Cable briefs

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 8

Cable briefs

Zaireans in Chad The vanguard of an African peace-keeping force for Chad has arrived at N'djamena as the last batch of Libyan troops in the capital flew home. Some 250 Zairean paratroopers from a crack Kinshasa-based battalion arrived aboard a civilian Air Zaire DCIO. and their commanding officer told reporters more soldiers would be coming. Meanwhile two towns in eastern Chad have fallen to the forces of the rebel former Defence Minister. Hissene Habre. and fighting is still going on in a third.—N’djamena. Meeting bid The West German Chancellor (Mr Helmut Schmidt) was quoted yesterday as saying he would attempt next week to bring about a meeting between President Reagan and the Soviet President (Mr Leonid Brezhnev). In an interview with “The Times." Mr Schmidt said he would make the move during next week’s visit to Bonn by the Soviet leader. “I think it is necessary that they meet and understand from each other that the other guy is not a warmonger." Mr Schmidt said.—Bonn. Factory collapses A Bavarian chemical works has caved in and plunged 20 metres into a mine below its foundations. Ten night-shift workers ran for safety when the walls cracked and a container crashed to the ground. They were out just in time to see the plant swallowed in a crater 50 metres wide. In two hours a hydrofluoric plant, an aluminium flouride production building, drying plant and warehouse had dropped into the crater. The 72-metre high chimney also collapsed.—Nuremburg. Solidarity challenge Leaders of the Solidarity free trade union in the industrial region of Silesia have called on their members to start selecting candidates for local government elections, a move that could have profound political repercussions. The instructions issued by the Silesian branch and published in its information service amounted to a challenge to the existing electoral procedures. Under these procedures, all candidates for electoral office are chosen by the Communist-controlled National Unity Front. Solidarity is committed to free local elections and wants to raise the issue when it begins talks with the Government in Warsaw this week.—Warsaw.

Missile destroyed A Trident missile fired from a submerged submarine veered off course and had to be destroyed by a United States Air Force safety officer. The Navy missile was launched from the U.S.S. Benjamin Franklin, cruising . below the surface about 80km off the coast of Florida. An Air Force spokesman said that the launch and ignition of the missile's first stage were normal, but a malfunction caused it to veer off course ■ and a range safety officer immediately pushed' a button in the control centre and exploded the missile—Cape Canaveral. . First ‘Jane’ dies The actress, Enid Markey, who was “Jane” in the first “Tarzan" movie in 1918. has died yesterday in a Long Island hospital which listed her age as 95. A hospital spokesman said death was due to natural causes. Miss Markey, whose acting career spanned 60 years and embraced films," stage and television. swung on jungle vines, with the silent screen's first “Tarzan," Elmo Lincoln. She wore Hollywood’s first sarong in . "Thomas Ince’s “Aloha Oe."—New York. Airport clash The police have clashed with demonstrators who paralysed road traffic for five hours in a battle to prevent construction of a new runway at Frankfurt airport. The police said five of their men were injured, three seriously, while witnesses said some demonstrators were also hurt. The protesters erected barricades and set them on fire to block traffic on main roads near the airport. They also stopped local train traffic between Frankfurt's main railway station and the airport after they cut a signal cable and occupied platforms. — Frankfurt. Wine pleases Full of bouquet and fruity — these were the descriptions wine experts gave to the new beaujolais on sale in Paris for the first time this year. Truck loads of the wine, long-awaited in Paris and other French cities, as well as in Britain (where the "Sunday Times" newspaper offered a $22,700 prize for the arrival at the editor’s desk of the first bottle) started leaving the Beaujolais region of central France at the week-end. About 47 million litres of the wine — loved by some connoisseurs and despised by others as being far too immature — were being exported. — Paris.