Cable Briefs

Press, 17 June 1980, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Envoy leaves Iran A special United Nations envoy, Abdib Daoudy, who has been conferring in Teheran for the last three weeks on the Iranian-United States dispute, has left Iran to report to the United Nations Secretary-General (Dr Kurt Waldheim). The Syrian diplomat described his meetings with Iranian officials as “useful and good” but gave few details. He said the officials were all interested in the so-far unpublished report of a five-member United Nations inquiry commission that spent 17 days in Iran in February and March. — Teheran. Rower misses link A lone Atlantic oarsman trying to row the 2100 seamiles from Newfoundland to Ireland, has failed to make radio contact for 10 days. Kenneth Kerr, a Scot, was scheduled to link with British Army radio operators in the south of England but has not made contact. He has now missed three broadcasts. Before setting out from St John’s on May 20, Mr Kerr, aged 28, a former ’ Royal Navy submariner, said 'he expected the voyage in his 3.9 m boat Bass Coni queror to take 85 to 90 Idays. — London. Carter’s ‘sharp’ note President Carter has writ-* ten a “sharp” letter to the West German Chancellor (Mr Helmut Schmidt) warning him against any deals • with the Soviet Union that might delay the stationing of medium-range nuclear missiles in Western Eruope. “Stem” magazine reported that Mr Carter decided to send the letter because he feared the West Germans might yield to Soviet pressure and seek to delay or block missile deployment before the West German national elections on October 5. “Stern” also said that two days before the letter was sent the American Security Adviser (Dr Zbigniew Brzezinski) told a “West European politican” that it was necessary "to make clear the anger of. the Americans over the Bonn foreign policy.” — Bonn.

King visits Germany . Oil supplies and the Middle East crisis ar# Repeeled .to dominate talks ’betweeri Chancellor Helmut i Schmidt and King Khalid of 1 Saudi Arabia, on his first ' State visit to West Ger-. ’ many. King Khalid will have ! two rounds of talks with Mr Schmidt during a [ stay, which will also takehim to West Berlin. . IJqj J Middle. East crisis was main theme in last' week’s _ European Common Market ' summit in Venice;- in which \ E.E.C. leaders agreed that the Palestine Liberation Or- ’ ’ ganisation should be associi ated with peace talks. King . Khalid’s visit will give Mr , Schmidt a useful opportun- , ity to hear Saudi views before another summit in Venice — a two-day meeting of the world’s main noncommunist industrialised nations this week-end. — Bonn. Inflation soaring Israel’s cost-of-liv.ing index ' jumped by 9.5 per cent last May, bringing the inflationary rate during the first five months this year to 42.8 per cent, the Central Bureau of Statistics has said. While the’ May index represented a drop over the previous month’s rate of 10.2 per cent, it was the biggest rise ever- recorded for that month. —Jerusalem. Lucky survivors Three men were lifted by R.A.F. helicopter from certain death in the freezing waters of the North Sea at the week-end after their plane ran out of fuel and crashed. A fourth man, a non-swimmer, drowned after a desperate struggle by his friends to keep him afloat One of the rescuers said: "I reckon they were in the water about 55 minutes. Usually a person cannot survive for more than an hour in the North Sea even at this time of year.”—-London. New paper New Yorkers will get’ a new afternoon newspaper today when the Wall Street Final, a five-day-a-week, 16page tabloid with sports, stock tables, and other features, makes its debut. The paper will have a print run of 45,000 and is aimed at home-going businessmen. There will be no pictures and no stories of any length.—New York.