Cabled briefs

Press, 5 July 1977, Page 8

Cabled briefs

| Royal nun? ■ Princess Marie-Astrid of ; Luxemburg may become a I nun if her rumoured mar- ■ riage to Prince Charles does not go ahead, writes the gossip columnist, Nigel Dempster, in the “Daily! Mail.” London. Dempster quotes a Luxemburg official close to the Grand Ducal Court as saying: “If, this marriage does not take; place our princess has decided to withdraw com-! pletely from public life. \ There has even been talk of her entering a convent.” — (London. ; Bicentenary over I The United States, with! 1201 candles on its birthday cake, has ended its official bicentennial year and celebrated Independence Day; with all the trappings of tradition — fireworks,! speeches, picnics, parades,; and memories. New York! Harbour was filled with bil-! lowing canvas again as the; city staged a miniature reproduction of last year’s! “Operation Sail.” — New lYork. | Appeal lost I A 25-year-old cook who I set fire to the Savoy Hotel in King’s Cross, Sydney, on • Christmas Day, 1975, has; lost an appeal against his; convictions and sentences of i life imprisonment for the; murder of four persons who died in the blaze. The Crown alleged at the trial of Reginald John Little, last year, that he set fire to a pile of newspapers near a rear door of the hotel, causing a fire which spread throughout the | building, killing 15 persons.! — Sydney. h

Blasphemy trial Britain’s first blasphemy trial in 55 years will start today, brought by an antipornography crusader against “Gay News” a newspaper for homosexuals. Mrs Mary Whitehouse, well known as an opponent of sexy movies, magazines, and stage show's, was given leave by a High Court judge last December, to bring a prosecution for criminal blasphemy against the paper and its editor, Denis Lemon. She complains of an illustrated poem about Jesus Christ published in “Gay News” last year. The poem was by James Kirkup. a scholar and poet who lists his recreation in “Who’s Who” as sta'nding in shafts of sunlight. — London. Kerr to quit?

Government House in Canberra has refused to comment on a report that the Governor-General (Sir John Kerr) is expected to resign his post in December. The report, in the “Weekend Australian” said it was believed that Sir John had told the Queen and the Prime Minister (Mr Malcolm Fraser) of his intention to resign. — Canberra.

Alert called off A military alert involving; 5000 French troops in the, newly-independent Red Sea; ’State of Djibouti has been! ■ called off. The French sol-’ [diets left in the strategic! ’ territory after it won inde-■ (pendence on June 27 were] ■ confined to barracks at the! week-end and all leave was; cancelled amid reports of; troop movements in neigh-; bouring Somalia. — Paris. Ambassador killed Two gunmen have shot! dead the Haitian Ambassa-. dor to Brazil (Mr Melorme! • Dehu) in the north-eastern! ’city of Salvador. The police! ■said that the assassins had! [told them they were hired! (for the killing by the first’ I secretary at the Haitian Em-1 bassy (Mr Louis Robert] MacKenzie). However, the i first secretary has denied! any involvement in the murder. The ambassador was’ shot in the back as he left: the bar of a hotel in Salva-[ dor. — Salvador. Flood toll 271 The official death toll in Karachi’s devastating floods; has now reached 271. — Ka-| rachi.

Briton prisoner

Britain has expressed concern to Vietnam about a Briton, Mr Richard White, who has been held prisoner ; in Ho Chi Minh City (for[merly Saigon) since May 10, ; government officials have ;said in London. They said [ requests for consular access I to Mr White had been made through the Foreign Office in London to the Vietnamese ■ Embassy and to the Vietnamese Government through ■ the British Embassy in ! Hanoi. Mr White is reported to be a 52-year-old chartered ■ accountant from Manchester. He had been working for the (United Nations as an econ-i ■ omic adviser in Vietnam for seven years before the .communist’s took over Saigon in May, 1975. — London. Fishermen attacked Twelve Thai fishermen are believed to have drowned,; more than 50 others to have; been arrested, and three; fishing boats to have been) seized when a Burmese gun-' boat attacked them in the /Andaman Sea south of Bang-’ kok. The Thai border police! headquarters has said Thai’ fishermen have been arrested and jailed in Burma, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and several other countries I in the past for illegally ■ entering or fishing in their t territorial waters. — Bang-j kok.