Cable Briefs

Press, 3 October 1979, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Gigantic fire Three people have been (reported missing tn a gtgan tic fire which has swept through 23 oil storage tanks in the Rhine port of Duisburg in West Germany. The whole city was covered with a thick pail of smoke 500 m high. The fire started after a series of violent explosions, of unknown origin, a; the installations.—Duisburg. II reckage 'Syrian' Western military experts have said that Israel lost no aircraft in a battle with Syrian jets over the southern coastal region of Lebanon a week ago. Syria said it lost four aircraft in the engagement and shot down two Israeli planes. Israel denied any losses, but wreckage bearing English-language markings found in the area cast doubt on the Israeli statement. The military experts said the pieces of fuse[lage bearing English lettering found near Aramoun. south of Beirut, after the (battle came from Syrian Air [Force MiG2ls.—Beirut. Pilot dies A Pan American Airlines pilot asked to be excused from the controls of a Honolulu to Los Angeles flight yesterday, then died, an airlines spokesman has said [Captain Vernon H Juilfs.aged 59, was relieved in the cockpit about half an hour out of Los Angeles by a pilot who was conducting a routine flight inspection, a [Pan Am spokesman said 'When Mr Juilfs failed to return to his seat after [flight 862 started its descent a few minutes later. I a crew member went to look [for him and found him sprawled on the floor of a 1 bathroom.—Los Angeles. Drug-ring raids ‘ The police in Scotland [have arrested four Dutch [people in raids aimed at [smashing a drug ring making illicit amphetamines, [perhaps worth millions of dollars at street prices. The police said they had arrested four people in raids on two houses, one near Dundee and the other an isolated cottage near Edinburgh. The British Press Association, compared the Scottish swoops w'ith police raids which, in 1977, smashed a multi-million dollar underground ring making LSD for the illicit drug market in Europe and Australia. —Edinburgh. Hanger tenders The Australian Government has received 16 tenders for its 50 per cent equity in

Ranger Uranium, a spokesman for the Trade and Resources Minister (Mr Doug [Anthony) has said. The spokesman said that all the [tenders had been received [yesterday morning before [the deadline for tenders closed at midday . As late as last Tuesday it was revealed sin a Senate Estimates Com Imittee by a Government [official that no tenders had , been received. Observers ‘said failure to attract tenders could have considerably undermined Australia's ■ fledgling uranium industry.—Canberra. Execution iio-aliea<l ] A convicted murderer, [Jesse Bishop, who has bitterly attacked laywers for to delay his execu- ! tion may die within 32 days after a United States Supreme Court decision yesterday to refuse a request for a further stay. The Nevada (prison director (Mr Charles Wolff), said Bishop, aged 46. ! would be flown from the state prison in Carson City to Las Vegas today where a judge would issue a new death warrant. Bishop, who was condemned to death for killing a man while robbing a Las Vegas gambling casino has said that if he has to die he does not want to rot in a condemned cell during a long series of appeals. 1 — Las Vegas.