Briefs

Press, 28 July 1989, Page 8

Briefs

Jet record attempt A Qantas 747-400 jumbo jet will attempt to fly nonstop from London to Sydney next month, the longest flight by a commercial airliner. The airline said the 18,000 km flight would be the last leg of the delivery flight from Seattle of its first new generation Boeing 747. The previous record by a commercial jet was the delivery flight of a South African Airways jumbo from Seattle to Cape Town, a distance of 16,600km.—NZPAReuter Christie’s tops billion The British auction house Christie’s announced in London that its worldwide sales topped £1 billion (SNZ2.B2 billion) for the first time in its 12-month season just ended. The record £1.04 billion (5NZ2.93 billion) in sales in the 1988-89 season represented a 63 per cent increase over the previous 12 months, it said in a statement. This compared with an increase of 10 per cent for 1987-88. The group’s chairman, Lord Carrington, a former British Foreign Secretary and N.A.T.O. secretary-general, said, “The results for the 1988-89 season were excellent. Christie’s has made a vigorous leap in its 222nd season, with sales exceeding one billion sterling for the first time.”—NZPA-Reuter. Klansmen’s classes A group of Ku Klux Klan members have agreed to participate in a class on race relations taught by civil rights leaders as part of the settlement of a lawsuit stemming from a violent attack on civil rights marchers. In the settlement announced in Atlanta by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Roger D. Handley, Grand Dragon of the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and 10 other Klan members agreed to be taught race relations and pay SUSII,SOO (SNZI9,OOO) in damages to the civil rights marchers—NZPA-Reuter. sed Queensland Special Prosecutor Doug Drummond has issued summonses against 20 people named during the Fitzgerald Inquiry. They include the former police commissioner, Sir Terence Lewis, Jack Rookllyn, Gerry Bellino, Vic Conte and Hector Hapeta. The summonses aCjt returnable on August 10.—hKPA-AAP. ( V T I;