Cable briefs

Press, 16 February 1984, Page 8

Cable briefs

Salvador trial El Salvador’s Supreme Court has cleared the way for the trial of five Salvadorean National Guardsmen accused of murdering three American nuns and one laywoman, says a United States Congressman. Guy Molinari, a New York Republican, said that the State Department had told him the last legal obstacle to the trial was removed when the Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling to take the case to trial. The nuns were abducted at El Salvador’s international airport in December, 1980, and killed later that evening.— Washington. Iraq halts shelling Iraq says it will suspend attacks on Iranian towns for a week, but Teheran has threatened to step up retaliatory raids. An Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the suspension was a good will gesture in response to an appeal from a Paris-based Iranian opposition leader, Masoud Rajavi.—Bahrain.

Toe hacked off Raiders wielding a carving knife with a serrated edge have hacked off a middle-aged man’s toe and then forced it into his mouth. They also tried to cut off one of his ears, during a raid that netted them just £lOO. The victim is recovering in hospital.— Londopr

’Copters in rescue

Helicopters have helped rescue 24 people stranded in cable cars hanging above a Swiss mountainside. Officials have blamed a defective motor for the breakdown. Rescuers worked through the night to safely bring down the stranded passengers at Celerina, a ski-ing resort in the Engadine area of Switzerland.— Celerina. Carrier in straits The Soviet aircraftcarrier Novorossiisk is expected to pass Singapore today to strengthen the Soviet Pacific Fleet, says a spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet. The carrier and four escort vessels had entered the Malacca Straits yesterday from the Indian Ocean, said the spokesman.—Singapore. Driver convicted A train-driver, said by the prosecution to have “boozed his way into disaster,” has been convicted on charges stemming from a freight train crash that made 2700 people flee their homes. Edward Robertson was found guilty by a jury of recklessly driving a freight train that ran off the rails and exploded in September, 1982, sending out clouds of toxic gas. No-one was killed in the crash but hundreds of homes were evacuated. Robertson, who faces up to 10 years in jail and a SUSIO,OOQ ($15,400) fine, , pleaded Xnot guilty.