THE CITIZEN, Prince George — Wednesday, June 21, 1978 — 5 ANCIENT STATUTE TO BE REPLACED? U.S. may restrict right to diplomatic immunity WASHINGTON (CPI -Diplomatic immunity, the historic privilege which puts representatives of foreign countries above the laws of this land, soon may be restricted under legislation before Congress. The U.S. Senate foreign relations committee approved legislation Tuesday which would repeal the current law granting diplomatic immunity to all foreign representatives-oneof the oldest statutes in the U.S. In its place would be a United Nations convention, providing limited immunity for lowerranking foreign representatives and some exceptions from full immunity for top diplomatic officials. Both laws now are in effect— the Statute of Queen Anne, passed in 1790, and the UN Vienna Convention, signed in 1972. The problem, however, is that many foreign representatives who would enjoy only limited immunity under the UN convention may claim full protection under the 1790 statute. The House of Representatives. supported by the .departments of state and justice, approved legislation last July to appeal the statute. The matter still is before the Senate judiciary committee. The legislation also would require some sort of mandatory automobile insurance for automobiles owned by diplomatic missions and personal automobiles of foreign representatives. The foreign relations committee approved an amendment Tuesday which also would allow people injured by diplomatic vehicles to take action directly against the diplomat's insurance company for compensation. ,,M‘ Citizen International Fulfilling the insurance provisions would require presidential action, a committee spokesman said, because automobile insurance is a state rather than a federal matter and as a result, standards vary. He said the legislation would give the president the mandate to draw up regula- tions on liability insurance, which would be enforced by federal regulation. The movement to limit immunity from all criminal. civil and administrative law has been growing for some time. "The 1790 law was fine when it was passed.” said a spokesman for Representative Joseph Fisher (Dem. Va.). who sponsored the House bill. "In those days, embassies were staffed by one man who had a kid to take care of the horses." The number of foreigners with full diplomatic immunity. however, now to- tals 16.000, the state de-p*artment says. And another 27.000 enjoy partial immunity. The latter group involves mainly staff of consulates and other missions not contemplated when the 1790 statute was passed, thus are subject only to the Vienna convention. As international delegations expanded, problems increased. Police here estimate that in 1976, embassy staffs accounted for about $1 million in unpaid parking tickets. In New York, the unpaid bill covers about 240,000 tickets a year. Officials at the Canadian Embassy here say their lifestyles would change very little if the legislation is enacted. “We have a rule here that we abide by the laws of the land." one official said. "If one of our staff gets a parking ticket. he or she pays for it." Canada is one of 126 countries which have ratified the Vienna convention. The embassy official said that since Canada wants diplomats in Ottawa to follow Canadian law, "we feel we should respect those of other countries.” The world BRIEFLY Soldiers ambush . terrorists BELFAST (AP) - Four men were shot and killed early today in an ambush by British soldiers who thwarted an attempt to blow up a post office depot, the army announced. But it said one of the dead was believed to be an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, and a passing motorist was wounded. The army first reported that all four dead were suspected of being members of the Irish Republican Army’s militant Provisional wing which is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite Ulster with the Irish republic. I A spokesman later said one of r the men was apparently a ,« pedestrian caught in the crossfire between the troops and the gunmen. The shootout occurred • shortly after midnight at a post office maintenance depot on Ballysillan Road in north Belfast. The army spokesman said a group of men were seen i to be carrying bombs near the depot’s outer fence. Control slow SYDNEY. Australia (Reuter) - An Australian cabinet minister told an international conference today it •' will take some countries many years to control effectively ; their extended 200mile fishing • zones. Evan Adermann, acting • primary industry minister, said countries extending their fishing limits have to consider ways of protecting their resources from foreign exploitation and how much money should be spent on fisheries protection. He was opening a three-day conference