Cable briefs

Press, 11 September 1981, Page 6

Cable briefs

Ship recovered Policemen dropped fromm helicopters on to a hijacked United States-registered freighter off the coast of Colombia yesterday and arrested three gunmen who seized it in the port of Barranquilla earlier in the week. The police said the helicopters sighted the Susan II 160 km from Barranquilla heading for the Guajira Peninsula. They said they believed the gunmen were drug traffickers. The hijackers had slipped on board the Susan II at Barranquilla harbour and forced the crew off at gun point. Recently hijackers took over another freighter in Barranquilla and used it to ship marijuana to the United States. — Bogota. Terms of inquiry The Australian Government has established guidelines and appointed a Royal commissioner to head its inquiry into the Australian meat industry. The former director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Mr Justice Woodward, will head the Royal commission, and he will have until September 1 next year to deliver its report. The inquiry follows the discovery of horse and kangaroo meat in boneless beef shipments to the United States. — Canberra. Pupils arrested Riot police armed with tear-gas yesterday arrested more than half the pupils of Papua New Guinea's third national high school after two days of unrest. The fifth and sixth form pupils at Keravat National High School, west of Rabaul in east New Britain province, have been demonstrating in support of three European teachers sacked without notice on August 26. The teachers — John and Elizabeth Menzela, formerly of England, and a New Zealander, Marek Koscielecki — had earlier given evidence to an Education Department inquiry of alleged homosexuality among senior Education Department headquarters staff. — Port Moresby. Children killed Alfredo Montiel, of Sterling. Illinois, pleaded with the power company not to stop service to his house and promised to pay his bill by Saturday. But the lights went off and a few hours later his three sons were dead in a fire apparently started by an overturned candle. “It just isn’t fair." the 25-year-old steel worker said. The county coroner said: “He’d promised to pay, but he was laid off from the steel mill and his unemployment cheque hadn't caught up yet." — Sterling. Sunny dome amid ice The Soviet Union has built a housing settlement capable of accommodating 3000 people inside an enormous glass dome in the frozen north of Siberia, the official Tass news agency has reported. It said the dome, in the town of Pionersky. enclosed eight apartment blocks. The glass will let in solar rays but will not let out heat. There is a swimming pool, canteen, post office, and cultural centre in the settlement. Thousands of workers are sent to remote parts of Siberia each year to help develop oil and gas reserves. — Moscow. Protesters killed Several people have been ' killed and some 40 people » injured in Teheran when ' armed security forces moved in to break up three demon- - strations in central Teheran organized by the under- » ground Left-wing people’s Mujahedeen organisation, hospital sources said. They said a “certain number of people" were killed but gave no details on the number or ' affiliation of the victims. -- Teheran. Crime up There was a murder every 23 minutes and robberies occurred at a rate of one a minute as crime in the United States rose 9 per cent last year, the F B I. has reported. The bureau's annual uniform crime report said 13 million serious crimes were reported last year in America, a country of 227 million, a level 55 per cent higher than a decade earlier According to the report criminals escaped apprehen sion in about four out of five crimes committed in 1980 with an arrest rate of 19 pei cent for all serious crimes — Washington. Death plot case An Iranian shopkeeper has been accused of offering to pay SSUS2SO,OOO for the assassination of Princess Ashraf, twin sister of the late Shah of Iran. Mohammah Ah Alikhani, who owns a television shop on the outskirts of Los Angeles, was named in a complaint by the District Attorney's "office. He said Alikhani was alleged to have discussed with a business acquaintance getting someone to kill Princess Ashraf, who lives occasionally in Santa Barbara, near Los Angeles. The acquaintance told the police. — Los Angeles.