Cable Briefs

Press, 31 August 1977, Page 8

Cable Briefs

■■ .in — Editors' demand The Argentine Editors’ Association has urged the | military’ Government to in- j vestigate the abductions and , arrests of seven leading . Argentine journalists. Five of j the journalists mentioned in ] the statement are under t arrest and others disappeared after being kidnapped by j armed men who claim to be i security agents. — Buenos ( Aires. | t 'Net closing' i

The Indian Home Minister (Mr Charan Singh) says “much bigger persons” than those already arrested may be involved in misappropriation of funds belonging to the ousted Congress Party of the former Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi. The Indian news agency, Samachar, quoted the minister as saying in answer to reporters’ questions: “The net is getting closer and closer.” Several of Mrs Gandhi’s important aides, including the private secretary who ran her successful 1971 election campaign, and the former Defence Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, have been arrested and released on bail for alleged misappropriation of party funds. — New Delhi. ‘Deputy beaten' Policemen beat a Socialist Parliamentarian when he tried to stop riot policemen hitting a youth after a weekend demonstration in the northern Spanish town of Santander, the Madrid newspaper, “Diaro 16” has reported. Mr James Blanco, a member of the main Socialist Party in the Lower House, told the liberal daily that policemen had called him a “pimp” and a “son of a whore” after he had told them he was a Deputy. — Madrid. Neo-Nazis *no threat' Mr Egon Bahr, manager of the ruling Social Democratic Party in West Germany has said in an interview’ that neo-Nazis are no threat in West Germany and that many foreign governments envy the country’s political stability. In the interview with the United States magazine “Newsweek,” Mr Bahr said that since World War 2, West German voters had decisively rejected all Right-wing parties. — Bonn. Drug-ban plan The United States Food and Drug Administration has i said it plans to ban the use lof penicillin in animal feed as a first step in eliminating all antibiotics from the feed of animals consumed by humans. The agency said | there was evidence that bacteria in animals had built up resistance to antibiotics and that this was passed on to man, thereby weakening one of the main defences against disease. Penicillin has been added to animals’ feed for 20 years. It helps them to resist disease ; and also to gain weight faster, although no-one is certain why, according to the agency. — Washington.