Cable briefs

Press, 2 June 1981, Page 8

Cable briefs

Bomb blast A television relay station was blown up yesterday outside Barcelona where King Juan Carlos took the salute at the first main military parade since an attempted military coup three months ago. Police sources said the relay station at Montserrat, near Barcelona, blew up just after the parade ended, but no-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack which caused no injuries. More than 13,000 soldiers shouting “Viva el Rey” (long live the king) marched past the sovereign in a display of tanks, aircraft, soldiers and security forces climaxing the annual armed forces celebrations.—Barcelona. P.L.O. man shot Naim Khader, the represenatjve in Belgium of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, was shot dead in a Brussels street yesterday, the police said. Police sources said Mr Khader was hit by five shots and died immediately. The attack took place in a quiet residential street near Brussels University.—Brussels. Chad treaty

All the main political-mili-tary factions in strife-ridden Chad, except Hissene Habre’s rebels, have agreed to lay down their arms and build a unified national army, according to President Goukouni Weddeye. The agreement is intended to pave the way for the withdrawal of thousands of Libyan troops from Chad, where they have been a source of friction among African States and have raised fears of introducing super-Power rivalry in the heart of the continent. The head of Chads transitional Government said the agreement was signed on Friday in N’djamena, the Chadian capital.—Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Ship’s fate? the most expensive warship ever built by Britain could be mothballed within weeks of its launch this week, the “Sunday Express” has reported. The ship, the $5240 million Ark Royal will be launched this week by the Queen Mother. The report said it now looked inevitable that the vessel would be mothballed within weeks because of the Thatcher Government’s intention to cut the Royal Navy to the bone. Although the official . line was that no firm deciJ sion had been taken, according to informed sources the. fate of the Ark Royal hung in the balance.—London.

Smoking protests Orthodox Sikhs demanding that smoking be outlawed have clashed repeatedly with policemen and pro-tobacco groups in the north Indian city of Amritsar, prompting the’ authorities to proclaim a week-long ban on assembly. The police fired tear-gas cahnisters and made a baton charge to separate clashing pro and anti-smoking groups in Amritsar, the holy city of the Sikhs, 400 km north-west of New Delhi. The All-India Sikh Student’s Federation and a breakaway faction of the Akali Dal Party have been agitating over the last month for a ban on smoking in the city, known for its "golden temple.” Sikhism, a sect founded about 1500, forbids smoking.—New Delhi. Drought measure More than 14 million people have been mobilised to dig wells, expand irrigation systems and transport water; sometimes in buckets, to fight a serious drought in north-east China's Shandong Province, a Shandong newspaper has reported. The “Dazhong Daily” said drinking water had become a problem for 3.24 million people and 200,000 large farm animals, who must depend on water hauled in long distances by tractors and horse carts. Since November, it said, the province has had an average 62rhm of rainfall, about 40 per cent of normal, and dry weather was expected to continue until the middle of this month as the droujht area expanded.—Peking. Oxygen supply Indecision in the British Health Department is holding up the home supplyof life-giving oxygen to sufferers of some types of chronic bronchitis, according to the “Sunday Times.” Its medical correspondent, Oliver Gillie, said the home supply of oxygen could save up to 3000 lives a year, but sufferers were not getting it because the department could not decide who should pay. The sufferers were known as “blue bloaters,” beca.ue a shortage of oxygen makes them turn blue, and thcv numbered between 20, Ob and 60,000 in Britain.—Lon don.