Cable briefs

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 10

Cable briefs

Inmates’ offer More than 300 state prison inmates have volunteered to have blood tests to determine whether they can give bone marrow for a critically-ill 21-month-old boy. The inmates at the state prison of Southern Michigan at Jackson are among 2000 blood test volunteers who have come forward to help Brandon Weiss, who suffers from aplastic anaemia. The boy’s father, Arthur Weiss, said he, his wife, and their daughter did not have bone marrow which matched the boy’s. The odds of finding a suitable donor for Brendon were one in 10,000.-Detroit. Nicaraguan denial Nicaragua has denied Honduran charges that its troops crossed the border last week and attacked a Honduran patrol, killing one soldier and wounding four. Nicaragua has proposed a plan for the two Governments to disarm rebels along the frontier. Tensions between Left-wing Nicaragua and Honduras, the staunchest United States ally in Central America, have risen during the last two weeks after Nicaraguan troops intensified shelling into Honduras in a bid to flush the rebels from their base camps. The Honduran Government has dispatched hundreds of troops to the border area.—Managua. Disease toll rises

The death toll of the world’s worst outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease rose to 35 with the death of an elderly man, in the central England town of Stafford, health officials said. Officials still believe the source of the outbreak was in a Stafford hospital, but they are also investigating the possibility that it was spread through power station cooling towers—Stafford.

Tanker ‘shelled’ Iraqi warplanes shelled a tanker near Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the north-eastern Gulf, an Iraqi Army spokesman said. The attack could not be confirmed by independent maritime sources. Iraq announced a similar raid on May 5 against two tankers, which was also not confirmed. The last confirmed attack by Baghdad was on May 1 against a Turkish tanker 160 km south of Kharg.— Baghdad. Sicily jolted A minor earthquake jolted the city of Messina in eastern Sicily, knocking out electricity and sending thousands of people fleeing into the streets in panic. There were no reports of damage or casualties. Power was restored 15 minutes later in the port city of more than 260,000 people. The quake registered 3.4 on the Richter scale.—Messina. Assassination attempt The Ugandan Internal Affairs Minister, Mr John Luwuliza-Kirunda, escaped unhurt but eight people were seriously injured when two hand grenades were thrown at him as he left his office in central Kampala. Kampala and surrounding districts have been hit by sporadic violence during the last four years. Guerrillas, who allege that 1980 elections which brought President Milton Obote back to power were rigged, work from strongholds north and north-west of the capital.—Kampala. Sink goes too A chauffeur allegedly stole £ 104,088 ($282,078) of property belonging to Mrs Soroya Khashoggi during 12 months in her service. The goods included a $35,230 er-mine-trimmed mink coat, a Persian carpet valued at $27,100, 37 chairs, 15 tables, six beds, a shower unit, a toilet seat, kitchen fittings and even a kitchen sink.— London.