Cable briefs

Press, 7 February 1985, Page 10

Cable briefs

Finns to put bill

Finland says it will hand back to the Soviet Union fragments of a stray missile that crashed into a northern Finnish lake on December 28, but that it had asked Moscow to pay for the recovery. — Helsinki.

Terrorist hot line West Germany and France have agreed to set up an anti-terrorist “hot line” to help combat an upsurge in urban guerrilla violence. The French Interior Minister, Mr Pierre Joxe, said that a highspeed telex link would be set up between the Interior Ministries in Paris and Bonn. The West German Interior Minister, Dr Friedrich Zimmermann, said the hot line was one of several joint measures to combat an “internationalisation of terrorism” that particularly affected France and West Germany. — Bonn. • Airliner crashes A Soviet airliner capable of carrying as many as 90 people crashed near Minsk on Friday. Officials gave no casualty figures, but a newspaper called it a catastrophe, suggesting a high death toll. It said the plane was a Tupolev 134. — Moscow. Aide held

Colombia’s Presidential press secretary has txwi arrested as part of an investigation into the smuggphg of

cocaine to Spain in a diplomatic pouch. — Bogota.

Blast kills 5 An explosion has killed five people, injured 38, and damaged a block of flats in a residential area of Marseilles. Firemen arrived to put out a minor blaze, but an explosion erupted, killing a policeman immediately. A fireman died shortly afterwards from burns. The blast blew off part of the building’s roof and covered the

area in debris, including lumps of concrete, one of which crushed to death an 18-year-old man at the wheel of his car. The nationalised gas company had sent a team to the building and shut off the supply before the explosion after warnings from the firemen and an earlier telephone call. — Marseilles. Planes for P.N.G. Israel is officially handing over three Israeli-built twinengine, all-purpose Arava planes to Papua New Guinea’s Defence Minister. The planes are part of an Israeli-P.N.G. deal, which includes the training of pilots and aircraft maintenance. Irael has sold 90 such planes so far, notably to Latin American countries and to small United States air freight companies. The Israeli Air Force uses the planes to carry equipment and wounded soldiers. — Tel Aviv.