Cable Briefs

Press, 28 December 1978, Page 6

Cable Briefs

Death deadline The kidnappers of two British bankers have set a deadline of noon on Saturday (7 a.m. Sunday, N.Z. time) for their ransom demands to be met by the Government of El Salvador. A Left-wing guerrilla group, the Armed Forces of National Resistance, is demanding the release of five comrades and the publication of its own manifesto as the! price for the freedom of the two Britons, Mr lan Massie! and Mr Michael Chatterton.: —San Salvador.

N-plant for Aust?

The Japanese science and technology agency has recommended building a nuclear fuel-enrichment plant in northern Australia using Ja p a n e s e-supplied technology, the Australian “Financial Review” has reported. According to the newspaper, the agency’s report said the plant should begin working in the mid1980s, and would eventually produce enough nuclear fuel for 10 reactors with one million kilowatts capacity each for a year. The scheme is waiting for a go-ahead from the Australian Government which has not been as enthusiastic as the Japanese Government about such a project, the newspaper reported. — Sydney.

Hijack trial bid

The United States Attorney’s Office has said it will | seek permission to try Robin Oswald, aged 17, as an adult (for the hijacking of an airliner with 87 people aboard last Friday. The Trans World Airlines DC9 was forced to land in the small town of Marion in southern Illinois by Miss Oswald, who demanded that a convict, Garrett Trapnell, be released from a nearby prison. The authorities say Miss Oswald, who dropped out of high school earlier this year in St Louis, Missouri, is a juvenile under Federal law but an adult under the state law of Illinois. Angkor tourists

A group of 20 foreign correspondents, businessmen, travel agents, and others have left Bangkok on the first charter flight to the famous ruins of Angkor, closed to foreign visitors since the communist victory in Kampuchea (Cambodia) in 1975. A spokesman for Thailand’s Erawan International Company, organiser of the tour, said the group had taken off on a 44-seat Avro jet to begin what the organisers hope would be daily tours to the centuries-old temples and ruins, starting on January 1. —Bangkok.

Mayor rebuffed Tl embattled Mayor of Cleveland (Mr Dennis Kucinich) had been rebuffed by the City Council in his latest attempt to rescue debtridden Cleveland from default. Just over half the 33-member council ignored his call for a special session to pass legislation peldging the city’s 1979 payroll tax revenue to six local banks as collateral for extending overdue loans amounting to SUSIS.S million. Cleveland, Ohio’s largest city with a population of 625,000, defaulted on repaying the loans when they fell due last December 15. — Cleveland.

Embassy shuffle? The United States Government is looking into a report that Taiwan has transferred three embassy buildings in Washington to private groups, hoping to keep them in sympathetic hands after the United States revokes diplomatic recognition, a United States spokeswoman has said. CBS News reports that the Taiwanese Government gave deeds for its embassy and a chancery building — valued at a total of SUS2.6M — to Friends of Free China, a private lobbying group. — Washington.