Cable briefs

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 6

Cable briefs

Volunteers

‘inadequate’

Weaknesses in the United States all-volunteer armed forces make America incap-_ able of winning a convent tionat war in Central Europe;according to a new book on the country’s volunteer services. A military manpower specialist, Kenneth Coffey,' argues in “Strategic Implications of the All-Volunteer'; Force" that the weaknesses he cites require major reductions in American military 1 commitments. He adds that the American people are ■ unwilling either to return to conscription or to spend • enough money to bring the volunteer forces up to’ needed strength and quality.—Washington. Food fund O.P.E.C. countries and a group of non-Communist developed nations have settled a long-standing row over contributions to a SUSI.I billion fund to improve Third World food production. The International Fund for Agri-/ cultural Development, a.. United Nations agency, said-: it could now go ahead witfi? ( Clans to lend the money to enefit small farmers in de-, veloping countries over the next two years. O.P.E.C. will give SUS4SO million over the three-vear period 1981-83 while ‘ the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and . Development, comprising; Western nations and Japan,, will provide SUS62O million. Developing countries will put up the remaining SUS3O million.—Rome.

House to children A judge in northern Michigan has taken an unusual approach in a divorce case, giving three adolescent boys custody of their parents’ house while the mother and father alternate month-long visits. Judge Charles Forster granted a divorce on January 5 to Allan and Cheryl Church of Interlochen, a community of 4009 people. Their children — David, aged 15. Donald, aged 13 and Dale, aged 11 — remain at home, while their parents move in and out and pay the bills. Mrs Church, a 37-year-old secretary who is spending this month with the children, described the judge’s settlement as “a good third option for people who are getting a divorce."—Traverse City. Play unhindered The Queensland police commissioner (Mr Terry Lewis) said yesterday there had never been any threats to prosecute the cast or producers of the controversial stage show “Flowers”. Mr Lewis said that before the show had its premiere in Brisbane this week, detectives had a meeting with one of the play’s backers to explain Queensland’s “relevant laws”. But Mr Lewis said there was no question of police trying to censor the show. He said the approach had been made “out of courtesy.” Mr Lewis said the police who attended the opening-night performance of “Flowers,” in which there is some male and female nudity, did not believe it broke any Queensland laws.—Brisbane. ; Women rebuffed The Kuwaiti Parliament has rejected a proposal to allow women to vote after opponents said this would break the traditions and Islamic rules of the conservative Gulf State. Only male, literate Kuwaitis over the age of 21 with "first class” citizenship — those related to people who were in Kuwait before 1920 — can vote in elections to the Parliament, the only democratically elected assembly in the Gulf. Only 43,000 of the nation’s 1.3 million population, 60 per cent of whom are foreigners, meet the voting criteria. — Kuwait. Hijacker jailed A West Berlin court has sentenced a 25-year-old Polish youth to five years and a half in jail for hijacking a Polish airliner to the city last August. Jerzy Dugas, aged 25. used a deactivated hand grenade to threaten the crew and force the plane to divert from the domestic flight in Poland and fly to West Berlin’s American military airfield. Dugas surrendered as soon as the plane landed and asked for political asylum. — West Berlin. Russian chaos Low staff morale, poor maintenance and a lack of co-operation from the police have all been blamed for a breakdown of bus and tram services in Soviet cities during a severe cold snap this month. According to press reports from Kiev, Minsk, and Moscow, thousands of commuters were left shivering in Arctic winds when transport fleets were paralysed by a sudden drop in temperature. In Minsk, buses could not set out because their diesel fuel was frozen or the doors were frozen shut, the local party newspaper reported. Those that were still mobile could not go far because half the city's snow ploughs were out of action and many streets were blocked. — Moscow.