Cable Briefs

Press, 4 September 1982, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Lebanon to attend

Lebanon has agreed to attend an Arab summit conference due to be held in the Moroccan city of Fez. Lebanon, which had earlier demanded postponement of the summit, would now' be sending a low-level delegation, led by Minister of State. Joseph Abu Khater. The prospect of Lebanon's absence had cast doubts on whether the Fez suminit. suspended last November because of disagreements over Arab strategy towards Israel, could take place as scheduled. — Tunis. Invincible’s return H.M.S. Invincible will sail home from war to Portsmouth on September 17. Although there was no confirmation from Buckingham Palace, it was believed in Navy circles that the Queen may be there to greet her helicopter pilot son, Prince Andrew, and his shipmates. The Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) met the flagship Hermes when it returned from the Falklands. — London. Confidence vote The Italian Prime Minister (Mr Giovanni Spadolini) has won an open vote of confidence from the Chamber of Deputies for his resurrected five-party coalition, but faces opposition to urgent economic measures. After debating his • programme, the Lower House voted 357 to 247 for Mr Spadolini, who is starting his second successive term as the only nonChristian Democratic Prime Minister since World War 11. Opposition parties are preparing a deluge of amendments to obstruct the conversion into law of two sensitive financial decrees. If they fail to pass by September 8, the Government will be forced to renew' them for a further 60 days. — Rome. Pantihose upsets

Buckingham Palace is upset over Lady Di pantihose, a hot-selling item in some of England’s cut-price shops. An

Italian company is marketing the new line, which comes in a packet adorned with a blonde-haired woman wearing only pantihose and an off-the-shoulder blouse. And while the picture looks nothing like the Princess of Wales, a Buckingham Palace spokesman was not amused. “There are strict rules laid down by the Lord Chamberlain that forbid the use of the Royal family name by commercial companies,” the spokesman said. — London. Successful debut A new extra fast train which floats above the line on a magnetic field, has made a successful test run at its experimental track near Miyazaki, Japanese National Railways officials said. The train, which is remote controlled and looks like a wingless aircraft, reached a maximum speed of 262 km an hour with three Railways officials aboard. It was the first time that the singlecarriage train had carried any passengers. — Miyazaki. Japan. Bus tragedy Twenty-two people were killed and 39 injured when a bus fell into a ravine in Pakistan’s north-west frontier province. The bus went off the road when its driver applied brakes to pick up some schoolboys near Batagram town, about 130 km north of Islamabad. — Islamabad. .