PRIME MINISTER TUESDAY, 26 FEBRUARY, 1980
From the Press Office SUMMARY OF ABC'S 7: 45 am NEWS
A Chinese Vice-Premier is to visit Australia soon. The
Vice-Premier is ranked third most important man in China today.
Vice Premier -Li Xiannian is the most active member of
the present leadership of China to have survived in senior
positions thrcughout the Cultural Revolution period. The
visit., was confirmed yesterday when the Vice-Premier had a
farewell meeting with the Australian Ambassador to China.
Latest reports from the Afghan capital, Kabul, say it is tense
but peaceful. The lull comes after four days of mass protests
and shooting. Hospitals are still reported to be stretched to
the limit dealing with people injured in the disturbances.
Kabul Radio has announced the arrest of another six Pakistanis
accused of fermenting insurrection against the Soviet-backed
Government in Afghanistan.
Uncertainty over interest rates has led Tasmania's Hydro-Electric
Commission postpone. a. $ 7 million loan programme.. The . loan,
with interest rates of up to10.9 per cent was to have opened
today. A spokesman for the Commission says the loan would not
have been competitive as interest rates in general have gone over
11 per cent. The spokesman said it was hoped the rates would
stabilise by the end of the week and the loan could proceed.
Last Friday, a small parcel of Commonwealth Bonds yielded 11.2 per cer
at a Reserve Bank auction.
The Leader of the Federal Opposition, Mr. Hayden, says a rise in
home loan interest rates is imminent. In a statement released
in Canberra,. Mr. Hayden said that unless banks were prepared to
distort commercial judgement for the Government's benefit, the
general rise in interest rates was-about to pass into housing
finance.. Mr. Hayden said the new rates for Commonwealth Bonds
was now. 1.5 per cent higher than in 1977 when the Prime Minister
had promised a 2 per cent reduction in interest rates.
Cyclone Simon is weakening afterbuffetting the central-Queensland
coast for the past 48 hours.
With the Rhodesian elections 36 hours. away, a group of American
and. Canadian observers say the country is heading towards
full-scale warfare.. In other developments, the President of
Tanzania says he will not recognise the results of the elections
unless the Patriotic Front wins. Britain's Prime Minister,
Mrs. Thatcher has written to African leaders telling them that
Wednesday's-election will be free and fair. Reported from
Salisbury that the American and Canadian observers have issued
a report highly critical of the election campaign. Reported
from London that Mrs. Thatcher's intervention follows claims that
there was a crisis of confidence in the British Governor's
handling of the election.
Action has begun to form a new national army for Rhodesia. The
army will come from a planned merger of the present Rhodesian
forces with guerillas of the Patriotic Front. / 2
7: 45 am News 2
An international conference of medical scientists in Sydney
was told yesterday of the first evidence that brain damage in
alcoholics can be reversed if they give up drinking.
The big mining group, Peko Wailsend, has lifted profits for
the six months to December by more than 50 per cent to
$ 17.7 million. Peko Wallsend, one of the partners in the
Ranger Uranium Project, said the profit growth came mainly
from its industrial division.
The coal producer Coal and Allied has blamed industrial
action and lower export prices for a sharp fall in its
performance. In the six months to December, earnings fell by*
more than 70 per cent to $ 2.1 million.
A call has been made for a central agency to handle all
information in Australia about land use. The Chairman of the
Australian Law Reform Commission, Mr. Justice Kirby, said the
maze of uncordinated public authorities often using different
and incompatible measurements, terminology and standards, was
addinq significantly to housing and development costs.
Cricket: Queensland hopes of winning the Sheffield Shield
have been dashed by the strong performance of West Australian
batsmen in Perth. In Sydney, the match between N. S. W. and
South Australia is shaping up for a draw.
The champion 10-year old pacer, Paleface Adios has won his*
100th race.
Indonesia expects to resume diplomatic relations with China
soon. Relations between the two countries were broken in
1967.
The Soviet aircraft carrier, Kiev, is on its way into the
Mediterranean after a re-fit.
The newly-appointed command er of Iran ' s naval forces has been
arrested. He was arrested by the Iranian-Army's Revolutionary
Prosecutor and is-being held for interrogation.---
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