Cable Briefs

Press, 22 December 1978, Page 5

Cable Briefs

Floods recede Floodwaters have receded across the eastern half of Arizona, revealing a murky mess of mangled bridges, washed-out highways, and heavily damaged buildings. Thousands of residents were allowed to return to their homes. Eight people were missing and believed dead and many were still homeless as a result of a storm that dumped as much as 20cm of rain on parts of the state since Sunday. — Phoenix. Concorde worry Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin has called for an impartial examination by United States aeronautical safety experts of wing cracks found on the AngloFrench Concorde airliner. The Democrat Senator made the suggestion in releasing correspondence between himself and the Transportation Secretary (Mr Brock Adams) concerning cracks found in the wings of the supersonic aircraft. Mr Adams had said that American authorities agreed with Anglo-French experts that the problem was controlled. A total of 55 have been discovered in 10 Concordes. — Washington. Husband on trial

The prosecutor in the first trial in the United States of a man accused of raping his wife has said he will introduce evidence showing the husband used force and threats to make his wife have sexual relations with him. The prosecutor outlined his case in his opening arguments in the trial of John Rideout, a 21-year-old restaurant worker, who is accused of raping his wife, Greta, aged 23, in their home near Salem on October 10. The case is the first one to go to trial under a one-year-old Oregon law whichstates marriage is no longer a defence for rape. — Salem. i