attended by government and industry delegates from more than 20. countries to discuss the latest techniques for detecting and controlling foreign fishing boats. Adermann said there is an increasing need for larger aircraft to police 200-mile fishing zones because patrol boats, light aircraft and helicopters • cannot do the job. Ali home MOSCOW (AP) - Muhammad Ali flew homy, today after a 12-day tour of the Soviet Union and said U.S. citizens coming to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow should "bring all the extras you can.” "Bring some Baby Ruths,” the former heavyweight champion said. "Bring all the chewing gum you can. We’re spoiled in America.” Asked at an informal meeting of U.S. citizens living in Moscow what else he did not like about the Soviet Union, Ali replied: "I can’t get up and turn on the Today show. I can’t go downstairs to the coffee shop. I can’t get no big juicy cheeseburger. 'Hustler'' at work Magazine publisher Larry Flint and his wife Althea review cartoons drawn for Hustler magazine prior to a television show interview in their suburban Columbus, Ohio home. Flynt paralyzed below the waist since he was gunned down in March, says he will walk again. Pope Paul marks 15th anniversary VATICAN CITY (AP) -Pope Paul, marking the 15th anniversary of his election today, told a crowd of 10,000 that the second Vatican ecumenical council was the most important event of “this fleeing and nearly finished pontificate.” Speaking in Italian during his weekly general audience, the 80-year-old Pope said: “We pray that the love for the (Roman Catholic) Church assists us to make of the council a true lamp for our history and our hope for the after-life. "The dominant thought during our pontificate is for us the second Vatican ecumenical council which we have celebrated in the past years. We must be faithful to this great e'*«mt that now we try to transit. '-‘n practice, in a living spirit, in this fleeing and nearly-ended pontificate.” The council, convened by the late Pope John XXIII, lasted from 1962 to 1965 when it was closed by Pope Paul. It marked a more liberal trend for the Roman Catholic Church. For the last few years Pope Paul has been frequently referring to the approach of his death. Red Brigades strike again GENOA, Italy (Reuter) — The former chief of Genoa’s anti-terrorist squad was shot dead on a crowded bus today. The Red Brigades terrorist gang claimed responsibility. Antonio Esposito, 35, was killed when two gunmen pumped at least 10 shots into him as he stood at the back of the bus, police said. He was on his way to work at the public-security office in nearby Nervi. The two assassins then jumped off the bus and were picked up by accomplices in a car following behind. Less than two hours after the killing, a telephone caller told a newspaper: "Red Brigades speaking. We executed Antonio Esposito at 8:30 this morning." EXPOSED TO LASSA FEVER Two play 'deadly waiting game' WASHINGTON (AP) - Two medical researchers exposed during a laboratory mishap to rat blood contaminated with deadly lassa fever virus are in strict isolation at M U.S. Army hospital while they and their doctors watch for symptoms of the dreaded ailment. "Into each life a little rain must fall,” said one of the men in a telephone interview two weeks after a tiny test tube popped open and changed his life into a deadly waiting game. The names of the men were withheld at their request and because the U.S. Centre for Disease Control, where they work, said identifying them would be “a clgarly unwarranted invasion of their personal privacy.” There are no signs that either of the researchers has contracted the disease, but they probably will be kept away from each other and the outside world through the weekend. Lassa fever, a virus identified in Nigeria less than 10 years ago, normally develops seven to 14 days after expo- sure. The men, exposed on June 5, are therefore believed to be past the most critical period. The disease-carried by a rat found commonly in parts of Africa but not in the United States-was once thought to kill up to half its victims. It obtained particular notoriety with the 1974 publication of Fever!, a book by John Fuller. Researchers who have worked with it in Sierra Leone, where it has caused epidemics, now believe the early reports of its virulent nature were exaggerated. “I’d rather get lassa fever than Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is endemic right here in Maryland," said one of the researchers by telephone from the army’s specially equipped hospital at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md. Drs. John Richardson and John Bryan at the government’s Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta said the men were placed in isolation