Briefs
Sailor rescued
A Russian sailor trying to cross the Pacific in a six metre sailboat was rescued by a passing container ship after drifting for 67 days, the United States Coast Guard reported. The 30-year-old man appeared to be in satisfactory condition, although he had lost a lot of weight, a Coast Guard official said. It was not clear if the man was trying to defect, the official said. Coast guard investigators believe the six metre vessel left the Soviet port of Vladivostok about June 2, bound for San Francisco, and lost its mast on August 14. — NZPAAP.
Test protests
Thousands gathered in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan on Saturday to demand an immediate halt to nuclear weapons blasts at the Soviet Union’s testing range in Semipalatinsk. The official news agency Tass said thousands protested. On Thursday, Tass announced a nuclear test of between 20 and 75 kilotonnes “with the aim of perfecting military technology.” The underground test was the sixth reported this year. — NZPA-Reuter.
Homes collapse
A series of powerful earthquakes that caused 29 deaths in northern China has left 60,000 people homeless, state television said on Saturday. Television footage showed people in temporary shelters, some being treated for injuries, while others sifted through the rubble of their mudbuilt homes. The semi-official China News Service has reported that several hundred people were hurt when the earthquakes shook the border area of Shanxi and Hebei provinces early on Thursday. — NZPA-Reuter.
Country exile
Exile or a vasectomy — Toronto’s raccoons face a tough choice when all they want is a quiet life. A Humane Society wildlife co-ordinator, Barry Mac Kay, said raccoons are a natural part of urban life with a perfect right to be in the city, but a minority of residents don’t agree. They call in the city animal catchers and nearly 1000 raccoons a year are exiled to the countryside. It’s a futile exercise, however. Move a raccoon out and another raccoon moves in to take advantage of the easy pickings. The society is now considering sterilising adult males, using vasectomies or drugs.—NZPAReuter.
A.I.D.S. bite
A man infected with the A.I.D.S. virus was convicted of attempted murder for biting a police officer and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Gregory Scott Scroggins, aged 27, was found guilty after three hours of deliberations by a Cobb County superior court jury. Judge Watson White sentenced him to 10 years in prison, which defence lawyer Greg Schroeder said was "tantamount to a death sentence.” Scroggins bit a Cobb County police officer, David Crook, as the officer was investigating a dispute between Scroggins and his roommate, on January 29. Scroggins tested positive for the A.I.D.S. virus last December, according to trial testimony. The police officer said he has tested negative for the virus in two A.I.D.S. tests.—NZPA-AP.
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Bibliographic details
Press, 23 October 1989, Page 8
Word Count
467Briefs Press, 23 October 1989, Page 8
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