Briefs

Press, 1 May 1989, Page 8

Briefs

Shuttle delay Engineers have delayed the second liftoff attempt of the United States space shuttle Atlantis and may put off the flight for a week or more. National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said. The launching was postponed on Saturday because of unspecified technical problems.—Cap Canaveral. lowa misfired The USS lowa’s No. 1 gun turret had a misfire in one of its 16-inch guns shortly before the battleship's No. 2 turret exploded on April 19. killing 47 sailors, a survivor said. Petty Officer Kendal Truitt said the misfire occurred during gunnery exercises just before the blast ripped the No. 2 turret, two Norfolk newspapers reported.—Norfolk, Virginia. Soldiers testify A Salvadorean lieutenant and two soldiers testified yesterday before a judge investigating the shooting on March 18 of two Reuter photographers, a court official said. Their appearance in court followed a complaint by Reuters to President Jose Napoleon Duarte in which the news agency accused the Salvadorean military of indifference in the investigation.—San Salvador. Budget passed Japan’s ruling party forced the annual Budget bill through the lower house of Parliament yesterday in defiance of an Opposition boycott which had stalled the bill for seven weeks. It was the first time in Japan's Parliamentary history that all the Opposition parties had boycotted the key plenary session convened to vote on the Budget. The Opposition has refused to take part in any budget debates to back demands for a full disclosure of the Recruit scandal which forced the Prime Minister, Noboru Takeshita, to announce his impending resignation on Tuesday.—Tokyo. Gift to museum The Japanese Government has given SUSI million (SNZI.6 million) to the Art Institute of Chicago to help renovate and relocate its Asian art department. The museum said the gift will nearly complete the SUS 4 million (SNZ6.S million) it needs to finish the project which is to be concluded in 1991. Mitsubishi Bank Ltd previously donated $1 million for the renovation. Yutaka Mino, curator of Asian art for the institute, said the museum has more than 35,000 works of Japanese, Chinese and Korean art, only a fraction of which have been exhibited in recent times—Chicago. Tomb on show About 20,000 people including many tourists have queued for a rare look inside Rome’s most exotic tomb when it opened to the public for the first time since 1633. The Egyptian-style pyramid faced with white marble was the burial chamber of a Roman praetor and tribune, Caius Cestius. It now forms part of the ancient city walls. —Rome. Panama seeks help Panama has asked for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to consider what is termed United States provocation and attempts to destabilise the country, a Panamanian delegate said. The official said the letter of request, to Aleksandr Belonogov, of the Soviet Union, council president for April, spoke of United States acts of aggression and subversion.— United Nations. Change of sands The golden but contaminated sands of Copacabana, Brazil’s most famous beach, are to be replaced. Rio’s union of hotels announced it would finance a $U5156,000 ($NZ255,737) operation to renew Copacabana’s sands in time for next summer. About 1350 truckloads of polluted sand will be removed from Copacabana and replaced with clean sand. The sand and sea of Rio’s postcard Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon beaches have become infested with parasites and contaminated by refuse in recent years. — Rio de Janeiro. Sculpture fetches $4.7M A’ seventeenth century bronze by the Italian sculptor, Jean-Francois Susini, was sold for 21 million francs (SNZ4.7 million), close to the world record for a sculpture. The Susini bronze, "Paris kidnapping Helen,” was sold to an anonymous buyer at a Paris auction. The sculpture, measuring 70cm by 38cm was produced in 1627 by'the Florentine sculptor. It belonged to the descendants of De Machault D’Arnouville, Finance Minister to French King Louis XV. The record price paid for a sculpture was SUS 3.6 million (SNZS.9 million) for Giacometti’s bronze "Large woman standing” in New York in 1987. — Paris.