hours after tests determined the sample that had splashed on one of them and exposed them both contained the lassa virus. SOVIET COURT RULING Jewish 'activists' banished MOSCOW (AP) - Soviet courts today banished Jewish activists Vladimir Slepak and Ida Nudel from Moscow after convicting them in separate trials of "malicious hooliganism” arising from their attempts to emigrate to Israel, dissident sourccs said. Only hoyrs after the trials began, the courts ordered five years of internal exile in a remote part of the Soviet Union for Slepak and four years for Mrs. Nudel, the sources said. • The hooliganism charge carries a maximum term of five years in a labor camp. Police barred relatives and friends of Slepak and a U.S. embassy representative from the courtroom in western Moscow where the 50-year-old radio electronics engineer was on trial. Dissidents said it was the first such trial in recent years to which no friends or relatives were admitted. Mrs. Nudel, a 47-year-old economist, was on trial in southern Moscow. Proceedings were delayed 212 hours because of a scuffle between police and Mrs. Nudel’s supporters, who protested their being barred from the courtroom. Police finally forced her into the courtroom after a senior police officer read a statement signed by the president of the court ordering her to be brought in by force. Slepak’s brother-in-law. Zinovy Rashkovsky, told reporters: “Everything is closed. Only prosecution witness have been allowed in.” Rashovsky said he had been told by sources inside the courtroom that Slepak was “cheerful, calm and is acting in a restrained way.” he said Slepak refused the help of a state-appointed lawyer. Morris Hughes, a U.S. embassy second secretary, arrived after the trial started and was told the courtroom was full. Raymond Smith. another embassy second secretary. was admitted to the Nudel trial. Slepak, who applied to emigrate to Israel in 1970. was arrested June 1 when he and his wife stood on the balcony of their eighth-floor apartment in the centre of Moscow holding a placard demanding exit visas. Slepak’s wife, Maria, 50, also was charged with hooliganism but is being treated in hospital for ulcers. She is expected to be tried later. Slepak has been a mainstay of Moscow’s Jewish community in Moscow and has helped other Jews trying to emigrate. He is also a member of a human rights group whose founder. Yuri Orlov, was recently sentenced to seven years in a labor camp. Mrs. Nudel was arrested the first week in June during a series of protests staged by Jewish women seeking to emigrate to Israel. She. too, had hung a sign from her window. Mrs. Nuclei first applied for an exit visa in 1971. Her application was rejected on grounds of national security. Her husband. Yuli, was permitted to emigrate in 1975. FETUS MAY SURVIVE Transfusion 'a success LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -A 27-week-old fetus threatened by a conflict of Rh blood factors with its mother is 10 times more likely to survive after a delicate transfusion operation, says the obstetrician who performed the procedure. Before Tuesday’s operation, the fetus had a five-per-cent chance of surviving. Its chances improved to "a little better than 50-50, because it appears the procedure went extremely well,” said Dr. John Oueenan. chief of obstetrics at Norton-Childrens Hospital. “The fetus co-operated 100 per cent.” Dr. Queenan said at a news conference. Dr. Queenan, who donated his services, said the mother. Katherine Shifflett. 22, of Jacksonville. Fla., was under local anesthetic during the 30-minute operation. “She’s fine," he added. Mrs. Shifflett and her husband, William, a carpenter, have no medical insurance. Doctors say the cost of caring for the baby through birth and subsequent transfusions might be as much as $40,000. News reports about the Shiffletts in Florida brought about SI.500 in private donations. Dr. Queenan, said to be one of four obstetricians in the United States with experience in the transfusion procedure, said Mrs. Shifflett probably will be able to leave the hospital Thursday. The father's blood is Rh positive, while his wife’s is Rh negative. The fetus inherited the father’s Rh factor, causing the antibodies in Mrs. Shifflett’s blood to destroy the fetus’s red blood cells. nEyiHE TLEA1DLE RATES ON PERSONAL LOANS. At The Permanent we think you deserve a break on the interest you pay on a Personal Loan when your credit-potential is sound. That’s why our Personal Loan interest rates are flexible. It’s simple.The better your credit rating and the better the security you have, the better the interest rate we can give you. When you apply for a Personal Loan we'll ask you about yourself and your job. 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