Cable briefs

Press, 30 November 1987, Page 10

Cable briefs

Chicago Mayor dies

Harold Washington, the first black mayor of Chicago the third-largest city in the United States, has died after suffering a heart attack at the City Hall he won control of five years ago in a bitter, racially divisive contest. He was 65. Jesse Jackson, a Democratic Party Presidential contender and a longtime ally of Mr Washington’s, said Mr Washington’s supporters would have to “determine what we can do to keep the dream of the coalition alive that he has pulled together in Chicago, and been so effective with.”— Chicago. Torture described An Iranian dissident recounting instances of torture in an Iranian prison,

said guards drained the blood of one cellmate, amputated the toes of another and gouged out the eyes of doomed men. "There is overwhelming resistance to the torture and slaughter by the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and people know he is the ‘Little Hitler’ of our time,” said Vali Eshghi, aged 32. He said he escaped from an Iranian prison in June and fled the country last month.—New York. Bhopal talks fail Talks between the Indian goverment and Union Carbide Corporation on an out-of-court settlement for Bhopal gas victims have failed, a senior government lawyer said today. “Whether they will be taken up again we do not know,” said Vepa Sarthy, the Government’s

standing counsel in the suit. More than half a million people, nearly two-thirds of the population of Bhopal, have claimed $5.3 billion in compensation from the American company. — Bhopal.

Duncan-Sandys dead

Lord Duncan-Sandys, the British statesman who as Commonwealth Secretary supervised the final dismantling of the British Empire, has died at the age of 79. A statement from his family said he died at his London home, having been ill for some time. He reached the peak of his prominence between 1960 and 1964 as the Conservative Government’s chief minister in charge of steering eleven colonies and territories to Independence.—London.