Cable briefs

Press, 11 January 1986, Page 9

Cable briefs

Diplomatic title A Hungarian couple has named its baby RaissaNancy, after Raissa Gorbachev and Nancy Reagan, the wives of the Soviet and United States leaders, the Communist party daily “Pravda” reported. The baby bom during the November Reagan-Gorba-chev summit, and the parents, in choosing the name, wanted to “express symbolically their optimism and faith in peaceful co-exist-ence between states with different social systems.” — Moscow. Medicinal delicacy China has an ancient tonic to its menu of exports for Japanese and Hong Kong gourmets — caterpillar fungus chicken. The Xinhau news agency said that the canned chicken was part of a drive to export medicinal foods. Chicken prepared with Chinese caterpillar fungus was a tonic for lung and kidneyailments. It said that China planned also to export cans of what it termed ’‘elevated gastrodia tuber fish,” but gave no other details. — Peking. Seal search

Soviet marine biologists have trained seals to seek out potential gas and oil reserves under water and to carry out detailed investigations on the sea bed, the “Sovietskaya Rossiya” newspaper says. The seals could dive down as far as 600 m and hold their breath for an hour. They had become so skilled they could now detect oil and gas leaks, gather samples of underwater flora and fauna — and even take photographs 1 with special cameras strapped on to them, the newspaper said. — Moscow. Still grounded Technicians found a faulty engine valve in one of Columbia’s engines yesterday and the United States space agency postponed the sixth scheduled attempt to launch the space shuttle. — Cape Canaveral.

Geldof comeback The singer, Bob Geldof, who has raised more than SUSBS million ($l7O million) for African famine relief, has cancelled plans to cut down his fund-raising efforts after hearing that four million Sudanese faced death from starvation. — London.