Cable briefs

Press, 19 June 1984, Page 8

Cable briefs

Offer spumed Surgeons in New South Wales have rejected the state Government’s offer of a peace proposal for a month’s cooling-off period and talks before an independent arbitrator. The state chairman of the Australian Association of Surgeons, Dr Michael Aroney, said the surgeons were fed up with arbitration and negotiation. The Premier, Mr Neville Wran, had offered the Government’s peace proposal after the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association recommended strike action to protest against Government legislation which would ban for seven years doctors who resigned from the state’s public hospital system.—Sydney.

Ananda Marga probe

A judicial inquiry will be held into the convictions of three Ananda Marga followers for attempted murder and conspiracy to murder, the New South Wales Attor-ney-General, Mr Paul Landa, says. Timothy Anderson, Paul Alister, and Ross Dunn are serving 16-year sentences after tbair Supreme Court convictions in August, 1979, for the attempted murder of the National Front leader, Robert Cameron, in the south-western Sydney suburb of Yagoona. The inquiry, headed by a Supreme Court Judge, will be held under a section of the Crimes Act which provides for an inquiry if there is any doubt or question about a conviction.—Sydney. Sex change at 70 A former Spitfire pilot will undergo a sex change operation, at the age of 70. He has been married twice and his, ambition is to marry again, this time as a woman. The Association of Transsexuals, which advises applicants, has described the case as “most unusual” because of the man’s age: the operation was rarely performed on those over 55. The sexual transformation will eventually be seen by millions as a television documentary, probably at the end of the year — London. Party banned The Israeli extreme Rightwing Kach party has been banned from contesting a , General Election on July 23 on the ground that it is racist and undemocratic. The central elections committee said it decided on the ban at the request of three opposition parties — Labour, Shinui, and Citizens’ Rights. Kach’s leader, Rabbi Meir Kahane, said he would appeal to the Supreme Court.—Jerusalem. Flood homeless About 50,000 people have been left homeless in southern Bangladesh after rivers spilled into villages, and thousands in other areas were reeling under a fresh spell of floods. The official B.S.S. news agency said the Kamaphuli and Sangu rivers had overwhelmed hundreds of houses in the Chittagong district in the past few months. Rain-swollen rivers last month killed at least 79 people and damaged 100,000 tonnes of rice in eight eastern and south-eastern districts. Flashfloods badly hit three more districts earlier this month—Dhaka.