Cable Briefs

Press, 22 January 1979, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Stiffer resistance Troops of the fallen l Government of Prime Minister,- Pol Pot, are massing for an attack on Vietnamese - held 1 Battambang, Kampuchea’s (Cambodia s) second-largest; city, sources in Bangkck have' reported. Westerh and Thai military analysts in Bangkok said the Vietnamese and the rebels were running into stiffer resistance. Despite, overwhelming evidence cited by sources in Thailand, Vietnam has denied invading: Kampuchea at all. But an Associated Press news and camera team that approached close to the Kampuchean coastline from | the sea at the week-end! reported seeing gunboats [with Vietnamese markings and flags that appeared to’ [be those of the new! Kampuchean Government. —[ Bangkok. Prince leaves hosp. The former Kampuchean (Cambodian) ruler, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, has left a hospital in New York five days after he was admitted for treatment of exhaustion. The 58-year-old prince had said on Thursday that he planned to remain in the West indefinitely and eventually would be joined in France by his two sons [and other members of his ■ family. Prince Sihanouk, [who fled to Peking after] | Vietnamese-backed rebels [took over in Kampuchea,[ ■flew to New York to protest! [the action before the United [Nations Security Council. — [New York. i Cadmium naming

The British. Government has launched an investigation into cadmium contamination in a small English village known for its fruit and cider. The Environment Minister ' (Mr Denis Howell) announced at a London news conference that high amounts of the poisonous metal were in the soil around the village of Shipman, whose 1000 inhabitants live amid the waste materia! of longdefunct zinc mines. But George Thiery, a 66-year-old | farmer who chairs the parish council, scoffed at the warnings. “I have eaten my own produce all my life as did my father before me. I’m still healthy, and I plan to continue eating niy vegetables. As far as I know, no one who grows vegetables in the village has ever suffered any unusual illness. We’re a healthy lot.” — London. Korean proposal The United States has said it hopes North Korea will [ respond seriously to a proposal by the South Korean President (Mr Park Chung-hee) to resume the long-stalled dialogue between the two countries. “The flexibility of President Park’s proposal to include a meeting at any levei and at any location with no preconditions is a serious effort to resume the talks,” a State Department spokesman said. — Washington. Second ’ffuake [ A strong earthquake shook [north-east Iran on Friday [night injuring an unspecified [number of people in the [town of Birjan, Iranian [Radio has said. The (earthquake was the second within five days — on Tuesday 150 people were killed in the eastern Iranian province of Khorasan. '(Teheran.