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Press, 20 October 1981, Page 8

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Sainthood for Tsar

Tsar Nicholas 11.. his family and about 8000 other - victims of the Russian revolution will be canonised in . New York later this month as martyred saints of the Russian Orthodox Church, according to Church officials in exile. Nicholas, his wife , Alexandra, their children and the family's physician, maid, cook and footman ; will be canonised with thousands of other Christians who were murdered bv communists after the 1917 revolution, “jlever in the history of the church have-so many people been canonised, because at no time have there been so many Christian . martyrs,” said‘Bishop Gregory, secretary to the synod of bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia.—New York. ■■

Alternative rally

A pick-up truck is powered by a wood-burning stove, a small compact car runs on sunflower, oil, and other vehicles burn “snickerhbl,” an alcohol fuel distilled from waste candy bars.- They were among the 38 cars and trucks that- left the Orange County international raceway in California at the week-end in a cross-country competition where speed does not matter hut fuel efficiency does. Entrants in the alternative fuels rally hope to cover 5200 km and wind up in Rochester, New York, in a week. Along the way stops will be made at wood piles or “snickerhol” tanks, which will be filled with a fuel made from stale and otherwise unwanted candy bars.—lrvine, California.

‘Wagner stays’

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra cancelled a controversial performance of a work by Richard Wagner, the Nazis’ favourite composer, at the week-end but said it was out of respect for the former Foreign Minister, Moshe Dayan, who died on Saturday and not because of Wagner's anti-Semitic record. The orchestra broke a 33-year boycott of Wagner's music last week by playing selections from “Tristan and Isolde" despite catcalls and fistfights that broke out in the audience. Representatives of organisations of former concentration camp victims ' said they planned demonstrations to prevent the performance of Wagner’s music. But an orchestra spokesman said: “We plan to stick to our decision to play Wagner."—Tel Aviv.

Divers ‘played jokes’

The salvage company which landed.sNZB9 million of sunken treasure from the wreck of H.M.S. Edinburgh has promised to investigate claims that divers had treated the ship, designated a war grave, with disrespect. Some of the divers are said to have played macabre jokes with the remains of sailors who died in the Edinburgh, which was sunk during World War 11. A newspaper photographer, who was on -the salvage ship in the Barents Sea, said: “There was talk of skulls being placed with a chemical light inside them to frighten the next diver. From the talk, it did indeed frighten the next diver.” The divers’ employers have denied the accusation.—London.

Blast revenge?

Ari?I.R.A. car bomb which critically injured the commander of the Royal Marines may have been in revenge for a swoop by the Marines on the funeral of a guerrilla hunger striker in Northern Ireland in July; the police have said. Lieutenant-Gen-eral Sir Steuart Pringle, aged 53, had his right leg amputated below the knee after the blast in his car outside his home in Dulwich, south London. At the funeral in July of a Republican hunger striker, Joe McDonnell, troops swooped on three armed and masked I.R.A. men, wounding two and seizing four people.—London.

Sudan round-up

Sudanese security forces have.- detained more than .10,000 people over the last eight weeks in an attempt to counter ' Libyan-inspired subversion, Government sources have said. Hundreds of people have been rounded up over the last few days, the sources added, and large quantities of arms and . ammunition had been seized. The Government says the crackdown is to counter a Libyan plot .to undermine the pro-Western rule of President Jaafar Nemery.-Khar-toun.

Mine air cut

Air was cut off early yesterday to two shafts at the coal mine in northern Japan where 60 men — 10 confirmed dead and 50 presumed dead — remain trapped after three days. Officials at the Hokkaido Colliery and Steamship Company, owner of the Yubari coal mine, said heat-resistant vinyl bags were installed in shafts leading to the pit where a gas leak on Friday set off Japan’s worst mining disaster in more than a decade. Thirty-three bodies have been recovered.— Tokyo.

Refugee ‘racket’

Initial investigations ■ into the status of -146 people who arrived in Darwin recently on board a fishing boat appeared to have exposed “what looks like an extremely serious racket,” the Australian Immigration and Ethnic Affairs Minister (Mr lan MacPhee) has told Parliament. He said the vessel had not come from Vietnam and he expected action would bp taken to prosecute at least some of the arrivals. Sixty children were on board “and that creates considerable difficulties because. they are innocent victims of other people's decisions.” Those on board the- boat were still being interviewed. — Canberra.

Schmidt discharged

The West German Chancello (Mr Helmut Schmidt) has been discharged from hospital, four days after he was fitted with a heart pacemaker. The Chancellor was fitted with the pacemaker on Tuesday, a day after he was taken to hospital with what was at first said to be a feverish cold. The operation, described officially as completely satisfactory, was carried out when a check uncovered the risk of heart rhythm disturbance.— Bonn.