Cable Briefs

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Democrats 9 choice

Senator Edward Kennedy, (Democrat, Massachusetts) rather than President Jimmy Carter, is the first choice among Democrats to be their party’s 1980 Presidential nominee, according to a Gallup poll reported tn the “Washington Post.” — Washington. Mild rebuke

The chief of the British Defence Staff (Sir Neil Cameron) has been “gently carpeted” over his controversial May. Day speech in Peking, “The Times” has reported. Sir Neil returned to London on Saturday and met Mr Frederick Mulley, Secretary of State for Defence, in an atmosphere that sources described as “friendly”, the report said. Mr Mulley sought and received confirmation that Sir Neil and the other staff chiefs understood the convention that policy matters should be left to Government inisters.—London.

Rhodesia toll The Rhodesian military command said yesterday that 23 more people had been killed in the five-year-old guerrilla war. The dead included 19 black civilians, three nationalist guerrillas, and a South African sapper, Gerrit Keyter, it said.—Salisbury. Ulster shooting

An 18-year-old youth was shot dead and another youth was injured when soldiers opened fire as the pair tried to drive through an army check-point in a hijacked car in the Andersonstown area of Belfast on Saturday. In another incident a 16-year-old girl escaped serious injury when a gunman fired 16 rifle shots into her home at Bally Gawley, County Tyrone. — Belfast. Korean defects

A South Korean diplomat has sought asylum in Canada after alleging that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency conducted a widespread campaign of spying and harassment against Canada’s Korean community, his lawyer has said. Yungman Yang, vice-consul at the South Korean Consulategeneral, feared for his safety and had asked Canada for asylum for himself, his wife, and his three children, Mr Terence Caskie, the lawyer, said in an interview. A Canadian Government spokesman yesterday confirmed that an application for refugee status had been filed, but declined further comment on the case. — Toronto. Quota defied?

Eskimo whalers in Barrow, Alaska, already have exceeded their agreed quota for 1978 by landing four of the endangered bowhead whales, a government official has said in Washington. He said reports indicated that the Barrow eskimos had decided to continue hunting the bowhead in defiance of the quota, some crews already heading out. — Washington. Appeal in Brazil Relatives of 15 political prisoners on hunger strike and seriously ill after almost three weeks without food have appealed to public figures to intervene on their behalf. The prisoners, who have been moved to the prison hospital in Pernambuco, north-east Brazil, have staged the hunger strike in protest against the solitary confinement of two companions. — Rio de Janeiro.