. Connie Francis, 81.475.000 in an out-of-court settlement stemming from her being raped in November, 1974, in one of the firm’s motels. She had sued the firm for failing to provide her with a safe and secure room.— Boston. Food drop About 30 stranded motorlists at Avon Downs, near the 'Queensland-Northern Territory boarder, had their first I fresh food in almost two ’weeks yesterday. A police I light aircraft from Mount Isa !made food drops to the .motorists, who are reported Ito have been forced to fossick for supplies. The police lat Mount Isa report that the flooding appears to be easing. —Brisbane.

Guerrillas kill five Communist guerrillas have killed five people in Thailand, the police have said. Three border policemen died in a guerrilla ambush in the north-east. In southern Thailand guerrillas killed a policeman and a soldier. — Bangkok. | Ties cut I Taiwan has broken off ’diplomatic relations with Liberia, after the West ; African State announced it ’had established formal ties ’with China. A Foreign Minjistry statement said that Taiwan was closing its Emibassy in Monrovia and withdrawing agricultural and (veterinary missions from i Liberia. — Taipei. Body snatched An Italian gang has .snatched the body of a Bari ■ businessman from a ceme- ’ lery and demanded one billlion lire (about 81.IM) in ransom, threatening to “throw the body to the fish" |if they do not comply. The ■ body was that of the father of a member of Parliament in the ruling Christian Democratic Party. A message asking for the ransom was ■ signed N.A.P., the initials standing for Proletarian Armed Units, an underground Left-wing extremist group. — Bari.

‘Pirate’ fined

A Texas oil worker with a i roving elbow has pleaded guilty in a Federal Court to poking “the rear anatomy" ,of three stewardesses aboard ia National Airlines flight from London to Miami last i morph. Aubry Bumgard. returning to the United States (from a North Sea oil rig. iwas fined a total of SB5O and placed on six months non-reporting probation. He 'had been charged under the lair piracy statute. — Miami.