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Press, 19 March 1984, Page 10

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Tiny baby dies

A baby boy who weighed only 392 g (13.8 oz and was only 27.9 cm (10.9 inches) long died after fighting for his life for four days. A Misericordia Hospital, New York, spokeswoman said, “cause of death was cerebral haemorrhage.” Luther Noble, born four months premature, was believed to be the smallest baby born live in New York state, said Dr Melvin Hollander, director of pediatrics at the hospital. The previous smallest, a New Jersey infant, Faith Materowski, who weighed 546 g (19.250 z and was 17 weeks premature at birth, recently celebrated her first birthday in good health. — New York. African pact

South Africa and Mozambique have signed a nonaggression pact aimed at ending years of mutual hostility and dramatically changing the political climate in southern Africa. The South African Prime Minister, Mr Pieter Botha, and Mozambique’s President, Samora Machel, met near Komatipoort on their common border and signed the landmark agreement which commits them to preventing their territories from being used as bases for guerrilla attacks against each other. — Komatipoort.

Nurse sacked The Dallas Fire Department has sacked a nurse who refused to send an ambulance to a dying woman, demoted her supervisor, and suspended its programme for screening

emergency calls. The action resulted from an incident in January when the nurse argued with a caller who had telephoned for an ambulance to be sent for his stepmother, who was having difficulty breathing. By the time an ambulance arrived, Lillian Boff was dead. — Dallas. Zia plot

The Pakistani President, General Muhammad Zia ulHaq, and his security forces have foiled a plot to assassinate him, “The Sunday Times" reports. The Army plotters had been in contact with London-based exiles, including a former leader of the executed Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party. In addition to Pakistan Army officers, Indian Intelligence agents may have been linked to a plan to kill General Zia at a military review on Friday. — London. Cash for babies West German women will be paid 5000 marks ($2650) to go back on a decision to have an abortion, in a bid to improve the lowest birthrate in the world. The Minister for Youth, Family and Heath, Mr Heiner Geissler, said that it was only the first step in a new policy which would result in the setting up of a Mother and Child Foundation to protect the unborn child. The new organisation would have a 50-million mark budget to help women who were deciding to abort their pregnancies largely for financial reasons, he said. — Bonn.