Cable briefs

Press, 13 January 1982, Page 8

Cable briefs

Grain silo splits More than 40 million kg of wheat cascaded from y a ruptured grain bin, knocking down power poles, burying 10 cars, and injuring four people inside a cafeteria whose roof collapsed. The injured — three woman and a man — were in the cafeteria at the 7 a.m. shift change when the adjacent 15m high bin collapsed. The surge of 1.5 million bushels of wheat also knocked down power poles, temporarily interrupting electricity to about 1000 homes in Destrehan. Louisanna. — New Orleans. U.K. rail strike Peace talks between British Rail and the railway unions have collapsed, and train drivers have signalled the start of a 48-hour national strike. The dispute is over a 3 per cent pay rise for railwaymen, the second instalment of an 11 per cent settlement last (northern) summer. British Rail says it will pay up only in exchange for higher productivity, which in the case of the drivers means abandoning an eight-hour day and working shifts of seven to nine hours. — London. Conspiracy probe The Italian Interior Minister (Mr Virginio Rognoni). says that the authorities are investigating “in all directions" to determine if the attempt to kill Pope John Paul last year was an international conspiracy. He told the Chamber of Deputies, that it was “unlikely” that only a single individual was involved in the attempt. A Turkish terrorist, Mehmet Ali Agca, aged 23, was convicted of trying to murder the Pope in St Peter’s Square on May 13. Agca was sentenced to life imprisonment. — Rome. You are what you eat If you're nuts about certain processed foods, then certain processed foods may be driving you nuts. An authority on psychiatric drugs. Professor Malcolm Lader, said the foods may be causing mental illness, the “Daily Mirror” reported. Writing in the journal “Mind.” he suggests that because of vitamin deficiencies and chemical additives. some processed foods could lead to schizophrenia, epilepsy, and other problems. His remedy: six tablespoons of linseed oil a day. — London. Husband's ‘right' A Kuwaiti husband can beat his wife provided she suffers no injuries, a court has ruled. The Kuwait High Court of Appeal’s- verdict was on a woman’s plea to leave her husband because he beat her. Granting the plea, the Court said Islam did not permit a husband to maltreat his wife, but he had the right to beat her without inflicting injury. — Kuwait. Jenkins confirmed Mr Roy Jenkins has been confirmed as the Social Democrat-Liberal- Party alliance candidate in the Glasgow Billhead by-election. The local Liberal Party chairman, Ken Wardrop, said the decision “was not an easy one” because in Mr Chick Brodie the Liberals had had an excellent candidate. Mr Jenkins, a leader of the Social Democratic Party, also received the enthusiastic backing of the Liberal’s leader, David Steel. — London. Buildings jolted A second earthquake in three days has rattled New England, shaking buildings from Maine to Boston. Officials said it apparently was an aftershock of an earthquake that struck a remote area of south-eastern Canada.—Boston. Ex-Nazi goes free A former Nazi S.S. officer has been sentenced to four years jail for complicity in the murder of hundreds of Rumanian Jews during World War Two. Former Hauptsturmfuehrer (captain) Gustav Richter was convicted for his role as police attache at the German mission in Bucharest in 1942 and "adviser to the Rumanian Government on Jewish questions”. But Richter, already sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in the Soviet Union in 1951, left the courthouse a free man. The court ruled he had already served his sentence during seven years in Soviet prisoner-of-war camps and four years in a Soviet jail. Moscow freed him in 1955.—Frankenthal.