Briefs

Press, 21 July 1989, Page 6

Briefs

Jaruzelski just in General Wojciech Jaruzelski has narrowly escaped humiliation after scraping home without a vote to spare in Poland’s uncontested presidential election. The 66-year-old general scored exactly the 270 votes he needed to win — 50 per cent plus one of the 537 valid votes cast in the National Assembly. He was quickly sworn in for six years as President, a new post with the power to name the Prime Minister, dissolve Parliament and proclaim martial law and states of emergency.— NZPA-Reuter. Miners back Striking miners at many pits across Siberia’s Kuzbass are back at work, providing a welcome respite for the Kremlin leader, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, from one of the worst labour disputes in decades. However, miners in the Ukrainian Donbass region, to which the strike spread this week, were still refusing to work and there was no sign to an end to ethnic unrest in the Black Sea resort of Abkhazia where 19 people have died. — NZPA-Reuter. Prisoners to be freed The South African administrator of Namibia, prompted by the visit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, will release most of the territory’s remaining political prisoners. The Administrator-General, Mr Louis Pienaar, said he had agreed to free 24 of the 28 convicted prisoners in Namibian jails.—NZPA-Reuter. Murder arrest A 19-year-old man with an alleged fixation for the actress Rebecca Schaeffer, was charged yesterday with shooting the television star to death outside her Los Angeles apartment building on Wednesday. Robert Bardo, who is in custody in Tucson, Arizona, after apparently trying to commit suicide, was “in Los Angeles at the time of the murder and had made statements indicating he would harm Miss Schaeffer,” Detective Dan Andrews said. He said.Bardo, a Tucson resident, was implicated by a friend in Tennessee in whom he had confided his obsession with Schaeffer and his intention to harm her.—NZPA-Reuter. S.A. cold snap South Africans shivered at the unusual sight of snow yesterday, with weather officials reporting some of the lowest temperatures for decades in some parts of the country. Weather stations in Transvaal province, where sub-zero temperatures are highly unusual, reported the mercury falling overnight to -10 Centigrade (14 Fahrenheit).—NZPA-Reuter. Steak theft costly A Central Florida man who hid five sirloin steaks in his trousers and left a grocer’s shop is paying for his appetite with a 20-year prison sentence. Johnell Warren, aged 37, was sentenced by a Seminole County Circuit judge, who ruled Warren was a career criminal and deserved a severe penalty. Warren, who said he stole the beef to feed his family, was sentenced under a new State law that allows judges to punish people with extensive criminal histories for longer periods than did previous laws.—NZPA-Reuter. Crisps withdrawn Two brands of Smiths potato chips were cleared from supermarkets and corner shops all over Britain after slivers of glass were found in packets. The police were interviewing the 700 staff at the Smiths factory, in Lincoln, where the Square Crisps and Crispy Tubes were believed to have been contaminated by a saboteur.—NZPA-PA. Wheelchair fatality An 80-year-old British widow died after her runaway wheelchair shot off a moving walkway at a supermarket and catapulted her through two glass doors r an inquest was told. It happened after her nurse applied the wheelchair’s brakes — but it suddenly went away from her, reaching a speed of 50 kilometres per hour, according to one witness. The inquest, in Bournemouth, heard that Mrs Mary Spendlove, of Linkside Court nursing home in Knyveton Road, died in hospital next day from shock and a fractured spine and legs.—NZPA-PA. Divorce vote criticised The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned the House of Commons decision to throw out a proposal to allow the ordination of divorced men who have remarried. “This is a sad day for relations between Church and Parliament,” Dr Robert Runcie said after members of Parliament voted 51 to 45 to reject the proposal.—NZPA. Olivier ashes to Abbey The ashes of Lord Olivier will be buried in London’s Westminster Abbey alongside memorials to England’s greatest writers, poets and heroes, a spokeswoman at the abbey has said. Lord Olivier, revered as the greatest actor of his time, died last week, aged 82, and was cremated after a funeral service in a quiet English country church.—NZPA-Reuter. De Klerk cancels trip F. W. de Klerk, the man most likely to become South Africa’s next president, bowed to anti-apartheid pressure yesterday and turned down an invitation by the United States Secretary of State, Mr James Baker, to visit the United States. The Foreign Minister, Mr Pik Botha, said Mr De Klerk, who is expected to succeed President P. W. Botha after the September General Elections, had called off the visit in the light of fierce opposition from anti-apartheid lobbyists.—Reuter.