News In Brief

A Thai International Airways passenger jet with 40 injured people landed here yesterday, police said. Police said they believed a mid-air explosion occurred over Japan's southernmost main island, Shikoku, after an oil-pressure gauge failed. The Airbus, carrying 233 passengers and 13 crew, was enroute to Osaka from Bangkok via Manila.

Red Cross conference ousts S. Africa delegation

Third-world and Soviet bloc countries joined Saturday and voted to oust the South African government delegation from an International Red Cross conference, outpolling Western representatives who said the move threatened the organization's neutrality. In Johannesburg, the South African Broadcasting Corporation said late Saturday that the government had suspended Red Cross representation in South Africa until the delegation is again allowed to participate in the Geneva conference.

Basque separatists claim weekend attacks

The Basque separatist organization ETA has claimed responsibility for several weekend attacks, including one that killed a local military governor, his wife, and son as they waited at a traffic light here Saturday. Nine other people were injured, Radio National and the independent news agency Europa Press reported. Later in the day, bombs exploded in two supermarkets and three car dealerships, injuring four people. The explosions occurred on the seventh anniversary of a home-rule statute that grants limited autonomy to the Basque region.

Accident in S. African mine kills at least 5

At least five miners were reported killed and an undetermined number injured yesterday when an elevator cage fell to the bottom of a gold mine shaft. The South African Press Association quoted K. W. Maxwell, chairman of the Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Company Ltd., in their report of the accident. The mine is 15 miles west of Johannesburg. Of those trapped, 28 were black and four were white, Mr. Maxwell said.

US lawyer says he was denied access to Hasenfus

Former US Attorney General Griffin Bell said Saturday that the Nicaraguan government has denied him access to Eugene Hasenfus, the American that Nicaragua says was transporting arms to US-backed contra rebels. Mr. Hasenfus is charged with terrorism and violating public security. If convicted, he could be jailed for 30 years. Nicaraguan law requires that the chief defense attorney be Nicaraguan, but Mr. Bell says the law allows him to present a written defense.

Study: `star wars' funds go to select group

The billions of dollars the government is spending on President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (or ``star wars'') is going to a handful of defense contractors and laboratories, a study released yesterday says. At least 89 percent of the star wars contracts awarded in the last two fiscal years -- or $4.56 billion -- went to contractors located in states with representation on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which must authorize star wars funding, the study by the Council on Economic Priorities adds.

Taiwan: Chinese MIG pilot can have asylum

A Chinese MIG-19 fighter pilot who flew his plane to South Korea will be allowed to go to Taiwan if he seeks political asylum there, Taiwanese embassy officials said in Seoul Saturday. In Peking, Chinese authorities said they wanted the pilot back, along with his plane. South Korean military authorities said the pilot, Cheng Psaitien, from Hupei province in central China, was still being questioned. But they declined to say if he was seeking political asylum.

US declines to pay its full UN assessment

The United States, responding to what it sees as financial waste and hostility toward Washington at the UN, has told the UN secretary-general that it will pay less than half of its 1986 assessment, according to a US official. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday that US Ambassador Vernon Walters informed UN Secretary-General Javier P'erez de Cu'ellar that the US would contribute $100 million to the world organization. The US had been assessed at $210 million, or 25 percent of the UN's regular budget.

Israeli jailed after making N-weapons claim

An Israeli who was quoted as saying his country has an extensive nuclear weapons factory has been brought back to Israel against his will and jailed, an Anglican priest said yesterday. The Rev. John McKnight of Sydney, Australia, said he was close to the Israeli, Mordechai Vanunu, and told a news conference that he feared for Mr. Vanunu's safety. Reports say Vanunu may face charges of violating Israel's security laws.

The Sunday Times (London) published a story on Oct. 5 that quoted Vanunu as saying he had worked as a technician at a nuclear weapons factory at Dimona in the southern Negev desert. Unconfirmed reports about Israel's nuclear potential long have said the Jewish state has the atomic bomb.

Mexicans cast ballots in Sinaloa State elections

Voters in the Pacific state of Sinaloa cast ballots yesterday in races for governor, 18 mayors, and 23 state legislators. Candidates from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party and the opposition National Action Party largely focused on issues of dealing more effectively with violent street crime, which authorities connect to the drug trade.

$520 million loan slated for Philippines

The International Monetary Fund has announced it will lend the Philippines $519.4 million in support of the government's effort to reverse economic decline that began under former President Marcos.

3 key Lebanese villages fall to PLO, reports say

Palestine Liberation Organization guerrillas captured three strategic villages from Shiite Muslim guerrillas on Saturday, police and witnesses said. It was the biggest PLO offensive since the group was driven from Lebanon in Israel's 1982 invasion. Police said at least 20 people were killed and 39 wounded in the fighting that began before dawn near Sidon.

Belgian government wins vote of confidence

The Belgian government won a vote of confidence in the Senate after a dispute over linguistics threatened to topple the center-right coalition, a Senate official said Saturday. The dispute began when a court ordered the French-speaking mayor of a village in the Dutch-speaking region to step down because he could not speak Dutch. The four-party coalition of Prime Minister Wilfried Martens then split along linguistic lines. Mr. Martens offered his resignation, but it was refused. The Senate voted 96-to-66 late Friday in support of Martens.