Cable Briefs

Press, 29 September 1979, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Tour cancelled The Moscow State Sy.m phony Orchestra’s 24-citj tour of the United Statej scheduled to begin ne» week, has been cancellef The tour’s cancellatiqj • conies after the defection » • recent weeks of five stars *. Godunov, of rti Bolshoi Ballet, in New York Leonid and Valentina Koj • lov, of the Bolshoi, in Lqt ‘ Angeles; and the Oh nipt 1 skating stars, Oleg ProtopJ pov and Ludmila Belousa,, * 'Switzerland. —New York. • Tokyo protest The Japanese Governmetf, will protest to the Sovie Union early next wed against the presence of soot 2000 Russian troops on i North Pacific island claims* by both Japan and Russia Japanese sources have said They said the Soviet Am bassador to Japan, (Mr D| mitri Polyanskii), would b| called to the Foreign Minis try on Tuesday or Wednej day to receive the protest The Japanese move will come after Japatf' Jese Defence Minister (Mi Ganri Yamashita) reports K .the Cabinet on the extent the Soviet militarisation of 'Shikotan Island, one of four in the southern Kurild chain claimed by Japan. bu£ 'occupied b\ the Sovip (Union since 1945.—T0ky0.. /

Investigator back The Ne.w' 'South Walejcorporate affairs in vestigatar, Mr Michael Fin nane, had his - holidays cqf short by the state Govern! ment yesterday so that l» could resume work on th! final stage of his inquiry into the business affairs oj the former Federal Primarj Industry Minister, Mr lan Sinclair. Mr Finnane will b| back at work on Mondaj preparing . his recommend ations on whether legal a<£, tion should be taken on any matters flowing from his in« quiries. He took a week’s leave last Wednesday after the release of his first re.port, which contained e number of allegations an<; led to. Mr Sinclair’s resignation.—Sydney.

Artificial heart An artificial heart foj | humans may be 'developed; within the next three years., a Japanese surgeon, kazul miko Atsumi, has told an 'international medical symj i posium in Berlin. The maiii obstacle to be overcome-, j was finding a material • which is sufficiently strong land which will not .be rejected by the patient’s body and blood system.—Berlin. Govt fractures Denmark’s ruling coalitiniv has broken up over an econ»‘ omic policy dispute, and thj’ Prime Minister (Mr Anker Joergensen) will tender bis Government’s resignation today to pave the way for a General Election. Political sources said the poll would probably take place on Octo* ber 23 or 30. Mr Joergensen said the Government would meet to decide the election date. 1 " He was speaking after. the failure of four days of talks between his-Social De* mocratic Party and the Lib? erals, who have ruled- Den. mark in coalition for 13 months, on economic policy for the next Parliamentary session.—Copenhagen. f Tough talks I North Atlantic Treaty Or(ganisation and Soviet bloc I negotiators have taken up -strong positions on disputed 'manpower figures at the start of a new round of East-West talks on force ret ductions. Western demand* that Soviet and Polish fig. ures should be recounted were immediately rejected by the Warsaw Pact, and some observers detected a slight hardening of the Com. munist position in the six* year-long Vienna negotiaj tions. N.A.T.O. says Warsaw Pact figures for ground force manpower in Central Europe are understated to the extent of at least-150,000 men. and thqt,no agreement on troop cuts is possible until this issue is resolved.—Vienna. " Talks over T , Egrtk, Israel, and the United States (have ended two days of talks, without resolving their differences on Palestinian autonomy, but agreed to continue to urge. Palestinians to - join the talks. The Egyptian Prime Minister (Mr Mustapha Khalil) declined at a press cont ference later to explain how they would persuade the ;P a 1 e s t i n i»a ns t A jom.—Washington.